12 Daifj{_Collegian Monday, June 20, 1982
alts
'Pictures' starts theater's 'B3 season with laughter
By HEIDI BEELER
Collegian'Staff Writer
“Summfer artistic refreshment”
was Douglas N. Cook
offered the first audience of the Penn
sylvania Theater’s ’B3 sea
son last IPhursday night.
And if s>ou find laughter refreshing,
then the|Festival Theater’s opening
production of Neil Simon’s “I Ought
To Be Inf’Plctures” was just that.
One of&imon’s newest comedies, "I
Ought T£ Be In Pictures” is set in the
clutterecj Hollywood bungalow of
Hernfrucker. (Torn Markus), a once
suc«jjsgftliv.AScreenwriter. Sixteen
yearsearlier, Herb gave up his three
year-old daughter, infant sort, and
NYC’s pastrami sandwiches to es
cape his wife’s humorless lack of
understanding;? Now Herb struggles
against writer is block in Hollywood,
and not even ;his girlfriend, Steffy
Blondell (JaneiMoore), can help him
. regain his conf-id'ence.
Suddenly, Libby (Jane E. Beck
hard), Herb’s now 19-year-old daugh
ter, appears .’at the door. She’s
hitchhiked her’way across the coun
try (“If you’re riot you hike
more than youj hitch.”) to convince
her father to help her break into the
movies and to. let her' back into his
life. i-
The cast did;a good job pf bringing
out the comedy in this production.
Beckhard placed an energetic ver
sion of the brick-laying, car-repairing
Libby. Even -Libby’s frankest re
marks and actions (She calls her
father a shit-heel within ten minutes
of meeting him.) are made believable
by the strength Beckhard brings to
the role. •;
Although given a sketchy character
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in Steffy Blondell, Moore added di
mension to the roll. Simon has devel
oped Steffy as a raisonneur a
character who stands outside of the
action and speaks the author’s opin
ions, and a weak device in a realistic
play. Yet even though Moore had few
lines, her attention to Herb and Libby
and silent reactions to their struggles
made her an important part of each
scene in which she appeared.
Markus’ performance as Herb, al
though often funny, was the weakest
in the production When he first stum
bled onto the stage wearing an inside
out T-shirt and rumpled pajamas and
tried to unstick his left eye, he cre
ated a hilarious picture of the sloven
ly screenwriter. And his delivery of
Neil Simon’s one-liners caused al
most sure-fire laughter.
Yet as the play progressed,' it be
came obvious that Markus was trying
for audience-response as an actor,
rather than living within the scene as
a real person might.
His exaggerated gestures (drawing
an imaginary circle around his head
to suggest a sombrero at the mention
of Morrocco) and punch-lines (draw
ing out the word “rhoooo-doooo-den
dron” when the character was angry
and probably snapping out quickly)
received some chuckles. They also
lost much of the character’s credibili
ty and made parts of his performance
appear pre-planned and stilted. An
audience finds much more humor in a
person they can realistically identify
with. ,
Martin Gdttfried of Cue said the
Broadway production, “(Pictures’)
provides a touching blend of laughter
and sentiment.”
While the Festival Theater’s ver-
sion had plenty of humor, it was the
more serious side of the play that was
lacking.
Herb and Libby haven’t seen each
other for sixteen years almost the
whole of the girl’s life. The pair must
overcome a lot of time, guilt and
resentment during the course of the
play. v
Simon develops this conflict
Comedy is highlight of Superman 111
By TOM SAKELL
Collegian Staff Writer
Should you see “Superman ill?”
It all depends upon your mood.
Do you wanna laugh? Gasp in awe
at spectacular scenery? Cheer for
heroics and cringe at near-catastro
phe? How about just leaving the
theater with a smile on your face?
Well, “Superman III” is for you.
But if you feel a comic strip hero
with super powers and straight
laced morals might be immature
for you, perhaps you would be bet
ter off watching documentaries on
PBS.
“Superman III” works well, as
director Richard Lester success
fully cuts between three subplots.
The first follows Clark Kent
(Christopher Reeve) as he returns
to Smallville, Kansas for his 15th
high school reunion. There he finds
Lana Lang (Annette O’Toolej, the
subject of Kent’s adolescent admi-.
ration. Lang finds herself attracted
to the kind and sensitive reporter.
Suprisingly, Lang finds Kent more
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through a series of arguments and
resolutions between the father and
daughter. With the end of each verbal
battle, Herb and Libby are a little less
defensive and a little closer to each
other. In the end, as Libby prepares
to hitchhike back to Brooklyn, having
found what she came for, she and her
father- truly care about each other as
individuals and not merely out of a
interesting than Superman.
Back in Metropolis, Gus Gorman
(Richard Pryor) is down to his last
dollar and-out of unemployment
benefits when he takes a'computer
programming course. Realizing he
is a programming genius, Gorman
goes to work in a company owned by
a financial dictator.
Meanwhile, company president
Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn) is
looking for someone who can pro
\ gram computers to cause meteoro
logical havoc on South America’s
coffee bean crop and control the
world’s‘oil tankers.
If you haven’t guessed it by now,
Superman meets Gorman and
Webster in a showdown involving
computer treachery, world domi
nance and, of course, Kryptonite.
The.reason the latest chapter in
the Superman series works so well
is the comedic screenplay by Leslie
■and David Newman. All the charac
ters in the story get a generous
share of throw away one-liners and
funny situations.
Reeve, too, is given a chance to
•• •* • 'k
sense of obligation.
That sense of acceptance between
Libby and Herb did come out in the
Festival Theater’s production. The
problem was that the characters
went the whole distance in the first
half of the play. ' s .
Whether the fault of director Rob
ert E. Leonard or Markus’ overly
nice portrayal of Herb, Herb had
Villian Richard Pryor gets a lilt from Christopher Reeve in Superman 111
expand his acting talents. He takes
the opportunity to devote more time
to the Clark Kent character, where
he does an admirable job.- Always
the stumbling bumpkin in the big
city, he finds a certain confidence
and grace as he comes to know
Lang all over again.
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already lovingly scooped Libby into
his arms in acceptance by the end of
the first act. There was no significant
reason for the two to go back to
squabbling. (Well, except to provide
new'jokes.)
But to make a long article short, the
Festival Theater’s production of
“Pictures’’: Entertaining, yes. Con
fusing, maybe. Fun, definitely.
JBrW
Photo courtesy Warner Bros.
O’Toole turns in a fine perfor
mance as Lang, and moviegoers
can look forward to seeing more of
Lang’s relationship with Kent in
Superman IV. While (Lois Lane)
Margot Kidder took a vacation in
“HI,” you can bet she will be back
for a fourth chapter.
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Kinko’s Copies
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Business & Service
Directory j
Antiques
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16801
814-234-3570
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MAP DIRECTORY 14. Airiandsea Travel
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