The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 14

-A I IMF. COl RIF.R-JOl'RN4f,, THl FiHA, 2. 1972 a i Phoenix displays a fascinating performance of 4Doh nan'' 3423 TAYLOR BLVD. Take Watterson Expressway lo Toyor Blvd. norli exit.

Continue north on Taylor Blvd. to 3rd traffic signal. Now Showing "Lolipops for Judy" Plus "Weekend Roulette" RATED MOVIES By WILLIAM MOOTZ Courier-Journal Critic The New Phoenix Repertory Company, which brought a good production of O'Neill's hopelessly dated "The Great 'God Brown" to the Macauley Theatre Monday night, unveiled a brilliant production of Moliere's timeless "Don Juan" yesterday afternoon. It's too bad the Phoenix didn't open in Louisville by putting its best foot forward with its "Don Juan." It's a fascinating performance of a dazzling play. Un- fortunately, however, by the time word spreads that "Don Juan" is definitely something to see, the Phoenix will be on its way to points north.

"Don Juan" is one of Moliere's lesser known plays, at least in America. Everyone even vaguely interested in the theater knows his "Tartuffe" and "The Misanthrope," or has perhaps reveled in Richard Wilbur's superb English translation of his "The School for Wives." But "Don Juan" is a much more sober, if no less serious, comedy, and it has long lain in the shadow of Moliere's more accessible works for the stage. It has also suffered, I suspect, by comparison with Mozart's great opera on the same theme. Mozart's "Don Giovanni" is one of the supreme masterpieces in the history of Western art, and any other treatment of the Don Juan legend, even one as thought-tickling as Moliere's, is bound to seem pallid when exposed to the light of Mozart's genius. For anyone familiar with "Don Giovanni," moreover, comparison, although odious, is inevitable.

The plots of the two works have much in common. One eventually is convinced that da Ponte, Mozart's librettist, most certainly knew his Mol-iere, and found much in "Don Juan" that he transformed for Mozart's needs. Both works open, for instance, with the Don's servant, called Sganarele in Moliere's play, holding center stage and expounding on the sins of his master. In points can be driven home, then sending it swirling off again into dancing motion. Porter's cast responds eagerly to his touch.

Paul Hecht's arrogant and intelligent Don Juan, Katherine Helmond's tragic Dona Elvira, John Glover and Charlotte Moore's amusing rustics, James Green's befuddled Monsieur Dimanche, and David Dukes' graceful Don Carlos, are all splendid. Best of all is John McMartin's wily Sganarelle. Sganarelle is the only role in the' play that never degenerates into a symbol. He is always human, always living by his wits, always ready to capitalize on the frailties of others. It's a marvelous role, and McMartin plays it with deft perception.

If John J. Moore's scenery is sparse, Nancy Potts' costumes are opulent, while Tharon Musser's lighting will be improved, I suspect, as this production continues to make its way to New York. both works, the Don is the complete rake, insisting on his freedom to choose his own life, heaping scorn on conventions that less original beings hold sacred, and living without remorse to the very end. Finally, in both works, it is not the laws of man or God that bring the Don to his last confrontation with fate. Rather it is a device akin to a "deus ex machina" in the form of a statue, which comes to life and destroys an unrepentant Don.

Never is Moliere's play as profound or moving an experience as Mozart's "Don Giovanni." But the play nevertheless is concerned with the same themes. At its heart is an investigation into the complexities that make man human and distinguish him from the beasts. Moliere gets so involved with his subject matter that "Don Juan" sometimes is in danger of turning into a polemic. The playwright's anger at the injustices and hypocrisies he saw everywhere around him frequently all but overcomes his intuitions as a dramatist. Stage almost bare of props "Don Juan" is therefore a difficult play to stage, but Stephen Porter, who directed it and adapted its English translation for the New Phoenix, has mounted it with great distinction.

It is performed on a stage almost bare of props, as if Porter wants to clear away everything but Moliere's wit and humanity. He obviously has enormous respect for his author, and is determined to share his enthusiasm with 'Elvis': Old, new looks at The King You must he 18 and be able to prove it! Shows daily from 12 noon Sunday from 2 P.M. L'MAD By BILLY REED 'Z Courier-Journal Staff Writer 1 I've always thought' as' movie actor, Elvis ranks on: just about L.h7 Pn Daily I liked. And I saw Elvis cast in a role that truly only he can play. Elvis is himself in MGM's "Elvis on Tour," which opened at the Vogue in St.

Matthews, as well as the Preston Drive-In, the Clarksville in Cnt. I II P.M FIRST LOUISVIUl SHOWING 17 the same level "as Francis the Talking Mule. In every Presley movie I've ever i Clarksville, and the Grand in New lavlotwille Hd Jetfmofilown W-ttll ANOTHER BIG ONE "PiimA Hfducptt Prices Ouimg Twi lit Hmir 90c seen, and guess I've seen most df them. I A1Dany- movie is based on an Elvis tour going all the iwav back IhhW WW JN covered 15 American cities in 15 Rock," Elvrs invariably is shallow, stiff that iMIx I I COLOR both G) N.Y. BURLESQUE GIRLS Cnd.C0l and dull in a man out of days.

Unlike many of these so-called doc-his element umentaries, "Elvis on Tour" is an unpre- 'v tPntinnc fnct-nnporl mnvip that novpr saoc tentious, fast-paced movie that never sags, rOR TNI BIST IN BURLESQUE GO SHELMAd But last night' 1'saY an Elvis mpyk thdtj, Elvis, to the creature who starred through much of the movie. Today's Elvis, I discovered, no longer wears plaid sport coats and pegged pants. What he does wear are some silver-framed space goggles and metal-studded cape suits that make him look for all the world like Buck Rogers. But this is only nit-picking. The movie's worthwhile if for no other reason than it gives us some small insight into what it's like to be Elvis Presley, Thanks to some excellent close-up, split-screen photography, we stand with The King as he wends his way through a world of private jets, chauffered limousines and screaming women.

In sum, "Elvis on Tour" is just what the lady behind me said it was as she sat, still spellbound, at the movie's end. "Terrific," she said. "Just terrific." The rating: G. Critic's comment: What was characterized as indecent in 1955 is, by today's standards, just a lot of innocent hip-swiveling. Single Over fHi his audiences.

In countless ingenious ways, he keeps the work constantly on the move, stopping it so that salient ToNifi-Hf 7b 8 PERFORMANCES own Plnnninn Rnnmiat? TO THl BOX OFFICE OPEN Phone rOM OQM PUBLIC J04-0004 Polly: he'll A She'll Arrange Everything! 5 Evening, DON AM6CH6 at 8:30 eVELYN I06S Wed. Nov. 8 Dl ITU fYVdWCI IV Groups 20 to 450 HOLIDAY INN Ml DTP WN SEE SHOW CLOCK FOR TIMES "lliWMwf urn Triors. Nov 9 1 Fri Nov ioSWeNSWENSON Nov. 11 LMC Kiel SON! never bores.

And for a long-time Elvis freak, as were these two ladies who sat behind me at the Vogue, it's sheer dynamite. "Oh, boy, that doesn't look much like him," said one of the ladies when Elvis first appeared on screen. "Honey, he still looks pretty good to me," replied her companion, with what sounded like a sigh. 'Indeed, for a guy who's now-37, Elvis is a well-preserved specimen. Oh, maybe he's a little wrinkled around the eyes and so what if he does have a hint of a double chin? He's still got those same looks and moves that have been driving women wild for nigh on two decades.

For me, the most interesting part of the film was the nostalgic part old stills and film clips of Elvis as he was in the mid-'50s. Here he was on the Ed Sullivan program, wearing a dark sport shirt (open at the neck), plaid sport coat and pegged pants as he belted out "Ready The audience at the Vogue laughed at that sequence, and so did I. It seemed at once so familiar and yet so strange. Even so, I must admit that I still prefer that Elvis, the you-ain-nuthin'-butta-houn-dog Nov. 12 3 Matinees 9 lA THE N6W 1925 MlKAl Sctfe lets Nov.

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