Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 52

STATE EDITION The Arizona Republic SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1990 A. Don't sing the blues, stop them Be good to yourself to escape bad mood By Enid Nemy The New York Times NEW YORK Breathes there anyone who is never in a bad mood? If so, beware. That person is a disguised creature from another planet and definitely not human. Real people, even nice real people, are grumpy sometimes, down in the dumps at least occasionally and mean-mad, mean-tired or plain mean once in a while. Most bad moods can be traced to something specific fatigue, overwork, breakup of a relationship, a leak in the living room, a stock-market plunge, the promotion of a 8 wmm 11 There are mornings or evenings when the blues suddenly descend, without warning and defying any logical explanation.

know-nothing colleague. The list is infinite, and the reason may range from ridiculous to serious. But there are mornings or evenings (strangely enough, not too many afternoons) when the blues suddenly descend, without warning and defying any logical explanation. When that happens, Leah Wilcox takes a good look around her Time warp drops campy sci-fi spoof onto Tempe stage By Salvatore Caputo The Arizona Republic It's time to do the time warp again. The Rocky Horror Show is rolling at the Mill Avenue Theatre in Tempe.

Even though it's an old show already it was first staged in London in 1973 it seems nothing but contemporary. As if it had traveled unscathed through a time tunnel, the show turns up in 1990 with an air of campy sleaze (see accompanying photos) in tune with a time when Prince is a king, Cher accosts a battleship and Faster Pussycat sings Where There's a Whip, There's a Way. Those familiar with only The Rocky Horror Picture Show the cult movie that played just short of forever at the Valley Art Theater in Tempe are in for some surprises. "They added scenes to the play to make the movie, and they made changes 1 don't understand at all," said Ben Tyler, the theater's artistic director. "For instance, in the movie, they chopped all of Rocky's dialogue.

I like the idea of this big, dumb, innocent kid after all, he was just born a few minutes ago in the middle of all this." Rocky, of course, is the monstrous creation of alien transvestite Dr. Frank N. Furter only this monster is handsome. The Tempe cast is Curt Anlhon as Furter; Gene Ganssle and Susan St. John as Brad and Janet, the couple lost in the storm; Joe Arnold as Rocky; Ellen Benton as Columbia; Bert Emmett as Eddie and Dr.

Scott; David Katz as the butler Riff Raff; Wendi Green as Magenta the maid; and Nick Nichols as the narrator. The story, what there is of it, is "your basic innocent couple stranded on a dark and stormy night in a madman's castle" tale. The twist is it makes fun of the whole thing, with parodies of '50s rock music and other ridiculous grotesquerics. Tyler would like to straighten out some misconceptions about the show: It is based on the movie. No, it's the other way around.

The play was dreamed up by British actor Richard O'Brien in 1973. Such bits as the movie's wedding scene were not part of the stage show and won't be re-created at Mill Avenue. The show stretches boundaries of taste. Well, it may have in 1973, but now, "this show is extremely tame compared with other things you see today," Tyler said. -SceWHV pagcE2 ilr I Bert Emmett plays both Eddie (here) and his uncle, Dr.

Scott whose entry in the film version spurs the cry, "Great Scott!" and a hail of toilet-paper rolls. Curt Anthon portrays the dynamic transvestite from outer space, Dr. Frank N. Furter, who creates Rocky in his laboratory. 9 a xV l'M -l 7 (i vTl "-I 1 jl i I i I JL 1 i ji i i Yes'- Mv-; t- At 4VV.

1 Photos by Tom Story The Arizona Republic Rehearsing the Time Warp, one of the 1973 sci-fi-horror-rock musical's show-stoppers, the cast of Mill Avenue Theatre's production frolics with choreographed abandon on the intimate playhouse's stage. office, which isn't exactly traditional and which usually.amuses her. Strategically placed are, to name just a few things, a crutch (souvenir of a knee operation), a basketball hoop, a pair of sneakers worn by Rick Mahorn when the Detroit Pistons won the National Basketball Association championship, part of Karcem Abdul-Jabbar's old basketball uniform, and baby pictures of the offspring of NBA players. If scanning the office doesn't cheer her, Wilcox, the unit manager for NBA Entertainment, closes the office door, a danger sign, and prepares herself for a walkout that definitely will include shopping. But her favorite early-morning cure, for "when I wake up with an attitude from the day before," is to watch cartoons.

She's fond of the Flintstones and Yogi Bear, but she'll take whatever she can find and, she said, "by the time I get on the subway, I'm smiling." Joseph C. Phillips has several ways of combating the blues. One of them is working out at the gym. But Phillips, who plays Lisa Bonet's husband on The Cosby Show, also finds that long-distance calls to friends he hasn't talked to in a while almost invariably make him feci better. Considerably more expensive is his absolutely certain chcerer-upper.

"I get myself a present," he said. "If I have any spare change, I buy contemporary art, primarily black art but not necessarily." Julia. Hansen suggested cooking or playing the piano. "They're both all-absorbing," she said. Hansen, president of the Drama League of New York, said that when cooking on such days, "the more beating, whipping, chopping the better," and when playing, she likes to work on something complicated.

"You end up with a clear mind, and whatever was bothering you doesn't seem as important." Talking about clear minds, chances are that Christopher Idone ends up with not only a clear mind but a frozxn one after one of his mood cures. He fills his bathtub with ice-cold water, gets in and "after six seconds, nothing is that bad." Nothing else, that is. "I haven't figured out why it works, but it docs," said Idone, who owns the restaurant 1022. He heads for Central Park if a mood strikes during the day. Two friends help Alison Emilio when she's down, and she returns the favor when they need company.

When one calls, the three gather, cook Caloric meals, cat popcorn and watch at least two videos, back to back. "They've got to be escapist and fun, where the woman gets her man, like Funny Girl and Gigi," said Emilio, a senior vice president of New Line Cinema. Harriet Kcndcll Kcsslcr is the executive director of the New York development office of Brandcis University, and some of the people she encounters in the course of her job probably would be surprised at how she works off blues and stress. If the mood hits in the evening or if she has had a tough day, she goes home and dances, by herself and "pretty fast" to music by the likes of Earth, Wind and Fire. "I enjoy music and dancing and do it until I'm exhausted or I feci better for mc, it works," she said.

On second thought, her peers probably wouldn't be surprised. Chances arc that some of them also arc dancing up a storm, or silting in a cold tub, or climbing 175 flights of stairs. Only they're not talking. 'Sidewalk' buckles as silence gets olden 1 (1 it f'fj 'i I 1 rifir I 1' 1 By Bob Fentter The Arizona Republic Here's something so new it's old: a silent movie. Sidewalk Stories is a throwback to Charlie Chaplin films of the '20s: a fable about a tramplike artist, friendless and destitute, with a heart of gold.

The artist (Charles Lane) lives in an abandoned building in Manhattan and scrapes together a living by sketching caricatures on the streets of Greenwich Village. His simple and meager life becomes complicated by two women: a lost little girl whose life he saves and a well-off young businesswoman who tries to help them both. The story follows the artist as he tries to restore the lost girl to her mother and to figure out his relationship with the businesswoman. No one speaks in this very personal film, but everyone has no trouble communicating. One of the best things about Sidewalk Stories is how well it uses images to tell its story.

The problem is, after a while, the curiosity of the device wears thin, and we're left with the story, which also is wearing thin. The simplest events take too long to get told. Establishing shots, such as a woman setting a dinner table, are repeated far more often than we need to follow what's going on. See VSm, page E2 VIE REVIEW Sidewalk Stories Written and directed by Charles Lane. Cast: Charles Lane, Sandye Wilson, Nicole Alysla.

Rated: R. Excellent Good Poof Actor-writer-director Charles Lane is the homeless artist who befriends and cares for an abandoned child (Nicole Alysia) in Sidewalk Stories. t- WOW -t LlMUavitt hi.