The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 24

ARTS The Sydney Morning Herald Tuesday, February 15, 1994 23 I Hollywood hits Kamikaze cabaret queens test waters at new venue THEATRE 1I Be wall. A v. a 1 MS-" A yA A HE old maxim "less is more" may be apply fairly to striptease but in other forms of musi cal theatre it seldom takes precedence over the "more is better" principle. This production, which had its genesis in the informal saloon at Woolloomooloo's Tilbury Hotel, is an interesting conjunction of the two. The successes of Tilbury showcases are well documented and have, for the past five years, made the venue synonymous with vibrant cabaret A series of short seasons drawing on the talents of Su Cruickshank, Judi Connelli, June Bronhill, Lorrae Desmond and others, has proved a winning formula with a combination of nostalgia and pizazz.

The next logical step of presenting four artists in a single show, also paid off for the pub and they have now gone the extra nautical mile by transporting the concept around the bay to the Opera House Playhouse at Bennelong Point Changing context is a chancy proposition. An intimate, knockabout ambience, so vital to the equation, doesn't easily translate. Thankfully, an infectious warmth and graciousness hold sway sufficient to offset showbiz sentimentality or, worse, the quicksands of pretension inherent in the designation of a title like Legends. The little Tilbury dinghy, a modest flagship of musical Off The Ground, which concludes the first half, is a delight. A glorious "duelling pianos" duet begins the second act, revving the audience up for a suite of humorous songs which includes the showstoppers Andrew Lloyd Webber (Lamond), Hamlet (Hayes), and Another Song About Paris (Biddell).

A bracket of love songs follows, the highlight of which is Biddell's Cry Me A River. It doesn't always follow that an audience will enjoy a show simply because the performers are (or seem to be) having a fine time on stage. Here the zest which has propelled four kamikaze cabaret queens (as they dub themselves) through diverse careers totalling some 1 28 years' showbiz experience is irrepressible. It gives them a degree of licence consistent with their talent but carries with it an unmistakable dignity too hard-won in cruel years at venues like the Associated Motor Club and other blearoid, twilight zones of the club circuit There is a line in the show's patter suggesting critics might achieve gallantry by dubbing startroupers like Shirley MacLaine "America's answer to Nancye Hayes" rather than vice versa. To be semi-gallant for a moment with performers like these we don't need an answer to Shirley MacLaine or anyone else.

And you certainly won't find Shirl knocking 'em dead in a pub down at the 'Loo. Less is more more or less. LEGENDS Playhouse. Sydney Opera House February 10 With: Nancye Hayes. Jeannie Little, Kerrie Biddell and Toni Lamond Director Geoffrey Williams Musical Direction: David Julian Lee DOUG ANDERSON theatre, ties up happily alongside the towering sails of the Opera House.

It's a judiciously balanced program, borne along by accompanists David King and Julian Lee both warmly received and the latter fast becoming a legend himself. Each of the quartet has her own style but the structure of the show's 30-odd songs allows all four their due and to complement one another. Each contributes equally to a concept which, while rather nebulous, is far from being merely an indulgent coalition. Biddell's mixture of insouciance and honesty works best at creating the exact degree of intimacy for individual songs be it a cringing recollection of a prawn night at the Cronulla RSL or her brittle and poignant intro to a lustrous Breaking Up Is Hard To Do. Jeannie Little uses contradiction and self-deprecation adroitly to sell a number, avoiding centre stage until such time as she needs it Her duet with Bidell, Ten Feet WmM Asserting that "film is a global Valenti went on to stress the importance of strong and prosperous national film industries though adding that his reasons for this were not charitable, but practical: "Wherever there's a strong national cinema, there's an ascending box office," he explained.

"And if that happens, perhaps those of us who are trying to attract audiences to American films might get a fair share of that" Though he acknowledged the importance of individual and unclassifiable talents, citing Godard and Bertolucci as examples, cinema's only viable test today, he said, was one of economic commonsense: "If you make movies that a lot of people want to see, you will be healthy. If you make movies that no-one wants to see, then youll be in trouble." All of this was a far cry from the firebrand Jack Valenti of old is a word that has been deleted from my lexicon," he demurred at one point). When a journalist noted the conciliatory tone of his language, and quoted his post-GATT comments, the MPAA president smiled expansively. "In America that's called campaign talk. Frankly, I was trying to make speeches that would attract the attention of my Congress, to let them know how important our industry is, not just in America but in the world as well.

"Hyperbole does catch people's attention," he added. "If you speak sanely and benignly and with practical good sense, no-one will pay you attention half the time. Sometimes every now and then you've gotta whack someone across the head with a two-by-four to get their attention. "If I did say that, I can only say I was running for some kind of office at the time." the WAS being tipped as a showdown, a confrontation between the old world and the new. On the third day of the 1994 Berlin Film Festival, con troversy arrived in the smiling, silver-headed form of Jack Val-enti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America and the man latterly regarded as the bete noire of the fragile European film industry.

His presence immediately galvanised a festival already uneasy over the amount of mainstream English language fare on offer, and increasingly conscious of the marginal commercial status of non-English-speaking films. Valenti, meanwhile, had publicly expressed fury at the conclusion of the GATT trade discussions in December, accusing the Europeans of "blatant protectionism" and daiming that "the EC has erected a great wall to keep out the works of non-European men and Unsurprisingly, his comments sparked a storm of protest from European film-makers and distributors already hurting under the American dominance of their home markets. The ensuing war of words culminated with the French producer Daniel du Plantier's wildly polemical claim that the LA earthquake proved beyond question that God's sympathies lay with Europe. Thus, when the festival director, Moritz de Hadeln, welcomed Valenti and acknowledged his courage in "entering the he was only half joking: the mood in the packed press room was mistrustful if not openly hostile. However, from the opening moments of Valentf address, it was apparent that he was at pains to present a "kinder, gentler" approach though he did later admit that "if I never hear the term GATT again, it will please me Valenti claimed that his mission TV RATINGS CC3 6pm to midnight SYDNEY SHARE 14.5 26.7 5 -CITY SHARE 15.1 28.1 a A 'Heat' casts a new light on Boyd but fails to take fire Irrepressible cabaret queens from top, Toni Lamond, Jeannie Little, Kerrie Biddell and Nancye Hayes.

Nine nabs the top EVENING NEWS 3 1 3,000 464,300 449.800 201,000 48,600 Average weekday viewert i -ii: i Thin on drama Simone Baker, Barry Otto (top) and David Prudham in White Heat. haure by michele mossop NUMBER ONE MOVIE rlin With talk of GATT and God, the Berlin Film Festival focused on the battle for business between the film industries on either side of the Atlantic, reports SHANE DANIELSEN. in Berlin was to resolve the various misunderstandings the GATT talks had spawned "to set right what was so clearly wrong" and accordingly he began by quoting Goethe's dictum that "the truth must be repeated again and again, because error is constantly being preached around He attempted to assure the sceptical audience that "the idea that the American industry and the MPAA are determined to start war and hurl trade missiles around the world is as far from the truth as you can Contrary to press reports, Valenti denied that he had objections either to national quotas or to subsidies "I think they're a good thing," he remarked and by way of illustration cited his own history when, as a special adviser to President Lyndon B. Johnson, he helped devise the legislation that resulted in the US National Endowment for the Arts. What he had sought from GATT, he claimed, was simply a level playing field for US and non-US products, as well as specifics such as a share of the French Government's compensation for video pirating that was levied on blank video tapes and refunded to French production companies.

gf Week I February 6-1 2, 1 994 33.7 22.4 2.7 32.5 22.0 2.4 hard to 54200 viewers mmi- 542,200 viewers EZ 6.00 Sons And Daughters (S). 6.30 Agro's Cartoon Connection. 9.00 The Book Place For kids. 9.30 At Home (PG). Topical.

9.30 (W. N) Skirts (PG. Rpt). 10.30 News, Sport And Weather. 1 1 .00 Eleven AM Topical affairs.

1 2.00 Movie Heroes (M. 77. Rpt). A Vietnam veteran travels cross-country to meet a few of his old war buddies. With Henry Winkler.

Sally Field. 2.30 Home James (Rpt). Comedy. 2.30-3.30 (W, N) Country Practice. 3.00 Perfect Strangers Comedy.

3.30 Family Ties -(Rpt). Comedy. 4.00 Morphin Power Rangers. 4.30 Blockbusters Quiz show. S.00 Family Feud Game show.

5.3 0 Wheel Of Fortune Game. 6.00 News, Sport And Weather. 6.00-7.00 (W, N) News. Weather. 6.30 Real Life -Topical affairs.

7.00 Home Away (S). Tug explodes with the pressure of his father leaving him again. 7.30 Blue Heelers (S. PG). An annual racing event brings in a crowd of colourful characters.

8.30 Movies (Ms). The Big Steal (90. Rpt). Comedy about a teenaged boy who wants only a Jaguar car and a date with the beautiful Joanna. With Ben Mendelsohn and Claudia Kar-van.

10.40 Weekend Pass (84). With DW Brown. 1 0.40 (W. N) Real Life Topical. 1 1.

10 (W. N) Bligh (PG). Comedy. 1 1.40 (W. N) Bergerac (PG.

Rpt). 12.30 NBC Today Show -Topical. 1 2.40 (W, N) Home Shopping Guide. 1.10-2.40 (W, N) NBC Today. 2.30 Movie The Big Sweat (MA.

90). With Steve Molone. 2.40-4.10 (W, N) Movie The Big Sweat (MA. 90). Steve Molone.

4.00 Aboriginal Australia. 4.10 Brothers-(PG). Drama. 4.40 Flesh Blood (PG). 5.05 Beyond 2000 fS.

Rpt). TOP TEN PROGRAMS: Average number of viewers Sydney has 3.787,000 viewers in 1,275,000 TV homes 23 years of campaigning, while Man Man is in its third week, but the win offsets Seven's disappointment at a slow start in Sydney for Blue Heelers. The new drama series was only an average performer with 275,000 viewers against Australia's Funniest Home Video Show (563,000) and the 30-minute all-ads show, A Word From Our Sponsor (643,000) and pushed into fourth spot by Roseanne However, Blue Heelers is doing considerably better business in the other capital cities and particularly well in Melbourne, where it finished 19th with 426,400 viewers, a notch behind Funniest Home Videos with Roseanne nowhere. While Seven has reasonable prospects of calling the Blueys to heel, Ten's Alan Jones Live is facing a much more serious 60 minutes 703, ioo J2AD TO 542,200 A word from 7nn national nine OUR SPONSORS 643,200 NEWS Sunday S40.900 national nine 635700 zr.n rugby league 509900 NEWS Saturday SEVENS GRAHAM KEN NEDTS MURPHY doinon 60th SPECIAL 571,400 BROWN-' 493,000 funniest home rugby league 492,100 video SHOW 562,600 TOOHEY CHALLENGE TELEVISION '1 J. 10 places situation.

Jones runs a distant fourth in Sydney (a single peak of 259,000 viewers, a low 131,000, and average 224,000) and while that is headache enough, his program is doing abysmally in the other capitals. In Melbourne, the second biggest market, Jones has a mere 154,200 viewers, in Brisbane 78,600, in Perth 62,500 and Adelaide 44,700 and it is a downhill slide. Ten was the first to reach for the plug, taking just four nights to banish the new entry Level 23 to a Sunday afternoon spot where it can sink without trace. The Winter Olympics should put wings on Nine's skates over the next two weeks. The opening ceremony on Sunday bagged 750,000 Sydney viewers, a 37.5 per cent share on the night 6.30 WorldWatch Featuring: (6.31) Dateline.

(7.00) Le Journal (In French). (7.30) The Journal (In English). (8.00) Chinese News. (8.30) Novosti (Russian). (9.00) Das Journal.

9.30 WeatherWatch And Music. 1 1.30 Business Report-(US). 12.00 English At Work -(Rpt). 12.30 Movie Waltzing Regitze (PG. 89.

Rpt). Ghita Norby. 1.55 WeatherWatch And Music. 4.00 Greek Language And People. 4.30 TV Ed Life in Germany.

5.00 FYI (In Vietnamese). 5.05 MacNeilLehrer-Topical. 6.00 People And Places: The Global Family (New series). 6.30 World News And Weather. 7.00 Dateline Topical program.

Presented by Paul Murphy. 7.30 Goal! With Les Murray. 8.00 Treasure Islands (Debut). 1 3-part series about the mystery and legends of buried treasure. Part Alexander Selkirk, who was marooned off the coast of Chile.

8.30 The Cutting Edge: Barred Wives Documentary about the lives of women who marry men who are in prison. 9.30 Movie Nowhere Man (PG. 91). A cartoonist who is convinced that money can be made from everyday objects tries to sell stones. Comedy with Naoto Takenska.

(Japan). 11.15 Miguel Servet (PG. Rpt. Final). Servet is arrested after arriving in Geneva.

(Spain). 1 2.20 Movie Bitter Day, Sweet Day (M, Rpt). A widow struggles to make a living in a Cairo ghetto. Drama with Faten Hamama. From Egypt 2.25 Close.

Newcastle 5 Wollonong Programs supplied by TV channels SUBJECT TO LATE ALTERATIONS Subtitles for the hearing impaired PERFORMANCE WHITE HEAT Devised, directed and designed by Kim Carpenter Video artist Michelle Mahrer Choreographer Julie-Anne Long Lighting design: Shane Stevens Performed by Barry Otto, Simone Baker and David Prudham Theatre of Image Art Gallery of NSW. February 1 1 ANGELA BENNIE WHITE HEAT is a small performance work showing at the Art Gallery of NSW in conjunction with the Arthur Boyd Retrospective. Devised by Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image, the work draws on some of Boyd's most powerful and familiar visual images for its inspiration and its meanings. It is divided into three parts, with particular reference to Boyd's early paintings, his Bride series and the more recent Shoalhaven series. What is startling about White Heat is that although it is communicating, in the main, through an entirely different medium (that is, performance, and multi-media performance at that) it nevertheless manages to evoke some of the feeling of Boyd's pictures.

Chuck's redneck aloha Diamond Head (1962) at 1.30 am (Weds) on 9: With this title in mind, Charlton Heston was the obvious choice for a stolid dollop of Dallas-style nepotism set in Hawaii. He features as Richard Howland, the bigoted and tyrannical head of a Hawaiian pineapple-growing empire who doesn't mind having long affairs with a native girl in the person of France Nuyen, but steadfastly refuses to permit his younger sister, Yvette Mimeograph, to engage in similar pleasantries with a native boy. Having dispatched an earlier make-believe Hawaiian suitor, played by James Darren, Howland finds himself facing down George Chakiris. When you're a jetsetter et cetera, et cetera Simple racism with lots of jaw clenching, white horses, rednecks, tribal homilies and ultimate redemption. Sleep, come free me! Midday With Derryn Hinch, noon, 9: Hard-hitting, incisive and unflinchingly irrelevant I'm sorry, relevant, Derryn introduces a woman who demonstrates how to make fairy dolls in the privacy of your own living room.

Also sliding stealthily into that same sanctum are Dick Cheney, former US Secretary of Defence that should be fun and one of the world's least funny but eminently likable comedians, By ROBIN OLIVER CHANNEL Nine swept the audience board last week, taking out Sydney's top 10 programs in the first week of the TV season but not all went to plan. Seven Nightly News held the weeknight edge over National Nine News (the situation was sharply reversed at the weekends), while Seven's new fun-and-games entry, Man Man, had an interesting win over veteran ratings pirate Hey Hey Its Saturday. Man Man finished 13th with 461,700 Sydney viewers, two spots ahead of Hey Hey, 45 1,900. In TV terms, anything that can substantially dent Hey Hey's winning habit is acclaimed, while a program that actually gets up to beat it is a triumph. Hey Hey has the advantage of EZ 1 6.00 Cosby's You Bet Your Life.

6.00 (N) Kenneth Copeland. 6.30 ITN World News -Topical. 6.55 Business Today -Finance. 7.00 Today Topical program. 9.00 Here's Humphrey For kids.

9.30 Ernie And Denise-Variety. 9.30 (N) Romper Room For kids. 10.00 (N) I Dream Of Jeannie. 10.30 News, Sport And Weather. 10.30 (N) You Bet Your Life 1 1 .00 What's Cooking Geoff Jansz.

1 1.30 Entertainment Tonight. 12.00 Midday With Derryn Hinch. 1.30 Days Of Our Lives-(PG) 2.30 Young And The Restless. 3.30 Evening Shade (PG). 3.30 (W.

N) The New Sale (S). 4.00 Davis Rules-Comedy. 4.00 (W) Kidzone For kids. 4.30 Wonder World! -Topical. 5.00 Paradise Beach Drama.

5.30 The Price Is Right Game. 6.00 News, Sport And Weather. 6.00-7.00 (W. N) News. 6.30 A Current Affair- Topical.

7.00 The New Sale Of The Century (S). Quiz show. 7.00 (W. N) A Current Affair. 7.30 Australia's Funniest Home Video Show (PG).

Comedy. 8.00 A Word From Our Sponsor -(PG). Television commercials. 8.30 1994 Winter Olympics -Including: Men's 500m Speed Skating; Men's Luge; Men's Alpine Combined Downhill; Men's Cross Country and Ice Hockey. From Lillehammer.

1 2.00 The Late Show With David Letter-man (PG). Talk show. 1.00 Entertainment Tonight. 1.30 Movie Diamond Head (PG, 62, Rpt). A man opposes his sister's desire to marry.

Featuring Charlton Heston. 3.30 Body, Mind And Spirit. 4.00 Twilight Zone (PG. Rpt). 4.30 Roe (PG).

Comedy series. 5.00 Sibs-(PG). Comedy series. 5.30 The Sullivans (Rpt). David Prudham, White Heat lacks an inherent idea of its own to sustain it.

It falters under the shadow of its mentor. And, strangely, it is devoid of the one element that is inherent in all of Boyd's work, whether of a shocking skull wasted in a desert or of a tranquil river scene, and that is drama drama that speaks of humanity and the human condition, or its pain and mortality, yet its sense of transcendence. Without that white heat to burn its heart, White Heat remains a mere construct in the foyer while the real drama takes place on the stage around it. pranks or doctored cocktails by Ross Street regulars, let me say that the story, by Peter Schreck, is a good one which makes good use of the longer timeframe. A downcast William, reeling from the loss of a patient during surgery, heads west to wake in fright in a western town seething with racial unrest His fear of flying (surgery wise) is confronted and he meets Martin Dempsey who will be recruited to fill Steve's shoes in the weeks to come.

The program is tired but it still can raise a head of steam when needed and this episode will please a lot of loyaJ fans. DOUG ANDERSON Through its collage of imagery, sound, dance and movement, there is in it the feeling of disjunction with the world, yet fascination and celebration of it. There is the feeling of joy coloured by fear as well as appreciation of the world's transience and its solidity. There is humour at it and childlike innocence and wonder of it. On the other hand, that is where its relationship with Boyd (apart from its genesis, of course) begins and ends.

While it is performed with discipline and artistry by its three cast members, Barry Otto, Simone Baker and Vince Sorrenti. Adding a necessary touch of sub-virtual reality, our old friend Captain Kirk from Star Trek. CP, 8.30 pm, 2: Tonight marks the return of this program for a sixth season. It also marks the 200th episode and while viewers are being regaled by the prescription-strength, movie-length instalment, various hacks and scribes will be at the GP Dinner Dance and Locum Soiree at the Ritz Carlton Hotel where, you may be sure, I will be among those availing themselves of your eight cents a day for a good few years to come. And to avoid being subjected to rough surgical lot.

hex 6.00 Sports Tonight (Rpt). 6.00 (N) News And Weather. 6.30 Neighbours -(S. Rpt). 7.00 The Big Breakfast For kids.

8.30 Mulligrubs (Rpt). For kids. 9.00 Good Morning Australia. 1 1.00 General Hospital (PG). 12.00 Sally Jessy Raphael Teens Face Parents (PG).

Topical. 1 .00 Bold And Beautiful (PG). 1.30 Donahue Donor Stories. 2.30 The Oprah Winfrey Show -Welcome To Oprah Rosie's Cooking School (PG). Chat.

3.30 Live It Up (PG). Lifestyle. 4.00 Hogan's Heroes (Rpt, bw). 4.30 Totally Wild Wildlife. 5.00 News, Sport And Weather.

5.00 (W) The Simpsons (Rpt). 5.30 (W) Neighbours (S). 6.00 The Simpsons (Rpt). 6.00-7.00 (W) News And Weather. 6.30 Neighbours -(S).

Drama. 7.00 Alan Jones Live Topical. 7.30 Roseanne (PG). Roseanne really wants another baby and starts to get Dan organised. 8.00 Seinfeld (PG).

Comedy. 8.30 Melrose Place (PG). Jake feels betrayed by Jo's lack of trust in him and decides to move out. With Grant Show. 9.30 Law Order (M).

The body of a teenaged boy is found in an abandoned shed, and Logan and Cerreta trace the murder weapon to one of the boy's classmates. With Paul Sorvino. 10.35 News And Weather. 1 1.05 Sports Tonight-Sports news. 1 1 .35 Alan Jones Live (Rpt).

12.05 (N) Close. 12.05 The Streets Of San Francisco. 1.05 (W) Close. 1.05 The Professionals (M. Rpt).

Drama with Martin Shaw. 2.05 Movie Fathom (67. Rpt). Drama with Raquel Welch. 4.00 Prisoner (S, M.

Rpt). 5.00 Maniac Mansion (Rpt). 5.30 True Colours. muz 6.00 Open Learn Time To Grow. 6.30 AusTV News- (Rpt).

Topical. 7.00 I st Edition News program. 7.30 Open Learning (S). Australian Stud. (8.00) Earth Rev.

8.30 Sesame Street (Rpt). 9.25 The Adventures Of Spot. 9.30 Play School (Rpt). For kids. 1 0.00 Puddle Lane (Rpt).

For kids. 1 0. 1 5 Gumtree (Rpt). For kids. 1 0.25 Windfalls (Rpt).

For kids. 10.30 Middle English: Quentin. 1 0.45 Moon Man (Rpt). For kids. 1 0.55 The Ratties (Rpt).

For kids. 1 1.00 Vidiot-(Rpt). Quiz show. 1 1 .30 The Campbells For kids. 1 2.00 The World At Noon News.

1 2.30 Lateline (Rpt). Topical. 1.00 4 Corners-(S. Rpt). 1.45 Media Watch -(Rpt).

2.00 Childhood (Rpt. Final). 3.00 Sesame Street For children. 3.55 Bananas In Pyjamas (Rpt). 4.00 Play School (Rpt).

For kids. 4.30 Gumby-(Rpt). For kids. 4.55 Funny Bones For kids. 5.00 Where's Wally For kids.

5.25 Bananaman-(Rpt). 5.30 Rugrats-For children. 6.00 Maid Marian And Her Merry Men (S, New series). 6.25 Roger Ramjet (Rpt). 6.30 TVTV-Television news.

7.00 News, Sport And Weather. 7.30 The 7.30 Report Topical. 8.00 EveryBody- (Rpt, Final). 8.30 GP (1994 Return). William has to make decisions that will affect a whole community.

10.00 Red Dwarf (Final). Sci-fi. 1 0.30 Lateline (S). Topical. 11.05 American College Basketball.

1 2.30 AusTV News Topical. 1 .00 Inside Chernobyl Sarcophagus (S. Rpt). Documentary. 2.00 Movie Deadlier Than The Male (M, 67).

Nigel Green. 3.3 I Love Lucy (Rpt, bw). 4.05 Dr Who: Vengeance Varos. 5.00 Open Learning (S). nal Studies.

(5.30) Accounting. AlaSM oDciDiniJSS ILfiwOo He won't take 'no comment' for an answer. 7100 pm weeknights..