The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 13

FRIDAY 1LHffflHtf Arts ENTE3 ITAINMENT Edited by LOUISE AOLER There to even a kind of Interper sonal therapy being played out. In a Dancing with would-be devils quiet but earnest way, this "grunge TODAY'S Highlights Rock Festival movie par excellence (as it has been called) is realty a twentysomething testament for the nineties. Brady beacons of goodness Film L7. The Palace, Wednesday. Reviews Life affirmed in the color of Turandot Australia FeHx Benalla.

IS-23 April LOUISE MARTIN ARRIVING ONSTAGE with glow-f in-the-dark devil's horns on J. A. their heads and clearettes Billing itself a the largest regional visual art festival ever mounted in the nation, Australia Felix feature more law aVa Beach. Village, Hoyts, Greater Union. dangling Keith Richards-like from than 200 artists, performers, writer, musicians and their mouths L7 proceeded to launcn into a potentially evil set.

The volume stayed at eardrum-bursting level all night as they hurled expletives over layers of dense guitar. But the horns fell off after the third song and this fourpiece from Los comedian acroi 36 venue and most shows are free. Exhibition by Charles Blackman. Lenton Parr, artists from the Angry Penguin Movement, contemporary and Aboriginal art. Opera Angeles adopted, a saintly manner Film Gettysburg Atior, Chapel Street, St Kilda, Sunday 2 and 7.30pm.

Also Monday and Tuesday. Ronald F. Maxwell's 254-minute epic painstakingly and accurately depicts the three-day battle that became one of the bloodiest of the American civil war. Jeff Daniels save the day for the Union as Colonel J.L. Chamberlain, Confederate commander Robert E.

Lee is played by Martin Sheen and even Civil War buff Ted Turner (whose CNN TV network funded the project) has a bit part. Comedy VvLL i LaT'-'lV' jaaaaaair. ifl ggWi aHf aa i- wtl mi Wvi j-' Hk-Hb ftBTi Bv'B ll ,1 P' mMi SSI IBM In Lm ftTfi 'HB .11 tolI viW that seemed tar too wnoiesome tor their raucous punk repertoire. "Hello Melbourne!" they greeted the crowd. Most bands who can remember the location of their hotel tap into the nationalistic veins of our cultural cringe, but L7 took it one step further.

Introducing some democracy to the proceedings, the band asked a member of the audience to choose the songs for their encore. Joe from Northcote got to select three songs by spinning a homemade wheel that the band's tattooed roadie helpfully brought on stage. When the wheel landed on Waltzing Matilda, the band gave their interpretation of the song indecipherable lyrics screamed over a wailing contest of guitars. They said they wouldn't play Andre, the first single from their latest album Hungry for Stink, but were too kind to refuse the audience's request. "Be nice!" they urged the crowd at die end of the song.

"Be good to yourselves and one another," was their parting advice. The demonic horns didn't have a chance of staying on these heads. Hat trick wins younger crowd Kids KENDALL HILL 4222 Clinton Way, Los Angeles, 1995. The Brady Bunch family home, 21 years later. In the midst of killer bee swarms, earthquakes, drive-by gang wars and pure greed, the wholesome, family values of Carol, Mike and the remodelled Brady kids shine like a beacon of goodness.

But The Brady Bunch Movie is not a tale of good against evil, white against black. It's a story about cherry pink against turquoise a funky tale of school dances, dating, and middle child syndrome. And, of course, it's the story, of a lovely lady The big surprise is that it's seriously funny. After decades of limp attempts to recapture the Brady magic (remember the appalling Brady BrideA Or A Very Brady ChristnuvS), tills one succeeds. Instead of regurgitating what once was, it dishes up pure cult comedy.

The plot is simple. A greedy developer, Larry Dltmeyer (also the Bra-dys' next-door neighbor) wants them to sell their house to him so he can knock it down, build a mini-mall, and get rich. The Brady resist, until they get a council letter telling them they are $20,000 behind in their property taxes. They can't pay. They just spent all their savings on family holidays to the Grand Canyon and Hawaii.

Mike consoles the desolate bunch with one of many senseless, lunatic parodies of the original Brady wisdom. "We're Bradys and, as a wise man once said, 'Wherever you go, there you Everyone feels much better. Much of the film revolves around the most popular Brady, Marcia (played by Christine Taylor with Per-matan and kaftan). Watch her brush her spun-gold hair 5000 times to win over high school heartthrob Doug Simpson. Cry with her in the legendary "Oh my nose" scene, where a gridiron ball to the snout shatters all her vain dreams.

"Now I'll never be a teen model I'll never be anything. What's the point of living? I might as well die." Meanwhile, Greg (Christopher Daniel Barnes) is In his Johnny-Bra- attack and a touch of remoteness, which together often make her high notes thrilling. Arax Mansourian as Liu provided a nice contrast; her voice was usually soft-edged and tender, although occasionally marked by an obtrusive silvery tone. Kenneth Collins looked the part as Calaf the challenger, and is the right kind of Italian tenor for the role, capable of neo-Wagnerian pithiness one minute and of caressing the notes the next. However his voice is not loud, and there were times when it was obscured by the orchestra.

Ping, Pong and Pang were very well performed by John Pringle, Graham Ewer and Christopher Dawes. The three flounced around Uke eunuchs in the Chinese court, and were resourcefully directed so that their lengthy scenes passed quickly, like a running commentary of gossip. Pringle as Ping sang particularly smoothly. Donald Shanks sang Timur with craggy authority, but as the Emperor Robert Gard was a little characterless. The chorus work was excellent extending to the children while Carlo Felice CUlario's conducting brought out the suppleness and majesty of the score.

Kristian Frederikson's sets were restrained but always suggestive. And, since there was a black backdrop throughout the performance, this was one opera where the lighting was important. John Drummond Montgomery came up with a number of interesting effects, both subtle and bold, which considerably enhanced the effectiveness of the production. It remains well worth seeing. Delights among the slackers Film Tw andot: AuttraHan Optra.

State Theatre until 10 May. JIM DAVIDSON IT IS TEMPTING to read Turandot as an encounter with death. While this may be postponed in the peremptory finale, that is altogether too brief to constitute a convincing happy ending. Then there remains the awareness that Puccini himself did not last the distance, metaphorically succumbing to his ice maiden just after writing the death of her rival. There are some sensitive interpretations of the work that have been informed by this approach.

The first act one of the finest In all opera can be made to emanate a distinct chill, its cold orientalism being a thousand miles removed from the world of Madame Butterfly. The crowd scenes become urgent, ravening; a sense of cruelty and capriciousness is never far away. But the Graeme Murphy production revived by the Australian Opera takes quite a different tack. It is, one way and another, life-affirming; there is too much color and movement for It to be anything else. In the first act there is the splendid barbarity of the Tartar soldiers, surrounding a bare-chested executioner; the relatively simply clad Peking citizenry bunch together in various combinations, providing a wave of undulations to accompany the surges In their chorus to the moon.

Conductor CUlario's interpretation here is warm and fluid, perfectly matching Murphy's modulations from one episode to the Turandot is first glimpsed in the first act, perhaps a little too formally to make sufficient impact; but Calaf a progression upstage after sounding his challenge is positively Wagnerian in treatment and ifr. Cillario was on hand here too to provide a suitably affirmative sound from the orchestra. In the second act, the Emperor is glimpsed as a tiny head above a mountain of orange fabric; it Is from under his skirts that Turandot makes her entrance. Ruth Falcon has a big and commanding voice, and if a little wooden in her acting, she neverthe Las Evans Universal theatre, Victoria Street, Fiaroy. Tuesday-Sunday 9pm.

A beet-red lad with ear like tureen handles and Brillo pad hair, this English comic play much on being a nervy, gawky neophyte comedian, kicking off with a hilarious silent routine accompanied by a home-learning-style tape called So You Wanna Be a Comedian? Recording Turandot. Ruth Falcon in the title role Kenneth Collins as Calaf. and Out of the Hat: CbristiM HvtcMntoo. Last Laugh, 64 Smith Street, Collingwood, until 22 April. where their films are droll and man-nefed, Smith's is lively and Immediate.

Opting for a simple, frontal, wide-shot camera strategy, Smith puis all his energy into the actors and their screwy, rapid-fire exchanges. Not since Pulp Fiction has a movie showcased such lovably raw characters. All their dalrv, murky obsessions Debussy: 24 Preludes Duncan Gifford piano. Walsingkam 8016-2. Debussy's musical idiom has been so influential this century that it is hard to imagine how revolutionary these tone-picture' were 80 years ago.

These vivid and evocative miniatures (on two CD) cover an array of settings, from are laid bare ey banter about sport andi tabloid newspapers, school chums they like and detest, oral and overcame my resistance immediately. There is almost nothing to the plot. Dante (Brian O'Halloran) works dutifully In a grocery store, and his mate Randal (Jeff Anderson) slums In the video shop next door. We watch a day's passing parade; customers, visits from Dante's current girlfriend Veronica (Marilyn Ghigtlortl) and hit old flame Caitlin (Lisa Spoonhauer), and the moronic drug dealers who work the street out from. There are occasionally more riotous incidents involving an impromptu hockey game on the shop's roof, a disastrous excursion to a friend's funeral, alio several appearances by harried law enforcers.

But mostly this is a film of "blackout" skits and gags, milking hilarity from the smallest details of an ordinary situation. Written and directed by Kevin Smith, Clerks ends with a warm thank you to those trailblazers in American independent filmmaking, Jim jarmusch and Hal Hartley. Yet anal sex. The film captures an authentic sense of contemporary working class life rootless and ungla vo-the-record-star stage and testing swirling air to the desolation of Footprints in the Snow, from the haunting mystery of The Sunken GREG BURCHALL TIE KIDS weren't exactly sure what to expect from Christine Hutchinson as she belted out the title song across her Madonna head-mike, but when, in its final verse, she literally pulled a live rabbit (Eric, the dwarf bunny)1 but' of her hat, they were hers. The hard-working Hutchinson spins yarns whips up singalonga dances, mugs, coughs up ping-pong balls and pulls scarves out of the ears of keen kiddie volunteers for a full-throttle 50 minutes.

The comic-magician-musician really had die audience intrigued when she made the stage come alive with sparkles and bubbles and smoke and lights. We're recommending the show for the three-to-sevens. Kino, city, George. St Hilda. morous, but still somehow vital that should strike a chord with those Australian viewers fond of the work of John Ruane or Brian McKenzie, Yet, for all their colorful verbal ob new pjcx-up lines, me, well, ney there, groovy chick," which go down like high-salt butter with the r90s girls at Westdale High.

Look out for cameos by the original Peter (Christopher Knight), Greg (Barry Williams), Alice (Ann B. Davis) and Carol (Florence Henderson). And remember, when you tattle on someone, you're not just telling on them, you're telling on yourself. (Hey, I never thought of it like that.) uunearai to tne quirsy Minstrels. Duncan Gifford, 21, shows a ready mastery of this very individual sound, the layers carefully sculpted, the articulation detailed yet limpid.

Excellent. Compiled by Greg Burchall: comedy: Guy Rundle; CD: Barney Zwartz. ADRIAN MARTIN CLERKS IS AN ABSOLUTE delight. Although I have grown highly suspicious of the current infatuation of our art house cinemas with ultra low-budget American fare, this film scenities and proletarian aggro, the people in Clerks have a surprisingly sensitive side. Of course, they are the certified "slackers" of "Generation a bit alienated and solipsistic, less brings to the role both a sense of generally rather lost on Hie path SEVEN and PRIME SBS Television 6am Bona And Daughter.

S. 8.30 Agrot Cartoon Connection. G. 8.0 Totall TEN and TEN VfC 6am Cricket The filth day play in the Second Test Skat Indie Australia, continues live from Antigua. 7 JO' Aerobic Ox Styl.

G. $J0 Totaay SBkL R. 8J0 isli alt Children same show. C. 8.30 The Book NINE and WIN 6am ITN World News.

G. WIN: MUtJura only: Cricket continues until 7.30. 6.30 Daybreak New. Inc Buslnees Today. G.

7.0 Today. Infotainment G. 9.0 Here Hurnchrey P. 9.30 Turn Round AustraHa Easter Special. Religious program.

G. 10.0 Lamb Of God. Program depicting the final hours in the life of Jesus Christ G. 10 JO Now. 11.0 Educational children series.

P. 9.0 Good Friday Handing the football dream back to the fan Appeal, uve telecast ot the annual appeal to raise money for the Royal Children's JjosgitaJDonation numbers: G. 11 JO WorldWatch. International news, including Greek News. 7.0 Italian News 7.45 CoMrtoMM News 8.0 Mandarin Nws.

8.30 Da Journal. 9.0 La Journal. 0.45 pfovoeu. 10.13 weaiiMi wen rioteselooal end Oraduart Education. R.

11.0 The Journal. 11 JO Business Report 12.0 English At Work. R. 12.30pm FHhv Hldl. 1951 Swiss adaptation of the children classic about an orphan who is sent to live with her grandfather in a mountain village.

Starring Elsbeth Sigmund and Heinrich Gretler. G. 2.08 wbatherwatch and Music. 2 JO Professional and Vietnamese). 5.06 Qeoionu21 33 33; Regional 1800 629 668.

12.0 News. TWO 6.30am Open Learning: French In Action 2. R. 7.0 The Beading, Wetting Roadahow. R.

7.30 Open Learning: Aboriginal Studies. 8.0 Discovering Psychology. 5x 8.30 Sesame Street. R. 9.25 Adventures Of Spot R.

9.30 Play School. R. 10.0 Children Programs. 12.0 Songs Of Prate. R.

S. 12.35pm Film: Brief Encounter. 1945 British romantic drama starring Celia Jdhnson and Trevor Howard. G. 2.0 Foreign Correspondent R.

256 Consuming Passions. R. 3.0 Journey To The Cross. 3.58 Banana hi Pyjomao. R.

4.0 Play School, ft, S. 4 JO BHnky Bll. R. 4.55 Paddlngton Boar. R.

8.0 Captain Planet And Trio Pleneteer. R. 628 Benanemen. 8.30 Pros Gang. British drama series.

R. a'soOardenbwTAuabaM. A voting bov lruotainment. u. jm new.

12.0 FHm: Th Ton IAMMeiMMaaBajatai 1 AC-W4Jl I MOJ ILMnOJInaS. Biblical epic starring Charhon Heston and Vol Brynner. The story of Moses and his peopte and their exodus from tgypt With Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget Directed by Cecil B. DeMUie.

R. G. 4.3QprA Totatty WBd. C. tM New, Sport, vgaothor 8.0 Trt Brady Bunoh.

US comedy series. Whh Roben Reed. G. 6.30 Malghbours. 1 run alien drama serial.

Sam learn Ms lesson when bis gamhSng sets out of control G. S. finds It difficult to cope with the loss of his father at Easter time. With Casey Ellison. G.

12.0 Entertainment Tontght. Showbuslness news. PG. 12.30pm FHmt BarabbaeT. 1962 drama starring Anthony Quinn and SOvana Mangano.

Story of the thief freed when Jesus was condemned. G. 3.0 Button And Rusty. Children Easter cartoon. G.

3-30 Th UaaaarHand. 4.0 Tti Fmktt PHmm Of Wtm Air G. 4J0 My OiMtatlin. Children's same show. 5.0 -Viewpoint i With Peter Cundall.

S. series. Dan and 1 6.0 Poopto And Place: The ateaMntW Htotory Of Europe. British documentary series. G.

7.0 soccer. Highlights of the 1995 Worid "Kuril 710 Sport Vesathor ttomloido trv to T.30Cempaaa taao Mortc 4 MbMhfi R. G. WW: 77w Prtoe to Right. Utdura only: 8.0 Vaahino For Ood.

Tv Highlights Auction: Sunday Afternoon with Mary Delahunty Channel 2, 3J0pm Auction is a new series set behind the scenes at Sotheby's. In this episode, Safe Under the Bed, we follow the fortunes of two works of art due to be auctioned: The Bullfight, by Goya, which has been in the owner's family since Goya painted it, and a small Winter scene painted on a wooden panel, which a Stockport woman has brought in to be valued. Her uncle found it in an attic and it was almost thrown out. Now Sotheby's suggests that it's by a 17th-century Dutch master. The program is an Intriguing, fleeting glimpse of the attitudes and values at stake in the progress of these sales.

The Seventh Seal SBS. 9.30pm. Friday lngraar Bergman's vividly imaged investigation of questions of life and death, good and evil, dramatised in a mediaeval Journey. Mull Channel 9, Sunday, 10. 30pm Nadine Garner star in this gritty adaptation of Bron Nlcholls' novel.

She plays a teenage girl who take responsibility for more than her fair share of tier family's problems, while trying to come to terms her own adolescent dream and desires. Running for Their Uves StS, 9.30pm. Saturday and Sunday Three-part crime drama (tarring Gianni Morandi, about a musician whose life and family are endangered by an old Maria who has become involved In organised crime. It good to tee a foreign-language drama erie on S6 at prime time, but It to tsow-peced thriller. she Is pubnery ruimlbsted at school.

Wirh Roteaatw T.30meaaTisi Do 'An Sm. Final of the aVkiah cornedy seria. Frank and (1 hr) 5.30 TrrniPrtontofS G. WIN: S8to Of The Century. Q.S.

Championships opening ceremony and opening 12.30pm Good Friday Appeal. Live telecast of the annual appeal to raise money for the Royal Children's Hospital continues, 6,0 Now, Sport, Weather. Presented by Jennifer Keyte. PRIME: Atbury, Local News. 6.30 Today Tonight Current affairs, with by Jill Singer.

PRlMEAJbury, Seven News. .70 Homo And Away. Australian drama-serial. Curtis finally says goodbye to Laura. Donna tells Andrew she still loves him.

With Shane Ammann. S. 7.30 4 Quarters. Program which look at the lighter side of Australian Rules football. Featuring Tim Watson, Wayne Carey, Sandy Roberts, Brlgitte Duclos, Michael Whch.PG.

Live tdecaMrheannual appeal to raise money for the Royal Children's Hospital continues from the world Congress Centre. Guests include John Farnham, Jennifer Keyte, Gina Jeffreys, Jul Singer, Rachel. Beck, The Wiggle, Andrew Daddo, Tempany Deckert, Jon and the MLC Choir, The Umbthcal Bros, Kufcha. 11.0 The Craaa. Evangelist Bill Newman examines the cnes: 6.0 8.30 AC Betty decide to erragtmte to comecty series aoout two i elderly rebels who strike up an alliance at the Bayyiew Retirement Village.

With Graham Crowden. S. 8l28 NOwft (also at 9.22). 8.30 Doctor Pmmy. Scottish drama serial.

Both Drs Finlay and Nell face a crisis Australia. With 7.0 Saw Ot Tho OeMury. S. Bucm Buntrv A Q. 6.0 Karachi Kaon.

British documentary aeries following the datty Uves of police in an increasingly violent Karachi precinct lyapecmM. rj watt. 7.30Burk trie British comedy i PHILIPPA HAWKER room set, mercifully free of football paraphernalia. It's a post-mortem of the weekend's games, and a discussion that touches on the weeks controversies. There is some footage used a mark of the round and goal of the round to choose, a few game highlights but basically the show, as its title Indicates, Is talk.

There's no desperate attempt to entertain, there's none of the bluster and bravado of The Footy Show, this I a more earnest, straightforward attempt to shed light on aspects of the game. As a football caller, Bruce McA-vaney. la generally as much fun as a cross between a mosquito and a statistician, but in this program he tone himself down, concentrating on drawing out hi fellow panellists in the circumstances he's surprisingly bearable, and not afraid of asking the obvious question, which I usually the one you want answered. Malcolm Bright provides the unpredictable perspective that was characteristic of his, playing and coaching; Mike Sheahatv HtreXiSun football writer, ten't reluctant to ex- mo. in tne treatment oi patients.

at Aaeartaaai Caruso. I Gardening, outdoor Irving with Don Burke. The catowhy gardener is Anne Fufwood. One of the best things about Australian Rules is the spectators' kick-to-kick session on the ground after the siren. It's one of the great defining moments of the game, the way kids rush on to the ground to claim it for themselves, and the air is filled with a hundred skewed drop punts and wobbly short passes.

The sport belongs, in that moment, to the people who watch it and dream it, Just as much as it does to those who play It. That passionate identification is an aspect of the game that television can often ignore or patronise. To a program such as The Footy Show, it's Irrelevant: the spectators and fans, the hapless members of the Rublic, are target practice for Sam lewman. But flour Quarters, one of Channel 7's new football programs, seems to provide a more welcoming space for supporters, and for the spirit of the post-match kick-to-kick. That spirit of identification characterises the Call of the Wild segment, hi which spectators are picked at random from the outer and Invited to call a passage of play.

So far, the attempt have been both passionate and parodic: the amateur callers have shown themselves to be quick Improvise rs. one-eyed partisans and keen, critical observers of media cliches and Rex Hunt excesses. Four Quarters has a female pretence, but there no big detl made about It. In the regular sequence In which Wayne Carey visits young viewer to play kick-to-kick at their house, the players have been both boy and girls, and there been no attention drawn to the fact Similarly, Brlgitte Duclot I oh the show a a regular member of the dtscutelon team, whh no greet taftstrr the sim-phtalkt football, along with the On Monday at 10.30pm. Seven Mam fnnfrrr With David Rlnu tout, Annette Crosble.

PG. S. 1957 Swedish drama starrbxt Max von Svdow. 6 30 nan. Maasn alarnaiit.

1989 romance Marrimt lermv GuMMtBlmraiuand and Bibi Anderason. A knight Seagrove, John Shea end Paul Freeman. An assistant TV I Death to a high- US inyiMiy MafteK Mkrvbtr MCuybtoBM to8rtaWtMV nrochicer tries to pane wncft ipc famous magician to on television for the Directed by lawreace Gordon linafnaaMM. iJdM Clark.lt PG S5 Th Wtortd At Votr British documentary series chronicling the events of World Weill: On Our Way I USA 1938-42. G.

10J0 Jjjg- inaBOrtono comedy starring Michael Redgrave and Michael Denbon. Adaptation of Oscar Wildes piay about two eUglbie bachelors who i have problem with their marriage prnepcts. With Edith Evans. Directed by iAnrhonyAaquith. G.

1LO Atta rIM Strict i foemti on AuttnUUi Hie and Christ. G. IJUMam NSC a. So far, they have avoided harping on personalities. This ia a show 18.40 Stretto presemt the latest 18.40 IBgl axbta, m.

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