The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 19

Akron Beacon Journal Wednesday. July 23, 1986 B7 usic' misses mark Despite talented east, 4Ni ghtM Count Carl-Magnus doesn't quite manage to find the key to this pompous fellow's stupidity. Beverly H. Billin is excellent as Desiree's daughter, Frederika, and Kathy Jaworski makes a properly brassy Petra, the maid with loads of experience. Yet, the pacing and design of this Night Music ultimately do it in.

Maybe summer stock simply is the wrong place to try to stage a musical as delicate and tricky as this piece, which hasn't been treated carefully enough by the Kenley troupe. A few more of the omitted Sondheim lyrics say it better: "Where is passion in the art, where's craft?" By Donald Rosenberg Beacon Journal music critic Several of the most perceptive lyrics in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music have been omitted in the production of the 1973 show that the Kenley Players are offering this week at the Akron Civic Theatre. In the song titled Liaisons, the worldly Madame Armfeldt is supposed to take a moment to lament how standards simply aren't what they used to be. "Where is style?" goes one of the crucial lines that went. Indeed, style is the very element missing in the Kenley version of Night Music.

The Sond-heim-Hugh Wheeler musical is a Benay Venuta's Madame Armfeldt possesses a wonderful blend of eccentricity and fatalism, though she could squeeze the juice out of a few more lines. As Anne Egerman, Fredrik's young, virginal wife, Elizabeth King makes the most of the girl's immaturity and charm, and her soprano sounds sweet. Mark Thomsen does superb, sensitive work as Fredrik's lovesick son Henrik, a seminary student who undoubtedly will have to change his career plans. Jo Ann Cunningham's deadpan delivery is right on the button as the dejected Countess Charlotte, but Gary Jaketic's nicely sung ABC, PBS join in literacy proj ect Tuesday's opening-night performance, at least, Sondheim's music moved at a snail's pace. Waltzes never would have become popular had they originally been danced so slowly.

There are other quirks here. For some reason, the five lieder singers who comment on the action throughout the show have been transformed into servants, which reduces the show's intended elegance. The singers in Ken-ley's quintet have healthy voices of the belting variety, but Sond-heim obviously had something more refined in mind. Amid all the wrong notes (noisy lighting equipment, pale sets, unnecessary choreography, in Roman Polanski's Pirates, tinny amplification), one can find some delightful performers. Mariette Hartley is an en-chantingly spontaneous Desiree, the actress who makes every effort to rekindle an old relationship in the face of great odds.

Miss Hartley's comic timing is keen and her singing fresh. She even whistles Mozart with flair. Let's see more of her in musical comedy (she'd probably be a terrific Mame). Terence Monk is able, as always, but a bit uncomfortable as the lawyer Fredrik Egerman, the current object of Desiree's desire, perhaps because his fine voice lacks the depth this role needs. a spoof of pirate movies engage in some desparate mugging which isn't enough.

Perhaps the notion of a scrag-gly Walter Matthau playing the kind of role once filled by the handsome Errol Flynn seemed funny enough to carry the movie. It is funny, but only for a little while. Pirates is long and dull. Even the background music is tepid. And there's nothing Matthau can do to save the movie.

gram. After the shows stir ud increased interest in literacy, the cities in which the 212 ABC affiliates and 313 PBS affiliates are located are preparing to have services ready to handle a larger number of adults interested in learning how to read better. If anyone deserves praise in particular for starting PLUS, it is probably Margot Woodwell, vice president and station manager of WQED, the PBS outlet in Pittsburgh. WQED is one of the most praiseworthy stations in the PBS system, outranked only by New York's WNET and Boston's WGBH as a national production center. "We've had a number of outreach programs," Ms.

Woodwell said. "We often test projects locally to see if they are valid, then take them nationally." Unemployment spurred WQED's interest in literacy, said Ms. Woodwell, after the station discovered that many people who had made a good living in the steel industry lacked the literacy skills to function well in the job market after they were laid off. "We started a local literacy project two years ago," she said. After that, PBS gave WQED a grant of about $300,000 to work up a national literacy program.

Last year, said Ms. Woodwell, "I was approached by ABC because their affiliates had come to them and said, 'We would like to see ABC involved in a literacy program in which local stations could play a It was coincidence we both had the same idea, after we had gotten involved earlier, a year before." By Lee Winfrey Knight-Rldder Newspapers Numerous people sometimes suspect that television is reducing the overall reading skill of the American people. So it's nice to hear that ABC and PBS, in their first cooperative effort, have joined in a program to improve the national literacy level. Project Literacy U.S. (PLUS) is a year-long effort aimed in particular at increasing the reading skills of adults.

The, World Almanac lists the literacy rate in America at 99 percent, which is about as good as you can get in an imperfect world. But, according to PLUS, more than 20 million Americans have a fourth-grade education or less, which makes it very difficult for them to function effectively in an Increasingly technological society. This core group of 20 million or so is the main target for PLUS. For the average viewer, the most visible part of PLUS will be a sharply increased volume of programming about literacy. Both ABC and PBS plan documentaries on the subject next season, and ABC also will study the subject on installments of World News Tonight, 20-20, Nigh-tline and This Week with David Brinkley.

ABC is also aiming to work the topic of literacy into the story lines of entertainment shows, both old series like Growing Pains and Who's the Boss? and new series like The Ellen Burstyn Show, Head of the Class and Our Kind of Town. PLUS is a double-barreled pro itmV' mm'imh'Jt REVIEW Ply: A Little Night Music When: Akron Civic Theatre. 182 S. Main St. When: 8:30 tonight through Friday, 3 and 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday Coat: $10 and $15 Information: 375-0550 subtle, sophisticated piece, with a lilting, waltz-filled score and a bittersweet view of love that can be both wickedly funny and touching. Despite the presence of a cast that largely does a lovely job, don't expect much subtlety or lilt from the Kenley production. At should be REVIEW Movie: Pirates Stars: Walter Matthau, Cris Campion Director: Roman Polanski Studio: Cannon Films Theaters: Rolling Acres, Mellett Mall, Kent Plaza theaters and Gala Twin, Magic City drive-ins Rating: PG-13 Red, a scourge among pirates. When first seen, he and a young companion called Frog (Cris Campion) are adrift on a raft with an obviously phony shark circling them.

Captain Red is so hungry he eats a live fish, fishhook and all. He also attempts a little cannibalism, the plump rear end of his friend being the menu item of the moment. At another time he is seen wolfing down some oatmeal, face down in the bowl at the time. It is upon such gross moments, unfortunately, that Pirates depends for laughs. When he isn't SPONSORS Of CLEVELAND INDIANS FINAL i EDITION RADIO 1 1 VWVWE WtMHJKt any rrn or wood on MfTM WINDOW mm.

SAVE SUMMER SPECIAL OFF OUR A mutiny breaks out on board the Spanish galleon Neptune fed to the sharks muaauuaancann engaging in grotesque dining, Captain Red is given to relieving himself by urinating in an occupied bathtub. Even when there are moments of genuine humor, they are allowed to fall apart. Example Captain Red negotiating the price of hostages and finding that the bottom has dropped out of the market. The routine goes on long enough to fall flat. Polanski tackles all the contentions of pirate movies and then attempts to make fun of them.

There are boarding parties, hand-to-hand combat, prison escapes, mutiny and treachery. These conventions are given a twist, but they are merely twisted out of shape, removing their inherent excitement without adding laughter. And what of Matthau? He's been doing movie comedy long enough that his mere appearance evokes laughter. Polanski's script (he also is co-author) too often leaves Matthau nothing to do but 3G0 FACTORY REBATE the Federal Government discontinued the energy tax credit in December, 1985. For a limited time only, Ohio State will give $300 DIRECTLY TO YOU with any whole-howe replacement window order (mln.

8 windows). 'Pirates' By Tony Mastroianni Special to the Beacon Journal When Walter Matthau sits down with knife and fork to eat a rat, it's easy to forget that director Roman Polanski's Pirates is supposed to be a comedy. One recalls instead that Polanski once directed a movie called Repulsion. What Pirates proves is that you can't tell a movie by its director, nor by its star. Polanski, who also directed Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown, shows little talent for spoofing pirate films, which obviously was the intention.

On the other hand, he once made a movie called The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck, so he is no stranger to spoofing. Whatever the problem, Pirates fails as both adventure and as comedy. Matthau, done up in beard, wooden leg and an occasional Cockney accent, plays Captain AS SEEN ON TV EXCLUSIVE LIFETIME FACTORY 1 WHITE On HEW WARRANTY I BROWN VINYL USINO ENERGY-SAVING HEAT REFLECTIVE SUNGLAS COMPLETE btf.vn 1111 I A T-TS At $1000 ON 10 THERMAL REPLACEMENT WINDOWS pER TOO OFF window REGULAR LOW LIST PRICE ON REPLACEMENT WINDOWS 'INSTALLED 1 storms and SUMMER SPECIAL rtfU'MQ nun ninei I SCREENS AND 1 THERMAL STORM $KQQ DOOR UJjil INSTALLED SUNGLAS Smwtn Aertiw Hoi Homm And Gmtm HOME IMPROVEMENT CENTERS- IN 30 DAYS! "7 EASILY! AFFORD ABLY! SAFELY! f-A 'I CS: PROGRAM INCLUDES: rC'wl i 11 ONE MONTH OF NUTRA BOLIC'S EXCLUSIVE ffifflgn TI A I Jri "1 FAT BURNING SYSTEM 1 A JpTZ I 3 MINIMUM 3 VISITS PER WEEK wn I SBsffi IU D- FOR ONE MONTH I'll 'XntfhSiD IF! PRE DIET EVALUATION I VfiF I NUTRITIONAL COUNSEUNG I I V- "I PRIVATE BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION SESSIONS I I Y)jl Offer Limited I i' i NO EXPENSIVE MEDICAL FEES! rj NO HUNGER! NO SHOTS OR DRUGS! NO EXERCISE! 1 ififl CALL NOW! LOW BANK RATE FINANCING SUMMER SPECIAL SUMMER SPECIAL INSULATED STEEL SECURITY DOORS GLASS BLOCK WINDOWS 10 OFF Reg. Prices LIMITED TIME ONLY MYM AKRON TION 1 N.W. AKRON 864-2220 1900 West Market St.

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