The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 21

Ccctlcn Television 2 Ann Landers 2 Movie Clock 3 Comics 4 -X i JUL 11 Living Editor Ellen Hale: 694-5070 Gannett NewspapersWednesday, September 17, 1997 JN 'La in all its simplicity THEATER REVIEW TRENDS By Jacques le Sourd Staff writer Simplicity is the key to "Man of La Mancha," the little musical that became a huge hit in the 1960s. The show is built around one colorful character, Don Quixote. One song, "The Impossible Dream," dominates the score and is reprised as often as possible. And there is one love interest, Don Quixote's romantic adulation of the strumpet Aldonza, whom he insists on renaming Dulcinea. At the Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford, director Worth Gardner keeps the focus admirably sharp, and the show's clarity makes it work.

With Broadway's Martin Vidnovic in the title role and a fine supporting cast, this is a "Man of La Mancha" that delivers. The rugged-looking Vidnovic may not match the standard image of Don Quixote de la Mancha. Cervantes' tall, gaunt and hollow-cheeked "knight of the woeful countenance" originally was played by Richard Kiley. But Vidnovic is a commanding actor with a powerful baritone voice that would have made him a Broadway star in an earlier era. He immediately makes the role his own.

It is, in fact, a dual role. For Quixote is actually impersonated here by his creator, the aristocratic novelist Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, who finds himself in a prison vault (evocatively designed by Gregory Hill in the style of the original production) during the Spanish Inquisition. In a mock trial conducted by his fellow prisoners, Cervantes enacts the story of his great novel of 1605. "Don Quixote" (which gave us the word quixotic) is about a knight who tilts at windmills and embodies the spirit of ITU- (- 'At 3 in in r.mni..,, ii ini iirnirm mn- John vecchiolla Don Quixote and Sancho on stage in 'Man of La Mancha' at the Westchester Broadway Theatre. mm 1 1 i v' ft romantic chivalry in defiance of harsh reality.

Happily, Vidnovic's megawatt stage presence is fully matched by his Dulcinea, Kathleen Rowe McAllen, who conveys Aldonza's smoldering sensuality but also the aspiration to true romance that Don Quixote tenderly awakens in her. (Those who have seen the show elsewhere will be amused at how sanitized Aldonza's gang-rape ballet appears in Elmsford.) Yet the spirit of the show is intact. Mitch Leigh's lush melodies and Joe Darion's efficient lyrics manage not to sound like the cliches they have become. Bill Stanley's musical direction is especially notable: The orchestra sounds as crisp and rich as the show looks in Gardner's faultless staging. Tickets range from $43.

77 to $67.25 plus tip. At 1 Broadway Plaza, Elmsfor Reservations: 592- 2222. Gay teachers are not yet accepted, as a new film makes clear By Marshall Fine Staff Writer If homosexuality remains a hot-button issue, then homosex- uality among classroom teach- ers is positively nuclear. So expect loud public discussion of the subject with Friday's release of "In Out," a new comedy starring Kevin Kline. In the film, Kline plays Howard Brackett, an English teacher in small-town Indiana who is outed by a former student who wins an Oscar.

One problem: Howard is getting married that week and denies he gay. Despite that he has lived there all his life, everyone in town begins to look at Howard in a new way. More to the point, the school board pressures him and the message is clear: If he is, in fact, gay, he's out of a job. While gay characters are more visible in films and TV than ever before, "In Out" is one of the first to confront homosexuality in the education system. Though not an issue-centered movie, it deals with a dilemma facing gay teachers every day: whether to be open about their sexuality or not, with the repercussions inherent in either choice.

Because this is a Hollywood feature, there's a happy ending. Given the subject matter, is that realistic? Paul Rudnick, who wrote the screenplay, says, "I've read about teachers who have come out and have been fired or made so miserable they quit. And I've read about others who Please see OUT, 3C avoid In hearts, the object is keep from accumulating penalty points. The game is over when someone reaches 100. By all accounts, the president is an aggressive player.

He plays for fun and relaxation. But he's as interested in winning as blocking others from victory. He carefully counts cards and closely monitors the moves of others, says Lindsey. He says the two have played "innumerable" games since the earliest days of the 1992 presidential campaign. On Air Force One, Clinton presides at the head of the table in the Boeing 747's conference room.

Top aides or VIPs usually round out a foursome. On occasion, a reporter is invited. One of those was asked by Clinton to switch seats with him when he thought the reporter and Lindsay were teaming up against him. While playing, the president i might also eat a sandwich, take a telephone call or inquire, Please see HEARTS, 3C The pencil gives way to the keyboard for exams The muddled sentence on the computerized test needs correcting. I scan the first four solutions.

An impatient clicker, I choose No. 4 just as I notice No. 5 is the better choice. Oops. It's too late.

The computer has already recorded my answer and there's no going back. But at least it's only a practice drill. Starting in October, anyone taking the Graduate Management Admission Test, commonly called GMAT, will do so on a computer. And that means no more No. 2 pencils or erasers.

And that's just for starters. The last paper version of the GRE, or Graduate Record Exam, will be given in the spring of 1999. And computerized versions of the SAT, or Scholastic Assessment Test, also are being tried out. (An amendment to New York's Truth in Testing Law that would have required.computerized test makers to also offer paper exams didn't make it through the legislature this year.) The Educational Testing Service, which administers such tests, tells novice computer users not to worry. Before the exam starts, a tutorial will show them how to control the mouse.

(Anyone who remembers his first mouse lesson knows how much help that will be.) "It's definitely different from every other test from the SAT on," says John Flood, who will take the GMAT next month. "I'm used to being able to stare at paper, write on it, mahipulate it." Flood, who grew up playing on his dad's PC in Larchmont, figures he'll do fine on the computer. What worries him is the test's new "adaptive" format. The first few questions on the GMAT are of average difficulty. Answer them right and you'll get tougher questions worth more points.

Get too many wrong and you'll see easier questions worth fewer points. Testers who like to skip around are out of luck. You have to answer the first question before you can go onto the next. And you can't go back and change answers. Joyce Pepper, a financial analyst at MasterCard in Purchase, plans to take the GMAT in November.

"The first 10 questions are the most important," she says. "If you flub those, the rest of the test is completely skewed." Pepper, who took one of Kaplan's prep courses, says all in her class seemed PC savvy. ut what about test takers who aren't? "I think people will get psyched out using the computer if they're not used to it, she says. This may not be a big problem for GMAT test takers, typically college graduates with business experience. But it could prove tough for college-bound high school students who may or may not have much computer experience.

Critics already complain SATs favor students from upper-middle class families. Those same students also are more likely to be exposed to computers. In homes making $50,000 or more, 59 percent have CD-ROM computers, according to Fairfield Research in Lincoln, Neb. But in families earning less than $20,000, only 4 percent own such computers. The Educational Testing Service claims scores taken on pencil and paper are the same as those on computers, regardless of the test takers' computer experience.

But Charles Rooney of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing in Cambridge, remains dubious. "I don't think the final results are in on that," he says. "It certainly defies common sense." Rooney also worries about test takers who get nervous around computers. "It's an extra level of anxiety," says Rooney. "Very few people are phobic about pencils and paper." Deborah Porterfield covers trends and technology for this newspaper.

Write her at Gannett Suburban Newspapers, 1 Gannett Drive, White Plains, NY 10604, or by e-mail at debpcyburban.com. Call 694-5075. Wi T. jt i 1 .5 'v Joan Cusack and Kevin Kline in a scene from 'In and The look of shock tells the story: His career is in jeopardy, in which Kline plays a teacher who is identified as gay on television. even though he is engaged to be married.

JACOBSON then, Mr. President Hearts it is By Susan Feeney The Dallas Morning News There are two unwritten rules of presidential hearts-playing: Don't deliberately let President Clinton win the card game. While he is keenly competitive and shows little joy in defeat, he doesn't respect anyone not playing his best. But don't play poorly, either. He won't respect you and he'll likely correct you or complain about your lack of skills.

Clinton is often photographed golfing or jogging. But he probably spends as much or more leisure time playing hearts, often on late-night rides aboard Air Force One or during short hops on the Marine One helicopter. One marathon airborne session came on an overseas return flight and stretched six hours. The chopper ride between the White House and Andrews Air Force Base in nearby Maryland is enough time for two or three hands. Last year in Bangor, Maine, after midnight, U.S.

Secret Service agents and reporters hopped up and down to keep warm on the snow-flecked, 20-degree tarmac as they waited for the president to deplane. He was finishing a hand of hearts. On Election Eve, after a day of turbo-charged campaigning, White House political aide Doug Sosnik had just arrived in his Little Rock hotel room at 3:30 a.m. when a presidential aide knocked. Clinton wished to see him.

It was a call to cards. The two joined a pair of hearts regulars, White House deputy counsel Bruce Lindsey and Leon Panetta, who was then White House chief of staff, and played until 6:30 a.m. "When I met my husband, I discovered a kindred game-playing spirit," Hillary Rodman Clinton wrote recently in her nationally syndicated column. "I taught him pinochle, a game he loves; he taught me hearts, one I have never liked." (The first lady "hates hearts," Lindsey says. "She believes you should play games to win, not to iV 1 1 a i i Vr- I 4.

a A AA "Don't mind him. That's just my supervisor.".