Daily Press from Newport News, Virginia • Page 35

Daily PressTimes Herald. A challenging 'Amadeus' in Smithf ield official court fompowr of Em handled by Chris and Kim Run Theater review By DAVID NICHOLSON Miff Hflirr SMITHHKU) Mounting a auctmful production tit AmadmM might almost la at difficult a writing Muart lymphony, ivter fchaffrr'a drama of th rivalry between Wolfgang Amadcui Muiart and Aniomi Satieri in iKirt century Vienna present! challeneea for corn munity theater on many levelt. Hut taking risk it part of what theater is all about. Thert wasn't a full house far the Smithfield Uttl Theatrt'a opening right production of "Amadeu" Thursday. Th rain may have kept aume away, tut more likely it waa the weighty material and acatalogical references that art part of the play.

But this production, if rot fully realized, offered an oppor tunity to view the work of an Una Coon C-n AiWuafial PtfouQn May 21 et 8 m. to-r and SufkJdy. May 12-15 and Mi 19 21. Ickefs a' $3 and ate avails fey 357-7333 outstanding playwrifht Shaf-fer, author of Tha Jtoyal Hunt of the Sun" and Equui. creates character! ho question the presence of God in everyday existence.

And this production, directed by Al llogera, was a careful, thoughtful one. In -Amadeus," Salierl appears to have it all. He'a the A warm, lively 'Gospel' at St. Art Continued from Dl my (till lifes they're always on the move, always falling off the tables." Other paintings took strange bent, stirring up feelings quite different from the usual untroubled quaintness of most naive art. In "liuslness.

men's Lunch." three scantily rtad women spring from a cake during a formal banquet Heads crane wildly among the male diners, and the women'i movements are provocatively antic. Two tuxedoed observers, apparently unable to resist, jump up to join the women on the table. In another early work, Bleakley paints a variety show stage with a magician preparing to saw a woman in half. He tips his hat to the crowd and shakes his saw with a flourish. His shapely assistant lifts her hand into the air with confident elan.

But the woman in the box. toes pointed and head outstretched, seems uncomfortably undecided. Such paintings were the distant forerunners of a beautiful, but unsettling series of works that incorporated Bleakley's dreams rather than nostalgic memories. Many had to do with her questions about women and the nature of the feminine character. They also drew upon her interest, spurred by her husband's work, in ancient mythological and archetypal symbols.

Her childhood fascination with the paintings of Hierony-mus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel the Elder also contributed to the transformation. Both artists took the rich imagery of medieval mysticism and used it to create brilliant visionary fantasies examining human nature. Bleakley received much of her religious education from volumes illustrated by their works. Influences from all these sources began to crop up in her pictures. Soon she started each piece by painting the sky and then the earth.

Water, plant, animal and human images followed, mimicking the original order of divine creation. It wasn't long after that her mother called to ask why she had stopped painting the sweet, beautiful things that characterized her earlier work. "I just painted what I wanted," she says, describing how the paintings changed over time. "Whatever I did just came into my head." "Book of Seeds," a painting from the period, shows a seated woman gazing at an open book. David Rice and the 4th 19S8 Talent Search Donk's Theater May 14th 8 pm EXCLUSIVE Sat.

2:15 (4:45 $2.95) 7:30 10:15 12:00 V3i Stiff photo by SCOTT HINGIS! Ron Milovac (left), Kathie Davis and Owen Spivey appear in the dinner theater production of Harry Chapin's "Cotton Patch Gospel." peror Joseph II of Austria, and Jus works are played everywhere. Along comes Mozart, an obnoxious, foulmouthed composer; a genius. Though he fails to win the approval of Joseph and his court. Satieri rwognues him as the musical giant he will beeoms. What is Uod'l plan her.

Salieri ponders? Though the play has Mozart's middle name as its title, the central figure is Satieri. Joe Harrell has been wisely chosen for this rote. He doesn't come across very effectively as the ailing Salieri, but he plays the rest of his character with style and reserved elegance. Harrell's only fault is in rushing his lines a bit, which doesn't allow us to savor some of Shaffer's theological thoughts. The roles of Mozart and his wife, Constanze, also are ricely A sardines, the message is the same as the Biblical one.

The performers, who played multiple roles, all bubbled with enthusiasm. In the duets, quartets or as an entire chorus, the man. He returned to Hampton Roads in March. "Having worked at WOWI I have some insight into how things are run over there and how to compete." Allen said the most effective competitive weapons are on-air personalities.To underscore this strategy, he has brought Dee Shannon back to WMYK after a BEETLEJUICE Michael Kcaton is a Now 3 I PIEMI (QrfT IHEATRESlia lT. 1.

tMUM or i-M I6MIII I Sat. $2.95) 7:00 9:55 12:00 Showing ey. Chris Itumsey has a tough assignment with the immature composer, who crawls around the floor laughing and shouting obscenities, Later, when Mozart is dying, we see another side of him. As his wife, Kim Rumsey does a fine job portraying a seemingly refined woman with a coarse personality, Emperor Joseph, played by David Itiggins, and his court attendants, played by Frank Edmunds, Hirsh Griffith and Dill Hall, need to spice up these roles a bit. Recreating the splendors of the Viennese court is a monumental task for any community theater, but Terrt be Bianc'a set design and its execution, and Dons Hurst's costumes come close.

The hard work and effort of this season's final production are evident Paul's Theater review "Cotton Patch Gospel," dinner theater musical presented Thursday by St. Paul's Players. Performances tonight and Saturday, May 12-14 and May 19-21 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 221 34th Newport News. Dinner is at 7 p.m.; curtain time is 8 p.m.

Tickets SI 5 adults, $9 children. Reservations: 599-6336. voices blended well, filling the auditorium with sweet music. Bill Eyre, who directed the show and also played Jesus, lent a professional air to this community theater. He could be both meek and powerful, giving his role credibility.

As director, he skillfully positioned the performers. At times, the actors moved offstage and encircled the playgoers for dramatic effect Eyre also created a warmth between the performers that added to the vibrancy of this lively dinner theater. gig at a highly successful urban station in Dallas. It's going to take much more than a single DJ to win the war, however. With major reputations at stake and an audience of high-powered radio insiders listening in, WOWI and WMYK will be breaking out every gun in stock.

ar.ii THEATRES 1 2s 'drive ST. 17. 1 MILE H. Of- l-M 24-HOUft SHOW S67-88SS CINEMA ONE "DESTROYER" hi. 4 Sol.

fun.1 CINEMA TWO 'BEETLEJUICE" (PO) W. 7- Sal. 4 Sim. DRIVE-IN "DEAD HEAT" hi. Sat.i 1:10 "LESS THAN ZERO" Mahltyi 1060 MOOOM omrr MMNDCSIS: HATS 827-8220 SSSSD Merchants bquare 229-1475 s- (Sty A mdant tree spring from one page, growing up across the woman's breasts and around her head.

Lush green grass springs from the other. It as only later, well after finishing the picture, that IMeaktey beian thinking of the woman as St. Hitdegard, I medieval moralist and mystic, Woman in lilatk" also creates a fantastic landapa filled with symbols of both human character and nature. P.leaklev says the checkered blat and white floor represents order and restriction, while the low clouds that hover over it are sign of freedom. A veiled woman in the painting's center holds a rose sprouting from a basin of water.

She stands in a circle of eight perfectly formed potted trees. The rose stands for memories, while the water and trees are traditional symbols of life. But Bleakley says knowing exactly what's what doesn't really matter. "You dont need to know anything about them," she says confidently. "They're like free parking spaces.

You can just drive in and park for a while and take in what you can." Bleakley'a year in America has been difficult "I thought Newport News was hell when I first got here." she says. "It was August and the temperature was 100 degrees." She discovered she had breast cancer soon after arriving. Since then she has endured a mastectomy as well as chemotherapy. The experience hasn't affected her subject matter much, she says, but it has made her think and paint harder. One current work springs from a dream in which her mother handed her a mirror.

It features a symbolic forest inhabited by three female figures who walk back and forth watching their reflections in hand mirrors. The arched bows and erupting foliage of the stylized trees show nature bursting forth, she says, while the wandering women, oblivious to the life around them, are stuck on their own reflections. That much she's sure of, but the rest like so many of her recent images, is tantalizing-ly uncertain. "I'm sort of in the dark about what I'm doing," she says. 'The dreams are just the beginnings of the flash.

I paint to get there to get at some kind of answer or feeling of completeness. "I'm driven to paint something because I don't quite understand. But I do know it has to be decorated. It has to be beautiful. And it has to be peaceful and ordered.

That's what my work is about." I TucaTor ap nccTaiinaiiT THEATRE RESTAURANT 5K HU SANDWItmS HUH UI.I11B M. Bright Lights, Big City oaiceciy invejvw rhAA Inn mice ivicii ql cauyipotjio.ii 20 Mw 1 1 Phwbus ZZ3 OOT.OOOA NEWMARKET NORTH MALL CIYFPI.KX OEHOM I Newmarket Nhopplng Cntr Saturday, May 7, IOhS Siw By PAMELA SHEPHERD Special to Dally PressThe NEWPORT NEWS The St, Paul's Players are pumping life into a small section of downtown. On 34th Street, this vibrant group can be seen in Harry Chapin's "Cotton Patch Gospel." The play tells the story of Christ, but places it in the mod- rn-day South. Dick Uundry, narrates the story, Is the grandfather type and as down-home as two rocking chairs on a front porch. Dressed In jeans, he tells the play as comfortably as old-timer spinning yams.

With warm, country lyrics, this religious musical has many iwonderful plot surprises, making it very up-to-date. Jesus is born in a trailer to Mary and Joseph, both from iGeorgia. A tiny space heater gives the trailer its only warmth. Three modern-day scholars in search of the Savior pome bearing gifts. A gold American Express card is perhaps the most precious.

Then an angel warns that baby Jesus's life is endanger, a WOWI Continued from Dl 1 tremendous influence in the black community bishop turns his head to tend to another project, WOWI slips," explained one area broadcaster. "That's when WMYK makes a run for the top. But when the Bishop realizes what's happened, he gets his support You can't keep a good cop dead. MM NFWWORI PICTURES 6S cmiMwannDncTuKi uiRMtnaftianEO. CINEMA CITY DRIVE-IN 867-8888 I lAbwtultlyno ji 5WftX?) 53 MuM A vjyyy VVT pictured I jj I "L'AMOUR" iVpwfS rV 'fit SAT lA 5 11:30 pm LiifOAi)Mj 6 "I 17.

1 Milt MO Of I TL IV, IMFOOMHTIOW 1671m i i and that Joseph and Mary should hightail it to Mexico. Although the play has FBI men instead of Romans, and Jesus feeds the 5,000 with five boxes of Nabisco and two cans of ers involved. He's quite capable of catching right back up." "Bishop Willis has a strong influence in the community," admits K-94 program director Don Allen. "Being a preacher and political person certainly works to his advantage. A lot of people respect his opinions.

A lot of people believe in him. I have nothing negative to say about the man." Allen left WOWI last spring for a stint as a St. Louis morning I.TT.T i i JTTTrf BARGAIN MATINEES-EVERYDAY ALL SHOWS BEFORE 6 PM. 2.7S Treat 9 Joe Williams Pitcopo DEAD HEAT 1:30 3:30 5:30 7:309:30 RETURN TO SNOWY RIVER (Mi DESTROYER () 9:15 ONLY COLISEUM MALL CINEMA 827-6565 'Williamsburg "Qieatre MM On show only at 7:30 PM Strt.4 Sun. Matinoo 2:00 p.m.

ill 'AIL iff "THE OVERDUE RETURN OF EROTICISM AND Richard Corlis, TIME MAGAZINE If I I liriiri- flr.iwfawj I 1:30 3:15 5:00 7:15 9:30 EXCLUSIVE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING A lovers story.