Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 73

lulu 111 iiiilHniTCW I SECTION INSIDE mora rn Jazzblues, F4 Community arts, F2 ZZIUXJ Television, D3 I Friday, February 5, 1988 Austin American-Statesman zeal, master's touch happily blend World-famous choreographer returns to Ballet Austin stage '1 .0 Youth i' BALLET AUSTIN When: 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday Where: Arts Complex Concert Hall Tickets: $6 to $18 Information: 476-2163 By Sondra Lomax Special to the American-Statesman International travel is all in a day's work for Domy Reiter-Soffer, whose career often takes him from Dublin to New York to Sydney. Most recently, Reiter-Soffer's itinerary has brought him to Austin for his second professional visit. For the past two weeks the Israeli choreographer has been rehearsing Ballet Austin dancers for the company's premiere of Pomes Penyeach, his dramatic ballet inspired by writings of James Joyce. Originally commissioned for the Irish National Ballet during the James Joyce Centenary Year Celebration in 1982, the ballet visualizes Joyce's poetry through movement and music, Pomes Penyeach is the second Rei-ter-Soffer ballet in Ballet Austin's repertoire.

Last season the choreographer set his House of Bernarda Alba, and Reiter-Soffer said he is glad to be back in Austin. "I was very impressed with Ballet Austin last year, and I wanted to return to do another dramatic work," he said. "This company is really flowering and coming into its prime. Pomes Penyeach challenges the dancers both physically and emo-' tionally. Ballet Austin member Eugene Alvarez describes rehearsals as "very demanding" because of the complexity of the material and the energy required to keep dramatic interpretation strong.

"Working with Domy is a great experience," Alvarez said. "He is very articulate, knows exactly what he wants, and responds positively when you do something well. He works quickly and efficiently, and I have a lot of respect for him." Reiter-Soffer respects the dancers as well. "The Ballet Austin dancers have been wonderful. I am enam- iiipiiiiiii 1 are all young and anxious to learn," he said.

Reiter-Soffer said he enjoys working with small ensembles like Ballet -See Ballet, F6 Staff photo by Ralph Barrera Israeli choreographer Domy Relter-Soffer works with Ballet Austin dancers for the company's premiere of Pomes Penyeach. Might life Did you hear the one about. Jackie Mason fires off old-time irreverent humor in TV version of hit show By Kevin Phinney American-Statesman Staff Review L. OA fti Jy AWAfto J) i I lfJl. MrMffify his heritage even as he's skewering it.

"Israel could have had the Suez Canal," the comedian explains, "but they didn't want it because it didn't have a Boardwalk." Mason keeps the one-liners coming with Dangerfield-esque rapidity. He tosses off a few impressions Ted Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Henry Kissinger like a disgruntled Yiddish suburbanite complaining about the sorry state of the union. And the deficit? Well, Mason even has a solution for that. Congress members have their salary paid, he says; why should they care about the deficit? You want to see deficit reduction? "Put them on commission." For Texans who are seldom treated to this kind of ethnic humor, Jackie Mason On Broadway is a genuine treat. There's nothing WASP-ish, Baby Boomer-oriented, or Yuppified about it.

It's undiluted and unaffected, a comedic throwback to the time when the American "melting pot" came from a host of identifiably different sources, not bland and homogenous pablum. America will finally see what New York has been clamoring about when Jackie Mason brings his one-man show to television this week. The Home Box Office show, which premieres Saturday at 9 p.m. on Cable 42, is called On Location: Jackie Mason On Broadway. The program is actually an abbreviated version of Mason's hit play, The World According to featuring the veteran comedian's ruminations on politics, society and the special gifts and burdens of being Jewish.

If Neil Simon had created the hero of his Brighton BeachBiloxi BluesBroadway Bound series as a comic instead of a playwright, Mason would be the embodiment of Eugene Jerome. Mason's Yiddish nasality and elastic features form a multi-colored palate of expressions he chooses from to create miniature comic masterpieces. At the outset, it's clear this is no ordinary Broadway play. Mason touts it as "the first Broadway ence laughs. "Forty?" Mason shrugs, putting his hands to his, cheeks.

"What a show I saw!" The crowd is really rolling now, and Mason tosses back his head in rapture. "A thousand? Oy, such a He gently teases the crowd in tendance without indulging in the tired, so-how's-everybody-doing-tonight banter. Singling out one member of the crowd, Mason tells him it doesn't matter whether he laughs or not. "I've got enough money to last me the rest of my life," he says. "Unless I want to buy something." The show is divided into three segments, and in the second act, Mason strides on stage before a map of the globe.

The World According to Me! is steeped in good-hearted ethnic humor. Mason lampoons Italians, Poles, Germans and even the Irish, but he reserves his most pointed barbs for Jews. Mason communicates a genuine love and pride in. Jackie Mason brings his adaptation of The World According to Mel to cable TV this week. show without furniture." He wonders aloud why audiences welcome plays with huge sets and large casts, while looking down their noses at something as simple as his show.

His theory: "The more peo-" pie, the better the show. "You see a show with 10 people pretty good show." The audi Sharing pride February is a time to celebrate Black culture, and there are plenty of activities planned to make that tribute easy, such as Capital City Playhouse's Home, which includes Carta Nickerson, above. Time Out Night life Is a guide to music this weekend in Austin. Live, at last J.J. Cale's music has been heard far more often than the reclusive guitaristsongwriter has beeri seen in live action.

Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd and others have taken his tunes to the top of the charts, but Cale has been content to personify the laid-back approach almost to the point of disappearing from view. It's been seven years since his last appearance here, but the appeal of his mellow, late-night blues hasn't diminished. The Subdudes open. Saturday at 10 at Liberty Lunch. $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

Rolling, rolling USA Today calls Asleep at the Wheel "the Grateful Dead of country music," but Austinites just call them ol' faithful, knowing that when the Wheel is off and rolling, musical merriment is sure to follow. People's Choice opens. Tonight at 9 at the Lumberyard (better known by its former Country Palace name). Tickets are $8 advance, $10 at the door. You'll get it Unless you're bilingual or used to play for the early New York Mets (where the outfielders shouted the Spanish phrase for "I've got it" each time a fly ball was hit to avoid colliding with the Venezuelan shortstop), you'll find Yo La Tengo a bit cryptic for a rock band's name.

But that's the type group Yo La Tengo is, somewhat secretive and more than a little literate. Yo La Tengo boasts a fine collection of excellent songs, but the live show also features intriguing cover versions of material by everybody from the Fleshtones to the Beach Boys. The Wild Seeds, in a last show before touring its hot new album, Mud, Lies and Shame, also performs. Saturday at 9 at Big Mamou. $5 admission.

Cajun crossover Zydeco music lost its founder and longtime ruler when "King" Clifton Chenier died in December, but there's a lot of life left in the swamp-flavored party music. Zachary Richard, who approaches the music with a contemporary sensibility and a well-researched historical background, is one of the bright hopes for the music. His music brings together the traditional elements in an enjoyable, if admittedly modernized, package. Tonight at 10 at Antone's. $6 admission.

Lethargic content dethrones 'The Last Emperor' of China By Patrick Taggart American-Statesman Staff till! Review We're reminded of what Emperor Joseph said in the movie Amadeus as the curtain came down on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's latest opera. "Too many notes," said the benevolent despot. It's hard to know how his majesty came to that conclusion about Mozart's opera, but the pithy assessment seems to fit director Bernardo Bertolucci's new movie to a T. Too many pictures. It might be enough to let it go at that, since the film never really achieves any persuasive reason for being.

The Last Emperor isn't a movie, it's a series of tableaux, brilliantly constructed by production designer Ferdin-ando Scarfiotti and richly photographed by Vittorio Storaro. It offers more striking panoramas than anything in the old costume epics of the 1950s. But The Last Emperor is inert; the pictures, while lovely, don't move. And perhaps because he is treating a historical figure Pu Yi, the last ruler of imperial China Bertolucci's direction falls victim to the deadly lethargy common to so many filmed biographies. This is Gandhi in fine silk instead of rough cotton.

The story of Pu Yi is indeed moving, and could have made for a touching, indelible movie experience. History shows that the title character assumed the throne in Peking's Forbidden City in 1908 at age 3, only to become the ruler of what was essentially a lavish prison. In 1912, 3,000 years of imperial rule ended when the nation transformed itself into a republic. Pu Yi is kept around like a relic, locked inside the Forbidden City with THE LAST EMPEROR Stars: John Lone, Joan Chen Rating: nudity, violence Theaters: Westgate 8 and Arbor 4 Critic's rating: ers his own humanity. The Last Emperor will almost surely be nominated for more than a few Academy Awards.

First, it fulfills the unofficial Academy requirement of being high-minded and socially responsible. And it avoids being the communist recruiting poster it might have been. Pu Yi finds peace and contentment not through Maoist teachings, but in the simple yet liberating discovery that he is no better or worse than anyone else. The final scenes, in fact, amount to a vivid repudiation of Mao's China. But the connective tissue in this version of -Pu Yi's journey is weak, taking a back seat to the opulent visuals.

The filmmakers create a sympathetic figure in Pu Yi, but they fall short of achieving the emotional stimulation that makes three-hour films (The Last Emperor is a little shorter than that) worthwhile. Even fine performances from John Lone as Pu Yi, Joan Chen as his wife, and Peter O'Toole fail to energize it. Like everything else, they eventually blend in with the scenery. 4 John Lone Is China's last empirical ruler, Pu YI, and Joan Chen is his wife, Empress Wan Jung, In the slow-moving biographical movie, The Last Emperor. education camp.

He dies in 1967, a loyal communist and humble gardener. Pu Yi's is the tragic story of the individual who was never in control of his own life. Ber-tolucci, working from a script by himself and Mark Peploe, uses Pu Yi's metamorphosis from exalted emperor to plain citizen as a case study in political enlightenment, an illustration of a spoiled demi-god who discov- thousands of servants, cooks and consorts. In 1924 Pu Yi is finally expelled from his palace fortress and flees to Tientsin, where he and his two wives live like decadent Westerners. In 1931 he makes the tragic mistake of accepting a Japanese offer to become puppet emperor of the new state of Manchukuo.

After World War II, Pu Yi is captured by the Communist Chinese and placed in a Michael Point.