The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 21

A Shanghai Ballet ends AC stint on boring note ENTERTAINMENT by Frank Daley at Little Girl best for TV THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE. Written by Lain! Koenlg. Directed by Nicholas Gessner. At the Place de Ville. The young American actress Jodie Foster appears to be everywhere these days.

She was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as a young prostitute in Taxi Driver, she appeared in town recently In a Disney film called Freaky Friday and now she's co-starring with Martin Sheen in The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. This film was made in Canada and produced by Canadians. But, like many films of its kind it pretends to be set in the U.S. although that doesn't make an iota of difference to the plot which is bizarre enough to stand or fall on its own. She plays a 13-year-old who has moved to a small town on the coast of Maine with her author-father.

But no one ever sees him. She does the banking and the housework. Groceries are delivered and the girl doesn't go to school. A personality conflict and the generation gap prompt the real estate agent who rented the girl and her father the house, to begin investigations of the girl's claims, but an accident kills the agent. Full basement She joins the crew in the basement which is getting pretty full as the repository of the girl's father and mother.

The father died' of natural causes and prepared everything for his daughter to live alone for the next three years upon which time, being 16 she' could legally be on her own. The mother's death was accidental as far as the young girl was concerned. She merely followed her father's instructions. If the mother showed up the daughter was to put a substance into the woman's tea. it was poison.

Exit mommy! Sheen plays the perverse son of the dead real estate agent. He has a penchant for young girls and so tries to insinuate himself into the girl's life. He is about to manage that having found out about the deaths in the basement when he himself is offered some tea. The film is very slight as you can tell and it Is worth seeing for only one sequence. The final scene in which Sheen, believing that the girl is up to something, requests that he drink her tea.

Has she anticipated this? They eye each other warily as they sip. Foster and Sheen play this scene beautifully. It is a hackneyed scene of course, creaking with age but they pull it off and even create a tension that Is supple and true in melodramatic terms. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane might do business in the U.S. on the strength of Foster's name.

And Sheen is one of the best young actors In movies but on the whole it is really suited to television. By Audrey Gill Journal Dance Critic The Shanghai Ballet presented a variety program of dance, singing and instrumental solos on Saturday, following three performances of the full-evening ballet. The While-Haired Girl. Unfortunately, it was a rather boring end to their engagement here. This company doesn't perform up to the entertainmentstan-dards of, for instance, the Peking Opera.

The dramatic crowd-pleasers just aren't there: Nor are the acrobatics, the virtuoso singing and playing. It was interesting as a curiosity event and the performers were all warm and exuburant, but it is not "a reelly big There were four dance selections, including two scenes from The White-Haired Girl. I was struck once again by how little the Chinese dance with each other. Although the excerpts included the big reunion of the heroine and her childhood sweetheart, it is a very Platonic meeting: they still hardly touch each other. I was also struck with how naive, how unsophisticated, the choreographic style is.

The melodrama becomes rather comic after a while. It reminds you of the silent flicks lo-what-is-that, look-at-audi-ence type of thing. Some quotes from Chairman Mao's little red book really tell us what the Chinese are trying to do better than anything: "There's no such thing as art for art's sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics. Proletarian literature and art are part of the whole proletarian revolutionary cause (our purpose is) to ensure that literature and art fit well into the whole revolutionary machine as a component part, that they operate as powerful weapons for uniting and educating the people." So we get Light of Happiness: a pas de deux celebrating the construction of a new hydro dam. Two colorfully-dressed peasants pranced joyfully around, accompanied by singing and music, pointing at their new lamp and the dam lights up in the background.

There was hardly any choreography at all and the only noteworthy point of the piece was that it was the first time I had seen a Chinese woman in a skirt all week. either at receptions or on stage. The Mtllttawemen of the Grasslands had much more substance and was, in fact, the best and most interesting dance we got from this company. It is a Mongolian dance and very much like what we call "character" dance (which is, of course, Russian folk). It was expertly performed by an ensemble of women dancing in boots (also in skirts), throwing in some acrobatics, flashing swords and guns, waving a red flag, and riding their horses off into the sunset.

Great fun. The other two dance works were The Tea Pickers Dance, depicting commune workers in another inconsequential piece, and the finale, the Bow Dance. Although this one was about mid-nineteenth century China, the revolutionary message is still given: "An illustration of the anti-imperialist The same poses are struck over and over, but there was a marvellous male acrobat which pointed up the men in general are not very exciting dancers. For some reason I expected elevation, but there is none, and their feet hang loose behind them in all the jumps. The women, especially the mililiawomen, are considerably more accomplished dancers.

We saw and. heard the ppa, a fretted four-string lute-like instrument, which the musician picks and strums with taped fingers. It produces a delicate, sweet-sound. The cheng is a stringed zither-like instrument, which is plucked. The erh hu is a two-string fiddle, with a tiny sound box and long neck.

The flautist played a bamboo flute, a wooden flute and a tiny one we couldn't see which made bird call sounds. He switched into the Swinging Shepherd Bues for his encore, to the delight -of the audience. In the singing department we got a tenor solo and a soprano solo. They were both charming, warm singers with limited ranges but the audience was delighted with a Gordon Lightfoot song. Early Morning Rain in English from the tenor, and Scene from The Un Canadicn Errant in French from the soprano.

I heard her sing it at the Chinese Embassy earlier in the week and it brought tears to Make way Anne, By George! is here The Ontario censor submitted his annual report to the Ontario Government a few days ago. Don Sims is the censor and he's worried about pornography, about which a little more later. First, some interesting figures: there are apparently 289 indoor theatres in the province and 95 drive-ins; 822 features were submitted to the board this year (as opposed to 852 last year) and of these 356 were categorized as restricted, 315 were recommended for adults and only 137 were listed for attendance by all. Three films were not approved and II are pending. "Eliminations" were requested in 175 films.

If a film distributor is asked to make cuts and does he can get a better rating (or may ha ve a censored film allowed into the theatres). Most of the films (289) came to us from the United States of course. The next largest supplier was Hong Kong with 185 features; not all of those are kung fu pictures the Chinese communities in large cities are great importers of films for their own amusement. Italy sent 74; England, 44; Greece, 43; Germany, 41; France, 39; India, 30 and only then does Canada appear on the list with 20 features. Other countries ranged from the USSR's nine to a scattering of countries with one feature each.

Dismal Canadian number Canada's dismal number of films ready to be released in its own backyard accurately reflects the movie situation in this country. Although more co-production deals are being made with England, Italy, France and Germany most of those films somehow manage to use more foreign production people and talent and the dregs are left for the Canadians. We need to be more aggressive internationally if we'ae ever going to be more than a footnote at the end of the year's film information round-up. The films produced in Canada and released last year are: Breaking Point; The Clown Murderers; The Mourning Suit; Running Time; Mahoney's Last Stand; Shoot; Point of No Return; Shadow of the Hawk; Death Weekend; East End Hustle; The Supreme Kid; A Sweeter Song; Goldenrod; Partners; Love at First Sight; The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane; Find the Lady; Rituals; Ti-Mlne Berne Pis La Gang; Les Beaux Dmanches de Marcel Dube. Only half of those have been released in Ottawa.

Some open in Toronto and go no further; some go only on the so-called "art some go to television and some go precisely nowhere. The censor goes on to report an "accelerated effort" to control the 8mm film showings, most of which are simulated sex scenes to be found In small store-theatres on Yonge Street in Toronto and on some streets In Ottawa. He also complained about some theatres that did not mainta safety precautions to the correct standards. New Ottawa complex He mentioned the fact that six new theatres all In one complex would be built and opened in Ottawa this year. That's the Britannia complex where In June six indoor theatres will open to support the double drlve-ln.

Sims is clearly worried about pornography. He says that "there are Indications that the viewing public are reacting to the current movie fare." He cites the National Association of Theatre Owners In the United States as mounting a two-pronged attack on the problem. Informing the film-makers that "sex, violence and profanity are not Insurance policies that will guarantee the success of a film and insisting on stricter interpretations in the code and rating As for the Ontario Censor, Simms says that his office has been under "considerable pressure" to ease the ratings of films but he says that the board has "refused to accept many American ratings" Imposing instead warnings on 18 foreign and Canadian White-Haired Girl my eyes but in the Opera it was not nearly as moving. But they ccr-; tainly had done their Canadian ho-, mework. Martin, a singer and comedy actress, says the revue works "because Alan (Lund) has allowed all of "us to Inject ourselves into, the songs and sketches.

It's GeYsh-win's music, Alan's revue, but he encourages us to do whatever we want. Everyone's involved. "But it's also great fun. It's just a trip through the '20s and '30s and though none of the cast were alive at that time, we've all related to Gershwin's music easily. It's mar.

vellous music." Neither McKay nor Martin see large differences between putting the show on the road and doing it in Charlottetown: "I guess the audiences might be a little different, but basically it's the same show, the same songs, and I think people will respond to it pretty enthusiastically," says Martin. McKay says Charlottetown Is becoming more and more a musically theatrical institution, thanks to Anne, George and this year's offer-, ing. The Dumbeis. "Many people are surprised when they go to the festival and find how excellent It is. People go to Prince Edward Island for a vacation.

For the beaches and the seafood and so on. And they probably think they're going to be treated to some average summer vacation-style theatre. "So people are just knocked-out when they're served some excellent musicals with professional casts, think Charlottetown is already as valid a festival as Stratford. Soon we'll be setting people onto P.E.I. Just to see the festival." Martin, a tall blonde with an evocative sense of humor, sayjs the show doesn't stand up to too much critical analysis: "It's an honest, family show which anyone can enjoy.

But It's excellent from beginning to end. And it's Both feel ByGeorge! deserves to do well Internationally: "It tanks alongside most other muslcah) I've ever aeett," says Martin. "And anyway. It's about time we started exporting our expertise in musicals. We Import plenty, so we should export at least as flinch." By Ian Haysont Journal Reviewer Charlottetown is Confederation, lobster, potatoes and Anne of Green Gables.

But most of all Anne of Green Gables. All in favor, get out your handkerchiefs. But Soon, theatrically Anne could have quite a rival in George. George Gershwin, that is, and his provocative music. The Charlolteton Festival introduced the musical revue By George! as its bicentennial salute last year and it was hastily re- Connie Martin dancers serving up the likes of A Foggy Day In London Town, Swan-cc.

If Not For Me, I Got Rhythm, Fascinating Rhythm and even Rhapsody in Blue. Connie Martin and Brian McKay opened with the show at last year's festival and both say they were delighted to return: "It's an incredible piece of theatre." said McKay. "I don't think people realize how much Gershwin actually wrote. I was pretty shocked when I found he was responsible for so many standards." of George's stars booked for this season because of its staggering popularity. The revue, featuring Gershwin's compositions (both the popular and obscure), seems set to become a Charlottetown classic.

Alan Lund, who directed the world premiere of Anne in 1965, conceived, directed and choreographed George with unashamed joy, and his idea worked like a charm judging by its appeal." The revue comes to the National Arts Centre tomorrow for the rest of the week with 14 singers and and Brian JdcKay two.