Newsday from New York, New York • 93

im DEF from B3 and "Black on Both Sides" (both Rawkus) he is building a lengthy acting resume He had supporting roles in this upcoming Sugar" MTVs and more than a dozen other film and TV roles He auditioned for Last nd won the role of Buddy Bolden during an ill-fated attempt at an HBO production After Wolfe saw Mos 1 Def repeatedly at the Public Theater run of "Top- jie came to mind as a replacement for Don Cheadle who had appeared at the Public but whose schedule accommodate the Broadway run impressed me right away as a very smart hard-working actor with a lot of theatrical Wolfe said fay phone the day after the preview really burrows Ma the language of the play and captures both the vaudeville side of the production arid the street For the role of Booth the Brooklyn native Dante Terrell Smith) said he drew on his experience as a student when he had performed other two-man plays such as Edward and Athol The Although Booth is the younger more roughneck brother Mbs Def was drawn to his vulnerability weakness is what leads him to explode rather than respond to his circumstances I wanted to bring out his sense of desperation and ineffectiveness but I also wanted to show his sense of amazement about his By now in the interview Mos Def had settled in His deep-set eyes and what seem to be emotionally wrought features enhanced the sense that he thinks deeply before he speaks But whether graciously autographing napkins for fens or talking with his manager his words seemed to come from the side of his mouth as if every comment is an aside even when dead serious has an interesting poster on his he said has this phrase repeated over and oven People are trapped in history and history is trapped in I think very true for the characters in this play struggling to get out they want to defy history and this play is about their struggle to do Mos Def next musical act also will be a bit of a departure With what little time the acting career has left him finishing a rock record with his group the Black Jack Johnson Prpject due out this summer He also has remained involved in Nkiru Books a Fort Greene-based bookshop that he owns with WwrgriftylYiPto Art Mint Mos Def is Booth In Topdog KwelL shifted the focus from being a Borden to being a cultural center making it more comprehensive he said have literacy and arts programs and other programs in development I'm really proud of In addition the host for the upcoming HBO Poetry Asked about other prqjects Mos Def cites Danny DeVito as a role model not just about him being in the film about him being a part of the entire process of bringing it to he said He also listed regional and smaller theater productions as aims Then he smiled like what been doing going pretty weU I don't think Pm going to make too many adjustments to the wagon" Martin Johnson is a regular contributor to Nowaday Is now In proviows ond opons Sunday it On Ambassador Thootra 219 49th St Manhattan Limited ongagimint through July 28 For tlcfcot Information and porforminca tlmos call 212-947-8844 14 rJ The Broadway Flunks Out GRADUATE from B2 jgBSg ieC NATl AMUSEAMNIS RROOKNAVEN MULTIPLEX ONHAAS tOEWSTHMTlfS NASSAU METROPUEX uvmowm ijomsmhi CEWSTHEATtES RACEWAY MAIM WCSTRUIY iMousni NATl AMUSEMENTS BROADWAY MULTVUXONEMAS MCKSMUi MMJ99 GNM0O0CON MNTAIYQNBMAE roomie cm HffUWMWWB OOMMAOCMUUVIXX her little fists and throws herself on his bed as if told she couldn't go to the pram -As anyone knows who saw Turner in on a Hot Tin Roof or in the she is at least as much a Broadway stage creature as a movie -star She has one of those look-at-me confident qualities that dares you to doubt her We don't blame her for trying to find a Mrs Robinson other than the slinky elegant Bancroft but this blowsy com- man version drains the liberating joy from the inappropriate affair And about that nudity If indeed it is essential to the verisimilitude of the material than why does Beqjamin wear his undershorts during hot scenes in the sheets? And who hails a taxi in LA? And who needs other pop songs when you have Simon and Garfunkel? In 1967 it seemed Graduate was about Ben- jamin Years later it was hard not to care more about Mrs situation -But this thing on Broadway isn't about anybody or anything unless the box office counts pie are After affair with his friend is revealed we get a family therapy session in which Benjamin throws a bean bag chair on the head of the hippie shrink You following this? After a while and the first act feels long enough to age a generation we begin to recognize the genius of the Mike Nichols-Buck Henry film which told us everything with just a few meticulously selected scenes Johnson fills' in the conversation and surprise the people are not merely unbelievable but incredibly dull Biggs is an admirable combine- -turn of nerdy and curious but the world he rejects is not the rich sleek Los Angeles that nailed the growing anti-materialistic sentiment These families are pretty tacky in their luxuries so pathetic that rebellion lacks gravity There is so little weight in the drama that Elim and her mother get cutesy drunk together after the revelation and when Benjamin tells Elaine that her moth-er actually seduced him Sihrer- stone stomps her little feet waves PORT ASUNCION 777AMMI baked goods in as Benjamin Braddock the role that identified both the youthful Dustin Hoffman and youthful alienation as marketable standards Add Alicia Silverstone the adorably petulant Cher in as Elaine Robinson and at least an paper and paper money should not be so-last-century anymore But what then is it? Try boring And pointless Johnson plucking plot from the movie and Charles novel jerks us around from farce to soaper to slapstick to romantic comedy until theatergoers with a weakness for coherence and consistency of style may justifiably sue for whiplash Rob minimil-ist set is a sophisticated concept involving double-decker blond-wooden shutters and his costumes including hairstyles avoid being 608 cartoons For cartoons we have the characters such chipper bubble-heads as mother (Kate Skinner) who squeaks read in the Digest that young peo- STAXXUMIO rhi 10 andmchmlanl 777JKMCRR RORNCKATM NATl AMUXMENTS OREEN ACRES CINEMA! vMuiYsnwwMi-aioo OEMMPW CMMMl GT NECK777HU4R7t UNHID mnS 1NMTMS WESTRURYSTAORJMH NEW HYDE 777-MMN79 MBM MEADOWS UNfTB) MfflSTS 1MEATBS MOVWORLDAT DOUOLASTON 777AMM40 MATT1TUCK CMMAS mHOw UNTO MISTS THMINS PATCHOOUR TTTNMim CMUXONON WORE COMMAS HUNTINGTON MOMSMBL KXWS1WAW STONY BROOK I'SOMSAim NORTH unto Aims maims KAUPMAN STUDIOS STADRJMM aSTHAfetRSINIT 777NMCS7I MOWAY STADIUM 9 fOHH HUS 777-ftM MI9 mrsus.