Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 85

v. i r. i mvm i i i 1 1 i i The Life and Times of Casanova These are added to flights of fancy that go mostly nowhere, for almost three hours. We learn that Casanova had nose bleeds as a young man (Ethan Hawke), but they stopped when he smelled a woman a phenomenon which supposedly explained a lifetime of wonderment over female smells. He was incontinent as an old man (John Seitz), which means many scenes airhim bouncing in agony in a coach with his patronising but helpful maid (Erika Alexander) thus making him pathetic in exactly the area of his greatest power.

"Casanova is memory play and collage. Therese (Margaret Gibson) returns from the dead to scamper around scenes from his life, make unenlightening comments and wait to take him to hell. Sophie (Kaiulani Lee) is their troubled grown daughter, forgotten by him but infatuated with him and men to show the human effects of the behavior that established his prized place in the annals of loving. Unfortunately, we also are left caring about no one in this sprawling, ambitious, fatuous and surprisingly pointless exercise. The incoherence and wHin is especially surprising because Congdon best known here for her deliriously original satire about aliens and the suburbs called The Last of the Formicans is a writer of wit and compassion.

Whats mare, the show is staged by Michael Greif, whose haunting revival of Machinal marked him immediately as the most dependable discovery in Joe Papps new stable of directors. Congdon reportedly went back to Casanovas 12-volume memoirs for inspiration an activity that seems to have overwhelmed her with unprocessed factoids. Her script is spotted with historical and literary references that seldom seem more than name dropping. CASANOVA. Sarious comedy by Constance Congdon.

dbecfed by Michael Graff. WNh John Seitz, Margaret Gfcson, Jeff Weiss, KaUani Lae. Etttan Hawke, Marytouse Burke, Erika Alexander, Robert Stanton, Liana Pal, Latanya Richardson, Ames Noah, Martha Thompson, Jack Stehln. Sets by John Amone, costumes by GffbrM Berry, ights by Frances Aronson, music by John Granada, choreography by James Cunningham. Public theater, 425 Lafayette St, Manhattan.

By Linda Winer RAFT WRITES RTISTS HAVE BEEN having their wty with Giacomo Casanova since he died, in 1798, but its unlikely the notorious womaniser has ever seemed as unappealing as he does in Casanova, which opened at the Public last night. This is partly the intention of playwright Constance Congdon, who wants Mania Bmp Jeff Weiss, Kaiulani Lea in Casanova, at the Public Theater In Manhattan Please see CASANOVA on Page 77 (NEGOTIATIONS UNDER WAY! ITHEATERIREVIEW Jim Hlllgartner, Mary McCann, Harry Bennett and John Kozeluh In Widowers Houses, by the Long Island Stage at the Hays Theater, Molloy College, Rockville Centre City Opera Studies Move By Tim Page STAFF WRITER THE NEW YORK CITY OPERA, in residence at Lincoln Center since 1965, is in the midst of negotiations to move to the ornate, long-shuttered New Amsterdam Theater on West 42nd Street, sources dose to the talks said yesterday. Christopher Keene, the City Operas general manager, and Robert W. Wilson, chairman of the City Opera board of directors, while acknowledging that they were, in Wilsons words, looking at some theaters, warned that there were many hurdles to overcome before any move could take place. Its still a gleam in the eye at this point, Wilson said.

But, he added, "If there were no money problems, no labor problems, and no problems with our fellow constituents at Lincoln Center, wed move tomorrow. The City Opera, founded in 1944, shares the New York State Theater with the New York City Ballet. It is the second largest repertory company in the country the Metropolitan Opera, a few dozen yards to this northwest on the Lincoln Center plaza, is the largest. So, despite the excellence and creativity of maty City Opera productions, it has generally been considered the "second opera company at Lincoln Center. Moreover, the State Theater was specifically created for the New York City Ballet (the City Opera, then in residence at the City Center on West 55th Street, came to Lincoln Center later, over the strenuous objections of the Met), and the ballet company has the all-important winter season booked up.

In a new house, Wilson said we could perform throughout the winter instead of working around the ballet. I dont mean to imply the ballet has a monopoly; we share the house. But we could cut costs, and we would have more time to perfect our productions. Because labor costs, overhead and maintenance at Lincoln Center are among the most expensive in America, the City Opera could fare better financially at tle New Amsterdam despite its smaller size. The official capacity of the New Amsterdam, which most recently operated as a movie house, is 1,537 (Wilson said it 'would be around 1,900 after renovation); the State Theater seats 2,779.

"If and when we move, four things would have to be certain, Keene said. "We would have to be able to maintain our donor base and some of our contribu-t ona come to us specifically because of the association ith Lincoln Center. We would have to be able to Please see CITY OPERA on Page 77 A- 1 'V -s. Shaw Done in Modern Dress WIDOWEM NOOSES. Pby by George Bernard Stow, directed by CintonJ.

Atkinson. With Harry Bennett, Jim HNgarlner.Jobn Kozeluh, Scott Greer, CJ. Jarmon, Mary McCann and Robin MHes. Set by PbMp Baldwin, Kghttng by John Hickey, costumes by Muriel Stockdale. At Long Island Stage, Hays Ibeatar, Motoy CoSege, RockvNa Centre, Wednesdays through Sundays through June 9.

and "Oh, I say to figure this out? Indeed, slum landlords are still with us and Shaws analysis is as sharp as ever people who benefit from such abuses by reaping income from investments in alum properties may be just aa guilty aa those who manage them. In three uneven acts the first an adaptation of a plot contributed by another writer that Shaw rightfully called "twaddling cup-and-saucer comedy Shaw has hia characters tell ua exactly what he means. He intends for you to check your investment portfolio, at the very least, after this one. The story concerns the romance between Harry Trench, a young doctor with aristocratic family ties (John Kozeluh) and Blanche (Mary McCann, who, no matter what she does, is overwhelmed by a series of bizarrely kicky mini-outfits), the daughter of a alum landlord. Blanches father, Mr.

Sartorius (Jim Hillgartner, in a fine, glintingly evil performance), wants to make sure Trenchs family will accept his daughter, no he insists the young man write letters to inform them of the proposed match. Given the setting; however, this custom seems unbearably quaint. Young Trench By Aileen Jacobson BTAFT WRITER OBERT MAPPLETHORPE photographs decorating the set of a play by George Bernard Shaw? If you can tear your eyes away from the ultramodern imagwa, the superchic clothing and other accoutrements of the Long Island Stages production of Widowers Houses, you may notice a pity going on. Its not one of Shaws best, but it would be far more effective if it werent dislodged from its time and place. This is director Clinton J.

Atkinsons way of hitting us over the head with his view that Shaw is a contemporary playwright and that hia polemic against slum landlords is applicable to New York City 8 Please see WIDOWERS on Page 77 American accents using such' Britishisms s.Oh, rot1 i i fft atWVrV. A 1 1 1 i 1.