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-entertoJnmen Willie Nelsoi v . By Fletcher Johnson An arrangement of daisies and carnations lay on the electric piano. A carpet flag of Texas was on the stage floor. The smells of Deer, smoke and Aramis cologne wafted through the unseasonably humid December night air, occasionally assaulting the nostrils like a Larry Holmes left jab. The place was packed with all segments of society, from double-knit prayer-meeting ladies to young, greased-back motorcycle boys who wore their toughness like leather jackets. All of them ? coats and ties, country club casuals and true grit ? were at the Carolina Coliseum Saturday night to see and hear a former Sunday school teacher and encyclopedia salesman named Willie Nelson. HE CAME on stage to the crowd's clamor in the soft glow of the stage lights, and for a little more than two hours everybody forgot there were bills to pay and Christmas gifts to buy. Willie Nelson and his Family gave them a firsthand view of the legend that country music is, was and will become. Sporting his usual braided pigtails and bandana, Nelson was the portrait of the vaauai inuiti-iuuiiuuaiic oiugci, suiigwiiici, actor and entrepreneur in his black T-shirt, burgundy warm-up pants and New Balance running shoes. And he had one hell of a good time. From the first chord of "Whiskey River" until the last note of the finale, Willie and his Family entertained with a brand of musicianship of which I have never seen the equal. Aside from his unique vocal presentation and skillful guitar playing, Nelson's musical effort was aided by his sister Bobbie on piano, Jody Payne and Grady Martin on guitars, Bee Spears on bass guitar, Mickey Raphael on harmonica and Paul English on drums. From the rambunctiousness of "Bloiody Mary Morning" to the sentimentality of the Hoagy Carmichael classic, "Stardust," the group presented the entire spectrum of music from thousands of miles and onenight stands that has formed the Willie Nelson legend. At Workshop, Town the Holiday stai ! Ppg||||M ?| #? ^Sg. Scrooge (Gerald Floyd) becomes filled with k Christmas Day in "The Stingiest Man in Town 8y John Vaughan It's tough to "put down" a classic. UfafVt '*% MAtf A?BA#1 Kr?r?lr wiiii a icvcicu uuuiv, uic icitucr nas trouble setting it aside until the last page has been turned. With a cherished show, the viewer has trouble saying many things bad about it. THE CLASSIC now on stage at Workshop Theatre is tough to resist ? what theatergoer wants to say much more than that "The Stingiest Man in Town" is a production that delivers just what its audience wants? The play is a musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and traces the timeless story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim and the awakening of the old miser's Christmas spirit. What Workshop's production delivers are rich, colorful costumes, a lot of singing and - a stage crowded with Christmas characters. t n shows wt THE MAJOR problems of the evening both stemmed from the sound, or the lack thereof. After a fine rendition of "Funny How Time Slips Away," one of the hits Nelson penned in the early 1960s, he launched into his country standard, "Crazy." As soon as he did, the entire sound system, with the exception of the amplifiers on stage, went out. This was fine for those sitting near enough to the stage so that . hearing was no problem, but the people up in the "nosebleed seats" began to get pretty irate before the oroblem was finallv corrected. The reverse of this situation was apparent whenever Raphael hit the high end of his harmonica. The occasional high note was bearable, but when Raphael went into extended solos, the sound was painfully earpiercing. An often overlooked, but wonderfully fnlontAH f Q not nf Molcnn'o miici/tnl nn vviiv?*vvu AMVW V* i^VAUVll O lllUOlVOl Cll" tourage is his sister Bobbie. Taking turns at the grand piano and the electric piano, only her long brown hair, arms and hands were visible. The hair moved with the swaying of her body; her hands fairly flew on the instrumental "Way Down Yonder" and gracefully lingered over the keys on "You Are Always on My Mind." SPEARS' BASS and English's percussion provided the necessary rhythm for the romping gospel numbers such as "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and "Uncloudy Day," and Willie's trademark instrumental "Under the Double Eagle." Payne filled in the guitar breaks with skillful licks on his Fender Telecaster and provided adequate harmony for Nelson's vocal melodies. Martin, a rotund, gray-bearded fellow wearing a Greek fisherman's cap, looked like Burl Ives shouldering a Gibson Les Paul guitar. He stood stage right near Bobbie's piano and moved only once to light a cigarette. The rest of the time he just stood there, rather shy and unassuming, and played some of the best guitar I've ever heard. His playing lent a jazz-like waters je productions '":::>::S B^SSHsSf mmm ^ Photo by H?n Held* ive for Tiny Tim (Charlie Bryan) on ?# That all this is what the audience wants was evident during the matinee performance this reviewer attended yesterday. The theater was packed with children, interrupting the music with excited, whispered questions to parents: "Daddy, why is Scrooge so mean?" "Are they (Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present) invisible now, Mommy?" AT MORE than two hours, the show is a little long. Also, Workshop's intimate set ting and small stage work against any 4'production"-oriented show. But the set is aglow, the costumes visually pleasing and the mood festive. From the decorated lobby to the Old English typestyle printed on the program, Workshop is creating true "community theater" ? a presentation families, students, retired couples and most of all1, kids, can enjoy. SM"Wsriui*?."pc?ai: lat legends a Willie Nelson was true to form in concert at th smoothness and fluidity rarely present in country music. One would think with the likes of Payne and Martin taking care of the guitar chores, all Nelson would do is stand and sing. He does stand and sing and wander about the a i * -a- ? * a% stage anu sing ana wear nacs ana tnrow them into the audience and sing, but as a guitar player he is no slouch. Heavily influenced by the late French jazz guitarist Django Rhinehart, Nelson embellished his music Saturday at every opportunity with jazz riffs. 5 offer 'popular |b & r Libby (Kathleen Warnock) and Steffy (Elizabet (David Dreiman) in "I Ought to Be in Pictures." By John Vaughan Neil Simon's popular Broadway success as a playwright has made his work a popular choice for American community theaters. From "The Odd Couple" to "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers" to "Plaza Suite," amateur theater folk feel confident they'll have a can't-miss hit with Neil Simon. The pitfalls are twofold: there's a good i deal of Simon that isn't all that great ? "Chapter Two," for example ? and there are a good number of local productions that don't quite get it right. 1 Town Theatre's current production of "I Ought to Be in Pictures" escapes the first > danger; the play is probably Simon's best stuff since one of the episodes (the i Michael Caine-Maggie Smith bit) in his "California Suite" screenplay. Unfortunately, the local production gets mired l in quicksand on the second count. ire made of HIH^A ^AMHHBL^: vOthi . >0flBI e Carolina Coliseum Saturday night. AFTER MORE than 25 years of one-night stands that have taken him from Texas honky-tonks with chicken wire in front of the bandstand to major concert halls and White House appearances, Nelson still plays a beat up, old acoustic guitar with a hole in it. Looking closely, one can see signatures of noger Miner, tjrien uampDeu ana otners. Nelson has had his share of ups and downs and is convinced he will continue to have them. He's slowed down a little and doesn't live so much in the fast lane anymore. He See "Nelson," page 13 ' material ^ Photo by Amly^^eS?y h O'Grady) try to understand Herb i i THE PLAY revolves around Herb Tucker, j a once-successful Hollywood scriptwriter 1 beaten by a period of failure. Herb does have some consolation in an off-and-on, j sleep-in relationship with Steffy, a perceptive, understanding movie makeup woman. j When Herb's long-lost daughter Libby suddenly shows ud in California hAu/owp his almost forgotten past is dredged up: Herb had left his wife, son and daughter in Brooklyn 16 years ago. The story of how Herb and Libby reestablish their relationship provides some of Simon's nicest moments and most genuine laughs of the past few years. "I Ought to Be in Pictures" was opened on Broadway in 1980 and was later made into a movie with Waiter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff. IN TOWN Theatre's production, David Sm"T?inii," MO* 13 ?