University of South Carolina Libraries
.entertainment I Oscar predictions: ^ m ' m m mm _ at a trivial tradition ftyfrppgwr > Last year at Oscar time, 1 prefaced my predictions with a little sermon explaining a personal indifference to the awards handed out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I For the record, my feelings haven't changed. Truman capoie summeti up in? suuauon years ago, u s outrageous ? alt politics and sentiment and nothing to do with merit." . I Even if merit were a consideration, how could it be gauged? It's impossible to arrive at an absolute, clear-cut "Best Picture of *982." The Academy's perception of worth, like the public's (and the critics' as well, actually), is buried in considerable subjectivity. We root for our IKHTCHinai chwws, mine ?re rareiy tit uue wiui uie Academy's. Consequently, predicting the Academy's choices seems to be a trivial, although traditional, task. But here goes. BEST PICTURE: Good movies all. "Missing" is a fine, t y 8 ? old-fsghioncd style, with n?r sr,?a''though 5^ Gandhi" exudes that air e ^ MRh of pomp and prestige I < * Jwtt before which the Academy 1 &"^?jg ! genuflect and even grovel i *jj considering Sir Richard \ AuenDorougn s ceieoratea struggle to see it finished, jSp, , "Gandhi" is a strong MB contender indeed. But I think "E.T. The Extra- ^SSSmmSm^ Terrestrial/' the most |g|^ phenomenal phenomenon "-SWiiWw in Hollywood history, will "Tonteia" i* touted hiohlv... take the top prize. BEST ACTOR: A positively stellar line-up. Peter O'Toole was sublime in "My Favorite Year/' as was Jack Lemmon in "Missing." No one could deny Dustin Hoffman's briliance as "Tootsie." Newcomer Ben Kingsley j convinced multitudes of ^HHHH j Gandhi's greatness in that ?F i film mov ^nnvinon tHo f MHn Academy of his. But Paul I Newman's serious, silver?1 ^SP399B|H| haired lawyer in "The Verdict" is definitely the /WttBrn I stuff Oscars are made for. A KPCT i^nircc. ri^Kva * * * ?v/ * * A/vw* M ^mBfrT^ s*> j Winger ("An Officer and a * ^ Gentleman"), Sissy Spacek ("Missing") and **" ' Julie Andrews ("Vic... "Gandhi"'s got power. tor/Victoria") are merely decorations for the ceremony. The year belongs to Meryl Streep, who will win ! * nu.! >i 1 * : T 1 _ I iui oupmc t> auu ica jL?iingu, wnu reccivea a rare pair of nominations (one in both acting categories). Though she is superb as the lithe, willful "Frances," Lange is overshadowed by Streep's luminous, must-see performance. DfeSM StrfUKIlNU ACTOR: These gentlemen ^HL supplied some of the year's as the tough drill sergeant JH in "An Ufticer and a v Gentleman," John Uthgow lmawmBim i as the lovable transsexual m-': football player in "The Th . Straao's World According to Garp," 1118 vear may 00 Mre9p 8 James Mason as the imperious lawyer in "The Verdict" and Robert Preston as the gay singer in "Victor/Victoria/' Mason is my favorite, but Gossett will win. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Leslev Ann Warren. as the dizzy moll in 4'Victor/Victoria/' and Teri Garr, as - " \ Dustin Hoffman's . ~ " vulnerable friend in * 5 "Tootsie," had lightweight } v roles this year. Veteran [TrrTfg^mBril method actress Kim W iir^TTr^rrffinHM t * ' dfflllfr i Niamey was remaritaDiy yflB ^Wp^| good as the despicable but ||| human mother in I anaL M "Frances." Glenn Close, as yA _ ^ Garo's splendidly strange OH g / mom in that film, is my A personal favorite. But I I \ predict the award will go to ^ Y*u2C2v/>a T <ir\tt?k (a<i tWf_ v> mm ? man's heartthrob in _ - ??<?'?"?? be SpiBltarg *. .<T(K>t3ie") as a consolation BEST DIRECTOR: Only two nominees here are even worth considering. Sir Richard Attenborough may receive enough brownie points for his heroic persistence with "Gandhi" to land the Oscar, but Steven Spielberg's time is ripe. With Spielberg has managed to enchant the . ?<?riUcs*s weU as tins publte,, , ......... * i cvua ueyi By John Vaughan "Evita," the Tony Award-winning musical that has raised the image of Argentina's celebrated Eva Peron beyond its original bounds, begins a three-performance run at The Township tonight, as the final scheduled event of the 1982-83 USC Cultural Series. While the series has occasionally been spontaneous in booking special events, such as the Columbia appearance of Tim Weisberg April 21 at The Township, "Evita" has been awaited all year as the real finale to a successful season. 4'* itfAn cairon Tnntr AtirorHc in juviia vyuii ovv^ii a viijr i&tvciivio m 1980, including Best Musical, as well as six Drama Desk Awards and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical. It has enjoyed successful runs in London and on tour, as well as on Broadway. THE MUSICAL has been acclaimed from its debut as anothc - success for r* i_! )_ j i ^ j n:?yv joriiain s uynauuc uuu ui inn ruce and Andrew Lloyd Webber ("Jesus Christ Superstar"), and Broadway king Harold Prince. With the slick musical power of Rice and Webber and the directorial brilliance of Prince, the show has far outshined its topic ? the rise of a common woman, who, as the wife of Argentine dictator Juan Peron, was the nower behind the throne from 1946 to 1952, when she died of cancer at age 33. Jay Carr of The Detroit News put the show in especially good perspective, "'Evita' seems a triumph of packaging. Only nominally is it about the charismatic wife of Argentine dictator Juan Peron. Its real business seems show-biz pizzazz, and on these terms it works brilliantly. "It skims history, giving us a glossed-over, glamorized portrait of a woman too coldly calculating and cynical to inspire much love, yet tough enough to compel admiration. Presumably, Argentina's masses adored her because she was one of their own, a backstreet hustler whose presence in the presidential palace struck on their behalf a symbolic blow at the aristocracy." EVA PERON'S personal history reveals she was anything but the saint the nation's descamisados ("shirtless ones") worshiped. As the youngest of five illegitimate children of a peasant rancher, "Evita" ("Little Eva") went to Buenos Aires to become an actress, and climbed shrewdly up the social ladder the only way she could have ? by bed-hopping among the ruling class' most powerful men. She met Juan Peron in 1943, not long after a revolution that ended the reign r\f fVift r>nnnfmr'c? uranHVitr 1 o VII U1V V/VUUU J O W laiiUUVYMUl o and established military power behind the presidency. Peron, then 48 and twice her age, kept Eva, and as he moved up in the military structure, her appeal grew as a radio actress. They moved into adjacent apartments in one of the city's fashionable districts, and each cynically plotted success. season s tin; By John Vaughan A modern interpretation of a famous play will serve as the finale of USC's 1982"E very man," considered the greatc morality nlavs nnens fnmnrrnu/ nic/ht fm ^ K ^ ~ J "I '"0"v *v* run. Directed by Russell Green, the produ* modern surface for the timeless story of here to eternity. Green and his cast ha about what the show will look like. stain ashlky, president 01 tne s.u. owner of the Columbia Ballet School in 1 lead role of Everyman. Ashley is supported by a large cast of Bernard Addison will portray Discretior as Knowledge, Michael Burgess as Five \ ' as Good Deeds, Jo Ann Fithian as Death ? Strength. Mert Hatfield will olav Chance, w Fellowship, Hope Nunnery as Preachei I Angel, Jill Rankin as Beauty, Jim Stre< Darlene Westbury as Cousin. "Everyman" finishes the USC season i J;'; 4s yetanother facet ih ttyej Umve^ity's Va ? mmmmmmmaammmmmBmmmammmmmmmmmmm WA UlClrtl- f I IIF 115 UGIUI HUE Kf f ? J v_ J| v f v tin , ; , . ^hhIL nfflrffi Br n, Br rEB <4 Wf ^ VEfe ^ flp.. - y?Lj^^ 11 'W'J Florence Lacey portrays Eva Peron, who America's most revered figures, in the Ton] LABOR REFORMS and championing the rights of the descamisados were Eva's goals, and she convinced Peron to take up the cause. It was a good move for Peron; when he was knocked out of the government in another coup, Evita led "her people" in throwing popular weight behind him. Ten days of riots and protests put Juan Peron back in the government in better shape than ever. Peron made another good move. He m o rrtorl YTiro onH fUn ??tut A 1\/V? UY r^y u1IU ?Y 11/11111 UIC JCCll (1946), attained the Argentine presidency. Soon, Eva was touring the world, pushing for women's suffrage in her native land, building hospitals and schools and making the cover of Time magazine. She always dressed to the hilt, lavished with jewelry, but the poor Argentine mobs never complained. She was their darling, and when she was adorned, so were they. When she died in 1952, the entire nation mourned. Peron, perhaps not surprisingly, was ousted within two years in yet another coup. In 1971, he was returned from exile in Spain at age 77. He lasted until 1974, and was al nlnif nnnno tai piuy upciio THE SEASON op. ; medieval English Birthday Hart 83 theater season. anan?nym?us boar st of the English at a seaside boardm : a six-performance , Idiot's Delight" the worst productio ction will present a World War II. man's journey from Sam Shepard's Pi ve had little to say next in line, opening production represer A T i iic nmuiuub I Ballet Theatre and semester. A silly, ?ive Points, has the "School for Wives,' diverse characters. this sfmtcstip. \ witn cnen Brown starting off Jan. Vits, Phoebe Dillard Shakespeare's "As md Randy Hanna as w L^amora Wilson's ith Elly Leahy as *n form, opening F *, Candace Park as Martin Sherman's ' iter as Kindred and the positive coi "Everyman" wil in appropriate style, at 8 p.m. except fo Bled season/. V. w. Jormatioa, call the I i tonight mFi Mm* ' ^ ' , ' " - - . '' v * JT*" ^^Kj\ "vniis. jmam rose from poverty to become one of Latin 1 Award-winning musical, "Evita." succeeded by his new young wife, Isabel. Though she achieved what Eva never did by becoming president, Isabel never received the awe of Argentina's favorite daughter. l<* ONE OF the glaring liberties taken with the musical is the presence of Che Guevara, the Argentine-born revolutionary who became Fidel Castro's ardent disciple. Though Guevara, a medical student at the time of Evita's reign, never met the woman, he is a vital part of the musical, serving, in the words of one writer, as a goading "commentator and critic, a kind of Greek chorus in (M| combat fatigues." The touring company features Florence Lacey as Evita, Tim Bowman as Guevara and John Leslie Wolfe as Peron. "Evita" will play through Wednesday, with all performances at 8 p.m. Public admission is $19, orchestra and first balcony; $16, second balcony; and $12, gallery. Student admission is $18, $15 and $11. For , more information, call 777-7130 or The ' * Township box office at 252-6530. tomorrow ened Sept. 29 with a superb production of y," Harold Pinter's disturbing play about der terrorized by two mysterious visitors rf kniica fy KUUO^. followed, raising the curtain Oct. 25 on n of the season, a dated play dealing with ulitzer Prize-winning "Buried Child" was I Nov. 11. This complex and controversial ited still another style difference. plea" marked the halfway point in the wasted musical adaptation of Moliere's ' it opened Dec.7. R has been the superior one for USC, 24 with a likable production of You Like It." "Fifth of July" also helped put USC back *eb. 22, and an interesting production of 'Rpnt" Mar^h 91 coomo/1 t" w*i? vii uu nvkiiibu n; put uic acci&uii vw umn. 1 run through Sunday, with performances r a 3 p.m. Sunday matinee. For ticket int>ox office at 777-2551: . v. \ v. v\ * v