The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 13, 2000, Page 8, Image 8
This Week in USC History
1995- McKissick Museum hosts “Muses’ Night Out”,
with a poetry reading and coffee hour.
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Page 8 "mMmm \ HDflC (BtffllCCOCk Wednesday, September 13,2000
Broadway shines with ‘42nd Street’
by Jennifer Bowen
The Gamecock
Stand back and get your dancing shoes
on - New York City has'come to Co
lumbia.
The Town Theatre, for the first show
of its 82nd season, will present “42nd
Street.” The musical is a picture in a pic
ture: The plot involves setting the
stage for a new musical, “Pretty Lady,”
and all the trials and tribulations that
come with putting on a hit Broadway
play. .
This refreshing musical wasn’t the
second longest Broadway show for noth
ing.
The songs, which include such hits
as “We’re in the Money” and “Lullaby
of Broadway,” will leave viewers
whistling the tunes all the way back to
their cars, the dancers also do a won
derful job of making the dance steps come
to life with their radiant smiles and the
tap, tap, tap of their shoes.
“42nd Street” originally appeared on
I
Broadway in 1980 and won Best Musi
cal Tony Award in 1980 and Best Musi
cal at the Laurence Olivier awards in
1984. “42nd Street” started in Broad
way in the famous theater, Winter Gar
den, and finished its Broadway run at the
St. James theater after 3,486 perfor
mances.
A dreams is the first thing that comes
into the audience’s mind as it sees a new,
young star coming into her own. Though
she starts out as a chorus girl in the show,
by a fluke of destiny, she ends up be
coming the star of the play. The acting
in this was superb, especially by Keith
Marsh, who plays Julian Marsh, the
tough-nosed, soft-hearted director who
finally sees that Broadway isn’t just a
job, but a dream come true. Lauren
Hansen excelled in the part of Peggy
Sawyer, the main character, who comes
to the big city'with only dreams and danc
ing shoes. "
Hansen does an excellent job por
traying the naive girl from Allentown,
Pennsylvania who laters becomes the
next big star of Broadway.
“42nd Street” also showcases USC
talent, which make it even more en
dearing to campus theatergoers. Kim
Dickerson, a 1999 graduate of the the
ater, speech, and dance school, and Steven
Hillard are in the ensemble with local
talent from Dreher High School, Lex
ington High School and Irmo Middle
School.
The Town Theatre does a wonderful
job with this classic musical. It’s defi
nitely a show worth seeing.
Tickets are $15 for adults with dis
counts for students and senior citizens.
For anyone who’s tired of studying and
doesn’t have transportation to go to the
movies, “42nd Street” will put the
song back into your heart and the skip
back into your step. So, in the words
of the musical, “Come on along and
listen to the lullaby of Broadway.” Come
see “42nd Street.”
-«
The spotlight desk can he reached at
gamecockspotlight@hotniaiLcom.
. 1
Special to The Gamecock
Lauren Hansen, a USC theater student, plays an ingenue
who rises to the pinnacle of Broadway in “42nd Street.”
‘The Watcher’ is worth a look
Special to The Gamecock
Retired FBI agent Joel Campbell (James Spader) hunts down a charming, devious and elusive serial killer
David Allen Griffin (Keanu Reeves) on the streets of Chicago in The Watcher.’
by Meredith Davis
The Gamecock
OUT OF
^ > ft
“The Watcher,” starring “The Ma
trix” veteran Keanu Reeves as - gasp!
- a serial killer, is surprising as a suc
cessful thriller with fine editing, some
realistic performances and an under
lying theme with substance.
While this thriller struggles at times
with technicalities, overall, it’s
worth a look.
“The Watcher” features Reeves as
David Allen Griffin, a former Los An
geles resident who goes to Chicago to
track down his nemesis, a former
FBI agent. James Spader, also known
as the too-cool kid front “Pretty in
Pink,” plays retired FBI agent Joel
Campbell.
After leaving a murderer of 11 vic
tims free to roam in L.A., Campbell
flees to Chicago to hide front his past.
But Griffin, the killer, misses trau
matizing and manipulating Campbell,
so Griffin finds him, stalks hint and
starts mailing hint pictures of girls who
he says have only one day to live. Un
less, that is, Campbell can find them
first.
The most intriguing element of this
movie is its concentration on the scent
ing impossible - lhat a person in dan
. ger could be easily overlooked, ignored,
or even worse - forgotten.
In one disturbing scene, a photo
enclosed in Campbell's packtige shows
a young woman who is unknown and
virtually nameless.
News programs show her face, but
no one in the city of five million knows
her. Someone asks, “How can tliis hap
pen in the communication age?”
The audience is forced to wonder if
they, too, could ever be unknown to
society, and - in the cases of these
women - be easily stalked and unable
to be saved.
Rookie director Joe Charbanic is
surprising in his ability to endear his
audience to the threatened clraracters,
who are introduced quickly and in
formally.
Not even “Kiss the Girls,” where
the time spent with the endangered
women is much more intimate and de
veloped, could inyolve the viewers in
the fear within the women as well as
Charbanic’s technique does.
In addition to this, Charbanic dis
closes the killer from the beginning se
quence, thus depleting any “whodunit”
speculation.
Consequently, the film does not
end with a forced unveiling, like
“Scream 3” and “The Bone Collector,”
but instead gives its audience some re
spect.
Visually, the opening visuals con
sist of smeared siren lights and a run
ning silhouette. A dramatic, tense mu
sic plagues the credits, making the
remaining 90 minutes seem harrow
ing. They aren’t, though the last 30
minutes demand a suspension of dis
belief that some viewers might despise.
Reeves opens the movie with a vi
sual reminiscent of, although not near
ly comparable to, De Niro’s trademark
in “Taxi Driver.” A stunning Rob Zom
bie metal song permeates the scene,
intensifying the viewers’ first im
pression of the “bad guy.”
Unfortunately, when Reeves opens
his mouth, out comes his infamous
surfer accent.
If he were playing one of his vic
tims’ boyfriends, it could be written
off as a rite of typecasting, but in this
role, he should have changed it to gar
ner some respect.
To his credit, though, Reeves is
charismatic to his lonely, introverted
victims, and is convincing as a Don
Juan to those he meets.
Thank goodness Marisa Tornei
(“My Cousin Vinny”) steps in as psy
chiatrist named Polly, and adds an
extra level of vulnerability to the al
ready-pathetic Campbell. Together,
they balance the Reeves factor.
The soundtrack is a modern mix
of psychosexual mood music that works
for the subject matter. Some contri
butions include Sharkftn’s “Can’t Say
That” and Jacqui Lynn’s “Driven to
This.”
If the score hadn’t overused its
pressing, tension-ridden sounds, the
cohesion of the soundtrack would
prompt people to buy it.
True, “The Watcher” might have
used the style of Denzel Washington’s
“Fallen” to show its audience life
through the eyes of a psycho.
And yes, it did manage to get away
with some major discrepancies re
garding SWAT teams, license tags and
fire hazards, but waiting for video would
be a loss.
Though not Keanu Reeves’ best
moment, for all other reasons, The
Watcher should be watched now.
The spotlight desk c:w be reached at
gamecockspotiight@hotmail.com.
Colossal Film Crawl
brings filmmakers,
culture to Columbia
by Mackenzie Clements
The Gamecock
Columbia’s fourth annual Colossal Film Crawl will feature a one-day inde
pendent film extravaganza in five Vista venues, beginning 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Scheduled films include a range of documentaries, animated shorts, historical
portraits and fiction films. Art Bar, Alley Cafe, City Art, Encore and Steamers
Seafood Co. will present the films, with Steamers kicking off the crawl.
“The festival seeks to encourage the growth of regional alternative and inde
pendent filmmaking by providing a needed venue for these efforts,” Free Times
editor Ten Tynes said.
Coordinators accepted entries shorter than 30 minutes from filmmakers liv
ing or working in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and other
Southern states. The film search committee actively solicited some films to be
shown at the festival.
hi addition to seeking films about culture and artists in the South, coordina
tors paid attention to films that use new technologies and films that debuted through
non-traditional means, such as the Internet.
The festival will sell wristbands for $5, which can be purchased until 30
minutes before each film’s showing. Films will start on the hour and half-hour at
the restaurants and bars listed. Each venue will show repeat viewings of films
late Thursday.
Tynes said, “[The films] are staggered so you can go to any venue and get a
wristband and join in.”
Audiences, up to 400 people in past festivals, view the short films at one lo
cation before “crawling” to the next.
Concerns about low turnout don’t seem to bother Tynes.
“Columbia is one of those university and government towns like Austin and
Madison with a lot of intellectually curious professionals,” she said.
The second annual Colossal Film Crawl showcased 30 films by 22 filmmak
ers, according to Tynes.
“They all said they’d had a great time, largely because they were encouraged
to mingle and talk and crawl together.”
The spotlight desk can be reached at
gamecockspotiight@hotmail.com.
The Films of The Colossal Film Crawl
Steamers
931 Senate St.
6:30 p.m., 8 p.m.
Taxi
Dan Silvers
Moves
J (Joey) Hall
A Growing Experience
Jeff Lyon
Global Wanning
Alan Geoghegan
Alley Cafe
911 Lady St.
7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
A Step Removed
Radha Vatsal
Ivan: Rgormortis is not a big deal
Megan Holley
Falling Back to Earth: TomatiHo
Pamela Turner
The Rockwells
Jennifer Willis
Shake it Up, Shake it Down
Tracie Anjanette Levert
Art Bar
1211 Park St.
8:30 p.m., 10:15 p.m.
Music Video: Don Bravado
Wade Sellers
The Trifling of Hugh Mann
Steve Daniels
186 Days
Tom Smugala
The Secret of Passionate Love
Narcel Reedus
Encore
808 Lady St.
7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Dixie’s Last Stand
Wallace Beckham
Vehicle
Bethany Springer
Crisp
Mark Alan Dull
City Ait
1224 Lincoln St.
Heritage in Clay
Les Stringer
Man of Vision
Tim O’Donnell
Remembering Ed
Tom Stanley & Steve Warren
Emmy
Winners
Winners of major honors
at Sunday night’s Emmys:
Drama Series: “Tlie Wfcst Wing,” NBC.
Comedy Series: “Will & Grace,” NBC.
Actor, Drama Series: Janies Gandolfini,
“The Sopranos,” HBO.
Actress, Drama Series: Sela Wird, “Once
and Again,” ABC.
Actor, Comedy Series: Michael J. Fox,
“Spin City,” ABC.
Actress, Comedy Series: Patricia Heaton,
“Everybody Loves Raymond,” CBS.
Miniseries: “The Comer,” HBO.
Made-for-TV Movie: “Oprah Winfrey
Presents: Tuesdays With Morrie,” ABC.
Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Jack Lem
mon, “Oprah Winfrey Presents: Tuesdays
with Morrie,” ABC.
Actress, Miniseries or a Movie: Halle
Beny, “Introducing Dorothy Dandridgc,”
HBO.
Variety, Music or Comedy Series: “Lite
Show With David Letterman,” CBS.
Variety, Music or Comedy Special: “Sat
urday Night Live: The 25th Anniversary
Special,” NBC.
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series:
Sean Hayes, “Will & Grace,” NBC.
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Se
ries: Megan Mullally, “Will & Grace,”
NBC.
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:
Richard SchifT, “The West Wing,” NBC.
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:
Allison Janney, “The West Wing,” NBC.
Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a
Movie: Hank Azaria, “Oprah Winfrey
Presents: Tuesdays with Morrie,” ABC.
Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or
Movie: Vanessa Redgrave, “If These Walls
Could Talk 2,” HBO.
What’s
Happening
Wednesday, Sept. 13
Billy G’s-Meniory Dean
Elbow Room- Dark Wednesday with
Praeoccupor Morte
Five Points After Five- Weekend Excur
sion 6:30
Gold Rush- Acoustic open mic with Rick
David
Mac’s on Main- Skipp
Monterrey Jack’s- Lee Barbour Quintet
Nonnah’s- Pianist Drake Reilly
Roadrunners - Open Jam with Rick
Stevens
Wings'and Ale- Tokyo Joe
Talk Show
Guests
Wednesday. Sept. 13
Good Morning America: Sally Field
Leno: Dennis Rodman, Kate Hudson,
The Coors
f
Letterman: Sally Field, Eddie Irvine ;
Rosie: Sally Field, Yolanda Adams
The View: Renee Zellweger
*
i
Thursday. Sept. 14
Conan: Jamie Foxx
Kilbom: Ryan Stiles
Leno: Renee Zellweger
Letterman: A1 Gore, Supergrass
Rosie: Cheryl Ladd
The View: Jamie Foxx, Peter Frampton ;
Friday. Sent. 15
Conan: Fastball
Good Morning, America: Gwyneth Pal
trow
Kilbom: Juliette Lewis, Eugene Levy
Leno: Penelope Cruz
Rosie: A1 Gore
The View: Greg Kinnear
4