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From left,
Bo
Broadwell,
Shannon
Willis
Scruggs and
Scott
Vaughan
perform in
“Singin’ In
the Rain” at
Town
Theatre on
Sumter
Street.
PHOTO SPECIAL
TO THE
GAMECOCK
k New shows open as Columbia theaters prepare for fall season
BY CARRIE PHILLIPS
THE GAMECOCK
Columbia’s stages will be puls
ing with music, dance, drama and
all things theatrical as area play
houses gear up for this season.
There is something for everyone
this semester, from classic
Shakespeare to a Pulitzer-Prize-win
ningcontemporary play to vintage
musicals. Here is a rundown of
plays that will make you laugh, cry
and maybe get some extra credit.
Theatre South Carolina
USC’s theater department has
two wonderfully classic plays
lined up for fall. The season will
open with Shakespeare’s tragedy
“King Lear,” which runs Oct. 4
through Oct. 12 at Drayton Hall.
George S. Kauffman and Moss
Hart’s “You Can’t Take It With
You” will run Nov. 15 through 24
at Longstreet Theatre and is a gala
celebration of the theater’s 25th
anniversary.
The department is also plan
ning a second season of smaller
performances, including “The
Baby Dance” Oct. 10 through 12 at
Longstreet Theatre and “Othello”
Nov. 21 though 23 at Drayton Hall.
^ “This is a chance to see fellow
students’ work in all aspects of
theater,” said Tim Donahue, mar
keting director for USC’s theater
department. “We offer perfor
mances of the quality of the best
regional theaters.”
Donahue said Theatre South
Carolina chooses its repertoire to
relate to the university’s liberal
arts mission. “It gives students a
painless introduction to Western
European culture,” he said.
All Theatre South Carolina per
formances run Tuesday through
Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at
3 p.m. Tickets are $9 for students.
Visit the box office in Longstreet
Theater or call 777-2551 for tickets.
Trustus Theatre
Trustus, Columbia’s only pro
fessional theater, opened its 2002
03 season two weeks ago with
Tennessee Williams’ classic play
“A Streetcar Named Desire,”
which runs through Sept. 28.
Next, “Proof’ will run Oct. 18
through Nov. 9. The play, which
tells the story of a young woman
coming to grips with her mathe
matician father’s genius and
madness, as well as her chances
of inheriting them, tackles family
issues, but is also a funny mys
tery with a touch of romance. It
won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
and the Tony Award for Best Play
in 2001, and Anne Heche is now
starring in the lead role on
Broadway.
“We chose ‘Proof because it re
ally meets our mission to bring the
newest and freshest works to
Columbia,” said Laurens Wilson,
director of development and mar
keting at Trustus.
In December, Trustus will
bring back last season’s hit, “I
Love You, You’re Perfect, Now
Change.”
Trustus also offers Late Night,
a collection of short plays that
runs Tuesday nights at 7:30 p.m.
and Friday nights at 11:15 p.m.
The fall’s selections are “The
Hamlet Project,” written by two
USC graduate theater students,
and David Sedaris’ “The
Santaland Diaries.”
“Late Night is a way to bring £
different sort of play to Columbia,’
Wilson said. “It’s an attempt to in
troduce younger people to the the
ater, and it is also a great training
ground for young actors.”
Main-stage shows rur
Wednesdays and Thursdays ai
7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays
at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. “1
Pay What I Can” matinees, foi
which there is no set price but do
nations of any amount are ac
cepted, are offered at 3 p.m. th€
first Sunday of nonmusicals. Call
254-9732 for tickets and pricing in
formation. Trustus is located at
520 Lady St.
Wbrkshop Theatre
From now until Oct. 14, the
stage at Workshop Theatre will be
rocking to the tunes of Jerry
Lieber and Mike Stoller’s
“Smokey Joe’s Cafe.” This pro
duction, directed and chore
ographed by USC dance faculty
member Cindy Flach, is the
Midlands premiere.
Nov. 15 through 26, the theater
will present Neil Simon’s “Barefoot
in the Park.” Shows run Tuesday
through Saturday at 8 p.m. and
Sundays at 3 p.m. Student tickets
are $14, and are available at the box
office or by calling 799-6551.
Workshop Theatre is located at 1136
Bull St.
Town Theatre
Town Theatre is showing the
1920s Hollywood tale “Singin’ in
the Rain” now through Oct. 5. The
theater will follow that with a 1950s
comedy, “No Time for Sergeants,”
a comedy about a country boy en
tering the Army, which will run
Nov. 8 through 23. Shows rUn
.Wednesday through Saturday at 8
p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets
are $13 for students, and are avail
able at the box office or by calling
799-2510. Town Theatre is located
at 1012 Sumter St.
South Carolina
Shakespeare Company
For those of you who can’t get
enough of the Bard, get out to
Finlay Park for the South Carolina
Shakespeare Company’s perfor
mance of “Much Ado About
Nothing.” The free performances
run Oct. 11, Oct. 12 and Oct. 16
through 19 at 8 p.m. in the Finlay
Park Ampitheater.
Koger Center
The Koger Center for the Arts’
Koger Presents series will begin
with a touring comedy, “Same
Time Next Year,” Oct. 19 at 8 p.m.
The show stars McKenzie Phillips,
daughter of Mamas and Papas
crooner James Phillips, in the story
of two married people who turn a
one-time fling into an annual affair.
Also, the Stanislavsky Opera
Company will bring Puccini’s “La
Boheme” to the stage Nov. 14 at 7:30
p.m.
Tickets are available by calling
the Coliseum box office at 251-2222
or visiting the Koger Center main
lobby. There will be $5 student rush
tickets for the opera available 30
minutes before the show.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com
PHOTO SPECIAL TO GAMECOCK
From left, Joseph Scott, Daryl Byrd, Walter Graham and Bobby
Craft of Workshop Theatre’s “Smokey Joe's Cafe.”
Ian Paul
Whitten and
Dewey Scott
Wlley co-star In
“A Streetcar
Named Desire”
at Trustus
Theatre.
PHOTO SPECIAL TO
THE GAMECOCK
Touring is tough for Fall Out
performers Sparta, Cave In
BY ALLYSON BIRD
THE GAMECOCK
They both fit into the loosely
defined rock genre, they both live
on the road and they’re both play
'ing WARQ-FM’s fifth annual Fall
Out Festival today at Finlay
Park.
Though Cave In and Sparta
have different sounds, they have
been touring together for about
two weeks, and share common
sentiments about being on the
road.
Cave In, based out of
Massachusetts, has its roots in
metalcore. The group began in
1995 when the players were high
school sophomores. Its sound has
changed gradually, both to spare
the voice of singer, guitarist and
keyboardist Stephen Brodsky
and to shift the band’s persona
from angry metal to something
less heavy and more positive.
“I think what’s really cool
about those older recordings is
that we can listen to them now as
ra different type of band,”
Brodsky said during a phone in
terview.
Back in the band’s metalcore
days, Brodsky and guitarist
Adam McGrath, drummer J.R.
Connors and bassist Caleb
Scofield were unable to hit the
road; they had to graduate from
high school first.
“I had to lie to my parents on
the weekends so that we could go
play out ot state, Brodsky says.
“But we were always playing lo
cal shows.”
Since those days, Cave In has
spent most of its time touring.
Travel makes for some interest
ing stories, such as the time the
band’s van caught fire, destroy
ing it as well as the band’s equip
ment.
“We definitely ended that tour
with a bang,” Brodsky said. “The
van burned for, like, 15 minutes
before the fire truck came, and
there were fireworks inside. It
was quite a sight.”
Despite the sights and sounds
of the road, touring takes its toll.
“It does something strange to
you when you spend all your
time in a vehicle, and then for an
hour you release all this physi
♦ BANDS, SEE PAGE 6
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
Sparta, from El Paso, Texas, will play at Fall Out tonight.
CD REVIEW .
Average guys make simple, effective CD
“OK GO”
OK Go
★★★★ out of ■&☆☆☆☆
BY BEN ANGSTADT
THE GAMECOCK
“Mediocre people do excep
tional things all the time.” OK
Go’s own lyrics best describe the
band. Sometimes, music is mean
ingful, with something to say
about the world; sometimes it
isn’t. But the lack of an underly
ing message is not necessarily a
fault. Sometimes, average guys
having fun is enough to make a
solid album
OK Go’s music is a testament
to the fact that music doesn’t
need to be lofty and philosophi
cal to be good. Its members sing
about everyday topics, such as
running into an old girlfriend,
dealing with egotistical people
and moving to a new town. The
lyrics aren’t deep, and the musi
cal style isn’t groundbreaking.
The appeal of OK Go is that its
music is just plain catchy.
On the self-titled Capitol
Records debut, the Chicago
based foursome shows it has
have the ability to write pop-rock
anthems that will keep listeners
coming back t»r more.
Though OK Go’s members
have been performing since 1998,
this album is the first full-length
release from singer Damian
Kulash, guitarist Andrew
Duncan, bassist Tim Norwind
and drummer Dan Konopka.
Their charismatic live perfor
mances as an opening act for
artists such as Elliott Smith and
the Promise Ring explain the
small, yet devoted fan base that
OK Go already enjoys.
With the album’s first single,
“Get Over It,” OK Go has already
put its foot in the door to star
dom. The song is featured in the
widely popular video game
“Madden NFL 2003” alongside
many other up-and-coming rock
acts. This track, with its Beastie
Boys-meets-Green-Day sound, is
the first on the disc, and its hu
morous and satirical tone cap
tures the frustration of dealing
with the dramatic, self-absorbed
people among us.
The rest of the songs as well
portray everyday anguish and
observations. On “Don’t Ask
Me,” Kulash sings about the pa
tronizing attitude he encounters
after a chance meeting with an
ex-girlfriend.
On the next track, “You’re So
Damn Hot,” he addresses a girl
at a bar who he has no chance of
getting: “You’re a bad-hearted
boy trap, baby doll, but you’re so
damn hot.”
OK Go addresses more serious
topics as well, while maintain
ing the same normal-guy tone.
On “1000 Miles Per Hour,”
Kulash sings about a crumbling
relationship in need of an
unattainable change of pace.
“Return” shows him lamenting
the death of a friend who was ob
viously taken too young. But
even while trying to tackle more
serious topics, OK Go maintains
a radio-friendly sound that saves
the album from wallowing in de
spair.
The only speed bump on the
album is the somewhat inconsis
tent sound. The pop-rock style
persists throughout, but some of
the songs, when placed side by
side, sound as if two different
bands performed them. It’s not
necessarily a shortcoming, but it
might turn off those who are ex
pecting.the band to fall into one
specific genre.
Regular guys singing about
regular things can make just as
good an album as the pining mis
fits who want to make a state
ment about life can.
Sure, OK Go doesn’t have deep
lyrics, and its members aren’t
musical revolutionaries, but
they’re fun.
In the end, isn’t that what mat
ters anyway?
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com