THEATRE Mya Darling It has all the ingredients of ~a successful musical but—is this modern Greece? AST week, at the tiny Poor Alex Theatre of Toronto, _ we traveled 2,372 years back into ancient Greece to see Aristophanes’ comedy, The Frogs. Now, at the huge and cavernous O’Keefe Centre, we can visit the present-day Greek port of Piraeus to see Jules Dassin’s Illya Darling, based on his movie, Never on Sunday. iilya Darling is' a musical comedy. It has a big orchestra, melodious songs and lively dances. It also has fun and girls and colorful scenery—all the in- gredients of the most success- ful form of theatre in the U.S. It has some other things work- _ing for it as well—the special ethnic flavor. of Greek song and dance (novelties in themselves), the reputation of Jules Dassin as a movie-maker, the fame of his wife Melina Mercouri as an international star, the song, Never on Sunday, for some years now a top hit and, of course, the success of the ori- ginal film. The music, composed by Manos Hadjidakos, and _ the dances, staged by Onna White, undoubtedly have authentic Greek origins, though it is apar- ent that they have undergone some changes on the way to Broadway. The musical sound has become broad and brassy, the dance steps have acquired a showbusiness accent. This is regrettable, for the superb male dancing company are best when they are most authentically Greek. Oliver Smith’s settings, espe- cially of the shipyard, are ex- citing, though one feels he has glamorized some locales that are actually rather sordid. Since Illya Darling is not a serious play, one should not ex pect the highest acting stan- dards (No?). The acting is ne- vertheless a disappointment, comedy closer to cartoons than to real human beings. Though the cast includes some Greek actors with impressive stage credits, their talents are not utilized. Blame the musical comedy medium and its broad genera- lizations. The sea voyage here too takes its toll. Miss Mercouri, for instance, in the title role, plays the happy whore flamboyantly, flashing an electric stage presence, domi- nating every scene, yet she allows herself to indulge in gim- mickries of speech and manner which caricature the character and deny sympathy. it a real audience NEEVAUNY) Orson Bean, as the innocent American abroad, is youthful and likeable, but his dimensions do not include depth. The production is still in the formative stages, seemingly loose, in need of cutting, re- writing and rebuilding, but by the time it reaches New York it will probably be assured of success and will start to make big money. Jules Dassin, wrote the book and directed Ilya Darling. Mr. Dassins’ first acting and direct- ing projects were with the Artef Theatre, that magnificent New York Yiddish company of the Thirties. (Remember when they came to Toronto with Sholom Aleichem’s 200,000?). In later years, hounded by the McCartyites, Dassin was driven into European exile, where he became famous as a film maker. Now he is back in North Amer- ica, on his way to Broadway. I think he is trying to tell us something like this: In the United States the people are in- hibited, hypocritical, afraid of life. There is more genuine lib- erty, more vitality, more real meaning among the rough, tough, virile shipyard workers of Piraeus. The comparison may be apt, as between the two cultures. But is it an apt estimation of modern Greece? Is this waterfront tavern real- ly Greece? Do these workers really spend all their time drink- ing and whoring? Is this the land where the foreman is like a patient father? Where his workers are just like exuberant sons who need an occasional bawling out? Ts this the land where whor- -ing and loving are synonymous? And “the glory that: was Greece” — what is its modern legacy? Merely a great big bro- thel of a country? Somewhere in the background of one’s memory are snatches of news reports, stories of bloody street fighting, reports of imprisonments. And a news- paper photo of a man and a girl, village schoolteachers, as they faced a firing squad in that lusty, liberated country. Was it only 20-odd years 2go, Ilya Darling? ‘ : —Martin Stone. ‘Week of Angry Arts protests war By JOSEPH NORTH NEW YORK OMETHING _ unprecedented in American history took place in New York last week, unequalled in size and spirit. It was the “Week of the Angry Arts” — the outcry of rage against the Vietnam war by the men and women who write the nation’s plays, movies, poe- try, novels, music, who paint, who act, our musicians of sym- phony and jazz — in short, our cultural community. What they are doing reflects the swelling dissatisfaction, anger and actions welling up from all parts of the population against the continued genocidal war in Vietnam. What is happening in New York this past week has its counterpart on the West Coast, and in many parts of the Mid- west. The week of the Angry * Arts also saw an unprecedented number of protests from the university world. It also witness- ed the continued merger of the movement for civil rights with that of the peace crusaders, a tremendous development. All this has its most dramatic expression in the country’s major metropolis this week of the Angry Arts. Many theatres throughout the city, university campuses, churches, and the streets themselves constitute the stage where this is happening. Let me describe one part of the drama, on just one after- noon, in just one sector, the theatre artists and poets: A long queue of New Yorkers followed the truck that bore a flaming papier-mache replica of the war in Vietnam, napalm bombs exploding on _ straw- thatched villages, and Adminis- tration spokesmen in Washing- ton portrayed with hawk-like beaks gloating over the carnage. February 17, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 6 At various corners of Broad- way, all the way to Columbia University and back again to the post-work throngs at Grand Central railway station, the truck stopped, young actors and actresses leaped off, masque- raded grotesquely as killers or as slaughtered innocents and put on a dramatic skit on the crowded sidewalk, indicting the architects of genocide. When the actors finished, young poets on the truck, some of them beard- ed in the vogue of the day, recited their verses of anger. The New Yorkers stood, fas- cinated. I stood among them, listening, observing. Many, especially the young, stayed to the end, their ‘aces thoughtful, intent. Here and there a dissent- ing voice rose, someone who allied himself with the jingos, but they were few. The young actors and poets had the floor, and nobody took it away from them. As a matter of fact the op- ponents to war, in all the arts, have the floor. Their argument has reached a climax, to date, in this Week of the Angry Arts. A full page ad in the N.Y. Times Sunday, signed by several hun- dred sponsors, told of the vari- ous events that were to be held the next seven days and nights, to pose the alternative to war. The ad in the Times put it this way: “Jan. 29—Feb. 5— Week of the Angry Arts Against the War in Vietnam. Artists of New York Speak Through Their Own Work to Dissociate Them- selves from U.S. Policy in Viet- nam.” ; One item of “their own work” is the ‘“‘collage of indignation” —a 1,200 foot canvas on which 100 painters and sculptors pro- test the war. This is on view at the Loeb Student Centre of New York University for the entire week. BASIC FAG about 1} = j AMY exp EXPO 67 is the au ed title of the Univé International Exhib in 1967... the only 1 % gory” world’s fair § thorized in the Ame@ the International EX! )), Bureau. ef WHERE 7 It will take place O19 6 nificent and unique (77, _the heart of Mont fi islands and a pen th the middle of the 5! * ence River. di p.m., with the entel a), area, “La Ronde,” | q Admission ticket as “passports,” are "afi sale at $2, $7.50 ant (slightly higher afl@y; 28) for daily, we. season passports PGP 9 (children half-price 4 p passports are also ODA) « GETTING THER Montreal _ traf? systems will carly "| p gers to the entranll’ ¢ Free unlimited 7 tion jis available ou : Express—an automa, tric train service © 3%4-mile route the site. ¢ q PARKING SPA | Extra parking lo commodate 20,000 © there will be moot more than 250 privé) in the Marina. . wnat To Se Visitors will be abl and visit a record My national pavilions: ¢ . Canada, the united and the Soviet Um) will be many Europ "4 can, Asian and Lally ican countries rePU \ All of Canada’s provi) | several American Sq | : participate, Entraneé vilions is free. 4 WHAT TO oN The best in worl f tainment will be fealy well as profession®,. events — and the . international shop?! dining. There will. P trance charge to m? professional events, will be numerous €Y of charge. Wi WHERE TO S$! Information and tions can be obtall your travel agent o ing to: Logexpo, — Montreal, Que. camp cilities will also be %% WHERE TO D Restaurants and 4 catering to all DUS ie appetites will be | serve 23,000 patron sitting. id INFORMAT!O, Address all ingu Expo 67 Information y es, 150 Kent Streels Ontario.