TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/120991/1209490.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 6KB | 144 lines

                                                                                CRITICS' VOICES, Page 19



    TELEVISION

    YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS (ABC, Dec. 8, 9 p.m.
EST). Charles Bronson, as a burned-out newspaper reporter, and
Ed Asner, as his editor, compete for Most Crusty in this
sentimental holiday movie, which dramatizes the events that led
to Frank P. Church's famous editorial.

    MUSIC

    WARREN ZEVON: MR. BAD EXAMPLE (Giant). Give it Album Title
of the Year; give it Song Title of the Year (Things to Do in
Denver When You're Dead). Give it, while you're at it, credit
for being unapologetically harsh, nasty, ironic and really
rather terrific. Zevon's as tough as a film-noir hero; when he
turns tender, it's only so you can better hear the sound of doom
coming up like thunder.

    JERRY LEE LEWIS: ROCKIN' MY LIFE AWAY (Warner Bros.). A
sweet combo indeed: 20 Killer sessions, vintage '78-'80, that
wound up on several obscure albums, now resurrected and sounding
spanking fresh. Terrific backcountry blues, closing out with a
roadhouse version of Over the Rainbow that's as poignant as it
is audacious.

    RACHMANINOFF, 24 PRELUDES (Arabesque Recordings). Though
usually performed in small groupings or as encores, these two
dozen pieces -- covering each of the major and minor keys --
become sovereign microworlds in the hands of piano virtuoso Ian
Hobson.

    MOVIES

    MY GIRL. Mack is back, but this time he's not home alone.
He's an allergy-prone 11-year-old whose best friend, Vada (Anna
Chlumsky), is a hypochondriac who lives in a funeral parlor. Dan
Aykroyd, Vada's widowed, mortician father, learns about love and
the living from his makeup artist, Jamie Lee Curtis. Directed
by Howard Zieff (Private Benjamin), this sweet saga is both
hilarious and heartrending. Don't forget the Kleenex.

    THE ADDAMS FAMILY. This elegant spin-off from the Charles
Addams drawings and the '60s TV series is worth seeing for the
casting alone: Anjelica Huston as Morticia, Raul Julia as Gomez,
Christina Ricci as the elfin ghoul Wednesday. A one-joke movie
-- every gag is about the aristocracy of decay -- but handsomely
told.

    ART

    PLEASURES AND TERRORS OF DOMESTIC COMFORT, The Museum of
Modern Art, New York City. Forget Angkor Wat and Victoria Falls.
This witty show of work by 62 photographers says that home is
the most unfamiliar territory of all. Through Dec. 31.

    SWISS FOLK ART: CELEBRATING AMERICA'S ROOTS, Museum of
American Folk Art, New York City. Marking the 700th anniversary
of the Swiss Confederation, 180 objects -- including carnival
masks, prayer books, cake molds and embroidered towels --
demonstrate the true vitality of Switzerland's folk traditions.
Through Jan. 1.

    THEATER

    THE CRUCIBLE. Tony Randall launches his National Actors
Theater on Broadway with an all-star revival of Arthur Miller's
gem about the Salem witch trials, featuring Martin Sheen, Fritz
Weaver and Michael York.

    A WONDERFUL LIFE. Joe Raposo, composer of Sing and much of
Sesame Street, left a trove of musicals-in-the-making at his
death in 1989. This remake of the Frank Capra-Jimmy Stewart film
classic It's a Wonderful Life, at Washington's Arena Stage, is
as sweet and gosh-darn inspirational as the original. But
Sheldon Harnick's book and, especially, lyrics wobble
embarrassingly in tone, and the storytelling transition from
screen to stage is much less than magical.

    NICK & NORA. Nothing was wrong with the idea of a stylish
musical about the fun-loving husband-and-wife detectives:
preview tickets for the show, which opens on Broadway this week,
cost full price but are selling apace. The actual experience,
according to advance word, is less fun.

    BOOKS

    WLT: A RADIO ROMANCE by Garrison Keillor (Viking; $21.95).
The inventor and host of public radio's A Prairie Home
Companion turns in a loopy, endearing novel about the golden
days of the talking box and some of those folks behind the
microphones. It is the 1930s, and the staff at Minneapolis'
fictional WLT can't believe that what they are doing is work and
that such good times will last. They won't.

    THE DEVIL'S CANDY by Julie Salamon (Houghton Mifflin;
$24.95). Subtitled The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to
Hollywood, this account by the film critic for the Wall Street
Journal shows precisely how a turkey can be dressed. Given
access to the project from the start, Salamon did not set out
to chronicle a catastrophe; but that is what Tom Wolfe's novel
became on screen, and this book retails every stumble along the
way.

    ETCETERA

    CIRK VALENTIN. The only animal in this circus is a
graceful rat, but amazing acrobatics staged by Valentin
Gneuschev of Flying Cranes fame make Moscow's latest export fun
for the entire family. At Broadway's Gershwin Theater through
Jan. 5, followed by a national tour.

    FREE SPIRIT

    Pianist Shura Cherkassky is celebrating his 80th birthday
this season in a typical way: a concert tour that would make a
much younger artist flinch. Cherkassky still plays more than 80
dates a year, and audiences can be sure that there won't be any
staleness or formula presentation. He is called the last of the
great Romantics for good reason: his style is freewheeling,
poetic, very much the flowering of his temperament and his mood
of the moment. As such he is a priceless antidote to the
prevailing vogue in pianism for note-perfect but dry
interpretations. Along with the Bach and the Chopin, Cherkassky
plays at least one modern piece on each program, and often the
most startling revelations occur in these works. Ives'
Three-Page Sonata or Stockhausen's Klavierstuck IX are rinsed
in his effervescent Romanticism, and concertgoers find
formidable works exciting. Cherkassky's birthday bash is Dec.
2 at Carnegie Hall; several other dates, including St. Louis,
Cleveland, London and Rome will follow.


BY TIME'S REVIEWERS/Compiled by Linda Williams.