Chances are, you've never heard of Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber. But you've heard their music. After all, who hasn't heard (You Ain't Nothing But A) "Hound Dog"?
The songs of Leiber and Stoller make up the nearly 40 songs in "Smokey Joe's Cafe." This Broadway smash hits the Lied Center for Performing Arts at 8 p.m Feb. 13 and 14; and 2 p.m. Feb. 14 and 15.
Rachelle Rak and Scott Beck are shown at right. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Leiber and Stoller had a stream of hits in the 1950s and 60s that remains unprecedented. Artists as diverse as Elvis, the Beatles, Barbra Streisand and 2 Live Crew have recorded their songs. These are the songs you know - the songs you remember from high school, from college, from Life: Stand By Me, Young Blood, Fools Fall in Love, Yakety Yak, Charlie Brown, Love Potion No. 9, On Broadway, Jailhouse Rock.
Performed by a nine-member cast, "Smokey Joe's Cafe" captures the post-war era of the 1950s when rock 'n' roll dumped Big Band crooners from the Hit Parade and ministers ranted from the pulpit over Elvis' gyrations on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Leiber and Stoller teamed up at age 17 at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. Both born in 1933, they were white, Jewish and well educated. Their friends loved the sophisticated swing of Jimmy Dorsey, but they loved the rougher sounds of R&B.
"Hound Dog," originally written for black singer Big Mamma Thornton, was picked up three years later as a B-side recording by Elvis Presley. To say it was a huge hit is an understatement.
The pair pioneered rock 'n roll musical firsts. They were the first songwriters to produce their own recordings. Their songs, at two to three minutes in length, were perfect for the growing market for 45-rpm records and especially suited for the hungry radio market. And they invented the three-minute playlet - little comedy dramas like Love Potion No. 9 and Along Came Jones, which hooked the audience for the whole tune. And they loved goofy sound effects like sirens and speeded up "chipmunk" voices.
They were inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in l 987 and the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1985.
Had they written nothing else but "Hound Dog," their place in history was assured. But hit after hit, recorded by literally an all-star parade of rock legends secures their place as rock 'n roll geniuses.
Tickets for all performances are $36, $32 and $28. Call the Lied Box Of fice at 472-4747 or toll free, 1 (800) 432-3231 for ticket availability.
This presentation of "Smokey Joe's Cafe" is made possible in part with generous support from Aliant Communications and the Evelyn B. Gold Fund for Performing Arts.
A shared passion for the language of poetry prompted veteran character actors Anthony Zerbe and Roscoe Lee Browne to create a a two-man "slam" they dubbed "Poetry in Motion: Beyond the Broken Words."
Zerbe and Browne bring their anthology performance to Kimball Hall for an 8 p.m. performance Feb. 10 as part of the Lied Center for Performing Arts' season.
More than 20 years ago, Browne joined a Los Angeles-based program, "Poetry in the Schools," in which actors visited colleges, junior colleges and some high schools to read poetry. He fell in love with the project. Later, he met Zerbe and the two created their own version, taking the name "Beyond the Broken Words" from a line in a poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Works by Edna St. Vincent Millay, W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, e.e. cummings, Dylan Thomas and Browne are part of the performance.
Browne was exposed to poetry by his parents who read to him as a child. He described poetry as a spirit that fills him with such energy that he leaves each performance exhilarated. Zerbe, who shares Browne's passion for the art, says knowledge of poetry or theatre is unnecessary to enjoy the art form.
The accent is on poetry that is meant to be spoken and in some sense, performed. The staging is simple with the actors' voices creating a harmony that is lyric and dramatic.
Both actors have earned their living as character actors - those types of actors whose faces you recognize from dozens of roles, but whose names you might not remember. Zerbes' films have included roles in "Cool Hand Luke," "Dead Zone" and "Papillon." TV credits include "Harry O," "Mission Impossible," "Tales from the Crypt" and "Murder, She Wrote." Browne has been nominated for Emmy awards for work in "Barney Miller" and "Falcon Crest" and won an Emmy for "The Cosby Show." A star of the dramatic stage, he frequently performs in works by August Wilson and Derek Walcott. His distinctive voice supplied narration for "Babe" and he often has performed spoken works with symphonies.
Tickets for the 8 p.m. performance are $18 and $14. Target "Treatseats" discount coupons are available at participating Target stores.
A series of special programs and events augmenting the current exhibition, Weldon Kees and the Arts at Mid-Century, will be presented at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden throughout the course of the exhibition, which runs through April 12.
Born in Beatrice, Neb., in 1914, Kees studied literature at the University of Nebraska, publishing his first literary work in the Prairie Schooner in 1934. Although best known as a poet, Kees began painting in 1944, while in New York. He exhibited his paintings regularly in solo exhibitions and in group shows with some of the most important New York School artists from 1948 to 1953. Kees also achieved a significant reputation writing art criticism and making experimental films. In addition, Kees wrote and performed jazz and folk music and even authored a one-act play.
At 7 p.m. Feb. 5 the Sheldon Gallery and the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater will present "Word and Image: The Poetry and Films of Weldon Kees." The evening will feature UNL assistant professor of English Nicholas Spencer reading Kees' poetry and the screening of two of Kees' experimental films, "The Bridge" and "Hotel Apex."
On March 4, "The Subjects and Methods of the Study of American Art" will be presented from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Sheldon Gallery auditorium. Organized and moderated by Sheldon curator, Daniel A. Siedell, this colloquium will consist of a public dialogue and exchange with a panel of four art historians specializing in the study of 20th century American art. The featured panelist is Irving Sandler of SUNY-Purchase, David Cateforis, University of Kansas; Stephen Foster, University of Iowa; and Christin Mamiya, UNL associate professor of art. Topics for discussion will include the historical significance of Weldon Kees in the history of American art, the impact of interdisciplinary methodologies on the study of American art, and the role of art museums in facilitating art historical research. The colloquium is free and open to students, faculty and the general public.
A public reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. March 13 in the Sheldon Gallery's Great Hall.
The reception will feature the local experimental musical group Howlooseanation performing several of Kees' original compositions. Cash bar and complimentary hors d'oeuvres will be available.
The Creative Writing Program and the African-American and African Studies Program will present Charles Fort reading from his poetry at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18 in 228 Andrews.
Fort, one of America's most distinguished African American poets, holds the Reynolds Endowed Chair in Poetry at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. His books include The Town Clock Burning and Darvil. He has received the Randall Jarrell Poetry Prize, The Mary Carolyn Davies Award from the Poetry Society of America and The Writer's Voice/Open Voice Poetry Award, among other prizes. Fort's poetry has appeared in The American Poetry Review, Georgia Review and The Carnegie Mellon Anthology of Poetry, among others.
The reading is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Creative Writing Program at 472-1871.
Theatrix, UNL's Second Stage, will present Landford Wilson's Burn This at 8 p.m. Feb. 12-14 and at 2 p.m. Feb. 15 in 301 Temple. Tickets are $3 at the door.
Burn This is the story of Anna, a dancer turned choreographer and Pale, an angry, embittered loner. The two come together through the death of a loved one and as they battle their fear and pain, they are overwhelmed by their mutual passion and need for each other. Sara Davenport and Dan Rasmussen appear as Anna and Pale with support from Dallas Ripley as Larry, Anna's roommate, and Jason Ehlers as Burton, Anna's boyfriend. Also appearing are Steve Sparling and Patti Dillon. Burn This is directed by Moira Mangiameli with lighting design by Tim Croshaw.
The Theatre department warns that this play contains material which may not be suitable for children.
Domestic Problems will be performing at 9 p.m. Feb. 12 in the Culture Center. The show is an all ages free concert with free beverages.
Every so often a foreign film comes along that that connects to that larger audience that normally doesn't care to sit still for subtitles. Cinema Paradiso, with its love of movies, and Like Water for Chocolate, with its love of food and romance, were two such films.
Shall We Dance?, winner of 13 of Japan's equivalent to the Oscars, is yet another. After all, most everybody loves to dance.
But Shall We Dance? is much more than dazzling dancing. World-class charmer that it is, it is also a wry comment on the way a tradition of impassive formality can inhibit ordinary Japanese people in their daily lives, even as this century draws to an end.
Shall We Dance? is showing Feb. 12 through 15 and Feb. 19 through 21. On the evening of Feb. 12, the night of this film's Lincoln premiere and the occasion of a special party, admission is open only to members of the Friends of the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater and the Nebraska Art Association and their guests.
For information about this special event, call 472-9100. See calendar, back page, for screen times. Admission is $6; $5 for students; and $4 for senior citizens, children, and members of the Friends of the Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater.
Shown above is Koji Yakusyo.
The Lied Center for Performing Arts will be holding "The Dreamcoat Choir Challenge" for youth choirs in Nebraska who are interested in performing with the Broadway cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The Choir Challenge will be held on March 1 beginning at 12:30 p.m. at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
Joseph was originally written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for children, therefore incorporating local youngsters into the show was a natural next step. The London Palladium production was the first professional staging to use a children's choir. Since then, thousands of aspiring singers have been invited to take part in productions of Joseph across the country and around the world, giving them the unique opportunity to appear in one of the most popular musicals around.
A team of judges, members of the Joseph Choir Advance Team, will conduct the challenge and select the choir. Only one group will be chosen to be a part of the four Lied Center main stage performances of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on May 1, 2 and 3.
Each choir competing must fit a basic list of requirements. The choir must have no more that 30 members in the group and no less than 20, and choir members must be between the ages of 10-14. For a more detailed list of the requirements and a choir application, call Gail McNair, 472-4712.
Charles Bethea, Lied's executive director, said, "I think this is an exciting opportunity for young choir organizations to be involved with young actors, and it will be a thrilling experience to be a part of a professional musical theater group from Broadway."
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