Middle Tennessee State University - Midlander Yearbook (Murfreesboro, TN)

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7 m 7 m dm The almost immortal Beach Boys, mi- nus their popular drummer Dennis Wil- son, played their way into the hearts and ears of a record crowd in Murphy Center last spring. Performing some of their better known hits such as Barbara Ann and California Girls , the Beach Boys were easily able t o transend the barrier of an- other generation ' s pop music to listena- ble, dance-able, and pleasureable songs. The group, after surviving the fickled recorder buyers taste thru the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s will enter into its fourth decade and they are still on the top of the album charts. Rarely can this be done in show business. Among the Do-Wa and Sha-na- na , the Beach Boys are versatile enough to try new types of music. Perhaps the courage of trying new forms of pop mu- sic is the secret of their success. What- ever it is it seems to work. In the rainy and agricultural land of Murfreesboro, many people dream of the sunny beaches of California. The idea of such beaches and n ' er-to-do type attitude were clear heard in their songs of surfer and sun. The crowd responded excitedly. Not to leave the popularity of their love songs out, the Beach Boys per- formed Help Me, Rhonda and Get Around . Again, the crowd was unta- meable. The only slow point in the entire con- cert was the Beach Boy ' s introduction to the crowd a surprising element: a new image into modern rock. Taking the cue from their last album (that sold very poorly), the Beach Boys failed to reach a climax with the crowd with their new songs. Overall, the Beach Boys and MTSU worked well together, despite a distorted sound system that sometimes caused problems and distracted from the whole concert. The concert was something that few concerts lack now days: it was some- thing that is rarely found in a concert on campus these days, and we are glad it happened here. 2 Beach Boys

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opening By Jeff Ell.s Offering its audience a sple ndidly funny example of reader ' s theater and Sam- plings of song and dance. University Theater opened its 1979-1980 season with the quite apropos Opening Night, MTSU. Although the show only played for one night, the re- vue delighted theater-goers with a take-off on British drawing room comedy in Behind the Beyond by Ste- phen Leacock and a look at the theater ' s traveling show which featured a cast of 10 talented performers. Behind the Beyond , nar- rated by Terry Isabell was, according to the narration a problem play . If Sir John had been with a chorus, it would have been burlesques; if they had worn togas and had horses, it would have been Shakespeare, but it is indeed a problem play . Actually the problem was quite simple to understand thanks to Isabels remarks: Sir John ' s wife (Lady Cecily) was really in love with Jack, who was the son of Mrs. Har- ding who had an affair with Sir John which made Jack Sir John ' s offspring. Needless to say, things could have gotten a little out of hand here. However, thanks to the ex- cellent performances of Bill Jones as Sir John and Joe Ma- son as young Jack Harding, the plot was easy to follow. Yet it was lovely Laura Leopard who took top acting honors for the evening with her perfectly melodramatic portrayal of Lady Cecily. Ranging from bored, rich so- ciety matron to a dying wom- an who would put Camille to shame. Leopard stole the au- dience ' s collectine heart. The second half of the per- formance was a rousing Vari- ety show which opened with a delightful ' 30s medley in- cluding In the Mood sang by Barclay Randall and a reach back into musical his- tory for Lullaby of Broad- way. And before they knew it, the audience was in the palms of performers ' hands. Show tunes ranging from Soon it ' s Going to Rain performed by Pat Anderson and Barney Crockarell to On the Street Where You Live by David Johnson were topped off with an inspiring patriotic medley which in- cluded Yankee Doodle Dan- dy and You ' re a Grand Old Flag. Although there were minor problems with choreography, the musical portion of the evening was quite entertain- ing. Costuming was god, but the minimal stage props usedj were a bit disconcerting! when compared to other Uni-] versity Theatre productions. But Opening Night, MTSU proved that the opening and closing perfor- mances of a production can be on the same level (even if they cheated a bit in this case.)