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'*r 11 Stage By Omar Ranney Karamu's "Lost in the Stars" Out of the World in Staging life RANNEY There is a general impression that everything new and important in the the- ater in this country?╟÷all the latest inno- vations in stage design, all the creative- ness in play and musical production ?╟÷ emanate from a central point known as ?╟úBroadway.?╟Ñ But this is a grossly mis- taken idea. For last night Cleveland?╟╓s Karamu Theater trumped Broadway?╟╓s ace with a beautiful staging of the onetime New York musical hit, -Lost in the Stars,?╟Ñ giv- ing it a production that em- ployed some revolutionary techniques that were artisti- cally exciting. I first saw this Kurt Weill- Maxwell Anderson musical adaptation of Alan Paton?╟╓s novel, ?╟úCry the Beloved Country,?╟Ñ when it was originally done in New York. But what I saw last night in Karamu?╟╓s Proscenium Theater was far more moving. Overcoming the cumbersome sets of the many scene changes in this plaintive tale of an African hill-country father?╟╓s search for his wandering son in the city of Johannesburg, Karamu?╟╓s unique s t a g i n g gains a tremendous advantage in fast-flowing movement and blending of story and music. It is vastly more imaginative. In a greater degree, it is more like a dramatic poem set to music. And this is the essence of the beauty of spiritual thought and rhetoric that marked Paton?╟╓s novel. Nowhere has any dramatic group ever done a musical in the manner it is done here. The entire show is played behind a scrim. While the scrim is trans- parent when there is light be- hind it, it also can serve as a screen on which to project lan- tern slides from the audience side Projected colored pictures become the ?╟úsets.?╟Ñ At the same time the actors back of the scrim are placed in such a manner that under pin-point backstage lighting they can be seen playing out the action. Sefs Out Front Here then is staging where the ?╟úsets?╟Ñ are in front instead of behind the players, all ar- ranged in a transparency that gives delicate emphasis to mood, setting and action. Karamu has experimented with lantern slides before, as have other dramatic groups. But never has the technique been employed to indicate locale and place of action in the changing scenes of an en- tire show. There are 27 of In Karamu?╟╓s ?╟úLost in the Stars?╟Ñ we move swiftly and smoothly from the African hills of Ixopo to the railroad station, to the train tracks along the roadbed to Johannes- burg, and to Johannesburg itself with the many scenes in the city as the preacher- father searches for Absalom, his son. Picture, Players Merge It is surprising what effects of movement and artistic ex- pression seem to flow right out of the projected picture sets in the dancing, along with the playing. There is still another unique feature in the use of the chorus. Twelve singers augmented by a choral group of 23, the Pres- tonians. are never seen by the audience. The chorus thus is used for one purpose only?╟÷to sing?╟÷a function it is felt the singers can perform better under their director when not in view of the audience In turn, the audience can di- rect its gaze entirely upon the actors. This procedure may not be suitable for all musicals, but some tremendous choral ef- fects are gained in the poetic moods of this ?╟úLost in the Stars.?╟Ñ The creative genius behind the staging is Director Benno Frank. He has done many fine things before at Karamu and the Play House. But this new production of ?╟úLost in Stars?╟╓?╟╓ tops all of his achievements. What he has accomplished actually goes beyond what can be done on Broadway, for here he has not had to work under limitations imposed by stage AT KARAMU, George Arthur and Herbert Greggs are seen as father and son in a scene from ?╟úLost in the Stars.?╟Ñ non-commercial theater has an advantage. All the set changes and the lighting are handled by only two men?╟÷-the man in the pro- jection booth (William T. Brown), and the stage manager backstage (Roger Askew) who simply presses a button to give Brown his lighting cues. A quick insertion of a slide in the projector and?╟÷p rest o?╟÷ there is a new ?╟úset.?╟Ñ It is that simple. By con- trast, in the commercial theater of Broadway, a large company of stagehands wrestled nightly with two carloads of scenery. There was so much scenery, in fact, and the cost of handling it was so high, the show never toured. So here is what can be done in a truly creative art theater. And it is a magnificent demon- stration?╟÷full of dramatic ex- citement and poetic beauty. And ably sung, danced and played by an outstanding Karamu cast. I should mention particularly George Arthur as the searching father, William Baker as the leader, Christine Buster as Linda, Herbert Greggs as Absalom, Victoria Harrison as Irina, Jeffrey Dworkin as Ed- ward Jarvis, William Simmons as Arthur Jarvis, Nolan Bell as John Kumalo, Warren Adams as Alex, and Roger Askew as Matthew. This time ?╟úBroadway?╟Ñ should come to Cleveland?╟╓s Karamu and have a look. Here is the most significant bit of theater 1 staged in Cleveland in the last these lantern slide projections. I hands. This is where a strictly decade at least. Reprinted From The Cleveland Press of Wednesday, April 25, 1956