UMS Concert Program, July 7 And 8, 1984, At July 11 And 12, 1984: Ann Arbor Summer Festival -- Marcel Marceau

Power Center For The Performing Arts Ann Arbor, Michigan

A Presented by
nn Arbor the university
'ummer musical society
i , i 7 OF THE
StlVal UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Marcel Marceau
with JEANLUC VERNA and JONATHAN LAMBERT
Two different programs:
Saturday and Sunday, July 7 and 8, 1984, at 8:00 (Program I) Wednesday and Thursday, July 11 and 12, 1984, at 8:00 (Program II)
Power Center for the Performing Arts Ann Arbor, Michigan
Mr. Marceau will make his selections from the following: Style Pantomimes
Walking
Walking Against the Wind
The Staircase
The Tight Rope Walker
The Public Garden
The Bill Poster
The Kite
The Sculptor
The Painter
The Cage
The Bureaucrats
The Hands
Rememberances
The Side Show
The Pickpocket's Nightmare
Contrasts
The Maskmaker
The Seven Deadly Sins
Youth, Maturity, Old Age and Death
The Tango Dancer
The Small Cafe
The Dice Players
The Four Seasons
The Dream
The Creation of the World
The Trial
The Angel
The Dress
The Tree
The Amusement Park
INTERMISSION Bip Pantomimes
Bip in the Subway
Bip Travels by Train
Bip as a Skater
Bip Hunts Butterflies
Bip Plays David and Goliath
Bip Commits Suicide
Bip as a Soldier
Bip at a Society Party
Bip as a Street Musician
Bip as a China Salesman
Bip as a Fireman
Bip as a Baby Sitter
Bip as a Professor of Botany
Bip as a Lion Tamer
Bip Looks for a Job
Bip in the Modern and Future Life
Bip as a Tailor in Love
Bip Dreams He Is Don Juan
Bip, Great Star of a Traveling Circus
Bip and the Dating Service
Bip as a Great Artist
Bip Remembers
Presentation of Cards by JeanLuc Verna
About the Artist
Marcel Marceau, master of the ancient dramatic art of mime, brings his creative genius and his esteemed teaching abilities to the first Ann Arbor Summer Festival. In addition to his four concert per?formances, Mr. Marceau is holding two weeks of master classes in mime at The University of Michigan. These classes are the first seminars Marceau has presented in the United States; until now, he has given instruction only in his Paris International School of Mime. "Ann Arbor is the ideal choice, not only because it is a great city with a great university, but it is making a tremendous contribution to the arts by bringing in the best people," says the mime artist.
Born in Strasbourg, France, Marceau's interest in the Art of Mime began at an early age, when he would imitate by gestures anything that fired his imagination. He was devoted to such silent screen artists as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harry Langdon, and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and his admiration for these great actors inspired him to pursue the art of silence as his profession. Marceau's first important step was taken in 1946 when, at the age of 20, he enrolled in Charles Dullin's School of Dramatic Art in the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris. Here he studied with the great master, Etienne Decroux, who also taught JeanLouis Barrault. The latter noticed Marceau's exceptional talent and made him a member of his Company. Marceau presented his first "mimodrama" at the Bernhardt Theatre that same year, with a unanimous success that firmly established his career.
As a style pantomimist, Marcel Marceau has been acknowledged without peer. His silent exercises and satires on everything from sculptors to matadors, have been described as works of genius. Of his summation of the ages of Man in the famous Youth, Maturity, Old Age and Death, one critic said that "he accomplished in less than two minutes what most novelists cannot do in volumes." In 1947 Marceau created "Bip" the clown, who, in his striped pullover and battered, beflowered opera hat, has become his alterego. Bip's misadventures with everything from butterflies to lions, on ships and trains, in dance halls or restaurants, are limitless.
Marceau made his first tour of the United States in the 195556 season, close on the heels of his North American debut at the Stratford (Ontario) Festival. Throughout this continental tour, he played to standingroomonly crowds in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and other major cities. His second American tour was in 1958, and since than he has been a regular visitor to the United States and Canada.
Mr. Marceau's multiple talents shine as a star of television and motion pictures, an author and an artist. His art has become familiar to millions of Americans as a performer on the "Show of Shows," which won for him the coveted "Emmy" award, and he has been a favorite guest of Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, John Davidson, and Dinah Shore. He also had his own oneman show entitled "Meet Marcel Marceau." Cable TV viewers are currently enjoying his recent special with Red Skelton. In motion pictures, he protrayed the 17 different roles of "shanks" in First Class, where he combined his silent art, playing a deaf mute puppeteer, and his speaking talent, as a mad scientist. He created the mimodrama Candide for the Ballet Company of the Hamburg Opera, which he not only directed, but also performed the title role. Children have been delighted by his highly acclaimed Marcel Marceau Alphabet Book and the Marcel Marceau Counting Book. He wrote and illustrated The Story of Bip, and in 1982 The Third Eye, a collection of ten lithographs of Marcel Marceau the artist, was published in Paris with his own accompanying text. These lithographs are on display this evening in the Power Center lobby.
Earlier this year, after a successful onenightstand tour, Marceau has had extended engagements in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Chicago. During his stay in Chicago, the University of Chicago, with a substantial subsidy from the City of Paris, invited the entire faculty and student body of the Paris International School of Mime for three weeks of intensive classes.
Mr. Marceau's four appearances in this Festival bring his total number of Ann Arbor performances to 24, under University Musical Society auspices.
We invite you to view the ten limited edition lithoprints of Marcel Marceau, the artist, on display in the lobby this evening.
Immediately following this performance, weather permitting, selected short films of such silent screen artists as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton will be shown at the Top of the Park (on top of the adjoin?ing parking structure). We invite you to join us.