The Canadian Jewish Ney/s, Thursday, December 21, 1989-Page 55
t
TORONTO -
The second Rock for Research charity bash will be held Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. -at the Regal Constellation Hotel. Proceeds will go towards cancer treatment.
This Rockin' evening will be guided by perennial teenager Dick Clark. Shar-
ing the bandstand with him will be Frankie Avalon,-Dion, and Frankie Vali and the Four Seasons, as well as Roger Ashby from CHUM-FM. -
The theme of the evening will be fabulous '50s.
All proceeds of ticket sales will be used towards
the plirchase of an MRI " machine for Princess Margaret Hospital to be used in its shared facility with Mount Sinai Hospital for dieir joint department of Diagnostic Imaging. ' •
By
FRANK RASKY
TORONTO -
The directing is amateurish. The story line is skimpy.
And 30 of the 31 performers are incomprehensible, because they're Spanish-speaking Argentines who've beein flown: here from-Buenos Aires. J Nevertheless. I'd like to extend a bravo arid a bouquet to A Rose For Mr.
It's the new $900,000 musical, running until Feb. 4 at the 800-seat Music Hall Theatre (147 Danforth Ave., 778-
7641).
■- With all its defects, why do 1 urge you^ to see it? Because it's ^ deiightfuljfy surprising cocktail of the sensual and the sentimental, mixed with plenty of , passion and laced with iusiy humor.
: I was surprised, because I expected ittqbc:.as.^bor-_ ingly repetitive as Tcwi^o Argentina, \vhich played •four years ago at the (D'Keefe Centre.
But this homage to the tango mystique is; quite different irom that; nightclub-style revue, which drearily olTercd one dance number after another on "a ciance floor.
Largely responsible for this far more diversified musical — part drama, part ballet, and part history is a versatile Canadian showman named Victor A. Young. You may have seen him when he won a Dora Award a fevv* seasons ago for his lead, performance mThe.Desert Sorig
""and at Stratford last summer when he starred in Kiss Me Kate. He has also directed
' several musicals, most notably Piaf—Lg Vie En Rose)
Here he has collaborated with Argentine-born /'Miguel Rimolo, who immigrated to Toronto at 18.
: made money as. a restaurateur, arid produced, co-directed and wrote the original Spanish script for' A Rose For Mr. Tango. ■, Young wrote the idio-riiatic iEnglish adaptation, co-directed the show, and looking handsomely dashing with his silk white scarf, he stars as the En-
.glish narrator and: per-sonificatioh of the spirit of
"the ;daiicff Mr; ' Tango. ■
The rambling story line attempts to dramatize the history of thetarigo since it began about 1870 in the .seedy bordellos and bistros in the slums of Buenos Aires.
: From this low-life ■at-
mosphere of pimps and gangsters who. Iwielded -knives in their-—dance wars," we see it emerge as an international dance craze, especially after it was popularized by the likes of Rudolph Valentino.
African rhythms, Cuban' melodies, waltzes, Irish jigs and even the Jewish h'Oras are shown influencing its beat. But always basic to the dance is the plaintive wail of the accordion-like bdhdoneon and the macho stance of the Latin male who dominates his female partner. He holds his body rigid as she. revolves around him, sometimes encircling hini seductively with her legs.
The program notes quote a French president who remarked after first viewing, the bawdy movements, "In France, we do it horizontally." ,
The dance stars of the show are 58-year-old Juan Carlos Copeii and his part-; ner for, 30 years, Maria Nieves, who are justly revered as the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of Argentina.-
But 1 was'vastly enterf tained by the whole.'cast,': who- s'riap cowboy gaiuhd iariat.s. pound drums, twirl. like flaming dervishes, and si rig with 'mucho gusto . ; ,; a phrase which sums up the show nicely,.
Maria Nieves and Juan Carlos Copes, the acclaimed Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers team of Argentina, are the dazzling dance stars of A Rose For Mr. Tango at the Music Hall Theatr^.
Tickets are $300 each and tax receipts will be issued. ' For ticket reservations, call (416) 368-ROCK.
For more information call Barb Track at 1 368-ROCK.
at Lawrence Square, Friday, December 22, from 7-11 pm*
Almost everything in sight js on- sale.
At the Law^rence Square Moonlight Madness Special. :
Shop from 7 till 11 pm and find , some extra specials fbr your family; your friends, your home. All on sale.
. Extra special savings this Friday between 7 and 11pm.
See you at the Square! TrT
i.
Lawrertce Avenue West at the Allen.
TAWRENCp
i-/ SQUARE JL^
SQUARE JL
Wishing you a very Happy ChanukaH.
" 125 shops and SlmtIccs. ■ '