Drumbeats and Song

Robert Ashenhurst '50, until last year known to his intimates as a summa physicist, introduced the song and dance musical to Radcliffe. Since his first production a year ago, his reputation and skill have grown in equal amounts--which is to say that this year's Annex-dotes is musically superior to last year's fine job.

By limiting himself to collegiate themes, Ashenhurst lays himself open to book and lyric situations which are most familiar to his audience. And yet, by searching diligently for originality, he has come up with a show that is clever and fresh, a job which was appreciated thoroughly by the capacity audience that filled Sanders last night.

Admittedly, the evening's proceedings ran too long. This was bad from two points of view. Many songs in the Annexdotes section grew tiresome as they were repeated over and over.

And more important, the audience was restless when the Harvard Band appeared for the second half of its concert. Somehow Malcolm Holmes '28 manages to have his musicians perform one superb concert after another. Even in the heavier textured pieces of Prokofiev and Moussorgsky, the band sounded richer and fuller than ever before. The other familiar pieces were sharp and exciting, as always.

It is difficult to single out the outstanding numbers. The Morph Song, cleverly sung by Barbara Tulloch '54, William Monteith '53, Amory Sommarpia '52, and Norwood Gove '53 was excellent, as were Peter Coyne's Jumping to Conclusions and Cynthia Green's I Dreamed I Went to a Jolly-up. The latter was particularly distinguished by Ashenhurst's choral arrangement.

Any review of Drumbeats would be incomplete without a mention of the kickline. The spectacle of 14 girls swinging 28 lithe limbs in unison has always been something for audiences to thrill to. Dele Gilmore's line carried off even more intricate steps than last year's platoon; even though one pair was rather unattractive, the precision dancing was a pleasure to watch.

Before the performance, the directors decided that if the audience liked it enough, they would give it again. The date is Monday, at 8 p.m., without the band.