Short Takes

THEATER

Divinely Inspired or Deeply Deranged?

TWO DRAMAS CONVERGE IN SHAW'S SAINT JOAN. One is a political tale of a populist heroine put to death for taking seriously pietisms about God, King and country expounded by an elite that cares only about itself. The other is a metaphysical debate over whether this world has any place for the uncompromising rectitude of a saint. The shrewdness of Shaw's text -- and of Maryann Plunkett's sturdy Broadway performance -- is that both struggles are just as compelling whether the audience sees Joan as divinely inspired or as deeply deranged. The surrounding production by Tony Randall's National Actors | Theater is coarse, often verging on camp. But the play is all too timely. As Joan's judges solemnly denounce the evil of religious heresy, one thinks of Salman Rushdie.

BOOKS

Tale of a Panther

"THE TRUE REVOLUTIONARY IS GUIDED by great feelings of love," Che Guevara is quoted as saying in A TASTE OF POWER: A BLACK WOMAN'S STORY (Pantheon; $25). By that standard, author Elaine Brown is a genuine radical. She tells an absorbing story of real struggle: how she became the leader of the Black Panther Party, how she and the party battled racism, and how she fought sexism within the group. Her prose is unpretentious and involving. She makes the political personal by recounting her affair with Huey Newton, founder of the Panthers. Newton is revealed as a difficult man, sometimes violent, sometimes vulnerable, always brilliant. In the end, Brown discovers, love is the most demanding political act of all.

MUSIC

Knuckle Crackers

SCOTT JOPLIN, JAMES SCOTT AND JOSEPH Lamb may have been the Big Three composers of the ragtime era, but there were a host of others, many of them (yes!) women. Twelve are represented on FLUFFY RUFFLE GIRLS, an irresistible CD by pianist Virginia Eskin (Northeastern). May Aufderheide, probably the best known of the dozen, showed with infectious rags like The Thriller! that she could crack knuckles with the big boys. Also noteworthy are two elegiac rags by the contemporary composer Judith Lang Zaimont, which prove there's life in the old genre yet. Eskin captures all the insouciant charm of the country's first great popular music, and firmly observes Joplin's admonition that it is never right to play ragtime fast. Just well.

MUSIC

Turbo Twang from Good Ole Boys

IF THEIR LYRICS WEREN'T INTELLIGIBLE (and intelligent) and their voices didn't heartbreak on every third syllable, the GIBSON/MILLER BAND could pass for prime rockers, make big money and be forgotten by Labor Day. Instead, country can claim them as new stars of its make-believe barroom. On their album Where There's Smoke, they are tough guys with heart and humor. They can taunt a lady friend's angry father ("Your daddy hates me/ Much as I love you . . ./ He don't know we're a lot alike,/ You been keepin' us both awake all night") or wail like good ole boys stranded at the altar ("She's gettin' a rock/ And I'm gettin' stoned,/ She's tyin' the knot/ And I'm tyin' one on"). This is 90- proof vox-pop poetry, with a rhythm-guitar chaser.

CINEMA

Kindergarten Cops

TROT OUT THE SUPERLATIVES FOR NATIONAL LAMPOON'S LOADED WEAPON 1: More derivative than The Naked Gun 2 1/2! Nearly half as many star cameos as in The Player! More dead spots than Hoffa! In this Lethal Weapon parody, directed by Gene Quintano, Emilio Estevez exudes a sullen psychosis in the Mel Gibson role (though Mel's hair was funnier); Samuel L. Jackson has the Danny Glover part. The movie is a gallimaufry of sophomoric jokes, redeemed by a few freshmanic ones. While pursuing Nazi officers speaking German, Estevez trips over the English subtitles. Loaded Weapon will seem foreign to anyone who doesn't see a lot of movies. The verdict, for those who do: Moderately funny! Part of the time!