The Freaks!! Performance Report 2

Introduction

I went to the Saturday show of Side Show. It was a large theater production by UT Dallas. The performance was on the night of Saturday April 17^th . This is an adaptation of a Broadway play that was adapted for college performers. I was able to get a up-close view of the musical by seating directly in the front row so I was able to enjoy aspects of acting that may not be able to be seen close up.

Music

The first thing I notice is that the music never ends! The orchestra, which is located in a non-prevalent position in the back of the stage, accompanied the singers/actors in the front. In a large scale stage production, I believe the orchestra would be located in the pit, if the stage had one.

The instruments were common of the typical theater setup including an electric keyboard, drum set, various brass instruments, a flute, tuba, sax, and more. I couldn't distinguish a certain style to many of the songs but one song, in particular had heavy jazz influence and several songs, obviously, sounded close to carnival, side show, music. The jazz piece included elements of music like snapping by the singers. Speaking of singers, most of them used vibrato a large amount in their singing.

Performers

As I mentioned earlier, the band is located in the back. There a couple syncing issues with the music performers being in the back with no clear view of the actors. For the most part, I believe this is solved by the director having a screen to see the stage from the audience's view. I'm not sure if this is the norm for musicals with a normal pit configuration but it would certainly make sense.

Many of the actors heavily reacted to the current scene. 'Audience' members that were really actors pretended to be watching and reacting to the show. Looking at each person, there seemed to be a narrative that the actor created for that character. I think I was able to focus on one person or another more easily because I was so close to the action.

Audience

The actors were able to use the audience to actually participate in the current scene. For example, the starting scene included a side show act where the 'freaks' came from the south side stairs by the audience. When Jake the Cannibal King was on display, he 'escaped' and scared audience members (real and fake) up and down the stairs, including me. It made me, at least, feel more involved in the show as a side show, not a musical. The show included many humor elements so the audience was able to participate by laughing and clapping.

Time and Space

The theater was mostly full. There was a line of seats directly next to me that was not occupied in the front row. Being in the front let me more easily see the actor's reactions and movements up close. It was hard to zoom out and see the general picture for scenes with more than one or two actors in it (which was most of it). Being in the front also made me feel shy about keeping program notes. It would seem rude to spend the entire time with a pencil and notebook in my hand.

The stage included a large red and yellow drape on the sides. As mentioned earlier, the band was located in the back behind major prop pieces. On of those prop pieces included a large roll-able podium for an actor to stand in and large crates.

Conclusion

Overall, the musical was a large production that makes me feel like everyone involved put a lot of hard work into the production. Side Show was performed by UT Dallas students and was very pleasant for me to watch even though I would not normally enjoy watching musicals.

Works Cited

Evans, Kathryn. Program notes. Side Show. 17 April 2010. Richardson: University Theatre.

Side Show. Dir. Kathyrn Evans. University Theatre, Richardson. 17 April 2010.

Alternative Rock

Alternative rock is a sub-genre of rock that I personally have been a fan of for most of my life. It became popular when I was young enough to be impressionable and old enough to be interested in the music that I listened to, which is around the mid-nineties.

In the dust settling from punk music, an underground genre emerged. This was what is now known as alternative rock. This is a strange genre because it is really hard to identify what exactly alternative rock is. However, the primary instrument is the guitar and the lyrics often contain stories that directly address controversial social or political issues.

Nirvana was certainly one of the main if not the main inspirations for the popularization of alternative rock and rock as a whole in the 90's.

The video above is Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. The song relies heavily on the drum set and guitar. The tone of the singer is calm until the chorus and then the singer simply yells. At the end, the singer seems almost hoarse from the yelling. An effect that the song uses is feedback from a guitar. This seems to reflect the small band style that included these kinds of sounds unintentionally when alternative was still underground.

Blog Post 11: The Gullah

The Gullah culture is derived from their African decent. Because of this, there are many similarities between the Gullah culture and cultures found in Africa. The Gullah were brought over into slavery and resided in South Carolina and Georgia. Their geographical location made is possible for much of the culture to be preserved. For example, they speak a creole language and use African names. As I said earlier, the Gullah have been isolated for a long time and sustained their unique culture until today. However, the isolation that has caused this unique culture has been breaking down and the Gullah culture is being pushed away from the primary culture into a historical perspective at festivals and special events. Even though the Gullah people adopted Christianity, they practiced worship in a wholly different way than the Anglicans. They incorporated the western religion into their own culture and was able to practice more freely.

One aspect of the culture that I found interesting was the fact that they believed in a type of witchcraft called wudu, wanga, joso, or juju. They believed that witches could place roots under a person's pillow and that would cast a spell on that person. They also believed in spirits that could enslave people and control their will. This is very relevant to the history of slavery in this culture.

The music, like other African music relies heavily on drum. Also like most African music, the music influences much dancing. I suspect some of the dances to be organized before-hand because there were parts that included different groups trading off different dance moves. There was one dance that involved a man on stilts. The songs with a vocal aspect included chanting and singing. As mentioned earlier, drums are the main instrument of the Gullah culture. Drumming is prevalent in every Gullah music that I have seen.

Performance Report 1: Shakespeare in Song

Introduction

The event I decided to attend, like most of my classmates was Shakespeare in Song presented by The University of Texas at Dallas Chamber Singers. Specifically, I attended the Saturday performance at 8PM. I was going to attend the 2PM show on that day but other obligations caused me to miss that show.

Music

The music all represented a Baroque style. According to the program notes, “The compositions chosen for this performance come from three sources: the authentic songs referred to above; the solo songs of the British composer Roger Quilter (whose rich song literature rivals that of his contemporary Ralph Vaughan Williams); and the choral arrangements of the songs of Shakespeare by Juilliard graduate Mathew Harris, who is now living and composing in New York City. Not surprisingly, they all have a Shakespearean flavor and many of the elements of early 17^th century music composers” (Evans). Like most chamber singer groups, there is a wide variety of vocal ranges represented by the singers. One thing I note in my programming notes is that in the earlier songs, drone was represented very well with the baritone and bass singers. The pianist played his role as an accompaniment part with the group as a whole and when there were solo pieces. The piano provided a different timbre from the choir as a whole but stayed somewhat in the background.

What I want to touch on more in this section is the themes represented in repertoire of music selected for this performance and how those were chosen to be presented. First, the performance was a hybrid of dialog and music performance. The setting of the particular play and act in the play were represented before and after each music piece. The most interesting part of the performance was the themes in the performance which included love, lust and alcohol use. I payed much closer attention to the dialog because of this. I sense that this was an intentional decision in order to gain more interest from their audience, UTD students. If that is the case, it worked for me.

Performers

The first thing I noticed when the singers and director walked in was their attire. They were all dressed in medieval clothing. All of the girls had dresses which looked Middle Aged in style. Men wore clothing ranging from tunics to vests with baggy low cut pants. Since the performers numbered around 20-30, they stood on risers so everyone could remain visible during the entire performance. As a previous member of a church choir and a previous high school student who had to take those panoramic class pictures every year, I know exactly how these singers feel. As I mentioned earlier

Audience

The audience was generally well-manured. I noted that a few latecomers to the performance come in up to 15 minutes late. I can see how that can be a little distracting to other audience members but I only noticed this because I was trying to be aware of what the audience is doing. One interaction that was very interesting to me was the fact that the conductor would signal the audience to applaud the choral. Sense there was dialog intermixed with the singing, it was hard to tell when a particular 'scene' was over. In particular, it was hard to know when to applaud when a song was over and dialog when continue directly after. Thus, the convention evolved into simply waiting for the director to signal the audience. I got the impression that most of the audience members were people doing assignments like me, genuinely interested guests, and friends and family of the performers. After the show, the mood was very casual. Most of the performers could be seen directly outside the auditorium talking to their friends and people who attended the show.

Time and Space

The performance was held at the Jonsson Performance Hall in the Erik Jonsson Academic Center on the campus of UT Dallas. The setting is very familiar to me because I have already had a couple classes in that room before.

Conclusion

Shakespeare in Song was a performance was a hybrid of music and dialog that fused aspects of choir and Shakespeare-style plays put on by The University of Texas at Dallas Chamber Singers. They had three different performance times over the weekend: March 26^th at 8PM; March 27^th at 2pm; and March 27^th at 8PM.

Works Cited

Evans, Kathryn. Program notes. Shakespeare in Song. 27 March 2010. Richardson: UTD Jonsson Performance Hall.

Shakespeare in Song. Dir. Kathyrn Evans. UTD Jonsson Performance Hall, Richardson. 27 March 2010.