Author: Andrew Teel

Nickel boys, a recent movie adaption based on the novel by Colson Whitehead portrays a story with an overarching messages of loss of childhood innocence due to a societal hierarchy in a 1960s America. The story centers on two African-American boys, Elwood and Turner, as they come of age before being unjustly sentenced to an abusive reform school known as Nickle Academy. The film portrays the academy as being deeply encoded in segregation. The two boys must decide if they are to stick up for themselves and face backlash, or lay dormant and stoic and suffer from the society they were unknowingly born into.

A highlight of this film was the fact it was shot in a first person perspective. almost all movies made now have been shot in third person. It is clear why this decision was made, it was almost a requirement as it allowed viewers to relate to the world that Elwood saw. Elwoods school teacher told him to stand up for what he believes and ignore the altered white lense of society, meanwhile Elwoods grandmother showed caution to the young man as he may be led to being incarcerated if he follows civil right movements.

Elwood finds himself ending up in Nickel Academy after being wrongfully involved in a grand theft auto while hitchhiking. After ending up in the wrong crowd like many others, Elwood is subjugated to the cruel means of “rehabilitation” submitted by the Academy. Nickel Academy has four tiers of student success. All students start from what is known as a “grub” and must move on in the ranks. After Grubs a student will be an explorer, a Pioneer and finally an Ace. Only once a student has become an ace may he ever leave the institution and see his family again. What makes this intriguing is how difficult the movie frames the task of become an Ace. One must almost become an unquestioning, loyal member that echos exactly what the administrators communicate. The film lets audience know there is a difference between a successful member of society and a pawn that stays in line. Something the academy wishes to enact in all of it’s students.

Nickle boys also portrays cruelty of the administration onto the students. After a week of being at the school, Elwood is involved in a fight between two other young boys. Instead of detention the boys are whipped the next night by the school director. The movie creates this sense of unnerving abuse not by the action of physical whipping, but by the fear portrayed in the other men. The intense fear and worried lines given by boys who have been subjugated to this punishment in the past clearly clues Elwood, (and the audience through his eyes), that this was no normal school. This was hell. No boy  would ever wish to face the punishment that the school seems suitable. The suspense created by having Elwood be woken up into the middle of the night and not revealing his punishment until it hit him over the head was a clever use by the film’s director that stepped ahead of what the book had to offer. First person storytelling allows a special sense of naive and unknowingness to an audience that can capture some truly intense moments that no one can expect. Knowing something awful is coming but not revealing it directly is an excellent artistic tool to capture the feeling of dread and an impending sense of doom.

These feelings are captured further in such a unique way. Like a motif, the scene will sometimes include an alligator. (yes an alligator!) Several moments in the film that feature the boys being abused often have a live alligator pass over the scene. This alligator is not meant to be taken literal  but as a metaphor for something sinister that is just underneath the surface. The alligator represents that nasty stomach twisting feeling in Elwood that something is off.

Has American really improved much of its ways after the legalization of slavery, or has the suffering merely transformed under a thin sheath that is still filled with segregation and hate? When Elwood was touring the academy one of his main duties is to collect oranges in the grueling hot son while the white students play football outside. Brief black and white photographs of slavery clues audiences in that the way Black Americans were treated after freedom from slavery was not a direct improvement but a long and slow moving way of improvement that still takes place to this day.

Overall the message of this film was potent but not over the head. A common criticism for films with dystopian like messages are often to on the nose or over the head. The artistic metaphors and use of first person simply set up a view that I have not considered. The picture does not tell you what to believe, but rather understand an alternate view. This film deserves all the praise it can get, and truly cements real history and real people.

Ribbits, chirps, and croaks take the stage for the spring at the University of Michigan Flint Theater. This fast paced adventure reminds audiences of all ages to take life a step at a time and slow down to smell the flowers, or in this case Toad’s fresh but slightly burnt cookies. The musical that I saw this past Sunday was one that I have been excited to attend for awhile. The Story of Frog and Toad began as a children’s book by Arnold Lobel. It is a book I remember in my childhood before I even entered middle school. From the vintage looking illustrations to the soft spoken easy digestible text. It had left me truly excited to see my childhood characters envisioned through a live production. This university production was directed by Stephanie Dean

The strongest things about the director’s vision had to be the comedy and the heavily lean in on characters traits. As a reviewer, this is the first musical I have seen in over five years. The work that goes into production often goes over my head. Actors are tasked to not only sing and dance but to act and provide stage presents that represents the source material. The pair of friends represented this to a point. On this specific performance however, one of the lead actors portraying the character Frog was out sick. (Morgan Wright) Either the actor had croaked or developed a frog in their throat is unclear, but the show went on with a new actress to play the green and jolly protagonist. Taylor Boes as Frog, and Noah Anthony as Toad tied together a tag team performance that fit like peanut butter and jelly. The character of Frog, an optimist who always say the bright side of life, always had something to say to Toad’s woes. I especially felt Noah portrayed toad astoundingly well. If I had to give a voice to the character from the book it would be something very similar to what I had seen that week. Toad’s voice always has this slight worry, always thinking of the problems in his life even though they may not be the greatest problem at the moment.  An example of this is toad worrying about burning his cookies for his friends due to the fact his clock was broken. The Dynamic between the characters set up great humor and made me realize how anxious I myself get at some very small things.

Some people feel that musicals are often slow and can be tiring at times, but the pace of this was anything but. The whole production captured a year of the friends lives. Seasons only lasted minutes and it was a true treat to see the props, lighting, and overall scenes change. Orange lights filled with autumn leaves, winter blues, and Styrofoam snow littered the set, and cool summer nights and an occasional thunderstorm heavily set the tone of each scene. From raking leaves, making cookies, sledding, and even simply sleeping can shows audiences members that they can find joy in life’s simple moments. The funniest joke had to be from a side character though. After Frog had took notice that Toad never receives mail (Another thing for Toad to lose his cool about), Frog employs a friendly snail to deliver a kind note to his house. In a toad-ally hilarious callback joke, the incredibly slow snail takes nearly the entire musical to reach Toad’s residence. Good clean humor like this accompanies the whole performance. It’s the simple comedy that gets me, it puts a innocent spin that reminds me of my childhood. Being a person who may not be the target audience of this production I found myself laughing out loud much louder than my  toddler audience members.

Another thing I must mention is the score and music. Although I would love to see a live pit ensemble one day in my university, the backing tracks of light jazz and Broadway melodies made the original scores magical. My Favorite song from this production had to be “Toad looks silly in a bathing suit” The Frog actress of this production had such a beautiful voice and I can also clearly hear Toad’s character even when he was singing. I do feel at times, the dynamic range of the actors could be greater. You can hear it in the score that the musical called for over the top Broadway level “Bring it home” style of singing. Sometimes I feel the singing was a bit more safe. This may be due to it being not only the final show but also the family show. Some things may have been altered but I feel the actors were so close to greatness but just a bit more “mmph” would have taken the musical over the top and don’t you frog-et it. Even with that note, I felt the dancing and staging were very professionally broadcasted. The old New Orleans style jazz being accompanied by having all the animals do variations of the Charleston dance fit the mood heavily. High kicking and spins revealed how much care the actor’s put into their animal, and It was lovely to be a part of it.

It was a real shame that I was unable to take photographs of the live musical due to copyright reasons. The set designs of Toad’s Mushroom house felt incredibly cozy. Being an audience member felt as if I was transformed to be the size of a mouse. For one season, Frog recounts his memory of being lost and separated from his parents. Frog comes across a large and terrible Cannibal frog. The Production then reveals a large artistic puppet that spanned over 10 feet about the ground, fit with terrifying claws and large menacing red eyes. I myself am I big fan of practical effects, so seeing this I felt the art was being honored from passed productions and it is such a nice sight to see the efforts of practical effects still being put to work to this day.

Overall this was a very pleasant work to both listen to and watch. The set and props were very creative and I can see clearly how much effort both actors and backstage crew worked on making an excellent performance. One last thing I noticed is what seems to be the use of generative AI artwork for the programs cover of the performance. Generative AI being the first thing patrons see before engaging in the disciplines and hard efforts of actual artists on our campus is a huge slap in the face to the art community.  I was questioning to include this detail as I can not fully confirm if the cover uses generative AI, but I know past advertising efforts on campus have used AI images to promote art performances, and no artist seems to be credited for the illustration. Not to mention minor details in the illustration that do not make sense, nor is it reflective of the book’s original illustration. It is with deep apologies if I have misreported but I felt it was concerning enough for me to mention it. I hope to see more musicals from my university, I am always excited to see more. I may even audition for one in the future.