Author: IseeUsee

I want you to see all the fun things I see in events so here are my first-hand accounts of them. I am not an expert on things I see so I give just an average Joe or Josephine's view on the world of arts. Let me know if I say something that tickled your funny bone ^.^

Preview: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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This production by the department of musical theatre features “fairies, love potions, mixed-up lovers, magic spells, and a pompous rustic sporting a donkey’s head.” 

In the snowy, cold weather we have been having, this sounds like the perfect way to enjoy yourself. A warm romantic comedy by none other than Shakespeare. It can’t get more classic than that. 

I am excited to see the moving performances by actors. The presence of fairies of course will make this extra special. Oh! What a wonderful time to see a show like this~

Go grab your tickets now at:

https://tickets.smtd.umich.edu/5233

REVIEW: Funny Girl

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I remember walking past the sign “Funny Girl Auditions ↘” in the Michigan league and wondering what “Funny girl” was. This was in September. I find it hard to wrap my head around the fact that Ummusket was able to audition for people in September and showcase something as good as Funny Girl in November.

The actors were phenomenal. From the very beginning, watching the protagonist Fanny walk down the theatre aisle, I could guess this will be a show to remember. The actors had skillful control over their voice and there were hardly any-if any at all-moments when the signing or the dialogue delivery was not good. The actors had good chemistry: not just the main lead and her love interest but the mother, the brother, the aunt, and many more.

The dances were well done. There were scenes where Fanny took a trust fall while singing, actors sang while jumping, pretending to fall etc. and their singing was still impeccable. The costumes mimicked the period of the play very well. The props, the lighting-all these were planned strategically and their use was top notch.

The orchestra, like always, was just wonderful and really helped the musical.

One thing about the musical was that the story does jump around a little. The beginning is about Fanny not being pretty/skinny enough to be a broadway star but she gets the main roles quite easily and then the story turns into a romantic drama and we don’t really touch on the subject we started off with. The jokes, dances, and songs of the play keep the story interesting.

All and all, hats off to everyone who worked in the production of Funny Girl. All throughout the play, the audience members were loving it and cheered everyone on. In the end, people gave the cast a standing ovation so you know this was a crowd favorite!

Do. Not. Miss any productions from Ummusket.

Review: Men on Boats

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Men on boats was a good event. The Arthur Miller theatre was very well set up. The ambiance of the play was very cozy and rustic. It fit the theme of an 1860s story.

The actors of the play were very enthusiastic and did their best to carry the story. But. The story was quite bland to put it frankly. The jokes were sparse and the funniest scenes were usually slapstick kind about boats breaking. Though I must say the slow-motion scenes of the boats breaking were very funny especially as they broke to background music of contemporary meme songs.

An interesting thing about Men on Boats was that even though it portrays only men, in this rendition, the cast was all female so it was supposed to be a “satirical, gender-flipped” story making fun of the explorers’ “cockiness and cluelessness.” But as I sat through the play I did not see much of this. Having an all-female cast did not really add much to making the play funnier or adding to the satire element of the play.

It was a little unsettling to watch because it deals with aspects of colonization: the men are “discovering” new parts of America and traversing through the Colorado River, being the first white settlers to do so. And though the play ends on a conflicting note where the explorers are not really satisfied with having “discovered” the places they saw and finishing the journey, it did not address some important issues in an important way. The main conflicts of the play were the explorers not having enough food or leaving because the waters were unkind to them. Seeing men dilly-dallying their way through the land natives have lived on for centuries before wasn’t that great. The play acknowledges that aspect but not in a serious way. The satire is not really aimed towards the colonization aspect of their work but rather their silly antics. I don’t think this was a good choice for a play to show in these times.

Regardless of that, the actors were phenomenal—their energy was contagious and some of the best scenes included them stampeding the floor and acting out the river travel. The character Mr. Hopkins was my favorite and had great comedic timing. The lighting details in the show were very impactful and one of my favorite parts of the event.

REVIEW: Expedition Reef

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What. A. Fantastic Show.

Do you like planetariums? Even if you don’t like planetariums this is a show you ought to check out. Expedition Reef is a new planetarium show at the Natural History Museum in Ann Arbor and it is a-ma-zing.

Expedition Reef is a 30-minute long film of sorts that takes viewers on a journey through the different coral reefs in our oceans, how they form, how they are dying etc. While the film is educational it is not boring in the least. The film is absolutely gorgeous: the realistic underwater animation shows these rainforests of the ocean to you as if you were a scuba diver. Seeing the ocean stretched out on a whole planetarium is breathtaking, to say the least. It is an immersive experience and the visuals are top-notch. It is described as an oceanic safari and it really is that diverse and fun.

Even the educational material about coral reefs is super well done. In fact, my favorite part of the film was when we are shown how reefs reproduce (they do it by expelling spores in the water which I know because I saw this awesome film). During the scene, spores fill the 180 degree screen and it is akin to watching thousands of lanterns being sent to the sky. So gorgeous! I wished this show was longer than just 30 minutes.

After this, we were given a 15 minute guided tour of our universe. A graduate student in astronomy showed us our planet’s location in the solar system, our solar system’s location in the galaxy, our galaxy’s location in the universe, and so on. The tour explained a lot of things like exoplanets, interstellar space, and more (I finally understood why Pluto was kicked out from the planet committee of our solar system). Even though we saw a lot in a short time, the presentation on the screen made it very easy to follow and also to conceptualize distances in space.

After the show ends, the viewers exit through a gallery to a science museum! It had a vast array of hands-on activities, interactive information, and really fun, elaborate nature displays.

Going to see a planetarium show with a friend followed by a museum visit as you all point to different exhibits, take pictures of a raccoon eating peanut butter will be a wholesome, serotonin-filled way to spend the weekend. The planetarium is still offering tickets for shows that you can buy at the museum for just 8 dollars. Since it is so close to home (basically in the center of the city) there is no reason for you to not go explore what all our world-renowned museums have to offer.

 

 

PREVIEW: Men on Boats

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Men in Boats is a new production from the department of theatre and drama that features an all-female cast. It is a satire about “a team of 10 men led by naturalist John Wesley Powell set out on an expedition to catalogue the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon—the first white settlers to do so.”

I am excited to see this because every SMTD production I have gone to has been phenomenal. Right from the acting to stage setup to the lighting all is done impeccably. The all-female cast also has a lot to bring to the table especially considering this drama has comic elements in it. I am looking forward to seeing how they bring in comedy to a play set in 1869 that makes current audiences laugh. Regardless of how the play tackles this, I am sure it will be a unique experience so if you want to see something amazing during the weekend head to https://tickets.smtd.umich.edu/5216 to buy yourself a ticket to this fun event.

REVIEW: The Halloween Concert

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The best end to Halloweekend was surely seeing the Halloween concert at Hill Auditorium. The majestic venue of the event, the fervour of the audience ranging from babies to people who had seen the concert over 10 times (!) and of course the concert itself was a truly fun experience. I had the pleasure of going there with a few people who had performed in orchestras before and they asserted that this was one of the best orchestra performances they had seen. Very few other orchestras can compare to seeing musicians dressed in bunny costumes and peanut-butter Jelly sandwich suits perform.

Right from the music pamphlet to the way the performers entered the stage, all was done according to the holiday theme and there were no dull moments. Timed at a short and sweet 1-hour duration, the concert moves at a refreshing pace and keeps the audience captivated. I liked the selection of pieces that were performed and the mastery of the performers. As a newcomer to classical music seeing such a huge orchestra perform was exciting. It was hard to believe that all the music I heard came from just the orchestra. The power of the music was extraordinary and the sheer skill of the performers was awe-inspiring. It was beautiful to see all the performers bringing their skills together in harmony to create an experience for the audience. The hard work, talent, and coordination of the performers were a marvel.

The show “ended” with Rhapsody in Maize and Blue in a passionate Wolverine way but then we got the special traditional ending that wowed everyone (there was a dance break involved!).

This was about the Halloween concert’s 47th year and the cheering proved what a classic feast it is for the locals here. I would recommend everyone who is in Ann Arbor during Halloween to at least go once to see the Halloween concert to get a taste of this local Ann Arbor/University of Michigan tradition.