Author: Max Freeland

This was, for me, my return to in-person theater, and I am extremely pleased to say it was an exceptional welcome back. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I arrived at Hill Auditorium. I bumped into a friend of mine who I didn’t know worked there and we expressed our excitement to see the show. My seat was on the mezzanine, and I began to try to deduce what the show would be like as I found my seat.

Hill had set out its extended stage, and had placed a few props here and there, mostly wooden crates, planks, and chairs. Tevye’s cart sat on the far side of the stage from me, the most recognizable prop from the musical. Behind the extended stage sat the Grand Rapids Symphony, the musicians were warming up, some slowly trickling in and finding their seats to join the rest of the cacophonous tuning session that precedes a performance. Then, one by one, the actors took stage. Their entrance wasn’t grand, hardly even noticed by the rest of the theater, and they simply took a seat on stage, waiting for the performance to begin. Finally, the lights lowered, a UMS representative introduced the show and offered thanks to the donors who made the production possible. They left the stage, and the Symphony began. A Fiddler started the show off with a remarkable solo, highlighting the skill of the Symphony and offering a wonderful instrumental introduction to the show. At this point, I still didn’t know what “lightly staged” meant. What followed was surprising, but entirely welcome in my opinion.

It turns out that “lightly staged” means that the actors would be operating with a very limited set. Instead of any structures or backgrounds, the actors performed directly in front of the symphony. The entirety of the musical was performed, every line, every conversation, every dance number. The dance numbers blew me away. The students who performed were amazing! They commanded the stage and the symphony faded away as I watched their performances. In fact, there were a number of times that I found myself just watching the musical, barely noticing that the Grand Rapids Symphony was sitting right behind the actors. There was nothing lost from the lack of a set, and in fact, during the more instrumental sections, it was really nice to be able to see the musicians directly.

The performance reinvigorated my interest in music and in the theater. I may be a bit more susceptible to that particular kind of pull toward artistic performances, but I would encourage anyone who is thinking about going to a performance to go! You won’t be disappointed. UMS has made a commitment to making their patrons feel safe and comfortable, and the enjoyment of seeing a performance is definitely worth the time.

*WARNING: MILD SPOILERS*

Disney’s new Raya and the Last Dragon introduces us to the titular heroine, Raya, as she navigates a fractured society in order to find the scattered remnants of a magical orb which holds the power to banish evil beings called Druun from the world. The film is available for purchase now, and will eventually be free with a Disney+ subscription later on this year. Raya’s adventure takes us into different regions of a land previously called Kumandra, all of which are home to different warring tribes. The film suffered a bit in terms of the storyline, dialogue, and character development, but it still managed to be a fairly entertaining movie about the importance of trust.

The film opens with an introduction to the new world that Disney has created, which is a land with a large river (which is shaped like a dragon) running through it. The audience is introduced Raya, who promptly sends us into a flashback sequence where she describes how the world got so messed up. We see a young Raya training with her father, who is the leader of her tribe and the guardian of the Dragon Gem. After a training session, Raya’s father tells her that the other tribes are headed for their home, and asks her what she would do in response if she were leading. The scene that follows is definitely meant to serve as exposition to try to build the world as quickly as possible. Raya describes the various tribes and assumes that they are about to go to war. Her descriptions are full of stereotypes and negative interpretations of the other tribes’ ways of life, which is where I took my first issue with the film. I’m under the impression that this scene was meant to be harmless, and was just meant to introduce us to the other tribes of Kumandra, but I couldn’t help feeling like Raya had been educated to hate the other tribes, and that we as an audience were just supposed to roll with it. I would have felt a little better if Raya’s stereotypical views were challenged later on in the film, but for the most part, that dialogue seemed to be brushed under the rug and left for the audience to interpret. I thought that this could have been a good opportunity for Disney to explicitly state that we need to educate ourselves in regard to our biases and views of people who are different from us, but it just fell flat. For instance, one of the tribes is called Spine, and Raya states that it is full of big strong meatheads who are violent and stupid. The character from Spine is named Tong, and he is actually the most articulate character, using very descriptive vocabulary when speaking. We also learn that Tong was a father, and that he is a good and loving parent, but the stereotype that Raya held about his people is never challenged while he is on screen. Tong’s character instead leans into that stereotype through the rest of the film, and many of the other members of the different tribes do the same.

Another issue I had with the film was the introduction of conflict. In Raya’s description of Kumandra, she literally says that the reason that the tribes are fighting over the Dragon Gem is “people being people,” which rubbed me the wrong way. This seemed like a cop-out in order to not have to give the characters from the other tribes any motivation. All of the tribes were trying to steal the Dragon Gem from Raya’s home, and we are never given a clear reason as to why. There are subtle references to Raya’s home having an abundance of resources as a result of having the Dragon Gem, which Raya says isn’t true, and her father agrees with her. A character from the tribe of Fang said that they “had’t had rice in a while,” which would indicate that there may have been famine in the regions outside of Raya’s home, but we are never shown if that it true or not. Again, I think this is a missed opportunity by Disney. It seems like the writers were trying to set up a conflict where the antagonists were as relatable and understandable as the protagonist, resulting in a climax where they realized that they were more alike than different, but we just aren’t shown why the other tribes even wanted the Gem in the first place. Even Raya’s father wanted the Gem to stay in their tribe, as he guarded it with his life. I think it could have been a good opportunity to explore the idea of hoarding wealth instead of sharing it among the people. If the other tribes believed that the Gem could fix the problems in their region, why not let them borrow it for a while? Why guard it with your life? And most importantly, why educate the youth of your tribe to view outsiders as untrustworthy and evil? I was left with a lot of questions, and I felt that the storyline wasn’t as fleshed out as it could have been. There seemed to be nods to other drafts of the script scattered through the film, and I wonder if some of those ideas were left on the cutting room floor.

Now for some good things about the movie. Disney is obviously trying to flex their animation abilities with this film. The scenes are very aesthetically pleasing, and some of the effects on rocks, plants and wood are borderline photorealistic. We could see some of this popping up in Frozen 2 with very well-rendered rocks and water. I felt that this film was especially an ode to the animators’ ability to animate water, every use of water in the film is stunning. We see waterfalls, rivers, rain, and even droplets of anti-gravity magic water. The characters all seemed to be based off of rudimentary shapes, one being a triangle, another being a square, and another being an oval, which I though was an interesting way to construct the bodies of the characters and make them all a little bit more unique looking. One interesting aspect of the credits was the acknowledgement that the film was completed from 400 different homes because of the restrictions due to Covid-19. This is no doubt an impressive feat, but I can’t help but wonder if this may have contributed to some of the issues in the storyline and dialogue. I’m sure that folks were stressed, in need of motivation, and unable to communicate as effectively as they would have been able to had they been in person. After thinking on it for a while, I decided that I was more impressed with the movie after seeing that acknowledgement, and I respect the team’s determination in making a film through this struggle.

At first, I was a little disappointed with Raya and the Last Dragon, and I thought that it missed the mark when it had a lot of potential behind it. It was a little choppy, a little rushed, and a little unfocused. The characters were underdeveloped, but ultimately we knew what they were somewhat like by the end of the film. The story seemed like a list of chores to check off instead of having compelling motives for the characters, but we understand why the characters need to unite in the end (for the most part). The animation was gorgeous (even though the dragons seemed a bit out of place in the world), and the movie mirrors the real life unity and determination that the team displayed in order to create something bigger than themselves. If you’re looking for a lighthearted film to pass some time with friends or family, Raya and the Last Dragon is worth checking out (especially once it comes out for free with the Disney+ subscription). 6.5/10

*Raya and the Last Dragon costs $29.99 for early access, it will be available to all Disney+ subscribers from June 4th.*