Author: Ronald McTrump

This performance was by the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre.

Oliver is one of my top three favorite musicals in the world, but I am always very nervous when I go to see a performance of Oliver because it stars children. Children are often terrible actors and when they start singing out of tune don’t adjust their voice accordingly for the remainder of the song. Mistakes happen in every performance of Oliver, but the musical is so great that it is easy to ignore them.  This performance by the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre was better than average because the main roles were fantastic.

Fagin is a difficult role because he is supposed to be hilarious. Not just because of his script filled with one-liners, but every awkward mannerism and dance move he makes is supposed to make the audience laugh. Peter Sonnberg who played Fagin accomplished this. Every song I couldn’t take my eyes off Fagin, even if he wasn’t the main singer like in “I’d Do Anything”, because the way he moved was so entertaining. He is like a warm-hearted silly old man who doesn’t realize how goofy he is. When Bill Sikes brought Fagin his bounty of stolen goods for the day, I was laughing out loud, not because of the jokes being said but from Fagin’s lighthearted laugh after every joke.

Oliver’s voice was incredible. Emmanuel Morgan, who played Oliver, should be in a national boys choir. His voice was innocent, pure, and hit every high note with a beautiful falsetto. Oliver’s acting felt unnatural at times and his dancing was choppy, but this actually fit Oliver well who’s personality is supposed to be earnest and naive. The Artful Dodger had a great cockney accent and amazing stage presence. It was easy to see when he was performing with the other kids how much more natural his movements and acting was. Per Bergman who played The Artful Dodger really shone in every choreographed scene. This was important because The Artful Dodger is supposed to be a clever and talented character. Nancy was all around incredible, and perhaps the star of the show because of it.

Now for some complaints. The instrumentals were too quiet. I felt as though the singers were not able to project their voices because the music wouldn’t be able to accompany the volume. Scenes that usually feel intense were missing this intensity because the singing was too soft. For example in the opening song “Food,  Glorious Food” I didn’t think the kids were actually hungry and wanting food, and in “I Shall Scream!” there was no screaming. However, on a positive note the lead violinist did a wonderful job playing the mournful notes.

I also didn’t like Bill Sikes costume. I thought he looked like a vampire with slicked back hair, white faced make-up with dark black eyes, and a black cape over a red vest.

Crowns is a unique musical because the music style focuses on gospel, with some hip-hop here and there, instead of traditional showtime theatre music. Also, the story/plot is not very cohesive and besides the main character, Yolanda, most characters backgrounds and personalities seem to be more representative of a group of people than individualistic of a unique person. Characters don’t interact with each other outside of an occasional reference or sly comment. The musical felt like story time, where each character would take their turn singing a story about their past to the audience. However, there was one character that was built up, idolized, discussed, personified, and was the focus of the musical– hats also referred to as crowns. Maybe that is the point, the people were props and hats is the character.

I enjoyed Yolanda’s opening hip hop song. When she mentioned her brother Teddy dying, the music died with Teddy, but her voice kept singing and remained strong. It showed that Yolanda lost a large part of her life, but she is going to stay tough and not let this tragedy stifle her voice.

The most spectacular part of this performance of crowns was the quality and power of the singing; even more so than the fancy hats and dresses worn by the cast. Velma, who was the one in a light purple dress, had a professional voice with intense resonance. She had most of the major singing roles and brought the house down every single time.

The musical was extremely comical. Mabel, who was the preacher’s wife, provided most of the comic relief. In the performance, Mabel did a fantastic job of having a big and exaggerated personality. I thought the funniest part of the musical was during the “hattitude” scene; hattitude is the ability to wear a hat well. The scene about never touching a women’s hat was also really funny because of the physical comedy. They showed how to hug in an obscure way and duck whenever hearing a sound from the back. It showed how delicately they treat their hats, like their hats are babies.

There was very strong imagery and prominent themes in this musical: materialism vs minimalism, isolation of our generation from our heritage and history, lonerism, duality (reveal and conceal). All of these themes were portrayed through hats.

Although he wasn’t a major character, I thought the preacher was phenomenal. He was actually my favorite actor. He spoke so charismatically and had an amazing voice that reminded me of John Legend. He played a big role in my favorite scene which was the baptism of Yolanda. I enjoyed that they used a blue blanket and had baby like movements for Yolanda. The scene was like a child being born, which is what a baptism is in a religious sense.

Personally, I wish there was more a cohesive story and that the characters had more interaction with each other. All the narratives explaining the importance of hats got a little tedious and tiresome. I believe that instead of literally saying the qualities and importance of hats through anecdotes, figurative stories and acting with subtle imagery of hats could have done a better job. I believe this would have made the hats feel more intimate to the characters and audience.

A truly fantastic job by Basement Arts. I cannot stress the quality of singing that was in this performance.

Disclaimer: (The first paragraph builds off of my last review of UM Slam Poetry , please check it out, it is called REVIEW: UM Slam Poetry and is a little further down on the website!)

I absolutely love listening to slam poems, it is my favorite form of verbal art, so I was disheartened from the turnout of the event. My favorite part of the last poetry slam, the open mics, were nonexistent at this slam. In fact, the turnout was so low that they could not even find a sufficient amount of judges in the audience. Something needs to be changed in the marketing and setup of UM Slam Poetry, because I cannot imagine there is such little interest in slam poetry at the University of Michigan, one of the largest academic institutions in the world. The setup of the slam poems should be changed, in fact I think almost everything should be changed. The venue needs to be different for sure. There needs to be some presence of a stage and there needs to be a more dramatic and intimate feel. Slam Poems are more than the words said, they are a performance and performances need an environment that fits the essence of the art. The Kalamazoo room in the league does not provide this. Also the judges should have some sense of authority. It is okay that they are random people from the audience, but they should not be jeered at every time they hold up their score. Maybe they should sit up front, or should just turn in their scores privately.

Now on to the actual poems. The night started off with professional poems being read by the presidents of UM Slam Poetry. If you want to hear an amazing slam poem, with a classic american bad girl feel, listen to Backpedal by Olivia Gatwood. It defines what it means to be a girl while telling the story of an indifferent man.  The narrative voice of the poem was very strong like the character of the poet portrayed. Another good read from the night was What was said on the bus by Danez Smith.

In my last review I talked about how I really connected with Kai, one of the presidents, slam poem. This time the other president Vivian read a poem, and again I was astonished. I am not surprised these two lead the club. The strongest imagery I got from Vivian’s poem was how I feel like my life is similar to a trapped fly. My favorite poem, and most unique one I heard from the night was about self violence, but told through the mouth of the Grim Reaper. The reader did a phenomenal job performing, I could see his lips curling and spit flying from his passion. I hope I am able to hear more slam poems this year.