The University SMTD Opera Studio is putting on The Barber of Seville by this weekend at the Power Center! The cast is made up of Doctor, Graduate, and Upperclassmen voice students. The plot is super funny, involving disguises, and trickery! Student tickets are only $10 at the Power Center ticket office.
You don’t want to miss this one!
Thursday 11/14/13 7:30 PM Power Center
Friday 11/15/13 8:00 PM Power Center
Saturday 11/16/13 8:00 PM Power Center
Sunday 11/17/13 2:00 PM Power Center
Basement Arts, an awesome organization on campus, produced the play No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre. The performances were on Thursday at 7 PM, on Friday at 7 and 11 PM and Saturday at 7 PM. All the performances were free and held in the Walgreen Drama Center. The performances were pretty well attended, as Basement Arts shows usually are. The Director was AJ Kolpach, Assistant Director, Alison Hacker, Stage Manager and Lighting, Jake Meyers, Set Designer, Daniel Estrella, and Sound Designer and composer, Samuel Johnson.
No Exit is an existential play, originally in French, in which two women, Inez and Estelle, and one man, Garcin, are escorted by a valet into a locked in a room where they remain together for all eternity as their hell. The most famous quote from the play, “Hell is other people” summarizes the entire plot. Plagued by the mistakes made when they were alive, and unable to find peace in the room due to their inherent flaws, the characters Garcin, Inez, and Estelle, reveal their biggest transgressions on Earth and, after an hour and a half, reach an impasse in their interactions with each other, revealing how they will remain stuck in an impossible dynamic with each other for all eternity.
Garcin was played by Aaquil Rowe, the Valet by Mingquan Ma, Inez by Nicole Gellman, and Estelle by Cayley Costello. Costello was by far the best actress. Her character was a social climber who had married an old, rich, man after her parents passed and was in hell for drowning the child she had with a lover. In the room, she is tormented by her need to feel desired by men. Costello did a great job of making her character vulnerable, high society, and really captured how worthless Estelle felt without validation. Aaquil Rowe was very passionate as Garcin, a pacifist who deserted the war, and abused his wife. Garcin was tormented by the idea that anyone would find him a coward, and is unable to physically love Estelle until Inez stops thinking of him as a coward. He was very expressive but flubbed his lines a few times.
Nicole Gellman did a good job of playing the sarcastic, cruel, lesbian, Inez, although the character seemed a little two dimensional, although that is not necessarily Gellman’s fault. Inez enters the room ready to admit to the murder she committed and fully realizes the point of the room and pits Garcin and Estelle against each other, which means, by the end of the play, the character has not really grown. The Valet, Mingquan Ma, was ok, although his diction was a little unclear.
The set on stage was a bit sparse, but still succeeding in creating the scene, with two couches, one chair, a door, a mantle, and a styrofoam bust. There was only one set issue which really brought the audience out of the moment. There is supposed the “unmovable” bronze bust on the mantle but it clearly moved and shifted around the mantle whenever anyone touched it. Original music was also created for this production by Samuel Johnson. Most of the background music was fine but there was one song sung by Inez which seemed out of place and did not have much to do with any of the characters.
Overall, Backstage Arts is a great organization on campus. This particular production was fine, anyone would have had difficulty with such an unusual play. Everyone seemed to have tried their best to make this existential play relatable and down to earth. I look forward to the next Backstage Arts production.
If you want to get involved, here are some links:
Basement Arts: Facebook
Basement Arts
Blur the Lines was a collaborative effort sponsored by SMTD Collaborative Student Assembly (CSA).
SMTD CSA’s Facebook
The performance was on October 19th in the Arthur Miller Theater at the Walgreen Drama Center. The cast was made up of student volunteers from several majors in the School of Music Theater and Dance. The goal of the event was to create, and perform, a one hour show in 24 hours.
Through Facebook promotion, Blur the Lines rounded up two volunteer composers, two writers, a director, several musicians, dancers, and actors, as well as PAT majors and a MUSIC THEORY major, to donate around 24 straight hours of their time to creating this show. First, the script writers and composers met at 8pm and wrote the show until 8am, when the performers joined in order to rehearse until the show started at 8 pm. Apparently this was the first year Blur the Lines had been organized, but I had no idea because the show was so put together, but it explains why so few people knew about it despite the Facebook efforts. However, I have no doubt, as the semesters progress, this will become a widely attended event.
It is honestly difficult to review the show because it’s such a unique situation for people to perform under, and it doesn’t seem to allow for much editing, which is arguably the most important part of the creative process. The concept of the show was supposed to be a day in the life of a person, starting in the morning, and ending at night. Honestly, that concept did not really come across. The whole show was made up of several, individual scenes about extremely varied topics. There was a scene with young love at the beginning and a scene revolving around a funeral towards the end but most of the scenes in between didn’t seem to have a strictly chronological order or revolve around time, like the theme suggested they would. The scenes also varied from great hits to scenes which could have benefited from much more editing. However, the show still had many great moments.
One of my favorite scenes was a monologue about a “Magic Girl”. I enjoyed the writing, which was very memorable, and the staging, which was active enough to hold the audience’s attention, while still complimenting the text, and music, instead of distracting from them. The scene following was also enjoyable, and extremely relatable for anyone who has grown up in a religious family, but is atheist. This monologue described how a person, forced to attend Sabbath every weekend with their family, struggles with a lack of ability to spiritually relate to the ceremony in a life “measured in Sabbaths”. The most entertaining scene was a monologue spoken by a girl about her desire for emotional and physical contact. What made this scene so unique was her “duet” with the violinist, who would respond musically to her advances, and eventually broke up with her. The two dancers in the cast also had a modern dance segment, which was very beautiful.
Honestly, what I recommend even more than seeing Blur the Lines next semester is PARTICIPATING in it. Everyone involved had the absolute time of their life and learned so much about themselves, and the creation process, no matter their major. It was also a great way for students to bridge the gap in SMTD, which is a school very separated by majors. But, what will lead to an even better experience is that the organization is planning on expanding it’s reach to the whole school, not just SMTD. I urge you to like SMTD CSA on Facebook and keep in touch about when the next Blur the Lines will be. This is an event which can only be made better by a bigger variety of student involvement, so I really hope you keep this on your radar and at least attend the next performance to see if you would like to get involved in it!
Hall Auditorium, October 19th
The first half of the program featured Christopher James Lees conducting the University Philharmonia Orchestra. First, the ensemble played Carmen Suite No.1 by Bizet. Each movement featured a famous theme from this popular opera. It was well played and cute. Then, David T. Little’s piece, Haunted Topography, was performed.
THIS PIECE WAS AMAZING!
David T. Little attended University of Michigan as a Masters Student in Composition less than a decade ago. Now he is one of three composers to ever have been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, and is currently nominated for a Grammy. Many of his works are connected by a theme about the horrors of war and this piece, Haunted Topography, is no exception. Before the piece began, David T. Little explained his inspiration. One of his friends ran a group called Vet2Vet which helps veterans help other veterans. A story David T. Little heard was about a mother of a dead veteran who could not start the grieving process because she had no idea where her son died. David T. Little’s friend used his connections to help identify where her son had been killed and the mother was able to heal. This piece, Haunted Topography was Little’s musical response to that story.
It started off with a haunting piano solo vibraphone accompaniment. The vibraphone, occasionally doubling the piano, gave the impression of a person was playing a piano in a very old, completely empty house. Different instruments slowly entered, leading to an amazingly textured climax of the piece. At the end, after the pieces had slowly drifted, the timpani and vibraphone continued on. The vibraphone, once playing along, had turned into a death knell as the timpani imitated the sounds of war, and death’s resounding march. This incredible piece stole the show. The composition was incredible and the Philharmonia did an amazing job performing it.
The University Philharmonia Orchestra followed this contemporary piece with something completely different, Haydn’s Symphony no. 2. Emulating typical baroque and classical performance style, Christopher James Lees conducted from his seat, playing harpsichord in the middle of the orchestra. In order to see him, all of Philharmonia, besides the cellos, had to stand, which gave the piece a unique energy. It was quite enjoyable and a good way to lighten the mood before Intermission.
The University Symphony Orchestra played with professional precision, per usual. Wagner’s Overture to Tannhäuser was immaculately performed, although a little emotionally removed and stilted. Lutoslawaski’s Concerto for Orchestra was a 20th Century piece also inspired by the terrors of war. However, while Haunted Topography had reflected on the emotional journey of those affected by war, Lutoslawaski aimed to recreate war’s terror on the musical stage. There were an incredible amount of players on stage for both of these pieces since both call for a very large orchestra. I think of the side effects of the amount of players was a lack of extremes in dynamics. There was a lot of forte with very little juxtaposition which took away from the emotional content of each orchestra piece.
Overall, an amazing concert.
What: Blur the Lines is a production made up of three original works written, rehearsed, and performed, by student volunteers all in the same 24 hours!!!
Where: Arthur Miller Theater in the Walgreen Drama Center on North Campus
When: October 19th at 8 pm.
Who: A whole bunch of volunteers from all schools, although mostly the School of Music, Theater, and Dance!
When: Tonight, October 18 at 8pm.
Where: Hill Auditorium
How Much: FREE!!!!!!!
What: The two University Orchestras collaborate tonight to play a spooky piece by U-M alum David T. Little as well as Witold Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra. If 20th music is not your thing, you can still enjoy Bizet’s Carmen Suite No. 1, Haydn’s Symphony No. 27,”Brukenthal”, and Wagner’s Overture to Tannhäuser! Come and support your fellow students tonight! It’s guaranteed to be a unique musical experience!
