Feeling poetic? Tuesday, December 6th at 5pm, you can marvel at the talents of UM alum, Lizzie Hutton. I heard about this event because I’m on the mailing list for the English Dept. stuff, being an English major, and it is part of the Zell Visiting Writers Series. I went to the Ghost Writers one, a seminar that they are actually bringing back next week I think, and that was really interesting and slightly spooky (if you’re into that, definitely attend). I’m excited to go to another one in this series considering how entertained I was by the Ghost Writers event. As an aspiring writer, these events are of course appealing, but even if you just enjoy good theatre, good stories, or in this case poetry, I suppose, definitely consider going. Since you hear the story/poem from the mouth of the author who wrote it, you really get swept up in the emotion that was intended by the author. I look forward to hearing Lizzie Hutton read some of her works for this same reason.
The e-mail I received as part of this Zell Series subscription says, “[Hutton’s] poetry has appeared in the Harvard Review, Yale Review, and Antioch Review…in 2009 she won the Sycamore Review’s Wabash Prize in poetry.” Along with that prize and other awards mentioned, Hutton has proven herself as someone worthy of notability in the literary world.
So, Tuesday, Dec. 6th at 5pm in 3222 Angell Hall, come and check out Lizzie Hutton for FREE! Hope to see you there!
Bravo! Bravo! Bravisimo! That is what everyone has been exclaiming all weekend as they left the Power Center. The Elixir of Love, presented by the ever-brilliant School of Music, Theater, and Dance, is the first of two operas that are performed this academic year, and let me just say it was a huge success! The opera was so funny; both within the plot and the body acting of the performers. And the music…Oh the music! Italian opera is perhaps the most beautiful song form in the world.
Most people I know have never seen an opera (aside from the movie Phantom of the Opera, which doesn’t count). So when I told them I was going they were completed shocked that UofM even had operas. “Isn’t it all in Italian?” they said. Yes it is, but it doesn’t really matter. They give you a synopsis of what will be happening, character names, and even subtitles above the stage. It isn’t difficult to understand at all. Plus, with Italian opera phrases are repeated endlessly in different runs and notes, so you only need to read about a third of the show. The rest you can just listen and watch.
I love going to the Power Center. I know I say that all the time, but I really do enjoy it. There is a fair amount of leg room, you’re close enough to the stage pretty much anywhere you sit, and the performers are always genuinely excited to be on the stage performing for you.
The show starts with the curtain going up and us seeing the set for the first time. It’s a classic Italian town. The chorus and the characters come on stage and begin the performance. And then it’s two hours of laughter, smiling, and my mouth hanging open in awe of the beautiful notes coming from the mouths of the singers. Absolutely astonishing. It is truly a joy to see something come to life like this. And if only wine could work the wonders it does in this show. Or maybe a dilluted effect. Instead of everyone falling falling in love with you and wanting to get married, maybe just a date on friday night? A cup of coffee or something? Wine sales would sky-rocket! (Disclaimer :WINE DOES NOT CAUSE SPONTANEOUS LOVE OR THE SUDDEN EXISTENCE OF DATES. DO NOT CONSUME FOR THESE PURPOSES UNLESS YOU WANT TO EMBARRASS YOURSELF)
Wine is great and all, but probably not what the topic of this review should be. I would like to end it with a shout out to all of the stars of the show who were all fantastic and for the chorus who made the show possible and entertaining. Part of the Cast for November 11&13
Cast
November 11 & 13, 2010
Amy Petrongelli as Adina
Kyle Matthew Knapp as Nemorino
Steven Eddy as Belcore
Nicholas Ward as Dulcamara
Ariel Halt as Giannetta
November 12 & 14, 2010
Anne Jennifer Nash as Adina
Kyle Tomlin as Nemorino
Brian Rosenblum as Belcore
Benjamin Sieverding as Dulcamara
Kristen Seikaly as Giannetta
I left the show with a wonderful feeling of happiness and contentment, and maybe a little contact love tipsyness 🙂 I hope that I’ve left you with the same.
As always,
This is Danny Fob: Artist and Art Reviewer.
Ok, in today’s age, an answer to the above question is just a click away. It is convenient but do we really grasp the information? Does the life of Chekhov unfold in front of your eyes? And so the “Who is….” series from the UMS, was very informative and entertaining. And relevant. As it was looking at Chekhov’s life in order to understand more about “Uncle Vanya”.
“Who is Anton Chekhov” consisted of two parts- a presentation on Chekhov’s life by Professor Makin and a talk by Kate Mendeloff about the challenges in directing “Uncle Vanya”. There was also a scene from “Uncle Vanya”, enacted by Residential College students.
Professor Michael Makin, from the department of Slavic Studies, started this presentation on Chekhov, in his very charming accent. His delivery was quick and very erudite and it goes to show how well he knows the subject matter at hand. Anyway, so who was Anton Chekhov?
Unlike all the popular Russian writers who were counts or members of the Russian nobility, Anton Chekhov was born to a serf as the third of six surviving children. He attended a gymnasium- comparable to our English grammar school. His father went bankrupt and fled to Moscow leaving his children and wife behind. Anton joined medical school and also took over the responsibility for the whole family. To pay his tuition fess and to support his family, he wrote stories and sketches.
He became a physician and suffered from tuberculosis for a long time. Chekhov didn’t take his writing seriously until Dmitry Grigorovich, one of the leading Russian writers of the time sent him a letter telling him about his immense talent. Chekhov’s artistic ambition bloomed and he soon won a Pushkin Prize for the short-story collection- “At Dusk”. From being the son of an impoverished serf, he became a landowner when he bought the small estate of Melikhovo.
Ok, so how is this all relevant?
It is important for us to understand Chekhov as a person before we understand Chekhov as a playwright or writer- as most of who he was and what he valued can be reflected in his characters and work. Well, Chekhov wrote what he saw and about a life that he was immersed in. His writings abound with references to the simple country life and the trials faced by a Russian in those days. It is also important to understand his background as to why he stands out from among the other Russian writers.
That said, Professor Makin told us that as a playwright, Chekhov was a flop initially. His plays “the Sea Gull” and “the wood demon” were fiascos when they were first staged. To some extent, they were way ahead of their times as they lacked the melodrama. They were waiting for the right people to act and direct it. Everytime, Chekhov failed as a playwright, he threatened never to return to it. But he always came back.
The innovative Moscow Art Theatre found by Stanislavski for doing “naturalistic” theatre was what Chekhov needed. The production of “The Seagull” by Stanislavski was a huge success. Subsequently, Chekhov wrote his other plays for the Moscow Art Theatre and “Uncle Vanya” is one of them.
“Uncle Vanya” is the story of Vanya (duh!), who is the uncle of Sonya (Actually it is a cleaned-upversion of “The wood demon”). He takes care of Sonya’s farm which was bequeathed to her by her now deceased mother. The two of them send the proceeds from the farm to Professor Serebryakov. The Professor marries a woman who is very young , Elena and sicne he can’t afford to live in the city anymore, he comes back to the country estate. This arrival causes such a ruckus in the lives of Vanya and Sonya.
So the plot is about Vanya feeling that he has totally wasted his life and what he does. Why Chekhov called it a comedy is unclear. Though it has a few laughs in it, I don’t think it is comedy.
Professor Kate Mendeloff explained how Chekhov and his plays helped in actually laying out the foundation of the rules for all theatre and acting today. The techniques and methods developed by Stanislavski are taught in every drama school today.
Residential college is putting up a production of “Uncle Vanya” which Mendeloff is directing. They enacted a scene from it. It was the opening act where the “long night” where the professor keeps everyone up by his constant griping is shown. It was interesting and cleverly done.
On the whole, it was a very interesting session. It made me wonder as to how how much of the writer was in the character they created and how much of it was what the writer wanted to be.
I managed to make it to this show and grab the last seat in the nick of time by doing a 2 min 34 second sprint from the C.C. Little Northwood bus stop to the Stern Auditorium of UMMA in 2.5 inch heels (as to why I had to sprint can be a a story of its own by itself- but then, we are not interested and so….)
Just as I caught my breath and stopped the audible panting, the lights dimmed out on a full auditorium with many people standing at the back. There was a brief introduction of “Angika” (with all the funny anglicized pronunciations of the Sanskrit words). Here’s the gist.
In Angika, the dance performed is the over 2000-year old Odissi, from East India. This dance, known for its square stance and fast feet and leg movements along with its stunning grace and sensuality was a dance that was mainly used as a means of expressing devotion. It was a means to advance in spirituality and so the themes and songs that you come across in this dance are also of this kind- devotional prayers or songs expressing love for the Divine. Sreyashi Dey, Artistic Director of Srishti Dances of India, was performing this lovely ancient dance with her students.
As the kids in the audience fretted a bit, complaining about the darkness, a clear resounding voice beckoned us, “Welcome to the temple of dance.” The voice belonged to Martin Walsh, whom I last saw as a ‘Galileo’ in the Residential College’s production of Brecht’s “Life of Galileo” in March 2009 (Mr.Walsh was brilliant as Galileo!) . Martin Walsh is head of the Drama Concentration at the Residential College and he has a perfect voice for narrating.
The words belonged to poet Zilka Joseph and she took us to a temple where we were to hear the stories of dancers as they prepared for prayer. We could smell the incense and the fragrant fresh flower garlands that they had lovingly woven. While we waited thus, the magic began.
The sound of strong tapping of feet with jingling of the bells on their anklets came first. It was followed by the dancers, looking resplendent in colorful elaborately designed Odissi costumes. In an invocation to the divine, the dancers seeked the blessings so gracefully with slow movements and a lot of poses. The effect was bewitching.
In most Indian traditional dances, the program always begins with an invocation. It could be to to Mother Earth ( it’s almost like asking her permission to dance as we do stamp the feet on ‘her’ when we dance ). Many dances also include a note of thanks to the Guru (the teacher) and the Divine.
The second dance, called the “Konark Kanti” was about the Temple of the Sun in Konark, Orissa.
Konark Sun Temple
In Joseph’s Poetry, she imagines that the moonlight touches the figurines on the Temple of Konark and brings them to life (like our “Night at the Museum”). These dancers start dancing and the musicians bring out their instruments and even the stars get dizzy looking at this impromptu performance. The raga (melodic mode) to which this song was set was a very pleasant one.
Figurines form the Konark Temple
This dance was a wonderful one- so many moods shown clearly in expressions as well as clever variations in the choreography, as if the dancers wanted to show all the weapons in their arsenal.
The third dance, called “Manini”, the most expressive and I am sure, the most difficult one to comprehend, especially for a Western audience, was a solo by Shreyashi Dey. This song is about Lord Krishna’s beloved, Radha. She is waiting for her Lord and so she decorates herself as well as the gazebo and waits for the Lord. She is clearly happy anticipating his arrival. But as the time wears out (she in fact falls into sleep for a bit), her joy turns into despair and then anger and she flings all her jewelry and tears down the decorations. In the end, she is so dejected. you could say, “So it’s the case of a girl who has been stood up by her lover!”. You may be correct but here, “Radha” is the seeker who is searching for “the Ultimate Truth”, her lover and the story of Radha and her love are symbolic metaphors. Anyway, this piece requires perfect portrayal of the emotions that Radha goes through.
Sreyashi Dey
Odissi, is a dance that not only demands strength in movement, but it also requires the dancers to have good acting skills , as facial expressions are a very important part of this dance. Sreyashi Dey was absolutely brilliant in this song. The way she portrayed disappointment with trembling fingers, a heaving chest and eyes heavy with fatigue caused by unbearable sadness was brilliant. She ran through the gamut of emotions that Radha feels and at the end, when she lay on the floor in a bundle, totally dejected, you couldn’t help but reach out for her. This was a great piece.
The other two pieces were really fast and full of quick movements of both hands and feet. They demanded so much from the dancers (Kritika Rajan, Ishika Rajan and Debnita Talapatra were the other dancers from Shrishti Dances of India- they were very graceful and co-ordinated) and the stamina of these dancers as they moved through really tough pieces was something amazing. The choreography required co-ordination and you could find all the “yoga” postures from advanced yoga classes too.
Ishika Rajan, Kritika Rajan, and Debnita Talapatra
The final Pallavi was really intense as the tempo was so fast-paced and the use of space in this piece was very nicely done. The dancers were very cohesive and the symmetry of their movements was so beautiful.
So there was the really beautiful dance. There was some wonderful poetry that set the stage for these dances. Where were the sculptures? Though we saw some brilliant postures as part of the dance, somehow the message of the connection of the dance form as an inspiration to sculpture or vice versa didn’t get conveyed. Maybe this aspect could be elaborated in the next performances (which would be great!).
This was definitely a great show and the next time you get a chance to watch Odissi, please grab it.
First of all I just want to say wow… just wow. This production was so well put together and performed. It was incredible. Incredibly incredible. For those who don’t know what the “What’s Your Story?” event was, it is an innovative play, new this year, created from the stories of students around campus. Anonymous stories were requested and received and then retold through the talent of actors from our campus. It contained a spectrum of different stories, from ridiculous exploding thermoses anecdotes to dramatic coming out and soul searching tales. The show was deeply emotional, yet still provided us with the comedy that makes our weekends so great.
The Pendleton Room in the Union was a terrible choice for venue. It was way too small for the huge crowd gathered to attend. Many of us were left standing around the edges listening intently to each portrayal, the standing of which is really just a reflection of how big the event was. No matter, it was worth standing, and definitely worth the small $5/person donation requested. All proceeds went to a good cause to help high-schoolers in Ann Arbor: The Neutral Zone, which is a place that teenagers can go to hang out and to receive guidance.
There were so many good stories and amazing actors to relive them. The setting is a street in Ann Arbor where a table is set up with a woman collecting stories in anonymous journals. Actors approached the table and delivered their reflections to the audience. One girl read us a letter written for her ex-boyfriend. She explained what he had done to her and how he had so easily forgotten her once she went to school. It was such a great performance, the actress actually cried as she poured her heart out on stage.
Another one of my favorites was one about a girl that had a secret. She never told anyone, but she had spent four months in a psychiatric hospital for an eating disorder. No matter how close her friends were, she couldn’t bring herself to tell them, so she wrote it in this journal. And of course there was a great coming out story from the flamboyant and energetic guy. He told us all about how his Jewish parents accepted it so easily and tried to help him find boyfriends and about how the CAPS program at the University helped him through his own problems with his sexuality. His story was funny and emotional as it needed to be.
“What’s Your Story?” reminded me of Yoni Ki Baat’s show, except that it was about different issues. Both are poetic masterpieces, but in this case I think that the actors in WTS were closer to the pieces they were performing. Where I had seen disconnects in YKB’s show, I saw none in “What’s Your Story?” The actors all seemed more genuine and realistic with their stories.
I really hope that this show comes back next year. I think it would be an awesome production to take part in, whether sending in a story of my own or acting in. Leaving the Union (and heading to support friends at Dance Marathon) I started to think of my own story and its many values. That is what I think this show was trying to leave us with. And I am so glad that arts@Michigan was able to help put this on. Just another reason I should thank my fabulous employers!
As Always,
This is Danny Fob: Artist and Art Reviewer
A story of an actor that lets strangers write their stories in anonymous journals and the lives that are recorded inside their pages, this play is supposed to be deep and beautiful; heart warming, wrenching, and wringing all at the same time.
This brand-new production is brought to us by students of the University of Michigan. The stories collected here and the students acting them out are all UM originals. Together they tell us about the issues around campus, including racism, companionship, body image, coming out, love, death, religion, friendship, and so much more.
I can’t wait for this Saturday (the day I’m going), and even though this weekend is really busy when it comes to art events, this was number 1 on my list and got one of the slots that were free. You should definitely come out and support Ann Arbor’s Neutral Zone, who all proceeds are being donated to. Here are the details:
What: What’s Your Story? A Play
When: March 26th and 27th @ 8:00pm, doors open at 7:30pm
Where: Pendelton Room, The Michigan Union
How Much: $5 suggested donation at the door
As always,
This is Danny Fob: Artist and Art Reviewer
