PCAPS art project
I can happily say that I will graduate from this university rest assured that I finally got a chance to see the prisoner creative arts exhibit. And all I can say about it was that it was magnificent.
I should say that I barely made it to the exhibit. I had just come back from doing some errands and was rather out of breath. But I told myself that it was the last day of the exhibition, and this is something I didn’t want to miss and had missed the last three years. I was racing to find a bus to take me to north campus, and racing to find where the exhibit was. But the feeling that flooded my head once I went there was the immense calm, lightness, happiness, and just feeling refreshed and renewed. Not feelings one would expect to have anything to do with prisoners.
That’s what I had to remind myself that, these paintings were in fact done by prisoners. Which is something I am not saying is a negative reminder. But a reminder that perhaps we should look differently at who we consider as prisoners? The fact is that they are human and many of them are there not because of more serious offenses like murder or rape, but rather possession of cocaine. When they are there for decades for such crimes, it costs the state millions in tax dollars. As Al Sharpton once famously said, “It costs more to send someone to jail, then it does to send a kid to Yale.” Plus, many prisons are private prisons and these owners are profiting from harboring these souls. As a side note, this system of owners getting profit while we taxpayers footing the bill is what an Economic sociology professor called, “Privatizing profit and socializing risk.”
But aside from the art sending a social message of the prison industrial complex and what parts of should and shouldn’t be there, some of the art itself was giving social/personal messages. There were arts which had an eye.. shedding a drop of blood.. and I believe it was called shedding a tear of pain. It was beyond powerful and painful. Even now as I think about it, I find it a bit painful. There was one artwork done in pencil about a girl who was crying on the floor of her high school with her books titled English, Algebra, and Teen Pregnancy. Out of her school bag she lifted a fetus covered with matter ( perhaps blood all over) and she was profusely crying as she held him by his umbilical cord.
There were ones which were trying to send social messages- but I wasn’t sure exactly what they were trying to say. But they were still beautiful. There was one showing the map of Israel surrounded by deep bluest prettiest of waters. There were also some portraits of elderly Hispanic women. Which I should add seemed dark and somber and were well done- they seemed almost Rembrandt-eqsue. There were also some paintings you could tell that were done by Native American artists, because they had the beautiful Native American handiwork done on the frame. Some of them topped of the frame with feathers and one even had a mini-dream catcher. There was also a beautiful portrait of Obama done by pencil and a few other ones of Obama. One even was more about Michelle Obama and stated “Michelle Obama for president.” I should add that seeing many of the paintings with Native American Motifs and Hispanic women really reminded me of how many of the prison population is composed of Native Americans and Hispanics.
Since this is this the semester of RACE at LSA, I should some focus to some arts which focused on race. I would say that my favorite race message art was one where every continent had a different color. But when they painted America.. it had dots from every different continent and the art was titled, “America Land of Immigrants.” I should add that I wish people from other countries would see this, because the current perspective is that America is a Black/White nation and that other colors don’t exist or aren’t American. I am just reminiscing about friends who were Chinese-American and their study abroad experiences.. but I digress… (well this is a good example of how these art got me thinking and feeling passionately..)
And lastly.. As much as I consider myself to be a social activist- minded person I will say that, my favorite paintings were that of the landscape or cute forest critters! Or should I say majestic forest animals ( I guess to me no matter how majestic they get, they will always be cute critters). There was one of these tall deer look beyond the trees. There was another one of ducks. I cannot help but look at the cute cherubic faces of the ducklings! There were also these incredible, incredible, incredible landscape paintings. One was in the Fall of a bus stop. Another was entitled Winter with beautiful snow on the ground and birch trees. Another – and this was my favorite picture of the entire art show was of a red cabin/farm house next to the water during Fall. The colors were so vivid. You could see the different orange, yellow, green, and reds so well!! Furthermore, you could see that the artists showed that some of the leaves on trees were still green and others were red- Which is very realistic!
In sum, this was an excellent event, and I was thrilled to have gone.
Category: Uncategorized
Review for Screening for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Well after hearing about this event, I had to go! And it turned out fantastically!!!!!! I will review it in 2 parts:
The movie
Someone else at the screening said that the movie was powerful, when I asked them how they felt. This is also one of the biggest feelings I felt after I saw this movie. I totally felt this at the end when Hushpuppy lights her father’s funerary pyre, says good bye to him, and then leads a group of people on a boardwalk back to the land. Hushpuppy I should point out is 6. But moreover, they were all wearing white on the boardwalk (which is very visually striking against the blue sky) and as the camera pulls back and pans on them leaving the boardwalk as a community- you can feel the strength they have, and this is immensely powerful.
I asked a few other people I knew at the screening what they thought and they said that they loved it, but they couldn’t offer too many reasons why. Which brings to another feeling I felt about this movie.. that it is beautifully done and seems deep, has so many eclectic pieces that it almost seems a bit dreamlike and hard to explain. Since it has so many eclectic pieces I sometimes felt that the movie was a bit “artsy” or confusing for me at times. I mean, I definitely felt that the whole movie was metaphorical and I understood parts of it. For instance, I understood that the bathtub (where Hushpuppy lived) was synonymous with the bayou. But there were many parts that seemed to eclectic/shrouded with fantasy, that I couldn’t quite make sense out of it.
For instance, the father (Wink) was at times, in my opinion, borderline abusive to Hushpuppy. He would yell at her, at times say that he didn’t want to take care of her, cussed at her, and asked her weird things like, “ Hushpuppy, do you want to know the story of your conception?” He was probably trying to protect her in a hard world where they had to be self -sufficient, especially light of the fact that he might not live. But still, I didn’t find it appealing the way he treated her.
Another time, Hushpuppy got upset at her father and tries to get back at him. She was already making some food on the stove by lighting up the stove with a blowtorch. But then puts it on a higher heat, to blow up the house. That act seems a bit harsh, and makes me wonder.. why did she take that route? I also don’t know where she got the blowtorch and where she got the football helmet she donned, when she used the blowtorch to light up the stove. After all.. she does live in the bayou.. And that wasn’t the first time.. throughout the movie there are all these random objects that can be found in her house.. where are they from? There are no stores nearby..
Don’t get me wrong, the main crux of the movie can be understood- Hushpuppy lives in the bathtub with her father, he is sick and at times is not there. She goes to school.. which was is basically a whole bunch of kids learning from their shop owner. They have a whole bunch of friends who live in the bayou and live off the crabs and seafood in the land. Hurricane Katrina comes and they want stay in the bayou- that’s their home. They resist being evacuated- it’s very awkward to see rescue/evacuation forces try to take them. They also go to a brothel/strip club where Hushpuppy meets a woman who might be her mother- who was thought to have left her/died. Then try to blow up a part of the levee ( I am a little confused here) and they end of going to the hospital. Wink is really not doing well.. but does not want to be at the hospital. He tells his daughter not to try the food- they are very distrustful of this world. Hushpuppy is dressed in a very conventional “goody-two-shoes” style dress and hairstyle and doesn’t like it. This is one metaphor I get—among others- they don’t like this world. The father manages to get her and the other kids out of the hospital. But he throws everyone else on the bus but doesn’t get on. Hushpuppy forces herself out of the bus, and gets mad at why he is leaving her. Eventually they come back and hushpuppy feeds him some fried gator meet.. which was a symbol of love.. and he dies. I had already mentioned what happens after he dies earlier—so powerful. So I do feel that it is a powerful rich story, just at times a little too eclectic and hazy for me. Overall I would give it a B+ ( it’s growing on me..).. when others would get it an A+.
The questions to the director and the comments afterward
The questioning was amazing.. people asked him about the context of the film, if he himself lived in Louisiana, what his next projects were etc.
At one point someone asked him if he thought that the movie went exactly as he planned it.. he said, “ When a movie has so fire, babies, children, in a swamp, and little money.. you cannot expect things to run smoothly!”
I will say that maybe this movie went a little over my head.. because I didn’t understand all the metaphors. BUT it was clear that some of the other people did- from their question!!!!
I think my favorite question or speaker was when a speaker came up to the computer and said, “ You may not remember me .. “ But then he said, “ Oh my god.. we went to high school together!!” Then a minute later he said while placing his hand on his head, “ Wait.. Eva??!!” She said, “Yes!”
So needless to say the questions were rather exhilarating and would take me a much longer time to get through…But they were good
Preview for Screening for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Preview for Screening for Beasts of the Southern Wild
This seems like an amazing event to go to because not only do you get to see this amazing movie which was Oscar nominated for best picture, director, actress, and a fourth academy award, but also because you get to have a discussion with the director. Which is pretty amazing because he will skype in from Louisiana; and this is a big-time director!
The movie has been described by some as a fantasy-realism story tale! It is realistic because it is essentially about a little girl living in poverty in the Louisiana Bayou, almost orphan-less when… Hurricane Katrina comes. It is essentially her story about survival and coping in light of these events. It is also rumored to showcase the lifestyle of those living a life which is very different from what many of us in towns and cities are used to living.
But it has a flare of fantasy to it because from what I hear, the little girl’s name is Hushpuppy who lives in the Bathtub with her father Wink. These names seem to hint an air of fantasy and also a bit metaphorical/reference to actual places and events. Which adds a sense of intrigue.. That said, I am rather intrigued by this movie and would like to see it! So to all of you out there, go see it if you can- for free!!!!!!!!!!!
A Transformative Evening: Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the Lydia Mendelssohn
Director Kay Castaldo sees Ariadne auf Naxos, the 1916 opera composed by Richard Strauss with a libretto by Hugo Hofmannsthal, as a work about transformation. It isn’t an unreasonable assumption. The German word for transformation, verwandlung, appears throughout the libretto in a number of different contexts, and in the opera itself we see a stage production transformed from a classical tragedy to a slapstick comedy and back again, and we see beings both human and mythical changed by love. In a similar way, the singers and musicians who perform in this show transformed the Lydia Mendelssohn stage into a place where art and love triumph over greed and sadness, where a great harmonic progression says more than words ever could, and where beautiful music plays until the curtain comes down.
*
The plot of Ariadne auf Naxos is about a theatrical gala. On the schedule for the evening is a serious opera about the myth of Ariadne on the island of Naxos. However, after the opera will be a performance by a troupe of comedians, led by their glamorous starlet Zerbinetta. The general opinion backstage is that the comedy show will be a sure-fire crowd-pleaser—not like that boring opera. The Composer of the opera is distraught at the thought of his great work of art being upstaged by a frivolous burlesque, and he is downright horrified by the revelation that, due to time constraints, both opera and comedians will be forced to perform at the same time. But the show must go on, and in the second act, that’s exactly what happens. We see the grand tragic heroine Ariadne bemoan her lost love while trying to ignore the clowns, while the clowns in turn try to cheer her up and please the audience. Somehow, the opera characters and the comedians manage to coexist sort of peacefully, and the show ends as Ariadne blissfully finds a new love, while the Composer gains a lovely muse in Zerbinetta.
*
Castaldo’s directing style was different for both acts—one wonders if she made a conscious decision to “transform” her style. For the backstage act, the stage action was verisimilar, like a stage play with singing. For the operatic act, the stage action became borderline-choreographic, undoubtedly helped by choreographer Ron de Jesus. The comedians bopped around genially to the beat of their peppy music, while Ariadne and Theseus moved with grace and contemplation, as though the air around them was a fragile substance.
*
Castaldo’s proclivity for having bits of silent action happen while other characters are singing has a twofold effect. On one hand, it helps to articulate the contrasts between the characters in the show, as when the Composer sings about the beauty of art while a stagehand flirts with Zerbinetta in the background, or when Ariadne sings about the depths of her grief while the comedians take tumbles and pratfalls behind her; on the other hand, it was often in danger of distracting from the focus of the scene. However, when the stage business worked well, it could be genuinely funny and thrilling, like when the quartet of clowns fought off spectres of death using flashlights (an eccentric image that nonetheless makes perfect sense, or something close to it, when one sees it happen onstage). Her directorial touch showed particular deftness in defining the relationship between Ariadne and Bacchus; they appeared as both statuesque deities and as two imperfect people, people frightened and confused by life, and, yes, transformed by their love for each other. It seemed a bit trickier for her to articulate the relationship between the Composer and Zerbinetta in a meaningful way, but to be fair, their love blossoms over the course of a few bars, whereas Ariadne and Bacchus have the entire final quarter of the opera to fall in love.
*
Gary Decker’s scenic design is unsentimental, grounding the lofty ideals of the Composer in stark reality. The first act takes place in a slate-gray backstage area. The second act gives the opera an über-stark design as well: Ariadne’s island is represented by a black disk, and both Ariadne and her fellow nymphs make ingeniously dramatic use of a prop that is essentially a long black sheet, but is much more beautiful than that. One’s imagination transforms the sparse space into something greater. I won’t deny that I thought the choice to make the background of both acts the color of sheet-metal was a bit off-putting, but I do believe there was a reasonable dramatic intention behind it. I was still thankful for the color that was added by both the lighting (designed by Rob Murphy, also minimal yet evocative), and the shazammy costumes that the comedians wore (designed by Christianne Meyers). Another member of the design team I would be remiss not to mention would be wig and makeup designer Dawn Rivard; although most of her work was too imperceptible for me to take specific notice of, I did enjoy the dreadlock-wigs she crafted for the nymphs of Naxos.
*
Thursday-Saturday Cast Review
Martin Walsh, head of the Residential College’s drama department, gave a perfectly pompous performance in the speaking role of the Major-Domo. Castaldo chose to christen the first act “The Battlefield of Money & Art,” and Walsh’s Major-Domo is unmistakably on the side of Money. Isaac Droscha gave the Music-Teacher a noble baritone voice and a nuanced portrayal of a harried, intelligent man desperately trying to please both artists and businesspeople. Justin Berkowitz gave a mercilessly snarky performance as the Choreographer; his slender voice often sounded callous but never sounded unlovely, a nifty feat. Katherine Calcamuggio, as the Composer, had a voice that soared to the heights of artistic inspiration and sank into the depths of despair with expressive agility. Yes, the ostensibly male Composer is played by a woman, in the long-standing operatic tradition of having males portrayed with female voices. I was never really convinced that Calcamuggio was a dude, in spite of her wearing a David-Byrne-esque broad-shouldered padded suit, but that’s a small nitpick that has nothing whatsoever to do with her beautiful voice.
*
Nicholas Davis, Jordan Harris, Ben Brady and Jonas Hacker were adorable and genial as the quartet of clowns, they harmonized terrifically, and they all appeared to be genuinely having a ton of fun onstage. The trio of nymphs, Meghan McLoughlin, Amanda Cantu and Olivia Betzen seamlessly combined a splendid vocal blend with graceful movements and just a bit of sass. Jesse Donner exuded an unpretentious naïve bewilderment as the young god, Bacchus. Listening to his voice, you’d never guess the difficulty inherent in singing that role (Strauss was not known for writing tenor parts that would be considered singable by normal humans). Leann Schuering was beautifully animated as Zerbinetta—she consciously acted every single note she sang, finding some sort of meaning in each coloratura run written in the score. The staging of her showstopper aria was astounding. She lectured Ariadne on the benefits of finding a new boyfriend, tried vainly to befriend her, and fell into an alternately regretful and unapologetic reminiscence of all her past lovers. It almost served to distract from the fact that she was singing some of the most nastily difficult music ever written for the human voice, and singing it pretty perfectly. Kimwana Doner projected quiet nobility as Ariadne but also had some understated moments of comedy in her reactions to the troupe of comedians. Her vocal tone was simply golden.
*
Friday-Sunday Cast Review
Jesus Murillo as the Music-Teacher crafted a portrait of a man who was desperately frustrated with the state of affairs backstage and projected a sense of paternal pride in his pupil the Composer; his warm yet authoritative bass-baritone was well suited to this interpretation. Nicholas Nesterak’s portrayal of the Choreographer seemed more pragmatic and less snide, with a characterful voice and a physical comedian’s flair for gesture. Elizabeth Galafa was a force of nature as the Composer, throwing pages of music this way and that, wildly gesticulating and beseeching the gods of music to grant her strength; it was impossible to take one’s eyes off her.
*
The clowns in this cast (Austin Hoeltzel, Michael Martin, Glenn Healy and Jacob Wright) seemed less like professional performers and more like goofy slackers, and their stage business seemed to have more of an improvisational character to it. With the nymphs, there was a stronger contrast between their voice types, from the shiny soprano of Mary Claire Sullivan, the smoky mezzo of Stephanie Schoenhofer and the brilliant soubrette of Paige Lucas, and there seemed to be more genuine pity for Ariadne in their performances. The Zerbinetta of this performance, Jilliane Tucker, played up the coquettish side of the character, and had a voice that could go from slight to powerful depending on what was required of her vocally. Tshepo Moagi emitted a transfixing energy and an unbelievably robust voice as Bacchus; he was completely believable in the role of the Young God. Antonina Chekhovskaya’s presence as Ariadne was less queenlike and more like a princess; her Ariadne seemed less totally composed, less sure of herself (in an affecting way, not in an awkward way). Her voice, on the other hand, seemed wise beyond her years, full of power and darkness.
*
Strauss’s music remained magical. It was played charmingly and beautifully in equal measure (not very musical terms, but I’m not much of a musician…) by an ensemble that consisted of too many wonderfully talented musicians to name here. Conductor Kamal Khan exerted a powerful amount of control over this protean piece, even though his on-podium demeanor did seem to suggest a prodigious intake of Red Bull, and it was occasionally difficult to hear the singers over the orchestra. Admittedly, both of those observations may be due to the fact that I was sitting in the first row for this performance; I could have literally taken one step and walked into the orchestra pit from where I was sitting, and I was two seats away from being seated directly behind Khan.
*
Musically, Ariadne auf Naxos is an event that simply should not be missed. The immediately discernable vigor of the music and the tangible “joie de performance” that the performers radiate also makes it, to my mind, a great show for audience members who are new to opera (side note: you don’t have to wear tails or a ballgown to go to an opera, I went in jeans and a tee and no one looked twice). If you go to this show, it will undoubtedly transform your evening. (zing!)
*
Remaining performance dates for Ariadne auf Naxos are:
Friday the 29th, 8 PM
Saturday the 30th, 8 PM
Sunday the 31st, 4 PM
Comedy + Tragedy x Awesomeness = ARIADNE AUF NAXOS!!!!!
Very, very soon, the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance will be presenting Richard Strauss’s opera Ariadne auf Naxos! This opera, one of Strauss’s last big hits as an opera composer, is a wild juxtaposition of grandiose tragedy and rollicking comedy.
*
The plot concerns an evening of entertainment being held at the house of the richest man in Vienna. There is going to be a performance of a tragic opera, based on the myth of Ariadne on the island of Naxos, followed by a performance by a troupe of comedians, called Zerbinetta and Her Four Lovers. The Composer of the opera, already distraught by the idea of his majestic work of art being immediately followed by frivolous buffoonery, is even more horrified when the Major-Domo of the event orders that, due to time constraints, the opera and the comedians will have to perform simultaneously.
*
In the first section of the opera, the music evokes the franticness of backstage life, with interjections from everybody from the prima donna star singers to the stagehands. There’s also a sublime duet between the Composer and the comedienne starlet Zerbinetta, where the Composer explains why he finds the story of Ariadne so beautiful, and Zerbinetta sings about the loneliness of life as an actor. In the second half, the opera-within-the-opera, there are long stretches of lovely, contemplative melody, courtesy of Ariadne, who is in a perpetual state of grief due to having been abandoned by her lover, Theseus. Meanwhile, the clowns sing peppy, carnivalesque tunes as they try to cheer Ariadne up and convince her to move on. In the end, Ariadne’s sad story ends well when she meets a charming young demigod by the name of Bacchus, and they celebrate their newfound love by singing a duet, and everybody is happy (especially the audience, who gets to hear all this wonderful music).
Throughout the show, musical juxtapositions contrast the earnest high-mindedness of people like the Composer and Ariadne with the earthy skepticality of Zerbinetta and her troupe of comedians. If I’m making this show sound really pretentious, let me assure you right now that it definitely is not—this is one of the most fun operas ever written, in my opinion. In addition, I personally think that Strauss’s compositional style, while somewhat controversial in its day, is quite accessible for modern listeners—it’s full of lush, vibrant colors and unusual, occasionally dissonant, yet beautiful melodies. What’s more, it zips along at a quick pace, only slowing down when there is a melody really worth savoring. I can hardly wait to see (and review) this show!
Ariadne auf Naxos will be playing at the Lydia Mendelssohn theatre at the following times:
Thursday, March 28th at 7:30 PM
Friday, March 29th at 8 PM
Saturday, March 30th at 8 PM
Sunday, March 31st at 4:30 PM
REVIEW: ROGUE WAVE(S) in Michigan League
New Beat Happening (NBH), a music oriented student group on campus who bring a nationally renowned band to U-Mich’s campus every winter semester, snagged Rogue Wave for this weekend’s performance in the Michigan League Ballroom. A some local talent, winner of NBH’s Battle of the Bands last fall, The Paths (formerly Rosepoem) opened for Rogue Wave last Friday night:
http://www.thepaths.org/
I was not present for The Path’s performance but had heard them in the fall at Battle of the Bands and rather enjoy their sound.
Going into this performance I was not aware of how many Rogue Wave songs I was familiar with. The band put on an energetic performance, jumping and chatting with the crowed of 250+ students. The bassist became so enthused that he fell backward on stage, continued to play and was able to stand back up with out breaking rhythm or melody. A very impressive feat.
Rogue Wave is coming out with a new album this summer. They were grateful to have this opportunity to perform, having not toured for at least three years.
If you are interested in bringing bands like Rogue Wave, Girl Talk, Lupe Fiasco, Broken Social Scene and others to the Michigan Campus become a part of New Beat Happening!!
