If you’re a fan of the show where “everything’s made up and the points don’t matter,” then turn off your TV and come to this live event based completely off of audience suggestions. With classic games, scenes, and improv legends in front of your very eyes onstage, Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis, and Joel Murray present Whose Live Anyway? Catch their quickest wit and catchiest songs at the Michigan Theater on October 29 at 8 PM.
REVIEW: Sweet Charity
The music by Cy Coleman burst out of the pit of the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater with grand flair and style. Dance hall hostess Charity made her way onto the stage, dancing her little dance with a sweet fashion that becomes characteristic of her personality throughout the 1960s musical appropriately named Sweet Charity.
Nevada Koenig portrayed that sweetness and purity in Charity beautifully with an unbridled and unlimited amount of excitement and belief in the greatness in people. With “big” dreams for her life, Charity’s aspirations can be viewed as naively sweet, which makes the heartbreak she experiences over and over that much more painful to watch.
Charity comes across film star Vittorio Vidal for a night to remember, and Blake Bojewski gave the audience a song to remember as his majestic voice floated through the air in his showstopping number, “Too Many Tomorrows.” As Charity laments about greatness and love, the fickle finger of fate finally falls in her favor during the hilarious elevator scene with Oscar, played by Lake Wilburn who captured the panic with excellent comedic acting and accurately showed Oscar’s personality as a timid guy stuck in his own head.
Sweet Charity is basically a romantic comedy musical with a small dance show in the middle of the first act. The dance number for “Rich Man’s Frug” was spectacular in every sense. It actually felt like a real dance show and I never wanted it to end. Again, the ensemble brought the energy to the stage as the Rhythm of Life Church, which indeed is a powerful beat.
While Charity may not have purity in the purest sense, she still possessed a purity that is rare in the world today: she believed in the best of people and in the best of the future, and that is a sweet purity that is hard to come by.
Overall, Sweet Charity was a wonderful production by the Department of Musical Theatre in every aspect, from the costumes to the pit orchestra to the set designs to the acting to the choreography to the singing. Though I am not a huge romcom fan, I enjoyed this musical and its message of pure bliss and hope greatly, particularly because of the phenomenal orchestra and cast that made Sweet Charity that much sweeter.
PREVIEW: Luzinterruptus “Literature vs. Traffic”
Tomorrow from 5-11pm you can walk down a Liberty Street paved with illuminated books. As a part of Luzinterruptus’s Literature vs. Traffic installment, 10,000 discarded books have been recycled for the best possible purpose: to remind us of the importance of free thought, the written word, and our own community. As a grass-roots project, the participation of volunteers (myself included!) was essential. People from countless different backgrounds met at Ruthven to flatten the books, tape 20,000 tiny lights inside their pages, and move them to their exhibit site. Ann Arbor joined Toronto, New York, and Melbourne in featuring this specific project, but Luzinterruptus is an urban intervention guerrilla group all the way from Madrid, and they have created similar projects around the world.
Join us tomorrow night to see the Literature vs. Traffic installation in person. Pick up a free book. Enjoy Ann Arbor’s culture, memories, and people.
PREVIEW: Fall Film Series: Contemporary Cinema from the Islamic World (Wadjda)
We are often exposed to far too little of the world, even in our self-proclaimed melting-pot of a country. This fall film series is trying to help solve this problem, by presenting several recently-made movies from the Islamic world. If you need a better reason to show up, it’s free!
This week on display is a film called Wadjda, in which a very determined young girl enters a Quran-reciting contest for money to buy a bicycle. Released in 2012, this is amazingly the first feature-length film created by a female Saudi director (Haifaa Al Mansour).
Come watch with me (really, sit with me–I’ll be the one in the lion hat) this Tuesday, October 23 at 7 PM in the East Quad Benzinger Library.
REVIEW: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Let’s do the time warp again. And let’s do it with a drag moth.
Rocky Horror Picture Show’s cult following came through, as the Leather Medusas performed a sold-out show at the Michigan Theater over the weekend. With many fans dressed in wigs, there was massive excitement and anticipation for the annual Rocky Horror Picture Show. And then, a beautiful Moth emerged onstage and everyone lost it. With sass and pride on full display, the Moth got the show started in style.
As a Rocky Horror Virgin who knew very little about the show going in except for the fact that it was weird, I was a bit unprepared for what the next hour and a half had in store for me. Little will be said about the movie, since the 1975 film has become a cult classic that is either known in its entirety or known with very actual knowledge of the show (the latter of which I happened to fall in before myself). And for the other Rocky Horror Virgins out there, I won’t spoil the very first experience for you, because let me tell you — it is quite the experience indeed.
One of the things that makes the Rocky Horror Picture Show a true experience is the talking back to the screen, which is understandable because some things in that movie just make you want to scream — and with this movie, you actually get to. However, the audience participation was at times rather annoying since it was hard to understand what everyone was shouting, and since I had no idea what was happening to begin with, I wanted to understand what everyone was shouting. Granted, some preparation beforehand could’ve been done on my part to help fully prepare myself for this experience. But I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, so I didn’t know what I had to prepare for. Nonetheless, clever lines were shouted every now and then that made the callbacks bearable. Particularly because Rocky Horror is a known cult classic, all the shouting was part of the experience, so I embraced it through my waves of annoyance.
The Leather Medusas shadow cast put on a phenomenal and amusing show full of hypersexual dancing and well-timed acting that didn’t disappoint as they received a standing ovation at the end. With Demetrius Markel as the muscular Rocky, he showed off his cheerleading skills through impressive moves that got the crowd riled up. The entire cast with wondrous costumes was exceptional in performing this show that requires a lot.
Now that I have lost my Rocky Horror virginity, I await for next year’s show with sweet, sweet antici…pation.
REVIEW: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
“I wish to lose all morals, and accept decadence into my heart.”
The night starts off with crowds of people in sparkles and lingerie and all black piled up outside of the Michigan Theater, eager to begin their Rocky Horror experience. An experience that is varied and cannot be restricted by just one adjective. An experience that is energetic, erotic, campy, and…. scientific?
With an introduction from a moth, who welcomes all of the groups who are out – the straights, the gays, the sorrorities – the crowd is riled up before the film has started. Prohibited items include: ice, confetti, water guns, candles or lighters, whole rolls of toilet paper, hot dogs, and prunes. But the moth pointed out that squares of toilet paper, or streamers, or 3/4 of a roll of toilet paper, are allowed. It is only the Leather Medusa’s second year putting on a shadow cast show of RHPS at the theater, but they’re sold out.
I stand for my virgin pledge, with about half of the audience who are marked with red lipstick Vs. Surprisingly, such a prominent cult classic still remains unseen by many. Not so surprisingly, the Rocky Horror virgins of the world are curious about the film and its culture, intrigued by its ostentatious reputation and loyal followers. And tonight, our curiosity is to be fulfilled. Soon everyone stands together, for the Rocky Horror pledge and with much anti… cipation – the show begins.
Newly engaged Brad and Janet get stuck in the rain, and wander into Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s castle, where they have a long night ahead of them. The shadow cast saunters around the stage, their costumes and movements perfectly matching those of the film’s characters. The audience yells “ASSHOLE!” at Brad, “SLUT!” at Janet, “WHERE’S YOUR NECK?” at the criminologist, and a variety of other more specific, seemingly-scripted, comments. The film can barely be heard. This culture is not exactly for the prude or sensitive – although they are the ones that the culture loves to deflower the most. Similarly to the audience culture around Tommy Wiseau’s ‘The Room’, some describe this movie-going experience as wildly inconsiderate and vulgar. But the lines of accepted norms are blurred in the midst of such a cult classic, one that drew counterculture crowds as a midnight movie at its release and still draws those audiences (or those who shapeshift into such for a night) today.
Attempting to watch the film over the yelling of the crowd, I do my best to stay in-tune while actively participating. But the participation doesn’t take away from the film’s grandeur. The unusual set, defined characters, theatrical costumes and makeup, peculiar sci-fi characteristics, lively songs and dances, canted angles, effective use of various lenses, irony, and sexual notions, are enough to interest audiences even when they are unclear of the plot (which is somewhat unclear, anyway.) I’m sure all of the other virgins sometimes sat just as confused as me, but also pleasantly entertained.
Seeing Rocky Horror is a uniting experience: the audience, together, are just as important as the film. Dancing the time warp, throwing cards and pieces of toast, everyone is in tune with one another. Even the virgins. We catch on. If all goes as planned by the Transylvanians, by the end of the film you’re going to want to dance and yell and touch everyone and be covered in sequins and dramatic makeup.
