Who: ComCo
What: ComCo presents Frosty the Gender-Neutral Snow Creature
When: December 6, 8 p.m.
Where: Angel Hall Auditorium A
Cost: $2
ComCo’s back for another show to bring smiles and laughter to students for a winter-themed night. As an audience member of their show in November, I can assure you that you will not be dissapointed—these kids are hilarious. All their comedy is improv and created on the spot, so you could end up creating story lines and talking points for the ComCo players to use for material. Get excited for two straight hours of laughing!
Like ComCo on Facebook or RSVP to the Facebook event page.
Who: Groove
What: Groove presents #TRASHTAG
When: December 6, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Michigan Theater
Cost: $5 for students, $8 for adults. Tickets available at the door.
Groove, campus’s premier percussion group, will be taking the Michigan Theater to a technological and technical level Friday night for their fall show #TRASHTAG. The performers are known for using a variety of surfaces to capture and uniformly create percussion beats. This show will be an opportunity to showcase their talents on a wide scale, and it will be interesting to see how their viral, hashtagged, techy theme plays out.
RSVP to the event on Facebook, visit their official website, or check out some of their performers on their YouTube channel.
WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance, Department of Theatre and Drama
WHAT: The Comedy of Errors
WHERE: Power Center for the Performing Arts
WHEN: December 5-8
COST: $10 for students, tickets available online or at the Michigan League Box Office
When two sets of long lost and similarly named twins unwittingly arrive in the same town, mistaken identity and increasingly humorous situations ensue. This updated production of William Shakespeare’s first comedy is set in New Orleans during Mardi Gras and promises to be a wild and funny adventure.
Anyone interested in taking a study break? If so, please attend the Makawala Concert. Not only do you get to hear and see beautiful hula dance and music. But you also get to hearing two visiting lectures describe the meaning of hula dance, as well as demystify some surrounding exotic myths around it. In addition, you get to learn really cool facts about hula. For instance, the grass skirts worn by hula dancers originated in the Kirabati islands. The performance is on November 25th. But the lecture continues from 4-530! At the end of these events- you will end up saying ‘Mahalo’ to yourself for going.
A combined UMMGC of alumni and current members sing "The Yellow and Blue" for the 154th Annual Fall Concert finale.
The University of Michigan’s Mens Glee Club filled the walls with sounds of song in Hill Auditorium Saturday, November 24 for their 154th annual Fall Concert. “Songs of Experience and Innocence” featured 10 different sections as listed in the program, with an intermission to let the performers’ voices rest. Conductor Eugene Rogers did an excellent job directing the powerful voices and explaining the theme or messages in pieces that did not have English lyrics. For the audience’s convenience, many selections were embedded into the program with English translations to follow along and make sense as to whatever-the-heck the men were singing. I was pleased to find traditional Russian numbers that I have never been exposed to before through my Russian mother. During the Russian piece “Kalina,” a group of about five members did traditional Nutcracker-like dancing that mustered many hoots and hollers from the audience in awe and appreciation.
Perhaps the coolest part of the night came when members of Dearborn High School’s Glee Club took the stage to perform “Vive L’Amour,” conducted by their director Carmelle Adkins. She described the group as coming together in such a short amount of time to learn and perfect their selections for the concert. Interestingly, over half of the group had no prior singing experience, but that did not detract from their talent. Adkins thanked the UMMGC tremendously for their support of the high school program that connects University Glee Club members with high school students, and for the opportunity and desire instilled into the young men through the collaboration. The Dearborn members sang together with UMMGC members for two selections, including a Caribbean-themed Jamaican Folk Song.
I was suprised to see many percussion instruments and the aid of a pianist on many numbers because when I think of the style of glee music I picture music created entirely through voice. I don’t think the added instruments hindered the peformance, and their aid definitely aided in the overall experience of sitting for two hours intently focusing on the show.
One of my favorite parts of the show was the Friar selections, a subset of eight UMMGC members. They sang two original numbers including a ballad expressing the frustration of not making into the selective Ross Business School to the tune of Les Miserable’s “I Dreamed a Dream.” Equally has hilarious and sticking to the rejection theme was a number about not being selected in the sorority rush process to the tune of “Beauty School Dropout” from Grease.
Nearing the end of the program, Michigan song selections filled out the last of 10 sections for the night. Audiences rallied behind a slower paced version of “The Victors” during “The Varsity and the Victors.” As per tradition, UMMGC alumni members crowded the stage to sing the finale “The Yellow and Blue,” and there were many of them who stood alongside current members.
Even though it was a cold and snowy night, the UMMGC warmed the hearts of many for a beautiful night of song.
The event was fun as I stepped off the stairs into the big gathering room of the Ed Center. There were hand made posters of Video-Concert Event, just as there were some large bowls of chips, dip, and candy. There some smiling faces sitting on the carpetted green floor. Anyway, in 10 minutes somebody clicked the on button on the projector, and from there we saw previous events during the Fall semester. I decided to stay for the Halloween Pops’ Concert Event.
I really liked what I saw about the Concert! There were throngs of costumed kids at the event! Some were fairies, sheriffs, little jedi.. you name it!
The musicians were greatly costumed as well!
But as it turned out, the conductors were also greatly costumed,too. One of them was a bear. Another was a cowgirl!
My favorite song which was performed was Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld!
Some of the kids were kicking it up in the form of a can-can towards the end of the song!
The others were March of the Little Goblins; The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Lever du Jour, Hoe Down, Liebestod, Overture to Ophelia in the Underworld,Queen Mab Scherzo, and Danse Bacchanale.
But my most favorite parts were when the director of the orchestra came out in a blonde wig and a very feminine voice ( I guess he was in drag..) and thanked all of us for coming! He even said, that many of the conductors go on to work in places like Carnegie Hall! It was astonishing to hear that! He also thanked the audience members for being there as a way for the conductors on them! Who knew..
My other most favorite part was when he yelled out, “And who are ya gonna call if you have ghosts.. Ghostbusters!”
Then all the conductors in Ghost-busting-grey-suits came in from the aisles and went to the stage. There they were dancing it up like none other! One of them even had ray-ban aviators on! Fun! It seemed like such a fun event! In sum, the concert was great!
After the video was done, I had a few more snacks and bid adieu to the other guests.
