What beautiful weather we have been having! No longer does the sun disassociate its twin functions of producing heat and light and to feel the lovely sunshine while you lay under the cerulean blue skies -it just makes you feel so alive!
Well , you can experience that same feeling of warmth and joy when you come to the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra performance under the direction of the highly renowned Michael Tilson Thomas tonight. The performance will also feature Christian Tetzlaff, a violinist who is claimed to be the most important violinists in our times for his perfect technique and musical perception . Do I see you raising your eyebrows with disbelief? Then listen to this!
Yoni Ki Baat is hosting their 5th annual multicultural monologue show. As in the Vagina Monologues, “Lips Unsealed” features pieces written about the female form and the empowerment of woman identified individuals. U of M students will be performing pieces addressing domestic violence, sexuality, culture, and relationships. The proceeds to this event will go to a domestic violence charity. I am going with a few friends from the U-Club Poetry Slam team (who are going to nationals in Boston btw) this Saturday night at 7:00 pm. It’s in East Quad’s newly renovated Keene Theater, which I have never been to (I’ll describe it in my review because I’m excited about new theaters). There are two shows previous to this one, Friday March 19th at 7:00pm and Saturday March 20th at 3:00pm. Tickets are $5 at MUTO/ticketmaster.com/from a YKB member or $8 at the door. RSVP to the event on Facebook at here. This event is multicultural and a poetic adventure, so anyone with the slightlest interest in spoken word art or woman empowerment should buy tickets and show up for one of the biggest events on campus!
What: Yoni Ki Baat “Lips Unsealed”
When: -Friday, March 19th, at 7:00pm
-Saturday, March 20th at 3:00pm and 7:00pm
Where: East Quad’s Keene Theater
How Much: Tickets are $5 at MUTO/Ticketmaster.com/from a YKB member or $8 at the door. 100% of proceeds will be donated to a domestic violence charity.
As always,
This is Danny Fob: Artist and Art Reviewer
Cyro Baptista’s “Beat the donkey” can be best described as a delightful audiovisual smorgasbord of all forms of sounds and grooves that you can possibly fit in within an hour’s time. It had everything to capture the hard-to-get interest of tiny tots (a trait shared by many adults these days ) .
Cyro Baptista
The eight member strong team, dressed in wild colors and costumes (one was wearing a chicken head and Cyro made a dramatic entry in a magician’s cape) moved between various nameless instruments on stage performing a different something every time. The background color of the stage kept changing to all bright colors ( like a willowish green or an organza pink or a fiery ochre) and added that extra element to captivate the kids.
As for the program itself, there was a bit of everything! Cyro started out with a loud vigorous beating and his band members picked up and produced some really creative percussion sequences. There were Kodo style drums, an Indonesian dance with Gamelan music (the girl who did this was so graceful and beautiful!), a delightful tap dance, a lovely Brazilian song ( by a team member who belted out really well), some amazing rock style keyboard playing (this guy is good!), some cool guitar action and of course the numerous instruments made from gigantic Coca-cola caps to leftover PVC pipes and recycled gas pipes .
Given that it takes so much to get our interest these days (nothing short of a 4D show), the performance might be considered “i would rather be taking an afternoon nap than listening to this loud what-do-you-call-it” by many adults. But it was a family performance, people! And the many kids jumping around and doing goofy moves in the well between the stage and the audience were obviously enjoying every moment.
It was so good to see an older kid show his moves to a toddler (who must have just started walking and was wobbling his baby arms around with one of the loveliest smiles on his face) and I think that’s what Cyro’s band was aiming for!
Friends, Oh-I-am-only-halfway through-this-semester-and so-still-stressed-out students and fellow musiclovers,
It’s a rarity that you get to become a kid again at a musical performance. This weekend, Cyro Baptista, the truely innovative percussionist will be performing at the Power Center with his eight member strong band. Cyro Baptista was here last month as a part of “the Luciana Souza trio” and he was amazing. He is like this mad scientist with such a passion for percussion and he oozes such positive energy and enthusiasm that you have to love him for that! His sense of humor and tendency to make jokes with his percussion too make him such a popular figure with kids and adults alike! But he is also known for his serious Brazilian Beats in the music field.
Cyro Baptista's "Beat the Donkey"
Titled “Beat the Donkey” from the Portuguese “Pau Na Mula” which means “Let’s go! Let’s do it”, Cyro’s show is a wild, imaginative and extremely entertaining one with a combination of all types of rhythm and sounds that you could possibly hear. In this show, the musicians adorn funky costumes and do everything including impromtu dances to make sure that you don’t sit ramrod straight with passive looks on your faces!
Show times:
Saturday, March 13, 1 pm & 4 pm
Power Center
Tickets ($16) are available at the Michigan League Ticket Office or at the Box Office before the show.
Come, join this fun foot-tapping riot! It’s your time to be a kid again.
When thirty two voices in different voice types come together and sing without accompaniment (“a capella”) while precisely maintaining tune and rhythm , it is just plain fascinating. That’s how the Swedish Radio Choir started their scintillating performance.
The first piece “Aftonen” was so beautifully done. I can never understand how a soprano and a bass standing together can sing their parts without getting distracted with the other’s pitch/tune. It seems really tough and must need tons of practice.
But anyway, after the first piece though, my interest waned. The rest of the first half were mostly based on religious pieces. I was really bored through the rest of the first half, all the while wondering as to how people can relate to such an art form. For example, Mahler’s piece, “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” was in German and it was tedious. Though an English translation was provided, I felt that the lyrics, a very important part of any music, somehow distracted focus from the music and since there was no accompaniment too, it was tough to digest.
I looked around and there were a lot of people looking around too. It was clear that this art form wasn’t that interesting to all but for the devoted few. I was so bored that I contemplated leaving during the intermission. But my intention to see it through till the end was rewarded by the excellent and intriguing, “Mouyayoum” by contemporary Swedish composerAnders Hillborg . This was the highlight of the evening. This is a wordless work that featured 16 distinctly different vocal parts combining together into a mesmerizing soundscape- it was brilliant. You will be absolutely hypnotized when you hear this and this is the gold test for a great choir. The Swedish Radio Choir was just astounding in this. I loved the sopranos the best.
For over one hour, the singers delivered complex notes and there was never a note out of place. I was thoroughly impressed by their stamina and skill, developed by years and years of rigorous practice, I am sure.
The guest choirmaster, a fellow Swedish native, Ragnar Bohlin was amazing and I loved the way he conducted “Mouyayoum”.
As I left from the performance, I wondered if this art form of Choral music was a dying art. Would the future generations thrill in listening to this kind of music? In this age, where you rarely hear anybody performing without accompaniment, it was a rarity to hear these lovely voices in unison. This is how it all began before we made instruments and a clear melodious voice is such a soothing sound for the ear.
That the Sweidsh Radio Choir is indisputably one of the best choirs around came through very clearly from the flawless performance. But I guess, choral music of the religious kind is just not my cup of tea.
I know how I had griped about how I hated Shakeapeare’s play, “All’s well that ends well”, as it has very less value and is male chauvinistic as far as Bertram, the hero is concerned. But I decided to watch the University of Michigan’s Musical theater Department’s version again as many critics say that for this particularly complex play, the interpretation (and of course, the acting) is what makes or breaks the play.
Set in the nice spacious and quaint Arthur Miller Theatre, the cast and crew changed the time period from the 1600s to a more modern setting in the 1950s and somehow, Helena spouting dialogues from the 1600s in a black evening gown instead of in a Elizabethan Costume somehow didn’t seem out of place at all. The set was very minimalistic and it was all ok for the low-cost production which thus paved way for the actors to show off their skills.
The first half started off nicely but the pace was kind of slow with only a few moments of brilliance- Parolles’ monologue on virginity(“To speak on the part of virginity is to accuse your mothers, which is most infallible disobedience”), the scene with the boring King and his even more bored counts and the banter between the Countess of Rousillon and Lavatch, a fool in her pay. When I stepped out for intermission, there was a long line for the free show at the Basement Arts and I felt that I could have gone there instead. But I prevailed and the second half was not so bad.
The pace picked up and there were lots of interesting happenings- the soldiers having fun at Parolles’ expense and the scene where a head-over-heels-in-love Bertram woos Diana, the “bed trick” and the building up of events for the climax. The beautiful actress who played Helena (Laura Reed, a sophomore) did a remarkable job. Lavatch the fool was brilliant as well.
Laura Reed as Helena
Then the end came and well, this wasn’t as great. When the young, chocolate boy faced Bertram (played by Tyler Jones who was very convincing as a naive dandy till then) promises to be a faithful husband to Helena and “love her dearly, ever, ever dearly, you are like “What, how did that happen now?”.
In “All’s well that ends well”, Bertram can be intrepreted as a man who truly falls in love with his wife or as a man who matures into a more responsible person. In this version, it felt like a man who was more resigned to his fate. I didn’t quite like the way it ended and no offense to the actors, the end could have done better.
But I won’t blame it on the actors as then again, “All’s well that ends well” was not a very popular play even in the Bard of Avon’s days. The play lacks finality unlike the other plays and you don’t find the spectacular twists as in other plays of Shakespeare. Is it a comedy or a tragedy? Marriage is described as a contract and there is no clarity in the purpose of the play. It is a tough play to choose and the actors’ efforts were definitely commendable.
I had seen “All’s well that ends well” performed by London’s NAtional Theatre and broadcast telecast live at the Michigan Theater in partnership with UMS as part of the “National theatre Live” series. In that version, the actress who played Helena was flawless and Parolles stole the show with his bravado and superb comic timing. As for Bertram, he was a superb actor and when he delivered that last lone line, it was not so bad.
Overall, in the university of michigan musical theater department’s version, there was a continuity in the play and the transitions were smoothly done. The sound and stage effects were good too. This was a brave attempt and one well done.
