Tag: lydia mendelssohn theater

REVIEW: Twelfth Night

Sappy Leave a comment

Photos are provided by Peter Smith Photography

From October 10 to 13, the School of Music, Theatre, & Dance presented a musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The witty script combined with the students’ incredible singing and dancing made it such an enjoyable experience that I ended up watching it twice. 

The performance took place in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, which although a little small, is actually my favorite venue for musicals. The charming, comfortable velvet seats and the excellent acoustics ensure that every line and lyric is crystal clear. The actors also make creative use of the entire space by entering and exiting through aisles and side doors instead of always walking backstage, and this added interaction with the audience made the show feel all the more immersive. The set design for Illyria, a mythical city surrounded by water, was stunning: the intricate details of the staircase, balcony, and guardrails added realism, while the bright colors and decorations created a whimsical atmosphere.

The first musical number that stood out to me was “If You Were My Beloved,” performed by Viola, Olivia, and Orsino. Viola’s youthful, endearing voice accidentally captures Olivia’s heart, embodying the innocence and purity of the kind of love Olivia has been longing for. Olivia’s bright and powerful voice conveys the excitement of newfound love, radiating optimism and hope for her future romantic pursuits. Lastly, Orsino’s deep, charismatic voice reflects the depth of his persistent and long-held admiration for Olivia. Despite their conflicting interests while singing these lyrics, the trio harmonizes beautifully, hinting at the tangled and humorous love triangle filled with misunderstandings and unexpected twists.

Another memorable number was “Is This Not Love?” Feste’s soulful tone beautifully captured the yearning and frustration that come with being in love. This exasperation was further amplified through the choreography where Viola and Orsino would reach out for each other without ever fully connecting, underscoring the emotional distance between them. A particularly powerful moment featured Orsino spinning Viola in the air; despite their physical closeness, their emotions remained unspoken.

Funnily enough, it was “Count Malvolio” that left the deepest impression on me. I loved the playful costumes of the backup dancers that mirrored Malvolio’s outfit, and their addition allowed for a grand choreography filled with silly gestures that perfectly captured Malvolio’s ambitious dream of becoming a count. With its humorous lyrics and catchy chorus, I found myself singing it for days afterward.

Overall, each musical number was a joy to experience, and I left the theater excited to listen to them again. However, I found myself disappointed with the recordings I found online, since they lacked the vibrancy and emotional depth that made the live performances so special.

Watching the show from two different perspectives—the main floor the first time and the balcony the second—provided me with more ways to experience the performance. From the balcony, I could appreciate the full scope of the choreography, from the various formations to the synchronization. On the main floor, however, the experience felt more cinematic; the singing was more immersive and the actors’ facial expressions brought the romantic tension and developments to life. Honestly, if given the opportunity, I would happily go back to watch the musical a third time and re-experience the beauty of Illyria once more with SMTD.



REVIEW: KASA Culture Show 2024 — Seoul Shadows

eunjhun Leave a comment

Landing itself at the tail end of the year, the KASA Culture Show presents a grand finale to the year. KASA stands for the Korean American Student Association, a cultural/social organization that seeks to bring together a Korean American community and celebrate Korean culture. The night was full of wonderful performances of music and dance, but the true highlight was the screening of a popular K-drama remake. This year, KASA showcased their remake of the film Door Lock (도어락).

Before I get into the film, I’d like to highlight how amazing the music performances were. Sinaboro started off the night with a bang (of a janggu) performing a traditional Samul Nori (사물놀이) ensemble. Samul Nori is a genre of traditional Korean percussion music that utilizes four instruments: the kkwaenggwari (꽹과리), a small gong, the jing (징), a larger gong, the janggu (장구), an hourglass-shaped drum, and the Buk (북), a barrel bass drum. The precise rhythms and clangorous quality of Sinaboro’s performance brought a part of Korean culture that was unique and very interesting to learn about/experience. Additionally, Seoul Juice gave a stellar performance, although I am not completely familiar with their set list, each song filled the theater with pleasing harmonies that the band is well associated with. Personally, I’ve seen Seoul Juice perform multiple times and they always deliver, by which I mean every single member gave their all.

Seoul Juice Mid-Performance

Now the film was no doubt the highlight of the night, as it captivated the whole audience in its masterly-made production. Door Lock is a horror movie about a woman’s victimization by the hands of a stalker. Carrying heavy themes about sexual assault, stalking, and kidnapping, the film is one that leaves the audience in horrifying suspense about the identity of Kyungmin’s stalker but also woeful concern about her safety. By all means, the most fun part of it was the audience’s reactions as everyone screamed in terror, gasped in shock, and aired their frustration that she would just let that guy in her apartment. The way the film was shown to the audience was also unique and fascinating as it was cut into parts, progressively being shown between performances. It left us in the audience with cliffhangers, red herrings, and terrible suspense.

However, I do note that there was one problem I found to be pervasive: the overrepresentation of Kpop in Korean culture. While I absolutely adored the flawless formations and power of Female Gayo, the baddie energy and captivating visuals of Humi, the stylishness and effortlessness of DB3, the uniqueness and ingenuity of UMTKD, the focus and freshness of K-Motion, it felt like the heavy presence Kpop has overshadowed other important aspects of Korean culture. I would like to emphasize that Korean culture is not just the Kpop that it is often represented with, and a culture show should be a space to celebrate diverse representations of culture, not just a popular facet of it.

Despite this criticism, I found the KASA Culture Show to be a great time. The energy from the audience gave me life, and every time the dancers were only shown through silhouette I audibly gasped by how cool it looked. In summation, I love performances and the multimedia showcase of the KASA Culture Show was exemplary in all counts quality-wise.

REVIEW: Bonnets: How Ladies of Good Breeding are Induced to Murder

Ella Larsen Leave a comment

8:00pm • Friday, February 17, 2023 • Lydia Mendelssohn Theater

I had a fun evening attending Bonnets last Friday, although I was more impressed by the acting and production than the writing itself. My cast shout-outs go to God, played by Sophia Lane, Prudence, played by Kaylin Gines, and Valerie, played by Olivia Sinnott: partially because they were just my favorite characters, but also because the three actors filled their roles with particular verve. One thing I appreciated about the script was that each actor had their time to shine. Each character developed a type that, once placed in a scene with another, created surprising and entertaining dynamics, especially once the timelines became crossed.

The set, designed by Lance Vance (depicted in the image above), lent itself to the plot, with the overlapping frames above the three settings visualizing the colliding timelines. While unchanging, it remained dynamic by virtue of the way the actors interacted with it in many dimensions. The costumes, designed by Mallory Edgell, were similarly ingenious. Each character wore a period gown rendered in pale neutral fabric, save for a panel or two which were patterned in esoteric characters reflecting the playful sci-fi elements of the plot. I liked how the uniformity of the costumes, all of which used roughly the same fabric, unified the women’s narratives while the cut distinguished each character by period and class. The costume change in the end was also clever, evoking the punk movement of the 1990s and recentering the story in the present, where women continue to be “corseted” in contemporary ways.

This brings me to an element brought up in the panel discussion after the play which I found interesting. A question was posed to the panelists about how the play breaks barriers of representation, and two of the panelists answered frankly that they didn’t believe it did. I’m inclined to agree; the feminism of the play didn’t feel particularly radical. Perhaps the embrace of violence as a means of resistance was meant to be the element of surprise in the play, but it leaned a little too deeply into comedy for me to take it seriously. Overall, I wasn’t enamored with the particular brand of camp written into the script. I felt like, considering its themes, the play could have afforded to take itself a little more seriously, and ultimately the campiness came across more as a product of a rushed storyline.

Of course, none of this is to criticize the impressive cast and production staff who brought this performance together. Regardless of whatever issues I had with the script, I enjoyed the play immensely, congratulate the student actors who will be graduating shortly, and look forward to seeing the others again in future performances.

REVIEW: Mission Improbable: Yotonix Spytacular

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As the lights dimmed in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater on Saturday night, a huge cheer went up from the crowd. As a senior, I knew why — we were back for an annual tradition that we hadn’t seen since our freshman year.

Yotonix is the annual show featuring a collaboration between two very talented student orgs on campus: Revolution and Photonix. Revolution is our Chinese Yo-Yo team. Photonix is known for their glowsticking and visual arts performances.

The 2020 Yotonix show was tragically scheduled for March 14, the day after things officially turned topsy turvy, and they had to cancel due to the pandemic. 2021 Yotonix was a brilliantly crafted virtual show . But nothing can replace a live, in-person arts performance. This year marked the return of the in-person version of the show, and everyone in attendance was ECSTATIC. It was a night full of amazing art and there wasn’t a dull moment.

The show was, as it promised, both “Spy-tacular” and spectacular. The performers made their craft look so easy, but that was just the mark of their talent and months of practice.

The Chinese Yo-Yo, or Diabolo, is not what most people picture when they think of a yoyo. It evolved completely independently of the Western yoyo in China and grew popular as a toy in Europe. It requires a lot of skill to do most Diabolo tricks because you need to constantly maintain a fast enough spin so it stays stable…while it’s being whipped around and jumped over and caught all over the place.

Glowsticking originates from poi, a performance art first practiced by the Maori people of New Zealand that involves swinging weighted tethers called poi in geometric patterns. Glowsticking evolved from this as a performance done in the dark while either swinging glowsticks attached to strings, twirling glowing batons, or “freehanding” it by tossing/spinning the glowsticks directly in each hand. Learning this also requires a great deal of skill because you need to swing the glowsticks at high speeds for them to trace continuous patterns in the dark and it’s easy for them to get tangled or smack you in the face in the process.

It makes sense why, in the weeks leading up to the show, I often saw both orgs practicing in Mason Hall late at night! They were not taking on easy routines. My photos really don’t do them justice.

I really liked the choreo both groups demonstrated this year. Most Yoyo shows I’ve seen tend to stick to the same high-energy EDM music that gets a little overused after a while. Revolution’s creativity really shined through in the routines they put together to all sorts of musical genres, both fast and slow. Photonix also came through, experimenting with innovative glow suits with lights sewn into them and adding hula hoops and music-synced lights into their performance. *applause*

I also want to write a little ode to an oft-underrecognized part of any performance: the audience. I love the energy of the crowds during these student shows. We’re not there to see a professional, polished thing – we’re there to cheer on our pals. When someone drops their Yo-Yo or tangles up their glowstick and has to dart offstage, we only cheer and clap even louder in support. Because everyone in that theater was there to celebrate the passion and creativity and camaraderie that these students poured into this show – for once, not for any resume or class assignment or final project – but simply to HAVE FUN and express themselves.

I give Yotonix 2021 five out of five stars 🙂

PREVIEW: Stew & The Negro Problem

Angela Lin Leave a comment

In case you missed Tony Award-winning playwright and singer Stew last night, you have another chance tonight! Don’t miss out on a homage to the art and activism of James Baldwin in a music and theater experience through a contemporary commentary on Baldwin’s 1955 collection of essays on being Black in America. Notes of a Native Song is an irreverent and spirited rock ‘n’ roll song cycle that uses Baldwin’s work to explore race, love, class division, and politics through an exciting mix of rock, jazz, and soul. Catch Stew & The Negro Problem at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre tonight at 8!

REVIEW: Eurydice

Shannon Z Leave a comment

“This is what it is to love an artist: The moon is always rising above your house. The houses of your neighbors look dull and lacking in moonlight. But he is always going away from you. Inside his head there is always something more beautiful.” – Sarah Ruhl, Eurydice

 

Eurydice read like bundle of freely associating thoughts and tasted, on occasion, cloyingly maudlin. Nevertheless, I appreciated the relative lightheartedness of this rendition that held it distinct from the tragic tone of the original tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, and its refreshing perspective shift to that of a female protagonist. Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice not only rewrites but also seems to directly challenge the classic Greek myth; instead of being centered around the husband Orpheus’ (Kieran Westphal) epic journey to retrieve his wife Eurydice (Maggie Kuntz) from the depths of the Underworld, Ruhl centers the play around Eurydice’s personal experiences and the ultimate verdict she must make: returning to the living world with Orpheus or remaining in the Underworld with her father. In spotlighting her verdict, Ruhl allows Eurydice’s character the empowerment and dimensionality that the classic Greek myth denies her, whilst introducing themes beyond the frailties of human trust and spirit, such as the complexities and ephemeralities of memory, communication, language, and love.

Though the Rude Mechanicals‘ cast, direction, production, and design did an overall wonderfully impressive job in effectively conveying the refreshing eccentricities of Sarah Ruhl’s play, I couldn’t help but search for more within Ruhl’s dialogue and writing, which collaterally impaired the rhythm of the production. For some unperceived reason and for the entire duration of the production, I found myself either cringing at saccharine one-liners, snickering with the audience, or passively waiting for the closing of a scene. Though it’s plain to see that Ruhl intentionally chooses to structure Eurydice in a more painterly storytelling manner marked by freely associating motifs and ideas, I saw a disconnect between the intention of emotional release from the audience and certain syrupy moments in the production that occupied a disproportionate amount of stage time. It was during superfluously long scenes such as the Father unravelling the string ‘room’ he constructs for Eurydice that I felt the most passive in my viewing, and therefore disconnected from the emotions of defeat and hopelessness that the scene is meant to elicit.

Despite the slight awkwardness in timing and emotional translations, I enjoyed the red string motif present throughout the production. Intuitively, I interpret red string as a symbol of connection and of relationships impacted by fate – I thought that this motif translated especially well in the context of Ruhl’s Eurydice, in which the miscommunication and overall character differences between Eurydice and Orpheus are highlighted. This miscommunication and hesitance on Eurydice’s part is what ultimately causes Eurydice to call out and violate the rules Orpheus’ must follow in order to revive her. This scene appeared the most impassioned and dynamic to me; both Kuntz and Westphal beautifully portrayed the hesitancies and doubts both characters’ spirits were in turmoil with in the most artistic fashion. After expressively pushing and pulling with the string in a shifting, dance-like sequence, Eurydice eventually calls out to Orpheus, who turns back as the pent up tension from the mutual string-pulling comes to an abrupt climax and subsequently two simultaneous outbursts from each character. The cast’s various interactions with the red-string were notably artful and succeeded in showcasing the tension running through Eurydice and Orpheus’ strained marriage as well as the imperishable relationship between Eurydice and her Father.