Tag: Michigan theater

REVIEW: The Music of John Williams

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On Saturday, October 19, I attended the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra (A2SO) concert celebrating the music of John Williams. As expected, given the popularity of one of cinema’s greatest composers, the line at the Michigan Theatre was incredible—possibly the longest I’ve ever seen for an A2SO concert. The crowd was notably diverse, with attendees of all ages, and I even recognized friends who don’t typically attend orchestra performances.

Under the baton of guest conductor Damon Gupton, the program showcased some of John Williams’ most famous works. The first half, in program order, included “Superman March” from Superman, “The Shark Theme” from Jaws, the main themes from Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List, “Devil’s Dance” from The Witches of Eastwick, “Love Theme” from Superman, and the “Throne Room & End Title” from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.

I loved seeing some musicians—and even some instruments—in costume on stage. Paired with the quick beat and lively brass in “Superman March,” it set high expectations from the start that this would be a fun and exciting concert. Damon Gupton’s theatrical side shone through as he conducted the iconic, suspenseful opening measures of “The Shark Theme.” With each new phrase in the music, he would glance apprehensively behind him, as if watching out for danger lurking—an amusing touch that drew laughter and reflected his background as an actor. 

The order in which the repertoire was performed made me feel as though I were watching a movie, with each piece shifting the tone and taking me in a new direction. After Jaws, the uplifting main theme from Jurassic Park brought excitement, followed by the somber theme from Schindler’s List, which featured a sorrowful violin solo by the concertmaster. “Devil’s Dance” then introduced a thrilling energy that transitioned seamlessly into the sweet melody of “Love Theme,” before the first half concluded with the universally recognizable soundtrack from Star Wars.

The orchestra also performed the Olympic Fanfare and Theme, “Harry’s Wondrous World” from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, “Hymn to the Fallen” from Saving Private Ryan, “March” from 1941, “With Malice Toward None” from Lincoln, and finished the evening with “Adventures on Earth” from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. 

Since I haven’t seen the films Olympic Fanfare and Theme, “March,” and “With Malice Toward None” come from, I had never heard them before. This allowed me to fully absorb the emotions conveyed by the music, without the influence of imagery associated with the movies. The catchy rhythms and bright trumpets in Olympic Fanfare and Theme and “March” made it easy to visualize social festivities. Meanwhile, the strings in “With Malice Toward None” evoked a strong bittersweet feeling. 

On the other hand, I’ve already heard “Harry’s Wondrous World,” “Hymn to the Fallen,” and “Adventures on Earth” performed live by the Michigan Pops Orchestra (MPO), who also played the same versions of “The Shark Theme,” themes from Jurassic Park, and Star Wars from the first half of the concert. It was interesting to compare how the A2SO and MPO interpreted these musical scores. The MPO has a much larger string section, which allowed their strings to stand out more, while the winds shined more in the A2SO. Though each had a different dynamic, this experience only deepened my admiration for our school’s student orchestras, as I didn’t find them lacking in musical quality compared to a professional ensemble.

Overall, with its diverse selection of pieces, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra’s performance felt like watching a film without the visuals, beautifully celebrating the genius of John Williams.

Pictures are provided by A2SO

REVIEW: Glenn Miller Orchestra

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October 6 | 7:00pm | The Michigan Theater

 

 

Who says swing music is a thing of the past? Certainly not the hundreds of fans inside the Michigan Theater last Sunday, awaiting the legendary Glenn Miller Orchestra (GMO).

If you think you’ve never heard of them—think again. Hits like “In The Mood”, “Moonlight Serenade,” and “Pennsylvania 6-5000” have woven their way into American culture, appearing in films, TV shows, school band concerts, weddings—you name it. Iowa-born Glenn Miller formed the band in 1938* and quickly gained popularity as a jazz and dance band throughout the Northeastern United States. After Miller’s mysterious disappearance in 1944, the band continued to perform under various bandleaders, including Buddy DeFranco, and later Ray McKinley. 85 years later, the Glenn Miller Orchestra is still touring the country, delivering its timeless, heartwarming sound.

The band made the final stop of their fall tour here at The Michigan Theater, with a packed house of varying ages. The show was 2 hours with a 20-minute intermission—nicely paced with intermittent dialouge from Music Director Erik Stabnau and their vocal quartet “The Moonlight Serenaders”.

Stabnau led a busy evening as the lead tenor saxophone player and emcee, also performing a few vocal tunes as well as leading the vocal quartet.

Jenny Swoish performing with “The Moonlight Serenaders”.

“Unfortunately, there are no original members performing tonight…”, Eric joked. While this is true, each player remained a stand-out musician, sensitive to stylistic differences of the swing-era sound.

Joining the GMO was vocalist Jenny Swoish, a jazz singer by the way of Nashville, Tennessee. She performed well-known vocal standards including “I’m Beginning to See the Light” and “These Foolish Things” as well as an original song from her debut album entitled “Never Gone”. A glamorous and energetic performance, Ms. Swoish maintains the delightful charm of jazz vocalists.

While the Michigan Theater is gorgeous and historic, it does not always produce the best sound for live music. A few soloists were lost from the mics, and besides wishing there was a bit more resonance from the hall—there is not much else you can ask for from an establishment that is almost a century old.

This band has its schtick down. Their performance was complete with hat choreography (as seen above) and cheerful demeanor by each member—gimmicks that are well-received by audiences. Their focus is clearly on maintaining tradition, a commitment that has kept them touring into the 21st century. They’ve found success in many American audiences but as the changing music industry shifts away from older jazz styles, who knows if the future will leave this beloved band behind?

I hope to see the Glenn Miller Orchestra make it another 85 years. They serve as a joyful reminder of Glenn Miller’s lasting contribution to the tradition of big band music.

 

 

 

Photos thanks to Jaron Jenkins.

*A more cohesive history of the band is found here.

REVIEW: Tales from the Realm of Pops

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This semester’s Michigan Pops Orchestra concert, Tales from the Realm of Pops, has been my favorite concert of the past six I’ve attended. The theme this semester was fairytale and fantasy, and the repertoire was full of my personal favorites that are both famous in the classical world and familiar with most audiences: from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet to The Legend of Zelda to Sleeping Beauty, the orchestra certainly took us on a magic carpet ride.

The first piece to capture my heart was Tchaikovsky’s notoriously hard Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, performed by this year’s High School Concerto Competition winner Minji Kim, a Junior studying at Skyline High School. The past three High School Concerto Competition winners have all been violinists, but she’s left the biggest impression on me so far. The first movement of Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto, the Allegretto, features intense lyrical runs up and down the violin, which Minji nailed each time. What impressed me the most were her double stops. Double stops mean two notes are being played at the same; this requires the bow to be completely evenly balanced on the strings while the fingers are to be a precise distance apart. It’s very easy to be out of tune when playing double stops, especially while shifting, but Minji made it sound incredibly easy with her crystal-clear tone and perfect intonation. This was my first time listening to this concerto live, and it couldn’t have been any better.

Right after came one of the unarguably best orchestral works to ever exist: Scheherazade, Op. 35 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Pops played the third movement, The Young Prince and the Young Princess. Just like the title suggests, it’s an incredibly romantic movement that passes the melody between the strings and winds, as if they were lovers conversing. The lyrical line evokes so many feelings, such as yearning and passion before turning into playful flirting when the tempo picks up. I highly recommend listening to all of Scheherazade. It’s truly a piece that shows music can weave a colorful story and brings out the violin’s full potential during the many concertmaster solos, which Katie Zhao did an amazing job of.

I’m so glad I got to attend this concert despite being busy with finals and the coming end of the semester. It whisked me away from my stress and worries and was the best refuge I could get. I’m now all the more excited to come back to another Michigan Pops concert next year, and I wonder if they’ll be able to top this semester’s amazing collection.

REVIEW: Oppenheimer (35mm)

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Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer has received nothing but praise since its opening eight months ago. It boasted 13 wins at the Academy Awards and alongside Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, revitalized the cinema business with the “Barbenheimer” following last summer. The film is still making its round of appearances in theaters across America in its digital and 35mm film form. The Michigan Theater is hosting a unique opportunity to view the film in its intended 35mm film—I jumped at the opportunity to do so, as yes, I was also one of the “Barbenheimer” people back in July, and had to see it again.

35mm film is a type of film that has been used in photography and film for decades. It consists of a strip of celluloid with light-sensitive emulsion coated on one side, getting its name from actually being 35mm wide. This format became popular due to its versatility, offering high image quality and ease of handling in both still photography and motion pictures.

If you’ve somehow survived the relentless “Barbenheimer” memes of the summer and don’t know what Oppenheimer is about, I will save you some of the Wiki read now: The movie focuses on the life of (you’ll never guess) J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who led the Manhattan Project during World War II. It explores Oppenheimer’s complex personality, his role in developing the atomic bomb, and the moral dilemmas he faced with the consequences to humanity (accompanied by snippets from his journey to genius as well). Oppenheimer forces you to face the personal and historical consequences of scientific innovation and its impact on humanity itself.

The experience of watching Oppenheimer in 35mm was a little different than the digital medium usually used for movies. The movie became more beautiful from the subtleties the 35mm brought out. I noticed background action and unique set pieces were brought out from the clarity of the film. I also enjoyed the on-screen film crackle along with the deep saturated blues and bright yellows.

I adore biopics. They let you into a (highly dramatized) sliver of one significant person’s reality, often emphasizing their impact on humanity. In a way, it feels like you made a new friend, as you are allowed to watch a creative recap (…with one director’s perspective) of someone’s existence. Lives are so many things, and Oppenheimer presented the many corners of J. R. Oppenheimer’s life. The movie gives insight into some of his more personal struggles, surrounding his marriage with Kitty Puening and their two children and an affair with Communist USA Party member, Jean Tatlock. Although, Cillian Murphy (J. R. Oppenheimer) is careful about letting you in too close. He plays a closed and often mysterious man, who is difficult to read clearly. This made for an even deeper second part of the movie while Oppenheimer’s show trial with the US Atomic Energy Chairman, Lewis Strauss, was at it’s peak.

I enjoyed returning to the exquisite detail and existentialism this film so graciously offers. Christopher Nolan remains a master of weaving brilliantly complex stories into one fully fleshed-out portrait, and I find there is always something new and haunting to find inside his films.

 

Oppenheimer in 35mm film is at the Michigan Theater until April 2nd.

 

Rated R, 180 minutes.

Photo thanks to Physics World.

REVIEW: Poor Things

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Welcome to the fantastical world of Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things. The 2023 film is based on the 1992 book by Scotsman Alasdair Gray, a riff of the well-known Frankenstein  with some rather venereal counterplots. With an abundance of Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG, and Academy nominations, Poor Things has thoroughly charmed modern cinemas.

Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is the culmination of a creepy science experiment by a uniquely kind mad scientist, Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), giving a woman driven to suicide a second chance—with the brain of her unborn infant. Bella matures quickly, first discovering her balance, gravity, and empathy, and eventually philosophy, sex, and personal fulfillment. Her developmental journey is natural, but odd perceived from a fully developed women’s body. Godwin maintains a careful grip over Bella’s freedom, supervising her alongside his collegiate assistant, Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef).

Bella ultimately winds up following the conniving lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) across Europe on an expensive bender, fueling Wedderburn’s desire for passive companionship and Baxter’s ache for adventure. The two create quite the disruptive pair, while Bella meets a selection of romantic partners and friends, and sees true inequality for the first time.

The narrative consistently intrigues with its quasi-realism, engrossing the reader completely in a sci-fi-coated London. Each character is extremely animated, like that of a children’s book. Stone effortlessly captivates Bella’s inner yearning for adventure and search for truth. She is curious and unafraid—a portrait of young women without society’s ruminating judgment. Bella has a fearless curiosity and confronts the world as such. It left me in a state of reflection watching a young woman discover life with (mostly) her own free will without the knowledge or care of society’s judgment placed upon her.

(Ramy Youssef (left) and Willem Dafoe)

The design presents a nod to the Victorian elements of Frankenstein while exploring fantastical sci-fi embellishments that separate our reality from that of Poor Things.  It brought home Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, Best Design, and Best Make-Up and Hair, (as well as Stone for Best Actress)—an unsurprising selection of accolades, in my opinion. The Academy clearly agrees that Frankenstein never went out of style.

 

141 minutes. Rated R for nudity, lots of sex, and disembowelment. In theaters now.

Image thanks to The New York Times and Fast Company.

REVIEW: Return to Seoul

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Return to Seoul is a film that is resonant in its essential question of “how does one consolidate the roots of one’s own identity when they are foreign to oneself?” The movie follows the 25 y/o Freddie as she navigates the country of her birth and its foreign cultures and people. Originally traveling to Korea on a whim with her friend Tena, she decides to pay a visit to the Hammond Adoption Agency that facilitated her adoption. The creation of these international adoption agencies began from the large amount of Korean orphans resulting from the aftermath of the Korean War in the 1950’s. From this, she is contacted by her birth father, who has been separated from Freddy’s birth mother, and she makes the decision to go see him with Tena. However, her trip there is mixed with reluctance, the ambivalence is painted on her face to the point that you can feel her stomach churning. Her worries are justified when she comes up feeling even more disconnected to the family that revels in her return. While her father wants Freddie to stay in Korea, she cannot as she is a French woman with a home, friends, and family back in France. He cannot accept this, however, leaving her discomfort to culminate in an encounter where he follows her to a bar, and she rejects his drunken fatherly embrace, screaming “Don’t touch me!”

Freddie markedly does not fit in with the culture in Korea, and her experiences in her first trip to Korea certainly show this aspect of her the most. She is explicit in her defiance of cultural norms and etiquette, making sure that others know that she is a French woman, not Korean. To this effect, Tena’s translations fail to express the harshness of her words, and the language barrier between her and the Koreans in the movie further complicate her disconnect from the culture. Additionally, Freddie is simply an interesting character, for she swaps between lifestyles, partners, and friends throughout the entirety of the three-part movie. She is brazen, indulging herself in music, soju, and hookups.

One final thing I was intrigued about was the use of extended scenes of music with the stages of Freddie’s life in mind. In any capacity, the music plays an integral role in representing the different phases of her life through all of the different time-skips. It helps to describe how her freedom and independence manifests throughout different genres, characterizing Freddie through her different stages of life: as a young woman moving through adulthood. It’s an intensely resonant narrative device that creates beautiful juxtaposition with her coming of age.

The film screening of Return to Seoul was shown as a part of the Korean Cinema NOW: Diaspora Edition event. These movie showings are presented by the NAM Center on Saturdays in the Michigan Theatre throughout the Winter 2024 semester. If you’re interested in Korean cinema—especially as they relate to the Korean diaspora or diasporic identities in general—then there are still many more films being put on, and they all have free admission with catering from Miss Kim herself (I have to say that the food is really nummy! (˵ •̀ ᴗ – ˵ ) ✧). So, don’t hesitate to indulge in a fun Saturday outing these movie are worth it!

Runtime: 1 hr 59 min 

Rated R

Screenshot of the movie taken from the npr Article: “‘Return to Seoul’ is About Reinvention, not Resolution”