Tag: performance

REVIEW: Orpheus in the Underworld

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Unlike what the title suggests, Orpheus in the Underworld (Orphée aux enfers) didn’t focus much on Orpheus being in the Underworld nor did it remain true to the romantic and sorrowful story told in Greek myths. Instead, what SMTD brought to life was a goofy comedy contrasted with powerful French opera, and they described it as “a cheeky twist” on the famous love story between Orpheus and his wife, Eurydice.

In mythology, Orpheus and Eurydice were deeply in love, so when Eurydice met her untimely death, he played the lyre (an instrument similar to the harp) and used his musical genius to charm his way into the Underworld and bring her back to the world of the living. 

In this version, the two shared a terrible marriage and were both cheating on each other. They portrayed Orpheus as a lackluster violinist, which was one of the many things that drove his wife crazy. Eurydice constantly asked for a divorce, but Orpheus always refused with sweet words. He had a different plan in mind to get rid of her. When Eurydice died, he jumped with joy; however, his happiness was short-lived when soon after he was threatened by Public Opinion to save his wife and thus dragged to the Underworld. 

Operas place a greater importance on music than storytelling, so although the dialogue was in English, the majority of the show was in French. Orpheus in the Underworld was performed at The Power Center for the Performing Arts, and they provided screens with English subtitles for the audience to follow along. Some technical difficulties threw off the timing of the words, but I wasn’t that disappointed since the students’ acting and singing were so captivating it felt like a waste to take my eyes off them.

The story took place in the late 1950s, so all of the backdrops, from the farm to Olympus and the Underworld, were all unique. I also loved the wardrobe, especially the outfits of the gods. They were totally different from the traditional white robes I normally associate with Greek mythology. My favorite costume was when Jupiter, also known as Zeus, transformed into what was supposed to be a seductive fly.

Overall, I had fun! It was my first time watching an opera, and it combined humor with musical prowess. I’ve really enjoyed each of SMTD’s productions and look forward to watching more.

REVIEW: Menopause the Musical

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Menopause the Musical is about four women who are, unsurprisingly, in menopause. They each have distinct backgrounds, such as being a housewife, a failing celebrity, a businesswoman, and a hippy. They meet at a mall while shopping and fighting over the lingerie on sale. Despite their differences, they soon after quickly bond over the changes taking place in their bodies, proving that all women can relate to one another during this difficult time in their lives.

Each of the actors perfectly embodied their characters’ personalities from the way they walked to their accents. There wasn’t a strong emphasis on dancing; instead, they focused on singing an interesting selection of music with a wide variety of genres ranging from In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle to Y.M.C.A.

It was funny being one of the few, if not only, college students in a crowd of elderly white women. Obviously, Gen Z isn’t the target audience so I didn’t understand the references regarding menopause (e.g., memory loss and hot flashes), and didn’t resonate with the humor. However, the crowd certainly loved it and it felt like there was never a pause of laughter. In fact, I heard people talking about having watched different renditions of this same musical.

The venue was the Michigan Theater, in which I’ve only watched movies or orchestral performances. The stage was beautiful and the crew did an excellent job of making it look like a high-end shopping center. Unfortunately, the audio of the microphones wasn’t very loud or clear. The backtracks of the songs were often louder than the singers and that did take away from the experience.

To be honest, I wouldn’t watch this musical again and don’t recommend it. Although it was impressive and interesting to watch, the ticket was very expensive and wasn’t worth the cost. Still, if you’re intrigued you can give it a shot!

REVIEW: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

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SMTD’s performance of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was so good: it was immersive, hilarious, and well put together. It sounds like it’d be a wholesome musical since the main characters are children but to my surprise, it wasn’t child-friendly at all. The script made use of sexual innuendos, exaggerated stereotypes, and religious satire to crack jokes. The audience, me included, ate it up. As described on the SMTD website, it truly is a musical that “charms audiences with effortless wit and humor, making the Bee one unforgettable experience”.

One part of the experience I loved was how they included the viewers in the spelling bee and gave each of them fun and quirky personas, such as “being raised by wolves” and having “denim as their favorite color”. The actors looked so natural when interacting with the audience members that it took me a bit to realize it wasn’t staged. If the participants spelled their given word wrong, they were escorted off the stage with a juice box and were serenaded with the song Goodbye that poked fun at their failure in the bee. The funniest part was when to proceed with the plot, it became time to kick the surviving participants off the stage by challenging them with ridiculous words. Despite their efforts though, one of them actually managed to spell something incomprehensible from a Scottish dialect, shocking everyone. The actors did a great job of improvising by calling her back to the microphone and giving her another word, which this time she failed to spell. As a reward for being the last one standing though, she got her own special rendition of Goodbye sung to her. 

The characters that stood out to me the most were William Barfée, a snotty (quite literally) nerd, Logainne Schwartzy, a girl with a heart of gold, and Leaf Coneybear, who for some reason always had to spell the names of South American rodents. However, my favorite character was actually Vice Principal Douglas Panch. The actor did such a good job of portraying the classic slightly odd and suspicious adult figures I remember from my own elementary school days. Although these characters left the biggest impression on me, I genuinely loved everybody because they all had so much personality to them.

An inconvenience though is that it took place at The Encore Musical Theatre Company, a performance venue in Dexter that’s an eighteen-minute drive from central campus. Once I got there though, I realized how big of a role the stage set-up and background played in really bringing this musical to life. Most importantly when performing Pandemonium, a song and dance that really showcased the crazy and wild side of children. They were running around, jumping on tables, spinning seats, and even hanging from the basketball hoop. 

This was truly a musical I’m so lucky to have seen, and I highly recommend others to see it if given the opportunity!

REVIEW: The 7th Annual Multicultural Yardshow

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At 8:06 PM on Friday, October 27th, the Imperial Zeta Chapter of the Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Inc. hosted their 7th Annual Multicultural Yardshow in the Diag featuring eight multicultural Greek organizations:

Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc.

Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc.

Delta Tau Lambda Sorority, Inc.

Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Kappa Phi Lambda Sorority, Inc.

Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority, Inc.

Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority, Inc.

Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Inc.

I was super excited to see this year’s performance because I attended last year’s Yardshow as well. Similar to the 6th Annual Multicultural Yardshow, the crowd was enthusiastically supportive of each group and that’s what truly separates the Yardshow from other showcases. Because this event places a strong emphasis on expressing and having pride in one’s background and culture, there was a diverse selection of music. I was unfamiliar with most of the songs but that didn’t take away any of the enjoyment; I appreciated getting to explore new genres of music and sharing the experience with others. What brought the various communities together and incited the most cheers was when the groups incorporated elements of a stroll into their choreographies. 

Strolling is a dance form that was created by the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), also known as the Divine 9 (the nine historically Black fraternities and sororities who are a part of the NPHC). The Multicultural Greek organizations also practice strolls as a way to pay homage to the NPHC who paved the way for ethnic minorities to start their own Greek organizations. Movements in a stroll are meant to represent the Greek letters in their fraternity or sorority’s name; for example, sharp diagonal arms may represent the Greek letter kappa. It’s often hard to pick up on what dance moves count as part of a stroll as well as what Greek letter they signify, but one way to tell is if the audience suddenly goes wild. A key part of a stroll that’s easy to identify is when the performers start to dance synchronously in a line and circle the stage. This part is heavily influenced by African-American culture and African roots to show power and unity against racism. 

Some of the organizations practice salutes instead of strolls. Similarly, salutes are performed in a line but instead of dancing, they chant together. It’s a powerful form to watch since they synchronize their speech in a fierce yet poetic manner, expressing the history and passion they have for their sisters or brothers through not only words but strong movements. Being in sync is extremely important since the members are very close to each other, making it much more obvious to tell if someone is out of rhythm. Each group nailed it and I was super impressed by how much hard work they must have put in to accomplish that.  

Overall it was a great event featuring groups, music, and forms of art I couldn’t see anywhere else. 

REVIEW: Jay Peng Zhang and Terry Tsang

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As part of the U-M Fall 2023 Festival of Asian Music, Terry Tsang and Jay Peng Zhang came to the Keene Theater in East Quad on Tuesday, October 24.

Terry Tsang is a choreographer primarily working in Hong Kong. I was expecting him to perform, but instead, he gave a presentation because his work centers around exploring the human body through nudity and human desires, a concept that was inspired by simply walking down the street. Tsang wanted to know if we could truly understand someone through their body alone and if the body speaks the truth, as verbal communication leaves room for dishonesty. He showed us a couple of videos of his choreographies that expressed his interpretation of what love means, incorporating the gestures of making love that gradually transformed into an animalistic representation of sex since animals are designed to survive through reproduction. The dancers were completely nude but wore strange and purposefully unsettling masks that completely hid their faces; in fact, during the Q&A session at the end, an audience member described the dancing as creepy.

Jay Peng Zhang on the other hand did give a live performance and sang the folk songs of various ethnic groups in China, such as the Tujia ethnic group from the Western Hunan Province. His singing was accompanied by only one person, who played a drum set muted by cloth and other percussive items, like large pots; but rather than an accompaniment, the percussion sounded like a response to his singing and movements because of its continuous resonance instead of emphasized beats. Zhang sang with a powerful voice, and his breath control and crescendoes were incredible; however, he moved his fingers very daintily, creating a beautiful and interesting contrast.

Zhang explained how he didn’t want to give the audience a flashy performance but rather a meaningful and interactive experience to renew and rebuild old rituals, as over time they’ve lost their meaning “like artifacts in a museum,” performed only as a tourist attraction. To him, folk songs and their intended rituals don’t signify religion, but instead are a way to release stress and help keep our hearts peaceful and balanced.

The most memorable song Zhang sang was one traditionally sung by women left behind at home by their lovers who left to earn money. The girls would sing the song to a river because they believed the water would carry their emotions to another place, and when their lover saw the water, he could feel her love. Zhang asked the audience to accompany his singing by collectively becoming “a group of water” by enunciating syllables that represented flowing waves. The amazing part is how the audience naturally added dynamics to the space created through Zhang’s gentle dance.

REVIEW: Guys and Dolls

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*Performances of Guys and Dolls took place in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre from October 5-8 and 12-15*

On the many websites promoting SMTD’s performance of Guys and Dolls, it was called a “true crowd pleaser,” and it truly was! Guys and Dolls is a brilliant romantic comedy built around lies and deceit with themes of religion and gambling. I found myself smiling the entire two hours of the show. Because I’m so accustomed to classical music where the audience only claps at the end, I was surprised when the crowd cheered after each song. That added to the excitement and joy in the theatre, and before I knew it time flew by.

The acting, singing, and dancing were the highlight of the show. Performers in this production were all students in the Department of Musical Theatre, but they embodied their characters so well I couldn’t see them as anybody but their character even as they were taking their bows. I loved how they never left their roles when the curtains dropped, the lights turned off, and they exited the stage. They captured the regional slang and accents perfectly while singing too! I had trouble understanding at times, but that just indicates the cast’s mastery in embodying New Yorkers in the 1950s.

The main characters were gambler Nathan Detroit, played by Chad Marge (Senior, BFA Musical Theatre); Nathan’s girlfriend and night club performer Adelaide, played by Catie Leonard (Junior, BFA Musical Theatre); gambler Sky Masterson, played by Diego Rodriguez (Senior, BFA Musical Theatre); and the straight-laced missionary Sarah Brown, played by Alex Humphreys (Senior, BFA in Musical Theatre).

The musical opened with the orchestra, and afterward, beautiful props such as neon store signs representative of Times Square were brought onto the stage. Following soon after was a charming dance hinting at the motif of flirtatious and sleazy love. The work of choreographer Mara Newbery Greer was just fantastic overall. The dances showed off the talent of the cast by incorporating full usage of the body through leaps and acrobatics as well as adding personality befitting of the song and scene. My favorite choreography was Luck Be a Lady featuring Sky & Crapshooters, which emphasized Sky’s charm. Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat by Nicely-Nicely & Company was super fun too, and definitely one of the comedic highlights.

My absolute favorite song was My Time of Day/I’ve Never Been in Love Before, a duet between Sky and Sarah that concluded Act I. Their voices had such gorgeous contrasts when harmonizing and responding to one another. Everyone’s singing was so stable and clear as if they were in a studio and not dancing, jumping, and running around.

I was surprised that the musical was being performed at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre since it’s small compared to other venues, but they made great use of space by incorporating the actual theatre exit and aisles into their play. Props to the Creative Team, Production Crew, Running Crew, and Orchestra for making it possible to have such a smooth showing of Guys and Dolls. I can see why it won so many awards and is so popular, and the experience made me determined to watch more musicals!