Tag: SMTD

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: I and You

musicalsoup Leave a comment

Saturday, October 5th | 7:00pm | Newman Studio

 

 

How rich is your inner life? Laura Gunderson explores the inner psyche of two teenage classmates in her 2013 play, I and You. Basement Arts brings us a story full of action with just two characters: the homebound Caroline (Sofia Santos-Ufkes) and the cool-kid-type Anthony (Lyd Herrera). Caroline struggles with an unspecified terminal illness, spending all of her time on the internet, and Anthony is a seemingly straight-ahead student, a popular basketball player, and jazz enthusiast. He’s charming and mundane, she’s erratic and whimsical—makes for somewhat of a familiar teenage love story. Anthony’s unexpected entrance changes Caroline’s world forever.

Anthony’s entrance is sudden—he bursts in, insisting that he and Caroline finish their school project on the significance of pronouns in the poems of Walt Whitman. They had not been friends before, as Anthony took it upon himself to pair with Caroline, the mysterious pretty-girl who left school.  The characters are originally played by a cisgender couple, but director Katy Dawson took a new approach to the script featuring a queer relationship.

 

 

The show naturally revels in its own character study spending nearly two hours in just one location—Caroline’s bedroom—with the same two actors. The dialouge becomes a callous game of tennis, one that Herrera and Santos-Ufkes mostly played well. Some of Gunderson’s writing can feel confined to a “high-school” movie stereotype, but Ms. Dawson’s direction navigated it with clever staging and re-interpretations of lines that may have previously sounded cliche. The show moves steadily through impassioned discussions and small quarrels until Gunderson decides to drop a massive twist no less than ten minutes to the end. Ms. Dawson gets you comfortable in the world of Caroline and Anthony until you’re forced to question the entire universe that just enveloped you for two hours.

For a show with two actors in one location, Ms. Dawson’s staging was far from dull. It seems she experimented with every possible stage shape in Caroline’s room. Her conceptualization of the piece as a whole was clear and beautiful, and it would be remiss not to point out the pristine cohesion of the set, marketing, and world-building—how satisfying.

 

Sofia Santos-Ufkes (left) and Lyd Herrera as Caroline and Anthony.

Anthony’s character, while intriguing for defying typical casting norms, left me with questions. Caroline’s energy seemed erratic to that of Anthony—was his lack of energy intended to reflect his “cool-kid” mentality? I often wished for more vibrancy from Hererra to keep up with the playful spark of Santos-Ufkes. Anthony’s composure was comforting, yet his objective was sometimes unclear, which made me wonder if this was reliant on the show’s shocking finish to justify.

Ceri Roberts curated an utterly stunning set for this production in the Newman Studio (Walgreen Drama Center). Draping white cloths hung from the ceiling as well as textured cut-outs of stars and moons, with thoughtfully curated motifs of love and illness sprinkled throughout Caroline’s eclectic bedroom. It was a gift that kept on giving throughout the show.

This script is sprinkled with the intrusive emotions of youth—fear, awkwardness, and peer pressure that make for a relatable and sentimental story. This piece is wildly appropriate for collegiate and youth theater with Gunderson’s beautifully written roles for young actors who are dismissed in modern works, more often than not.

In many ways, the show is parallel to its motif of poetry—intimate, aesthetic, and poignant. The vibrant light of youth shines bright in this show, in ways both expected and unexpected.

 

 

 

 

“I and You” runs October 4th & 5th in the Newman Studio. (Note: When referring to the characters, I use the pronouns from the original text.)

Photos thanks to Basement Arts and Ellie Vice.

REVIEW: Color Cabaret

musicalsoup Leave a comment

Biennially, the students of the SMTD Department of Musical Theater put together a cabaret to uplift the diversity within their department. Color Cabaret features BIPOC performers from all four years of the department performing many Broadway Classics and music from the Musical Theater canon. The group hosted two shows on February 22nd at 7p and 11p; around 60 minutes and II Acts. The Towsley Studio in the Walgreen Drama Center was packed to the brim with some of the most eager family members, students, and colleagues I have seen at a student production.

 

The directors of this performance were Oluchi Nwaokorie and Haoyi Wen, along with music director Caleb Middleton and choreographers Abigail Aziz, Keyon Pickett, and Logan Saad. The show consisted of a collection of Musical Theater numbers, fully choreographed dances, lighting, and orchestrated with a five-piece band. The performers hosted infectious energy that bled through the room—vibrant dance numbers, satisfying harmonies, and one-of-a-kind arrangements.

 

Many of their numbers used Broadway tunes with rewritten lyrics by the performers describing the experience of People of Color and the stereotypes placed upon them. Arrangements, lyrics, and poems were re-written by many of the members of the Cabaret, including Alyssa Sunew, Ryo Kamibayashi, Brendan Johnson, Drew Perez Harris, Aaron Syi, Angeleia Ordoñez, Anna Zavelson, Aidan Jones. (Along with two additional arrangments by Stephanie Reuning-Scherer and Catherine Walker/Henry Crater).

Every single aspect of this performance was led and created by Students of Color. Directing, marketing, arrangements, lyric re-writes, choreography, lights, band and music direction (etc.). Each number was truly unique—from Part of You World performed in different languages, to a witty Book of Mormon rewrite and medleys from Once On This Island, Falsettos, High School Musical & Rogers & Hammerstein’s music, I was on the edge of my seat after each performance. This group truly created a beautiful piece of theater on a rather bleak February night.

Color Cabaret is an enormously special part of SMTD and a thrilling way to amplify BIPOC voices in the Musical Theater Department. Be sure to catch Color Cabaret in 2026 (if you’re still here!). Next, The Department of Musical Theater will perform A Little Night Music  April 18-21, 2024. Tickets are available here.

REVIEW: The Pigeon Keeper (Sitzprobe)

musicalsoup Leave a comment

In the world of opera, new compositions are blossoming in opera houses throughout the country. SMTD’s own Voice & Opera Department is currently working alongside the Santa Fe Opera (SFO) to workshop a new chamber opera entitled The Pigeon Keeper. Commissioned by the SFO, the score was composed by David Hanlon with Stephanie Fleischmann’s touching libretto. This piece is still in progress here at SMTD and will have select open performances before its final showing with the SFO in March. This open sitzprobe rehearsal was presented at the McIntosh Theater (Moore Building) last Thursday to a small audience of students and faculty.

The opera showcases six main characters: Orisa, Thalasso (her father), The Schoolteacher, The Widow Grocer, Kosmo, and The Pigeon Keeper. Additionally, a women’s chorus (SSA), serving as crooning pigeons and schoolchildren, accompanies them. The Contemporary Directions Ensemble, under the direction of Jayce Ogren, collaborates with this cast comprised of auditioned singers and chorus members from The University.

The opera takes place on “an archetypal Mediterranean island”, following a young optimistic girl named Orsia and her father. They go on a fishing trip together on the anniversary of Orsia’s mother’s death and find a refugee boy in the water. The two take the boy in, but Orsia’s father proclaims he must stay somewhere else, or he will be sent to “the other side of the island”. With great worry, Orsia searches the island to find him somewhere to live, only to be confronted with shut doors and unwilling neighbors.

“Sitzprobe” comes from the German word for “seated rehearsal” an unstaged rehearsal where the orchestra and vocal parts will first come together. There are no costumes or set pieces, and the focus is entirely on the music In the moment. But the music truly lent itself to creating its own atmosphere. I rather preferred the lack of distraction from any technical aspects, leaving me to fixate on the captivating text. Fleischmann’s lyricism is quite prolific: she depicts such reality through an art form that is praised for being boisterous and grand. Likewise, Hanlon’s music is gracefully whimsical, while rooted in truth about the pressing immigration crisis in the United States and abroad.

The SFO website describes the piece as “[an exploration of] how we respond to those in need in a time of hardship and scarcity; and celebrates the kindness of strangers, the power of human connection, and the unexpected places we find family.”

The final performance will be conducted by Kelley Kuo, alongside soloists Laura Soto-Bayomi, soprano; Bernard Holland, tenor; and Aubrey Allicock, bass-baritone. It will be a free fully-staged performance on March 10th at 4 pm in the Stamps Auditorium at the Walgreen Drama Center. The opera will have its professional debut at the Santa Fe Opera later this year.

 

March 10, 4:30pm. More on the Santa Fe Opera here.

REVIEW: The Grown-Ups

musicalsoup 1 Comment

Directing student Leah Block (BFA 24′) presents her senior thesis: The Grown Ups  by Simon Henriques and Skylar Fox. This effortlessly quirky piece revolves around a group of young counselors from a summer camp who are earnestly cultivating the next generation of camp-goers. The counselors all love camp! And all their camp traditions! Except for the racist ones…like the previous Indigenous name of their predominantly white cohort or the exclusionary structure of camp games (lending preference to older kids and men). But besides that, it’s all fine…..right?

New counselor Cassie joins for her first summer at the newly renamed “Indigo Woods” and meets the easygoing Lukas, high-strung (but well-intentioned) Becca, overly excited Maeve, and the odd and hardworking Aidan. The group indoctrinates Cassie, welcoming her and really  wanting her to have a good experience at camp. Each evening the group comes together at the campfire, recalling scary stories of their previous camp years, debating the best tactics to support the campers all while a national online argument is breaking out, shifting the political sphere of the world. Summer camp can feel isolating for some, (especially as their world is crumbling underneath them) and these young adults are now the “Grown Ups” in the face of crisis.

This cast was thoroughly cohesive and enormously charming. Each character was undeniably unique yet eerily resembling someone you’ve met before (probably from summer camp). Becca (Sarah Hartmus) and Aidan (Hugh Finnigan) were house favorites, with electric chemistry and sidesplitting comedic moments. I enjoyed both their attention to comedic timing and thoughtful physical acting. While I was drawn to Becca and Aidan’s characters specifically, I felt deeply connected to each counselor as an audience member. The way Henriques & Fox crafted their intimate dialogues made it feel as though I instantly knew each of these characters. The seamless flow of the actors’ choices among one another further enhanced the sense of familiarity. This ensemble was tight, with a deep-cutting emotional payoff in the end.

When I walked in, I was apprehensive of an in-the-round setting—a notoriously difficult set-up to direct for. But Ms. Block had perfected it and some. Her direction was personable and genuine, I felt like I was involved in all of the camp discourse, and ultimately a part of the demise. The in-the-round choice was brilliant for the storytelling aspects of this show, leaving another theater full of young adults to look inward at our place in a world facing escalating disasters.  Her vision was clear and cohesive, as so many poignant themes made their way out of the writing onto the stage, cultivating a really powerful performance.

Camp Counselor Leah taught us many things throughout our time at Indigo Woods: “Just because it’s the way we have always done it does not mean that it is the best way”, “comfort is the death of progress”, and “We can’t let resentment of not getting the world we want to stop us from leaving it better than we found it (Directors Note)”. She brought us all inside an idyllic summer camp and from there we were abruptly shot back into reality—perhaps that was the point of camp all along.

 

[Photo above depicts Sam Smiley as Lukas.] Photo thanks to SMTD’s Theater & Drama Dept.

REVIEW: Arbor Falls

musicalsoup Leave a comment

Kicking off the 2024 season for the SMTD Theater & Drama department is Caridad Svich’s Arbor Falls. It is a more recent piece, premiering in 2022 at Illinois State University. Directed by Tiffany Trent, this reflective and quiet play invites the audience to reflect on themes of community, fear, and change. According to newplayexhange.org, this is the fourth time the play has been fully produced onstage.

Arbor Falls is one part of Svich’s seven-play cycle entitled American Psalm. The plot revolves around the members of the dwindling members of a church within a small unnamed town. The preacher of the church allows a passing traveler to stay in their church, and the town unforgivingly reacts with gossip and rejection. The traveler exposes the spiritual and moral values that lie within their society’s foundation, as a juxtaposition to their seemingly neutral spirituality. The town members pressure the preacher to send the traveler away, as the traveler does not immediately fit into the community. Each character is unnamed and un-gendered, named “Preacher”, “Traveler” or “Churchgoer”, so the presentation of characters in this show is quite flexible. The freedom of dialogue and character presentation within the script was apparent, and I can appreciate how each production of Arbor Falls would have its own nuances based on the performers and community.

Set of Arbor Falls, Lydia Mendelssohn Theater

The set of the play didn’t entirely establish the environment of the town of Arbor Falls. I understood the simplicity of the townspeople’s viewpoints, their closeness to each other, and the dedication and importance of faith in their community, but I didn’t know exactly where we were (physically, or in time) from the assorted colors and textures. One enchanting aspect of the set was the courteous lighting shining through the top window. It functioned, to me, as the ounce of faith and hope left in the town. Which, is dwindling dimmer and dimmer, until a grand event near the end swoops the piece away.

The dramaturg team describes the play as “..an exploration of love, life, and the mess of all things human.” In my own reflection, this is an accurate description of the overall play, with the humble and morally conflicted Preacher, as well as the judgemental and pious Churchgoers. But moments after the curtain call, I found myself parsing through my memory of what actually had happened the last two hours. Svich’s poeticisms often fell short in terms of plot—their stillness and reflection were often lost to the audience. The story depicts itself at a lull through Act I, until an abrupt scene near the end, where the Traveler turns into a ghost(?) or eagle (?) flying away, absorbing the top of the window fixture. This abrupt moment made me question everything that happened before. This moment felt abstract for the groundedness that was created in the hour and a half before. The scene is still simmering in my mind—possibly the only moment that stuck.

Although, Svich’s blatant messaging regarding how communities treat outsiders was clear. She often explores stories of wanderers and the disenfranchised in her plays, connecting to her roots as a child of an immigrant. This relevant messaging shined through the rather monotonous performance.

The Department of Theater & Drama will present Anton Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard in the Arthur Miller Theater later this spring. Shows will run April 4-14. Tickets are available here.

 

 

Photo thanks to University of Michigan SMTD.