WHO IS LUTHER BURBANK?– a new piece in eighteen parts. Three students from a variety of arts related disciplines have teamed up to create an original work of experimental theater. Willie Filkowski, an Interarts Performance major, Corey Smith, a composition major, and Nola Smith, a dancer major, have designed an extracurricular, innovative performance involving a variety of curious media: “dancing, text, video, original music, potatoes, prizes, costume changes, a LOT of dirt.” Inspired by a 1914 found text, Our Wonder World Vol. X: The Quiz Book, the collaborative event will entertain and puzzle, but ultimately answer the questions “Who is Luther Burbank?”
Presented with support from Basement Arts and Arts at Michigan, “WILB?” will run Thursday April 18-Saturday April 20. Performances are FREE and begin at 7 pm each night, with an additional late show at 11 pm on Friday the 19th. The show will be held in the Walgreen Drama Center on North Campus. See you there!
Last night I attended Bare, a musically-charged and sexuality-questioning explosion propelled from the stage and onto the laps of the audience. Certain songs were heavy with harsh beats and foot stomping rhythms, while others captured your heart, a cello pleading softly from the pit. If I could only choose one thing that I liked most about this musical, however, it would definitely be the lyrics. They were so heart felt and poetic; I found myself thinking over each refrain, even after the song was long ended.
Basement Arts put on the performance, so we were sure to get there early to form a line outside the doors. It was in Studio 1 at the Walgreen Drama Center and if you’ve ever been in there you know how small and intimate a theater it is (which was absolutely stellar for this performance). Tickets are free, so everyone just waits in line hoping they’ll be room for them inside. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have to turn away many, if any, people last night, so that’s good.
The Spectrum Center sponsored the event, so I had a hunch on what to expect in the plot. And if that didn’t clue you in to the sexuality themes of the musical, the cover of the playbills would reinforce the message. One key idea in the musical was how to know what is right or normal when those people and institutions in your life, like your parents, school, church, tell you it’s wrong. It was a very moving performance, and the story itself led to many open discussions on issues such as drugs, sex, alcohol, love, the church…etc. These heavy and controversial subjects were handled with respect and consideration, which was good because of the wide range of audience members present. I thought it was beautifully done.
Furthermore, the actors were fantastic and the singing was pretty good; however, probably not one of the best vocals I’ve heard out of a student theater organization. The students didn’t have microphones, so I did appreciate that they had to compete with a drum set, cello, keyboard, and bass guitar to be heard. I thought the two leads, Sam Lips and Michael Hartung, along with the mother of the main character were extremely talented. They stood out the most to me, in terms of talent.
What’s interesting about this musical is it has never been on Broadway, only off. It has performed in numerous tour productions all over the country, but never has it been accepted to perform on Broadway. After seeing the show, and discussing it with a few friends, I think I understand why it has never been able to perform on the same stages as Les Miserables or Wicked or The Phantom of the Opera. It’s good, but the plot is somewhat one dimensional and cliché, in my opinion. The ending, which I’ll refrain from giving away, is somewhat of a cop-out. Not to sound insensitive to the issue it presents, but it does leave the audience a bit dissatisfied (and not like a comfortable open-ending either, but just like…wait, you are really going to ignore the other characters right now??). For me, the story was really focused on Peter, a student at a Catholic school in love with his best friend Jason. I felt the ending shifted away from the struggles of Peter and onto Jason. If I were to rewrite the plot, I would change a few scenes to develop Jason’s character further, especially considering he’s the character we are thinking most about at the end of the show.
Bottom line, it really was a great show, and I’m glad I attended. Supporting Basement Arts and the Spectrum Center AND World AIDS week is always excellent – especially all at the same time!
P.S. If you were wondering who was the creeper running around the Walgreen Drama Center taking pictures with all the Little Women posters…that’d be me. Preview and review coming soon!!!
Sponsored by World AIDS Week, Basement Arts presents “BARE: A Pop Opera.” I’ve heard so many great things about this show, and I’m so excited to finally get a chance to see it. And it’s FREE! Basements Arts with support from The Spectrum Center is putting on this sure-to-be-stellar musical at the Walgreen Drama Center on North Campus, Studio One. UM Events website says, “A group of high school seniors at a Catholic boarding school faces issues of sexuality and personal identity…they struggle to come to terms with who they are, and who the world thinks they should be…” (UM events). It is sure to be a fantastic event; especially since the other event I went to sponsored by the Spectrum Center was absolutely amazing. I don’t think we will be disappointed.
The performances of “BARE” run December 1st 7pm-9pm, Dec. 2nd 7pm-9pm and 11pm, and Dec. 3rd 7pm-9pm. Attending is free and more information regarding World AIDS week can be found at their website: worldaidsweekum.wordpress.com
You can never get enough of Shakespeare. I caught a part of a soap the other day at the airport and suddenly it struck me as to how many of the twists were taken straight out of a Shakespearen play. We owe so much to the Bard of Avon- for his immense contributions to the English language, his insight into human nature, his amusing and wise quotes and so much more!
This week, University of Michigan’s Musical Theater Department, presents “All’s well that ends well“. Much as I adore Shakespeare, the play “All’s well that ends well” leaves me a bit unhappy as there are parts of it that I just don’t get.
“All’s well that ends well” is about a lowborn beauty Helena who falls in love with a foppish count, Bertram. Due to a set of circumstances, Bertram ends up marrying Helena but he “hates” her. Bertram lays down certain conditions that need to be fulfilled for Helena to become his true wife and goes out to the battlefield. The rest of the play is about how Helena tricks Bertram into accepting her after fulfilling all his ridiculous conditions.
Well, what I can’t get about this play is why a smart woman would go behind an apparently foolish guy who doesn’t see the value in her? Maybe it was so in Shakespearen times!
Ok, so if I don’t like the play that much, why am I going? Well, on paper, it is very tough to understand why Bertram would refuse Helena or why Helena would still want Bertram. But on stage, this confusion can be sorted out by the acting of the performers (which I will tell you in my review!). Will director Malcolm Tulip help smooth the hate-to-love transition convincingly and make it believable? That is what I am looking forward to!
On a certain level, it does show a smarter woman who knows what she wants (why is not ours to question) and gets it and I do love that part. As is typical of Shakespearen comedies, there is a lot of laughs and double entendres in this play. So, do come to the play and may it all end well!
What: Play “All’s well that ends well”
Where: Arthur Miller Theatre at U-M’s Walgreen Drama Center, 1226 Murfin Avenue
Jean and Gordon "Kiss" In The Laundromat. Or Some Weird Metaphor Like That. (Basement Arts Facebook photo)
Play reviews are difficult. It’s sort of like reviewing some shlops singing karaoke at the local tavern. Although the town drunk may have picked your favorite song (perhaps Ricky Martin’s ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ or Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’), he’s still five drinks deep (cheap rum, most probably) and lacks both rhythm and pitch.
The Basement Arts production of Sarah Ruhl’s ‘Dead Man’s Cell Phone’ was rather opposite of the karaoke dilemma. Although the acting was, for the most part, stellar, it had a difficult time carrying a play that failed at developing a connection between the audience and its characters. ‘Cell Phone’ is about a woman, Jean, who, annoyed at the incessant ringing of a cell phone at the next table at a diner, picks up a stranger’s cell phone. Complicating the situation, she soon finds out that the man, Gordon, has not picked up his cell phone because he is dead. Jean, in acting as his secretary and, soon afterward, his legacy-maker, speaks to his colleagues, his family, and friends. In a string of lies, Jean personalizes Gordon in her own mind and conceives of a dieing Gordon to explain to his loved ones.
Unfortunately, although closely involving herself in Gordon’s affairs – attempting to assuage some pain, Jean never becomes more than a liar. The playwright, Ruhl, attempts to personalize her in, among other ploys, declaring a love for stationary that she shares with Gordon’s brother, Dwight (a role similar to Buster of Arrested Development fame). However, even Jean’s budding relationship with Dwight is built upon lies and stories. To Ruhl, Jean is supposed to be a, slightly misguided, heroine. Instead, she creates an internal mess of a mess.
This takes away nothing from the exceptional acting in the Basement Arts production of the play on Friday night (also performed at 7pm Friday and 7pm, 11pm Saturday) (Full disclosure- a close friend, Neal Kelley, played the role of Gordon. Even fuller disclosure- although not necessary today, I am zero percent afraid of talking shit about my friends. They probably deserve it.) The actors’ performances on Friday night were truly great. Grounded in an exceptional performance by Margot McGrath as the overly-emotional Mrs. Gottlieb (Gordon’s mother), the actors displayed a deep intimacy and knowledge of each other and each others’ roles in the play.
The ‘sold-out’ crowd (some mortals even sitting in the aisles for a two hour play!) at Studio One in the Walgreen Center ate it up, laughing hysterically at any sign of a joke. Unfortunately, just as these are the same kids who speak to hear the beautiful sounds of their own voice, there were many members of Friday night’s audience who really wished they were on stage-they really wanted to be the center of attention-so, rather unnaturally, they chose to yell their laughs. (My slightly intoxicated friends- whom I met there- enjoyed laughing at the flamboyant crowd more than the show itself.)
If nothing else, I’m now a fan of the Basement Arts. Quality acting with a price tag of $free.fifty is unlikely to be beat in these parts. Although not my choice of plays, I will, again, choose to make the trek Up North to the Walgreen Center for a Basement Arts production.
Oh yeah, and I would probably choose Al Green’s ‘Love and Happiness’ for my karaoke performance.
Bennett. bstei@umich.edu. ‘No Shirt, No Radio’ Wednesday nights, Midnight-1:30am, WCBN
It may be old news that cell phones have changed our everyday lives and changed our culture as a whole (Check out David Brooks’ editorial this week on sexting and the like) however, Dead Man’s Cell Phoneeven further personalizes the cell phone’s power. The show by American playwright and MacArthur Genius Award recipient, Sarah Ruhl, tells the story of Jean who answers the phone of a stranger sitting at the next table, who she soon finds out is dead, and her subsequent discussions with his friends and relatives.
Ruhl is the author of ten original plays including, the Pulitzer Prize nominated, The Clean House. In a statement honoring her MacArthur Fellowship, the organization states that she is a “playwright creating vivid and adventurous theatrical works that poignantly juxtapose the mundane aspects of daily life with mythic themes of love and war.”
This evening, Friday, November 6 at 7pm and 11pm and again tomorrow evening at the same times, the Basement Arts, a student-run theater organization, presents this new comedy with the exceptional talent of University of Michigan student actors, directors, choreographers. Responsible for the now world-famous, A Very Potter Musical, The Basement Arts have a solid history of presenting free theater as a priceless experience.
Tonight, Friday, November 6 @ 7 and 11pm. Tomorrow, Saturday, November 7 @ 7 and 11pm. All shows at Studio One, Walgreen Drama Center (1226 Murfin), North Campus. Free Admission!
