Last week Andrew and I rushed down to South London to watch the Amateur Theatre Production of "Nine". You may remember this musical as being released as a movie last year with actors such as Daniel Day Lewis, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz and Sophia Loren. It was also directed by the director of "Chicago" (Rob Marshall) and looked like it had the makings of a fantastic movie - however it didn't do very well at all. I never saw the film and only heard bad reviews of it, so had no desire or interest to make the effort to see it. When one of Andrew's collegues landed the lead role in the amateur production, however, it gave us a definite reason to traipse all the way to Kingston to see what it was all about.
I must say that when it comes to explaining the story of some musicals I am at a loss. They can be a little bit like trying to explain the intricate plot of a Mozart opera. Using words alone to explain the plot leave it a little bit limp, but augment it with music and the plot seems to make a little bit more sense. This story is a little bit like that. Essentially the lead character, Guido Contini, is having a bit of a break down. In the midst of this breakdown we are introduced to the women in his life: his mother, his wife, his lover, his muse and his producer. (In many ways, we are shown the various roles that women play in life.) We then watch as he tries to resolve how he comes to terms with being in love with so many women at one time. The simple conclusion to the story is that he realizes that he has been living as an immature nine year old and decides to grow into maturity. I think that there is a whole lot more to the story if you are willing to look for it.
The music is remarkably similar to Chicago, so I can understand why Rob Marshall chose to direct it. I wonder if perhaps it was too similar to Chicago to succeed? Or perhaps it was the more elusive plot that was the problem. I guess I'll have to watch the movie to answer those questions. But now for the musical we saw.
The actors were supported by an orchestra who were seated on the stage. This was a wonderful thing to observe especially for an amateur theatre production. The music and singing was wonderful and all the actors where exceptionally well cast. It is clear to me that the secret to a successful amateur theatre production is a good director who is able to set everything up so smoothly that it is impossible for the amateur actor to feel insecure when on stage. Amateur actors have much less time to rehearse than professional actors and so need as much support as they can get. I feel this director did a brilliant job. I was completely swept away into the action of the story and well entertained, and the actors on stage looked like they were having a lot of fun. In fact, I felt a little bit grateful to have been able to see this show live rather than as a movie.
One thing this interpretation of the musical did for me was encourage me to think about the roles women play and about the labels we give each other. Why is there this belief that the image of "wife" is seperate to that of "lover" or "mother", when the truth is that women are constantly playing all these roles at the same time? Is it possible for us to be content living as both the supportive wife and romantic lover? Is it possible for men to recognize all those elements in one women, rather than needing more than one woman to play each role? It is these questions that have made me consider this an excellent musical, one with a little bit more to think about than usual.
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Friday, 29 October 2010
I stayed at home and read this one!
And I've now spent one week thinking about this book and about how more people should read it. It's a love story - but not in the style of Marianne Keyes! In fact not in the style of any love story I have read for a very long time, which has made it totally refreshing and very very beautiful.
It is called One Day by David Nicholls and I was drawn to it because of the subtext above the title of the book "twenty years, two people". "It's not often a love story decides to cover twenty years of a romance," I found myself thinking. So, I picked it up and read the back cover which informed me that if I read this book I would be following the lives of two people who hooked up one drunken evening at university and then went their separate ways the next day. I would then re-visit them on that day the following year, and then the year after that, and then the year after that. Intriguing, don't you think?
Emma is very much another Bridget Jones character, except she's a little bit more down to earth and she manages to get her life sorted out before she is swept off her feet by her Prince Charming. (Which, is a little bit more like real life, and a much more positive idea for single women to embrace). Dexter is the typical bad boy, and, like happens to all bad boys, he gets himself into a lot of trouble and is irresistable to women. But what David Nicholls manages to convey to us about this guy is that he actually gets hurt by all of these mistakes and as life goes on he doesn't want these things to keep happening: it's as if he keeps getting knocked down before he's ever able to stand up and regain his stamina. Emma and Dexter manage to maintain a friendship over twenty years, sometimes they are close, sometimes they are not (Speaking as someone who has a few friendships that are heading towards their second decade I know that this is what these friendships are like. They become more precious over time, but have gaps in them where our lives have been too different to be compatible.)
I do not want to ruin this page turner of a book. I want people to read it. I happened to be reading it at the same time as "Eat, Pray, Love" which is a MUCH WORSE read when read in tandem with this book. As "Eat, Pray, Love" becomes more and more decadent and self-obssessed, "One Day" becomes more and more sincere and tender. I lost compassion for Ms Gilbert, but fell in love with Emma and Dexter as they were trying to live their lives, rather than figure them out. They were just like me, and the love stories that they were living were just like mine. I didn't feel quite as alone after reading that book.
If you are looking for a book that is refreshingly different, but also an amazing reflection of real life and real love, then try "One Day". If you want to feel a little bit more inspired about the love you already have, and have had for many years, then read this book. It is beautiful!
It is called One Day by David Nicholls and I was drawn to it because of the subtext above the title of the book "twenty years, two people". "It's not often a love story decides to cover twenty years of a romance," I found myself thinking. So, I picked it up and read the back cover which informed me that if I read this book I would be following the lives of two people who hooked up one drunken evening at university and then went their separate ways the next day. I would then re-visit them on that day the following year, and then the year after that, and then the year after that. Intriguing, don't you think?
Emma is very much another Bridget Jones character, except she's a little bit more down to earth and she manages to get her life sorted out before she is swept off her feet by her Prince Charming. (Which, is a little bit more like real life, and a much more positive idea for single women to embrace). Dexter is the typical bad boy, and, like happens to all bad boys, he gets himself into a lot of trouble and is irresistable to women. But what David Nicholls manages to convey to us about this guy is that he actually gets hurt by all of these mistakes and as life goes on he doesn't want these things to keep happening: it's as if he keeps getting knocked down before he's ever able to stand up and regain his stamina. Emma and Dexter manage to maintain a friendship over twenty years, sometimes they are close, sometimes they are not (Speaking as someone who has a few friendships that are heading towards their second decade I know that this is what these friendships are like. They become more precious over time, but have gaps in them where our lives have been too different to be compatible.)
I do not want to ruin this page turner of a book. I want people to read it. I happened to be reading it at the same time as "Eat, Pray, Love" which is a MUCH WORSE read when read in tandem with this book. As "Eat, Pray, Love" becomes more and more decadent and self-obssessed, "One Day" becomes more and more sincere and tender. I lost compassion for Ms Gilbert, but fell in love with Emma and Dexter as they were trying to live their lives, rather than figure them out. They were just like me, and the love stories that they were living were just like mine. I didn't feel quite as alone after reading that book.
If you are looking for a book that is refreshingly different, but also an amazing reflection of real life and real love, then try "One Day". If you want to feel a little bit more inspired about the love you already have, and have had for many years, then read this book. It is beautiful!
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Sister Act, The Musical
Yesterday, very spontaneously, my friend Janine and I decided to go and catch a matinee. This is one of the wonderful things that London has to offer - who needs movies when there is live entertainment to be seen? And, always a little bit cheaper when you head down to one of the half price places in Leicester Square.
I have been curious about Sister Act for about a year now, but reviews kept putting me off going and seeing it - yes, even when Whoopi Goldberg was in town acting as the Mother Superior. I was sceptical about how a movie can go from screen to stage and had not heard nice things about Alan Menkin's music. I think both Janine and I felt that it was a show well worth seeing, but not worth spending too much money on!!
The musical is a celebration of seventies music with some great tributes to the Beegees. The male singers (the trio of bad guys and the cop, Eddie) were just wonderful in the Beegee/ Saturday Night Fever impersonations and brought great humour to the show. They were the touch that was added that was not in the movie, therefore unexpected, and that was what made the show for me. I must add that one of the trio, Dinero, sings and speaks in Spanish which gives such wonderful comic effect to the show.
The dialogue is just as it was in the movie, but because a movie can change scenes a bit quicker, it just came across a little bit laboured at times. The music was completely different to the movie, however. I only heard titbits of Alan Menken's Disney days in two songs, Bless our Show, which was remarkably like Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast and The Life I never Led which had a similar feel to Part of our World from The Little Mermaid. One reviewer had been disappointed with Menken's music and I can understand that from the point of view of there not being a song with the same stature as Colours of the Wind or Beauty and the Beast, but the ensemble music was pretty spectacular. Those nuns can sing!! All the ensemble sections were simply amazing and that is why I think everyone should go and see this musical before it closes because you won't get to see the amazing staging that goes hand in hand with the music. I had listened to the music before going and was not as impressed as I was when I saw it hand in hand with the dancing, energy of the actors and all those sequins!!
I have now decided to buy the music to this show, because it is so uplifiting - just like the movie - and well worth listening to and playing durng this cloudy and rainy Autumn! I have also decided that this is a great choice for Amateur Theatre, be it at a school or with a group of adults. It looks like so much fun to perform. This is a fantastic show to go and see with the girls on a Saturday afternoon, and it is closing soon, so don't miss it!!
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Brandenberg Concertos - Feinstein Ensemble
The last few events that I've been to have all been a little bit different for me, so, to sit back at St Martin-in-the-Fields and listen to the Brandenberg Concertos was a little bit like coming home. The lights began to dim, and the musicians arrived on stage and began such familiar music that it felt like a welcome hug from an old friend.The joy of this concert was the way in which the Feinstein Ensemble made the music dance. They move to the music as they play, they smile and look like they are having an absolute ball on stage which makes it is impossible to not be drawn into the magic that they are creating. If their performance style is not enough, there is the added benefit of experiencing the sound of the original instruments. It made me feel a little bit closer to Bach himself to hear the music performed the way that he would have heard it performed.
I don't think I've ever heard Baroque style french horns (trompa, see the image) and my first thought when they blasted out was was: if only Bach could have heard this performed with our more subtle and easier to pitch modern day instruments. Those original horns blast out so loudly that they really dominate over all the other instruments! The French originally used to keep brass instruments seperate from the strings and classed them as "outdoor instruments". I can understand why now. They are far from the delicate and subdued sound that we now associate with the French horn. The trumpet has a similar antiquated look to it, so when the musician began playing the second concerto in such a high register with such clarity and control, the performance was even more impressive than had it been on a modern day instrument. What was interesting was the similarity in sound between the trumpet and the oboe. At times it was difficult to tell which of the instruments was playing!
Another extraordinary mention needs to go to the harpsichord player. He only had one cadenza which he played with flair and extravagence - I was almost standing in order to see what he was up to! In fact, the more I think about it, the more musicians I want to mention. We have seen this ensemble perform before and are familiar with the recorder player (Martin Feinstein) and his brilliant musicianship, but I must also mention the violinist who held everything together with such aplomb (especially when sometimes all we could hear were those trompa!!) The most apt comment came from him when he was busy tuning the strings, saying that these original instruments were so hard to tune, and surely we could come up with something better!!
I have to agree with his comment. It was wonderful to hear the music as Bach had heard it, but I left the concert feeling that our instruments have definitely improved over time and we are much better off for it!!
Saturday, 18 September 2010
The Habit of Art - by Alan Bennett
Once again I found myself attending a genre that I'm not altogether familiar with: a play. Our decision to attend this was really so that we could spend some time with a friend who had said he was happy to go to a show with us as long as it was "not a musical"!! So, the challenge had been set and the googling began and we found this play that was showing at the National Theatre.
We read the synopsis, thought it looked interesting and booked out seats. It was going to be a tale about an imaginary meeting between Auden and Britten in 1972, many years after their collaborations in the 30s. As I'm aware that there had been a possible relationship between the two men, I thought it would be interesting to watch an imagined encounter between them so many years later.
The play itself was designed as a play within a play: a play about actors rehearsing a play about Britten and Auden. The set is a set within a set: a central set where the actors were acting out Britten and Auden and then a set around that which was the rehearsal room for the play. All rather apt for a play which is an artistic creation about artistic creation.
The biggest surprise was that the show was full of humour. When the actors were not acting the play there was plenty of banter actors, writers, and even audiences. This greatly relieved the intensity that we felt when watching the play within a play, which was an intense study of these two great men. This imaginary encounter was being expressed through the eyes of the man who would later write the biographies of both men.
When the show ended and we were heading for post-theatre drinks we began wondering about the meaning behind the play. It was one of those shows where it was clear that the writer had a message to share with us, but what was it? There seemed to be so much that we could have taken from it and had we taken the "right" message. There were definite literary and musical references that I simply did not know about - in fact at one point one of the characters says, "I don't even know what I don't know" which I could easily have said myself. We observe all the unknown people that revolve around a famous person's life and are made aware that they matter too. We are made aware of all the work behind the scenes of a production, like the pianist sitting silently reading his book and jotting notes down until his cue to play the piano or the stage manager and assistant stage manager as they read out the lines belonging to the actors who are unavailable for that rehearsal because of being in another production. The lines of art and reality are blurred to such a degree that some actors are on the stage drinking tea and chatting during the interval, making us question where the one begins and the other ends. Then there are the two main characters themselves, both being presented as "not nice people" which, according to Auden, is because "all their best feelings go into their work and life has the residue".
I suppose its enough that I took something from the play, even if it wasn't the exact thing that the playwright had hoped for. It suprised me and entertained me and gave me some food for thought about the artistic temperament. I'll certainly be mulling over it for the next few days.....
We read the synopsis, thought it looked interesting and booked out seats. It was going to be a tale about an imaginary meeting between Auden and Britten in 1972, many years after their collaborations in the 30s. As I'm aware that there had been a possible relationship between the two men, I thought it would be interesting to watch an imagined encounter between them so many years later.
The play itself was designed as a play within a play: a play about actors rehearsing a play about Britten and Auden. The set is a set within a set: a central set where the actors were acting out Britten and Auden and then a set around that which was the rehearsal room for the play. All rather apt for a play which is an artistic creation about artistic creation.
The biggest surprise was that the show was full of humour. When the actors were not acting the play there was plenty of banter actors, writers, and even audiences. This greatly relieved the intensity that we felt when watching the play within a play, which was an intense study of these two great men. This imaginary encounter was being expressed through the eyes of the man who would later write the biographies of both men.
When the show ended and we were heading for post-theatre drinks we began wondering about the meaning behind the play. It was one of those shows where it was clear that the writer had a message to share with us, but what was it? There seemed to be so much that we could have taken from it and had we taken the "right" message. There were definite literary and musical references that I simply did not know about - in fact at one point one of the characters says, "I don't even know what I don't know" which I could easily have said myself. We observe all the unknown people that revolve around a famous person's life and are made aware that they matter too. We are made aware of all the work behind the scenes of a production, like the pianist sitting silently reading his book and jotting notes down until his cue to play the piano or the stage manager and assistant stage manager as they read out the lines belonging to the actors who are unavailable for that rehearsal because of being in another production. The lines of art and reality are blurred to such a degree that some actors are on the stage drinking tea and chatting during the interval, making us question where the one begins and the other ends. Then there are the two main characters themselves, both being presented as "not nice people" which, according to Auden, is because "all their best feelings go into their work and life has the residue".
I suppose its enough that I took something from the play, even if it wasn't the exact thing that the playwright had hoped for. It suprised me and entertained me and gave me some food for thought about the artistic temperament. I'll certainly be mulling over it for the next few days.....
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Francis Alys: A Story of Deception
On Friday night Andrew and I wandered down to the Tate Modern to enjoy an art exhibition that has been curated by a friend of ours. Neither of us new what to expect, but knowing it was the Tate we were preparing for anything and very excited about it! Over two hours later we left the exhibition fully aware that we had just experienced something rather breath-taking.
I don't want to go into a large description of the art because I do not think I will do it justice. When it comes to visual art, I feel I'm a little bit like someone who goes to listen to a Miles Davis concert but has only ever heard Louis Armstrong's version of jazz trumpet playing! I understand that I'm experiencing something very special and that I'm observing someone of remarkable talent, but I don't quite know why.
Francis Alys creates art that isn't always on the page (literally). He has his paintings, which are intricate and very very beautiful, and then he has what I will call experiences: projects which have involved him doing something a little out of the ordinary which might make us think a little bit more about the world around us (which is what Art is about, some would say.....). For example, pushing a large block of ice around Mexico City until it has melted aptly subtitled 'Sometimes Doing Something Leads to Nothing. These projects are presented as visual recordings.
The experience that I most related to was a visual interpretation of a music rehearsal. A red VW beetle makes its way up a pretty steep hill, but it's progress up this hill is stilted by a recording of a rehearsal that he is listening to. Every time the band paused during the rehearsal, the driver stepped off the acceleration pedal so that the car would roll back down the hill. I felt I was watching a visual interpretation of my emotions as I sit at rehearsal, feeling like I'm almost reaching the end of the piece only to have to start and stop again because it wasn't quite right yet. It was truly amazing to see something I have felt be interpreted by another person in such a visual way. I have often felt this way when it comes to a musical experience, but never before has it quite hit me when observing art.
I will not go into any more detail about the exhibition simply because even as I write these few descriptions I'm aware that I'm not getting across what I saw and felt in quite the right way.
Sometimes we are exposed to something so far out of our realm of understanding that it suddenly opens up a whole new world to us. This is how I feel about this exhibition. It was marvellously special for me.
I don't want to go into a large description of the art because I do not think I will do it justice. When it comes to visual art, I feel I'm a little bit like someone who goes to listen to a Miles Davis concert but has only ever heard Louis Armstrong's version of jazz trumpet playing! I understand that I'm experiencing something very special and that I'm observing someone of remarkable talent, but I don't quite know why.
Francis Alys creates art that isn't always on the page (literally). He has his paintings, which are intricate and very very beautiful, and then he has what I will call experiences: projects which have involved him doing something a little out of the ordinary which might make us think a little bit more about the world around us (which is what Art is about, some would say.....). For example, pushing a large block of ice around Mexico City until it has melted aptly subtitled 'Sometimes Doing Something Leads to Nothing. These projects are presented as visual recordings.
The experience that I most related to was a visual interpretation of a music rehearsal. A red VW beetle makes its way up a pretty steep hill, but it's progress up this hill is stilted by a recording of a rehearsal that he is listening to. Every time the band paused during the rehearsal, the driver stepped off the acceleration pedal so that the car would roll back down the hill. I felt I was watching a visual interpretation of my emotions as I sit at rehearsal, feeling like I'm almost reaching the end of the piece only to have to start and stop again because it wasn't quite right yet. It was truly amazing to see something I have felt be interpreted by another person in such a visual way. I have often felt this way when it comes to a musical experience, but never before has it quite hit me when observing art.
I will not go into any more detail about the exhibition simply because even as I write these few descriptions I'm aware that I'm not getting across what I saw and felt in quite the right way.
Sometimes we are exposed to something so far out of our realm of understanding that it suddenly opens up a whole new world to us. This is how I feel about this exhibition. It was marvellously special for me.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
St John Passion, Arvo Part
Another evening at the Proms for me! But this time it was a late night prom and also included a delicious steak meal with my husband beforehand. For me, it was the perfect date, but for many others I'm sure they would have been left wanting a bit more.Why? Well, Arvo Part is a minimalist composer, which means he composes a style of music that many people can find very repetitive (and sometimes boring!!) to listen to. The general idea behind a minimalist composition is to repeat an idea for a long period of time with only occassional and often very subtle changes in the arrangement of the music. The beauty of this is that you can become mesmerized by a sea of continuous sound until something new happens that is so unexpected it jumps to your attention with intense clarity and focus. This piece of music uses a style developed by Part called tintinnabuli (Latin: bells) where each part in the music moves at the same rhythmic pace and the harmony is developed using a triad (three notes played at the same time). Like Modern Jazz, I think it is a style of music that one needs to understand quite well before it can be properly appreciated.
The St John Passion was written in 1982 and is a setting of John 18 and 19 which tells of Jesus' trial and crucifiction. It is a setting that has been arranged by numerous composers over the years and that is retold in most orthodox churches every Good Friday. It is a sombre reminder of what Jesus endured for the salvation of mankind and a fundamental basis of Christian faith. The text of Part's passion is in Latin and the programme contained an English translation for listeners to follow. This was invaluable for me because I don't know Part's Passion at all and the text helped me to follow the musical arrangement and anticipate some of the compositional techniques in the piece.
The singing was extraodinary. Having sung Part, I know the intense concentration required of his music. You can easily be intoning one note for an extreme length of time and then need to jump to a new note pitched an awkward interval away. These singers managed to maintain their concentration for seventy minutes with no interval!! (Both them and the people who stood in the promenade for the entirety of the piece deserve an award!) Most beautiful for me was the blend of the quartet who sang the narrator's part. The sound was pure and sparse most certainly imitating the sound of bells that I imagine Part was aiming to achieve. As well as the narrators, there was Pilate (Andrew Kennedy), Jesus (Brindley Sherratt) and the chorus (performed by the BBC singers). The singing was accompanied by a quartet: violin, cello, flute and bassoon.
I'm always amazed by an entire room full of people (And the Albert Hall is a big room, although not too full for this concert) all paying attention to one product. It can create such a beautiful atmosphere of solidarity. After seventy minutes of listening to music that moves slowly, never rushing the words of the Gospel, and using harmony in the way a cook would use vanilla essence when baking a cake, it was no surprise that when the conductor finally lowered his baton there was a full minute or two of silence reverberating around the majestic hall before the audience broke into applause.
It was a brilliant concert.
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Edges, Camden Fringe
My husband (Andrew) was invited along to watch an amateur production of this show because one of his friends was performing in it. I went along because I was curious about the standard of amateur theatre production in London.
Edges is a song cycle. Now, this is not really a term used in musical theatre and is usually associated with classical singing. It's technical term is a collection of songs written by one composer and usually one poet that are linked together by a familiar theme. Schubert wrote one called "Die Schone Mullerin" which is all about a man who falls in love with the miller's daughter. The relationship between the piano and melody is usually one of extreme importance as the accompaniment is there to set the scene or the mood of the song. Most song cycles are performed by one singer who does include choreographed moves or staging in his or her performance.
Edges is not typical of the song cycle genre for a few reasons. There are four singers, and the songs consist of quartets, duets and solos. This director also included acting and dancing. (I'm not sure if all shows do that, I'm sure it's purely up to the director's discretion). There is also not much interplay between the piano accompaniment and the singing. I was a bit disappointed by this simply because I felt most of the piano accompaniment was the same with each song and it got a little bit boring hearing the same four beat riff for a large proportion of the show.
The song cycle was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul when they were still studying at university and were unhappy with the roles they were given in their musical theatre course. Bearing in mind that this is an early work of theirs, it is really very good. The songs all centre around the issues that people in their early twenties (and later) deal with, such as friendship, falling in and out of love, hopes and dreams and commitment. My favourite song was "Boy with dreams" which happened to be sung by Andrew's collegue. It was sung with utter sincerity and was simply about a guy who delivers pizza for living and wishes and hopes to be doing much more with his life. Probably the most popular song in the show is called "Be my friend" which is all about the intricacies of Facebook Friends (It's on You Tube and is quite funny if you are interested in hearing it).
The venue was upstairs in a pub. It was one large room painted black, which meant that the audience and the singers were exceptionally close to each other and there was very little space for any ambitious staging. The director handled this well with only chairs as props and not too much moving around. When chatting about it after the show we found out that they had only had an hour and a half of rehearsal in their venue, which included placing the pianist and drummer as well as setting up the lighting! I imagine even professional actors would struggle to cope with that!
The nice thing about Fringe Theatre is being introduced to less familiar musical items. If I was working with an older age group I would definitely consider using this musical. It's full of fun, easy to relate to, and not too demanding in terms of its staging or orchestration. Amateur theatre is clearly alive and well in London and I'm curious to see and possibly participate in more!
Edges is a song cycle. Now, this is not really a term used in musical theatre and is usually associated with classical singing. It's technical term is a collection of songs written by one composer and usually one poet that are linked together by a familiar theme. Schubert wrote one called "Die Schone Mullerin" which is all about a man who falls in love with the miller's daughter. The relationship between the piano and melody is usually one of extreme importance as the accompaniment is there to set the scene or the mood of the song. Most song cycles are performed by one singer who does include choreographed moves or staging in his or her performance.
Edges is not typical of the song cycle genre for a few reasons. There are four singers, and the songs consist of quartets, duets and solos. This director also included acting and dancing. (I'm not sure if all shows do that, I'm sure it's purely up to the director's discretion). There is also not much interplay between the piano accompaniment and the singing. I was a bit disappointed by this simply because I felt most of the piano accompaniment was the same with each song and it got a little bit boring hearing the same four beat riff for a large proportion of the show.
The song cycle was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul when they were still studying at university and were unhappy with the roles they were given in their musical theatre course. Bearing in mind that this is an early work of theirs, it is really very good. The songs all centre around the issues that people in their early twenties (and later) deal with, such as friendship, falling in and out of love, hopes and dreams and commitment. My favourite song was "Boy with dreams" which happened to be sung by Andrew's collegue. It was sung with utter sincerity and was simply about a guy who delivers pizza for living and wishes and hopes to be doing much more with his life. Probably the most popular song in the show is called "Be my friend" which is all about the intricacies of Facebook Friends (It's on You Tube and is quite funny if you are interested in hearing it).
The venue was upstairs in a pub. It was one large room painted black, which meant that the audience and the singers were exceptionally close to each other and there was very little space for any ambitious staging. The director handled this well with only chairs as props and not too much moving around. When chatting about it after the show we found out that they had only had an hour and a half of rehearsal in their venue, which included placing the pianist and drummer as well as setting up the lighting! I imagine even professional actors would struggle to cope with that!
The nice thing about Fringe Theatre is being introduced to less familiar musical items. If I was working with an older age group I would definitely consider using this musical. It's full of fun, easy to relate to, and not too demanding in terms of its staging or orchestration. Amateur theatre is clearly alive and well in London and I'm curious to see and possibly participate in more!
Friday, 13 August 2010
BBC Proms, Berlioz, Chopin, Roussel, Ravel
From Tap Dogs to the BBC proms!!
The only thing that these two events have in common is that I was unable to see the entire stage at both shows! The difference being that the Royal Albert Hall had warned me beforehand and these were the only seats available to me when I had booked them a week ago. Clearly I need to think a little bit more ahead when it comes to booking seats for concerts.
"Why not Prom?" I hear some of you wonder, and my answer is simply because I didn't think I would be able to stand through a Chopin Piano Concerto and fully appreciate it. I felt I would enjoy it more seated.
The evening consisted of:
The only thing that these two events have in common is that I was unable to see the entire stage at both shows! The difference being that the Royal Albert Hall had warned me beforehand and these were the only seats available to me when I had booked them a week ago. Clearly I need to think a little bit more ahead when it comes to booking seats for concerts.
"Why not Prom?" I hear some of you wonder, and my answer is simply because I didn't think I would be able to stand through a Chopin Piano Concerto and fully appreciate it. I felt I would enjoy it more seated.
The evening consisted of:
- Berlioz: Overture 'Le Corsaire'
- Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2, piano played by Nelson Freire
- Roussel: Symphony No. 3
- Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe - Suite No. 2
The BBC orchestra were conducted by Lionel Bringuier.
I chose this concert because I was going with a friend who loves classical music to the point where she doesn't want to hear the usual run of the mill classic FM broadcast list, but she's not quite ready for the weird and wonderful world of Twentieth Century classical music either. In those terms the concert did not dissapoint. Most Late Romantic French music is easy on the ears and it's not everyday that we find ourselves listening to Roussel (I hadn't heard of him before the concert). Personally, I was looking forward to hearing the piano concerto and seeing an excellent pianist in action.
The concert was beautifully structured. Berlioz welcomed us with brilliance and charm in only the way the Berlioz's full orchestration can do. For some reason I always have the caricature of a large orchestra squeezed onto a tiny stage when I think of Berlioz and I don't know why! (Possibly an image from a history of music textbook?) He never dissappoints when it comes to lots of brass and woodwind sounds and this rich and sonorous sound was the perfect prelude to Chopin's more sensitive touch.
The Chopin was elegant and whimsical and played with amazing virtuousity by Nelson Freire. It seems strange to call the music elegant and whimsical when there were sections when Mr Freire was running his fingers up and down the piano with such speed and dexterity. I think Chopin just knows how to make a lot of notes sound classy and tasteful rather than just an exercise in technical virtuosity. The soloist played an exquisite encore, which I'm assuming was a Chopin Nocturne. As I've played a few nocturnes myself I understood how difficult it is to create an even accompaniment that frequently spans both the left and bottom fingers of the right hand whilst still maintaining a melody with the top three fingers of the right hand too! It was amazing to listen to and to watch him manage that with such ease. What an inspiration!
The Piano concerto consisted of the standard three movements with no break between the second and third. Although I couldn't see most of the orchestra I could observe the conductor and the pianist and I really enjoyed watching their interaction with each other. In my mind Chopin's 2nd piano concerto gave me exactly what I was expecting, a bold first movement balanced by a slower, melodious second movement, and then ending with a light and fast third movement.
I needed to google Roussel to find out a bit more about him. He's French (I didn't need to google that part) and was active between the world wars. His inspiration was the impressionist composers and then he moved on to write in the neo-classical style. I thoroughly enjoyed the symphony. In fact I think I may have enjoyed it more than the Chopin. To my mind it was rather Romantic and if I hadn't had googled him I would have placed him in the same era as Berlioz. The melodies are not avant garde, the orchestration is exciting and adventurous and the form doesn't introduce any suprises. Perhaps this is why I never studied him in my music history classes, but was able to enjoy a first hearing of his symphony with such ease.
Finally came the beautiful sunrise of Daphne and Chloe. I am very familiar with the opening of this work as it is a brilliant example of Programme Music. When encouraging students to create music that evokes an image, what better example than the amazing minute or two at the beginning of this piece? Well, what a pleasure to sit and listen to the entire suite and not have to turn it off once the sun has risen!
The best part of this piece for me was the orchestration. There is a beautiful flute solo at one point that was played with such delicacy and gentleness. Then there is another section where the percussion suddenly introduces itself. It was at this point that I wished I could have seen what they were doing because I just couldn't figure out what the instrumental combination was. It was such a contrast to the slow and melodic solo flute section.
I'm always glad to go to the BBC Proms. It is two months of excessive music to appreciate in an awesome venue and it seems to appeal to all sorts of taste. When I think of the quality of performers and then look at the affordability of the tickets I just feel so grateful to have access to the event. This concert did not disappoint me in the least and I look forward to my next evening at the Royal Albert Hall.
Tap Dogs, London
Tesday was girls night out and what could be more appropriate than going to see six men try to make tap dancing into a macho activity!
We had bought very cheap tickets, so we had limited visibility and were unable to enjoy the opening scene and a scene where one of the dancers dances on the ceiling. We couldn't see the band, either. I do feel directors don't always take that into consideration when planning out shows, but it didn't detract too much from the entertainment, and we knew not to expect much from seats that only cost ten pounds!
The dancing was lovely. The overall vibe they were going for was to ooze sex appeal and I think that all the girls who were there would agree that they achieved that. Sometimes, I felt that they were trying too hard to create a macho atmosphere. In fact I could just imagine the producers and directors sitting around a table brainstorming "macho" and then incorporating all their ideas into the show and re-iterating the fact just before each show starts.
Musically, the intriguing thing for me was the creation of rhythm using tap shoes. My favourite example of this was a copy cat effect created in a duet. One dancer (Adam Garcia) created a rhythm using his feet and the other imitated it. The rhythms became progressively more intricate and then turned into canon with the "copycat" being a few beats behind the leader. It was wonderful and has inspired me to try and re-create that idea in some of the rhythm lessons that I teach. Part of me wondered how much of the tapping sound we were hearing was in fact "live" and how much wasn't and this was highlighted to me in a scene that involved "synthsized tapping". Each dancer was allocated a sound that one would hear in a drum sequence (For example, bass drum, snare, cow bell) . When the dancer's foot hit a square block, we would hear their allocated sound. The overall effect was brilliant, full of humour, and an excellent example of ensemble work, but clearly achieved with a lot of help from their band.
I have a bit of an issue with shows that try to popularize art forms. I feel that these types of shows can make light of the extreme hard work and discipline that goes into the arts, especially the more classical art forms. I understand that they are reaching out to a wider audience, and in this case making dance look a little less feminine (although the audience was predominantly female and I certainly wouldn't have invited my husband along, so I'm quite certain their target audience was a female one). I think that the show would have been amazing without the gimmicks (such as gum boot dancing in a puddle of water or dancing whilst the blade of an electric saw is creating fiery visual effects). Yes, they were entertaining, but they were far from the highlight of the show for me.
This show was a great example of light entertainment and a good giggle with the girls. As long as we don't start taking the discpline involved in being a top class dancer for granted, then these types of shows are well worth having around.
http://www.tapdogs.co.uk/
We had bought very cheap tickets, so we had limited visibility and were unable to enjoy the opening scene and a scene where one of the dancers dances on the ceiling. We couldn't see the band, either. I do feel directors don't always take that into consideration when planning out shows, but it didn't detract too much from the entertainment, and we knew not to expect much from seats that only cost ten pounds!
The dancing was lovely. The overall vibe they were going for was to ooze sex appeal and I think that all the girls who were there would agree that they achieved that. Sometimes, I felt that they were trying too hard to create a macho atmosphere. In fact I could just imagine the producers and directors sitting around a table brainstorming "macho" and then incorporating all their ideas into the show and re-iterating the fact just before each show starts.
Musically, the intriguing thing for me was the creation of rhythm using tap shoes. My favourite example of this was a copy cat effect created in a duet. One dancer (Adam Garcia) created a rhythm using his feet and the other imitated it. The rhythms became progressively more intricate and then turned into canon with the "copycat" being a few beats behind the leader. It was wonderful and has inspired me to try and re-create that idea in some of the rhythm lessons that I teach. Part of me wondered how much of the tapping sound we were hearing was in fact "live" and how much wasn't and this was highlighted to me in a scene that involved "synthsized tapping". Each dancer was allocated a sound that one would hear in a drum sequence (For example, bass drum, snare, cow bell) . When the dancer's foot hit a square block, we would hear their allocated sound. The overall effect was brilliant, full of humour, and an excellent example of ensemble work, but clearly achieved with a lot of help from their band.
I have a bit of an issue with shows that try to popularize art forms. I feel that these types of shows can make light of the extreme hard work and discipline that goes into the arts, especially the more classical art forms. I understand that they are reaching out to a wider audience, and in this case making dance look a little less feminine (although the audience was predominantly female and I certainly wouldn't have invited my husband along, so I'm quite certain their target audience was a female one). I think that the show would have been amazing without the gimmicks (such as gum boot dancing in a puddle of water or dancing whilst the blade of an electric saw is creating fiery visual effects). Yes, they were entertaining, but they were far from the highlight of the show for me.
This show was a great example of light entertainment and a good giggle with the girls. As long as we don't start taking the discpline involved in being a top class dancer for granted, then these types of shows are well worth having around.
http://www.tapdogs.co.uk/
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