Monday, November 28, 2016

Final Project

My final project is still in the works. I am going to be singing a song but I am also going to be attempting to put some acting behind it and act out what the people in the song are saying. I feel like this is a good project for me because I will be taking lyrics and interpreting them in my own way which I feel is really new and something I haven't tried before. I feel like it will be good practice with improvisation and that it will be good practice with using body movement in music as a whole which will be good preparation for the upcoming musical. I am not sure what song I am going to sing but I am going to try and do something that I am at least a little bit familiar with because I feel like if I do a song that I understand that I will be able to come up with improv movements and dance easier. My project is not only trying to fit moves to lyrics, its trying to evoke even more emotion then the song itself does by including moves and dances that are emotionally active in nature. In terms of genre of music I am looking for something bluesy or sad because I feel like I resonate more to those types of songs and I feel like it would be easier to put moves to lyrics easier because I can understand them better. I might also like to do a monologue because I enjoy taking a monologue that was said by a character and creating my own character and taking those words and making them my own. I maybe would also like to do a duet singing piece with either Linda or Chrissy because I feel like in terms of harmonizing with other voices I could use some practice and I feel like it would be fun to do a duet with another singer.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Review of 'The Dead'

The Dead is a magnificently written play based on the short story by James Joyce, who's unique view of the world was the basis for his brilliant piece. The blocking and the staging was clearly meticulously thought out and it was well done in a theater in the round format. The cast was brilliantly thought out with John Jiang displaying a masterful and disciplined performance as the lead role. The experience and mastery that he brought to the table was unparalleled by anything I've ever seen from him, his monologues were all flawless and there was not a wasted word in any of his lines. All of his words made an emotional connection with the audience and his emphasis on certain words was perfect. The show was definitely one I will remember, the script was absolutely breathtaking and sounded like shear poetry from the dialogues between actors to the monologues to the actors coming together to say 'wake the dead'. It was just gorgeously written and the music, the added Irish folk tunes were very pleasant as well and all of the actors were very poised to sing them including first time CA theater member Theodorus Patrick. I was incredibly impressed by his poise on stage and how he was able to sing so well and I am incredibly happy to see a new face to the CA stage. I was incredibly impressed with how real some of the hiccups seemed, there was a hiccup from Abby on stage that looked so real it actually gave me shivers in the audience. I didn't find out until after the show that it was scripted and I was just so impressed because it just made the show so much more real because in real life there is no way all of those people would have known all of those songs by heart especially with all of the alcohol in their system so I was just so impressed by the way they incorporated that. Overall, the show was a complete success, everything was done flawlessly by the actors, the blocking was perfect, the setup was perfect and the musical numbers were breathtaking obviously followed by a beautifully poetic script by the man himself, James Joyce. I definitely would respect this production for anyone who has respect for great theater and literature because this definitely combines the two in stunning fashion and I couldn't be more happy with what I saw from my peers.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016