Comedy of Errors

The theater was Drayton Hall in Wardlaw College. I had no idea how big the theater was because I had never been in it before.  There ceilings were very high and there was a lot of seating in a stadium feel.  The stage was set up so that everyone in the theater could see every part of the stage.  The set was decorated elaborately and looked like an actual place and not a scene. The actors moved around the stage and the lighting hit different areas as needed to change the location of the actors.  There were props that helped with defining the place the actors were during certain scenes such as tables and chairs.  The set never changed, it was just moved around to show the audience that the actors were in different places. The set consisted of a café area, houses with balconies, a church, and even streets with a fruit stand. The costumes were extremely colorful and put together well.  I really enjoyed the bright colors and the details on each costume.  The costumes set up the play for me as a comedy because of the colorful and funny wigs, accessories, and playful clothing.

The Comedy of Errors takes place in the late 1500’s.  The play is said to be able to set anywhere between 1589 and 1595.  The author is William Shakespeare and this is one of his earliest plays as well as one of his shortest plays.  This play has been adapted for opera, stage, screen and musical theatre and was not written until the later part of 1594. William Shakespeare lived in the late 1500s to the early 1600s.  His exact dates range from 1564 to 1616.  He was an English poet and playwright.  He was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon.  Shakespeare lived during the Elizabethan period in England.

          Comedy of Errors starts by introducing two sets of identical twins.  These twins are accidentally separated at birth. Antipholus and Dromio both of Syracuse arrive in Ephesus which is also the home of both of their twin brothers, Antipholus and Dromio both of Ephesus. Both Dromio’s are servants to both Antipholus.  The majority of the play consists of the Syracusans encountering the families and friends of their twins.  They are mistaken as their twins and there is a series of entertaining mishaps because of their mistaken identities.  Egeon is looking for his twin sons that he purchased twin sons for.  He is caught and will be executed if he does not pay a one thousand dollar fine.  He is looking for his wife who was rescued along with one son and one slave after being hit by a tempest on a sea voyage. They were separated and rescued by different boats.  The slave and son that was with Egeon are now older and on a search for their twin brothers.  This is when they arrive in Ephesus and all of the wild mishaps occur. In the end, Emilia, Egeon’s wife, turns out to be the Abbess.  Everyone begins to understand the day’s events when the twins are introduced and the confusion is explained.  

Phantom of the Opera

Describe

The Phantom of the Opera is a 1986 musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber.  In 2004, Joel Schumacher directed the film adaptation of the musical.  The film was also produced and cowrtten by Lloyd Weber. Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum played the two main characters in the play. Butler played the title role of the phantom and Emmy Rossum played the lead female role as Christine Daae. Production of the movie started in 2002 and was entirely shot at Pinewood Studios.  Most of the actors had to get singing lessons before the shooting began because most had no singing experience. The movie altogether is 189 minutes and grossed over $154 million worldwide.

The movie starts in 1919 at the Paris Opera House during an auction.  Raoul, a man in a wheelchair, purchases a music box.  Raoul sees Madame Giry at the auction who he met when he was only a young man at the opera house.  Raoul has his eye on the huge chandelier for sell and as the auctioneer begins talking about the restored chandelier; crescendo music takes the viewer back in time to 1870 for the beginning of the story, when the opera house was in its prime.  Management of the Opera house is changing hands to Mr. Richard Firmin and Mr. Gile Andre. Raoul is introduced as a new member of the cast.  Christine recognizes Raoul.  This is when the phantom makes his first glimpse to the new management.  La Carlotta, the opera diva, is singing and the phantom drops a back drop on her and leaves a welcoming letter to the new management where he demands his monthly salary of 20,000 Francs.  La Carlotta is angry and leaves.  Christine takes her place in the show that night and does a fantastic job thanks to the Phantom who has been secretly training her since she was a child.  The Phantom lures Christine to his home under the Opera house after the performance.  Christine wakes to the sound of the music box, the one Raoul buys at the auction. The Phantom takes Christine back after she takes his mask off and sees his face that has been distorted since he was a child.  The phantom visits that night during the show because his box was not left open.  Buque is strangles and dropped over the stage out of the Phantoms anger during the performance. Christine and Raoul sing and fall in love together.  The Phantom overhears this and locks himself in his room.  The Phantom pours his heart out to Christine one night at the Opera house during the performance of Don Juan Triumphant.  Christine removes his mask and this reveals his burns and scars to everyone.  He takes her and drops the enormous chandelier which starts a fire at the Opera house.  Raoul gets Madame Giry to show him house to get to the Phantom’s lair.  The Phantom traps Raoul and threatens to strangle him if Christine doesn’t come live with him. Christine shows the Phantom kindness and he lets both of them go as long as they never tell what happened. The Phantom leaves through a secret passage and he leaves his mask behind.  The story then goes back to current time where Raoul, now an old man in a wheelchair, arrives to the cemetery where he places the music box on Christine’s headstone.  He finds a single rose with a piece of black ribbon around it and Christine’s engagement ring to Raoul on it.  The film ends with Raoul seeing a figure in the distance and a shot of the rose on the headstone with a burning candle in front of it.

Analyze

The Phantom of the Opera focused on a love story between the Phantom and Christine as well as Raoul and Christine.  The emotions and feelings of the characters where usually seen and heard through song.  The music was dark and heavy when characters where angered.  The music would become light when characters where happy and in love.  When the Phantom was spoke of or seen in the movie there was always a mysterious feeling that came with the tone and emotion of the music.  The colors of the movie helped tell the time period.  While the movie was back in time at the prime of the Opera house the movie was in color, but when the current time shots were shown the color was in black and white.  This helped the audience keep up with what scenes went with what time period.  The movie flowed together and was harmonized as well as balanced through the use of music.  The music helped to tell the story and bring scenes and characters together. 

Interpret

The Phantom of the Opera starts as being extremely confusing.  It takes the audience on a journey in which they do not fully understand.  Overtime, details and information becomes available which makes it possible for the audience to being to understand the movie.  The movie was full of metaphors and symbols.  Myself, I was still realizing why certain things happened in the movie hours later after the movie was over.  I did not get all of the symbols and what exactly happened until long after.  This is the type of movie that a viewer could watch many times before truly understanding it.  I believe that this is the type of movie that you could watch many times and still see things differently.

Judge

            I really enjoyed The Phantom of the Opera.   I thought that the intricate and well-developed plot made for a very interesting and intriguing movie.  The movie was long, but was able to keep my interest because it was the kind of movie that if you did not watch the whole thing you would come back confused.  Like I said before, I believe I could watch this movie many different times and still see new ideas and symbols every time.  The music also kept my interest because it helped me understand the feeling and emotion of the characters as well as further develop the plot.  I saw the play in Atlanta a couple of years ago, but I enjoyed being able to see the movie because I believe the movie did a better job of explaining the story.

Assignment #8

Opera is an elevated style of musical theater.  Opera was defined by the age of Mozart which was from about 17775 to 1910.  Light opera is a less demanding form of operatic theater.  Opera synthesizes all of the performing arts along with visual design.  Opera is a true aesthetic experience.  Some capitals of opera include: Venice, Milan, Paris, London, and Vienna. Light opera incorporates spoken words, and appeals to a broader audience.  Light opera still requires operatic voices and live orchestra.  Musical theater is musical intersperses with dialogue. Musical theater is less demanding vocally and can be performed by singing actors which are sometimes equipped with microphones.

No one is born with an operatic voice.  Peak operatic performance is not acquired until after age 30. Control of breath is imperative.  It is also known that opera stars are notoriously demanding.  There are many types of operatic voices including: Sopranos, Mezzo Soprano, Contralo, Tenor, Baritone, and Bass.  Operas most famous male voices are Tenors. Soprano is the highest voice, and Bass is the lowest voice.   To have a fully trained operatic voice one must rigorously train beginning as a child through most of their life.

Tosca was written by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Gisuseppe Giacosa. Tosca is an opera that has three acts and premiered in Rome on January 14, 1900.  The work was based on Victorien Sarou’s 1887 play, La Tosca. This piece is set in Rome in June of 1800.  The Kingdom of Naple’s control of Rome was threatened by Napoleon’s invasion of Italy.  Tosca has many memorable performances from many of opera’s leading singers.   The play itself includes deceptions of murder, suicide, and torture.  Puccini first saw the play while it was touring in Italy in 1889 and Puccini gained the rights to turn the work into an opera in 1895. It took Puccini four years to turn the play into an Italian opera. Tosca premiered at a time of unrest in Rome, and its first performance was delayed for a day for fear of disturbances.  The play was an immediate success with the audience.  Musically, Tosca has the structure of a through-composed work with arias, recitative, and choruses.  Tosca still seems to be a dominate force and its characters continue to fascinate performers and audiences.  The work still remains to be one of the most frequently performed operas. This opera is a tragedy and is full of death, torture, and lies. The intricate lies and betrayal in this work reminded me of many of Shakespeare’s works.

A Summary of Tosca

Cesare Angelotti, the former consol of the former Roman Republic, has narrowly escaped imprisonment in the Castel S. Angelo. He seeks safely in the church of S. Andrea Della Valle and hides in the chapel where his sister has left some female clothing for him in advance. The Sacristan watches the painter Cavaradossi as he goes about his rounds. Cavaradossi is painting a picture of Saint Mary who the Sacristan thinks looks like the woman who often visits to pray there. Cavaradossi, however, has given Saint Mary the features of his lover, the singer Floria Tosca. Tosca enters the church and Angelotti goes back into hiding. The painting angers Tosca but Cavaradossi calms her down. She leaves and Angelotti comes out of the shadows again. There is the sound of cannon fire, a signal to tell that Angelotti’s escape has been found out. Tosca leaves for Cavaradossi’s house, hoping the catch them together. Scarpia is enchanted with the singer and decides to send spies after her. Tosca leaves for Cavaradossi’s house, hoping the catch them together. Scarpia is enchanted with the singer and decides to send spies after her. The police has arrested Cavaradossi on suspicion that he has aided Angelotti in his escape Tosca is willing to grant him favors, Cavaradossi would only be granted a mock execution. Tosca appears to agree and Scarpia makes the safe-passage conduct she demands. When he goes to hand them to her, she stabs him to death. Tosca appears with the good news that he is free and he will only have a mock execution. The firing squad gets ready. Cavaradossi stands confidently at the wall, but the guns are loaded with real bullets. Tosca realizes now that Scarpia has betrayed her and Cavaradossi is dead. Tosca then leaps to her own death before the police arrive.

Assignment #7

A thrust stage is a stage that extends and is built out into the audience.  Three sides are to the audience and is connected to the backstage area.  A thrust has the ability to be of greater intimacy from actors to audience than the proscenium.  Actors typically make their entrances onto the thrust from the backstage area.  A proscenium stage is one that the audience directly faces this stage is a big opening that is like a little window in which the actors pretend there is no audience..  The stage is typically raised several feet above the front row of the audience.  The actors usually perform under the proscenium arch.Proscenium stages range in size from small enclosures to several stories tall. A proscenium stage gives the audience one, frontal view while a thrust stage gives the audience three sides and angles.

 Thrust Stage

Proscenium Stage

The fly gallery is like a catwalk that runs from the proscenium stage wall upstage to the upstage wall. A pinrail can be mounted.  This narrow, elevated platform is used for the fly crew to operate the fly system. This is the place where props and actors can be elevated from using ropes.  This area can hold scenery, props, and people offstage.

   

Scrims are extensively used in theaters. Scrims provide a variety of uses for special effect purposes.  Scrims are made out of a wide variety of materials.  Scrims were intricately used as part of the Bejing Olympic Stadium.  Scrims were used during the opening ceremonies as the screen where scenes where projected.  When light shines on the front of a scrim, the scrim blocks everything.  When light is behind a scrim, everything can be seen clearly.

 Material used as scrims.

Scrims used in a theater.

Big Apple Art Event

This is a picture of the Big Apple in Columbia, South Carolina.

The shag is done to music that is a 4/4 count, but the person dancing to the shag does so to a 6 count. The dancer would count 1and 2 - 3 and 4 - 5 6.

 The Big Apple was originally known as the House of Peace synagogue.  The Big Apple of today was a house of worship which was destroyed by a fire in1915.  21 years later, the congregation was to big for the building and had to sell and move to a new location.  This happened in 1936.  That same year the property became reincarnated as the Big Apple Night Club.  This is where the dance craze from the summer of 1937 was born.  The Big Apple dance moved to New York by way of USC students.  This dance gained the attention of dance instructor Arthur Murray and Tommy Dorsey who wrote “The Big Apple Swing”. The Big Apple Club was closed and the dance was no longer popular by 1938. The former club was moved from its original location to the corner of Hampton and Park Street. The Big Apple still has original architecture and can even be rented out today for special occasions.  The Big Apple is a two story wooden building and has a metal roof.  The building was built for mostly Polish and Russian immigrants, so it is an example of Eastern Jewish architecture. The entrance has a large arch with stained glass windows surrounding it.  Both sides of the building have five windows with horseshoe arches.  The interior has a central recessed dome.  The dome has neon lights in the shape of a crescent moon and shooting stars.  There is also a balcony which was used as a spectator’s gallery during the time that the building was a night club.

The dance known as the shag did not evolve overnight.  The shag is a combination of the Big Apple, Varsity Drag, The Big Bottom, The Lindy Hop, and Jitterbug which led to the era of Swing dancing.  This eventually led to the birth of the Shag.  In North Myrtle Beach during the 1940’s, teenagers developed their own style of Sing that became known as the Shag.  Shag is slower than the West Coast Swing where the dancers do not bounce or hop. This dance is done in 4/4 time.  Billy Jeffers and Chicken Hicks are credited for developing the Shag that we know today. They slowed down the early fast swing tempo into a loose and easy dance.  In 1984, the South Carolina General Assemble made the Shag the official state dance.  There is a National Shage Dance Championship in Myrtle Beach annually.

Columbia Museum of Art Event

The photograph that I picked from the “Who Shot Rock and Roll” is one by Bob Gruen.  Gruen is an American and was born in 1945.  The photograph is of Tina Turner in 1970. The photograph was printed in1971.  The photograph is about three feet tall and one and a half feet wide. The photo is courtesy of Bob Gruen and is black and white.  The photograph is about fun where Tina is dancing around.  You can see movement in the picture.  Tina is on stage in a sparkly dress dancing around while singing. The photo shows Tina’s energetic and vibrant personality and the presence she has on stage when she is performing. In the photo, Tina is on stage during a concert singing and dancing.

The picture is a gelatin silver print. The gelatin silver print process was created by R.L. Maddox in 181 and was later redone by Charles Harper Bennet in 1878. This is a photographic process used with black and white films and printing papers. Suspended silver salts are in gelatin is coated onto a support material. These materials are light sensitive and are able to be exposed and processed even several years after being manufactured.  When the small silver salt crystals are exposed to light a few atoms of metallic silver are liberated. The amount of time and the temperature conditions control the contrast of the final image. The development is then stopped by neutralizing the developer in a second bath. Once the development is complete, the silver salts are removed by fixing them is sodium or ammonium thiosulphate.  Then, the print is washed in clean water.  At last, the final image consists of metallic silver embedded in a gelatin coating.

Bob Gruen couldn’t abide by the rule laid down by the music industry whereby photographers are allowed in the “pit” for the first three songs at a concert and then they have to leave before the makeup and sweat starts running down faces.  It is only when performers really get going that Gruen is interested in making live shots. Tina Turner is such an amazing performer with moves like no one else.  Gruen tried to capture some of that energy by leaving the camera open to a second exposure while the strobe lights where going off.

This is a picture of the photographer,  Bob Gruen.

Assignment # 6

The Baroque Period of Dance

The baroque period was from 1600 to 1750.  Baroque was derived from the Portuguese word barroco meaning misshapen pearl.  During this time dance, art, architecture, and music flourished.  The baroque period is characterized by dynamic movement, overt emotion, and self-confident rhetoric.  During the baroque period there was a tendency to blur distinction between the various arts. Louis XIV was a dancer in European History during this time.  At age 15, he appeared as Apollo, the sun king, in a ballet.  That is why he is still known as the Sun King.  This baroque period of dance is directly related to the baroque music.

Louis XIV, the Sun King

Why People Dance

People dance as a form of representation and self-expression.  Some people dance as a form of prayer, a way to stay fit, a way to spend quality time with a partner, or as a social interaction.  Dance is commonly expected to see during a time of celebration like at a wedding.  Sometimes people just dance for fun and as a hobby or interest.  Dance is also done by a way of performing. There are many types of dance and many of them hold different purposes.  An example would be the Butoh dance which is the dance of the dark soul and is an experimental Japanese dance.  This is different from Modern Ballet which is a 20^th century variation on classical ballet and is based on the teaching of George Balanchine.

People using dance as a form of exercise by doing Zumba.


One Non-Western Dance Art Form

One non-western dance art form is Polynesian dance. Polynesian dance can be seen and celebrated as a form of art on many islands from Hawaii to Tahiti.  This dance is a major part of many cultures.  His native dance to Hawaii is the hula.  The hula is performed at luaus and festivals. This dance was originally created by the Polynesians settled in Hawaii.  These dancers perform to a song or chant, and this is known as a "mele." Oftentimes the choreography acts out the words or emotion behind the mele. The two kinds of hula are Monarchy and Ai Kahiko.  There is a Polynesian Culture center on the island of Oahu that many tourists, including myself, visit to see this Polynesian dance and this culture.

Polynesian dancers performing a traditional Hula dance.