A specific aspect of the production that stood out to me in Trevor Biship’s production, Assassins, is the musical number The Ballad of Guiteau. The Ballad of Guiteau stood out to me because of the music, Rob Murray’s delivery and the connection I made with the character Charles Guiteau.
One aspect that stood out to me in The Ballad of Guiteau is the music choice. It is a well thought out musical choice to display Guiteau’s lack of psychological well-being. I believe that the combination of the religious funeral like music with the high tempo dancing music helped to display Guiteau’s lack of being able to understand other human beings - having empathy. The religious funeral like music with the high tempo dancing music profoundly helped to display
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Murray’s delivery added a greater amount of depth to my understanding of Guiteau’s psyche. An example of when Murray’s delivery added more depth to his character Guiteau, is when he projected his voice in two extreme ways. The first extreme delivery is being soldier like and numb -when he is singing the part “I am going to the lordy”- and the second one being overly joyful - when he is singing the part “Look at the bright side”. Murray’s delivery of both extremes made me feel as though he is a real person on stage, not an actor. Because of this, I felt that I could connect with his mind, soul and …show more content…
This part of the production came together beautifully in my mind. It all came together so wonderfully in my mind because the extreme music choices helped to create an initial subconscious emotion. Then Murray’s delivery helped me feel that I was looking at the real deal - not just a character. And finally, the conscious emotions that The Ballad of Guiteau evoked that helped me to connect to the rest of the production. My final thought of the production is that it did not change my opinions, but it did reinforce them. It reinforced my opinion that that unfortunately, for many people who are murders or who have attempted it, feel somehow justified. And in Guiteau’s case he felt his actions were justified because he did it for god. Most people who have similar pathologies need serious help, however, they do not think so. The production accomplished diving into a thoughtful topic that is scary and very real in a humorous way. I believe this production is worth doing again, because it is rare to hear the “bad guys” side of the story. Overall, I feel these types of productions lead all of us to a better understanding of
There are many different types of heroism that exist among the heroes of past and present. Heroism usually is thought of as battling and triumphing over an obstacle, or conquest of a fair-maiden’s love. But notice what this passage from the Mahabharata says about “The True Hero.”
It holds such power over captives and captors alike that they cannot help but feel enamoured to the life it brings. Cesar especially feels the beauty of music “Oh, how he loved to hear the words in his mouth… It didn't matter that he didn't understand the language, he knew what it meant. The words and music fused together and became a part of him” and through music, he discovers his latent talent for singing (224). Based only on Roxanne’s previous arias, Cesar’s potential is outstandingly bright when he sings for the first time without any training whatsoever. Not only do the others learn to appreciate his gift, but Roxanne herself recognizes how promising he is or she would not have bothered to waste her time tutoring him. Beforehand, Cesar is nothing remarkable, just another one of the terrorists who detains them, but the opera transforms him into a separate person. Like the mansion enveloped in the garua, Cesar is heavily shrouded by serious self-esteem issues and fear, but after his breakthrough, his worries suddenly disappear and his life becomes a reservoir of joy. If “life, true life, was something stored in music”, then Cesar has lived a deprived life; his passion for music was just unfolding, but fate robs the world of who “was meant to be the greatest singer of his time” (5,
One of the most prominent examples of program music is Richard Strauss’s tone poem Don Quixote. This tone poem tells the story of Miguel de Cevantes Saavedra’s novel The Adventures of Don Quixote. The story of the hero Don Quixote is one of insanity and delusion that Strauss was able to depict very well. Don Quixote was a middle aged man that read too many books about knights and their heroic deeds. This is shown by three different themes given to show Don’s dreams of being a knight. Over time, he read so many books and dreamt of rescuing his ideal woman named Dulcinea from a dragon so many times that his mind was unable to separate his real life from his fantasy world. Strauss chose to depict Dulcinea with a beautiful lyrical melody while the dragon is represented by a loud, low, sustained melody in the tenor and bass tubas. Don’s victory over the dragon is shown by a victory flourish in the flute and oboe. After this melding of his mind occurs, he believes that he is really the knight Don Quixote de la Mancea. From here, he and his side kick Sancho Panza set out into the world to do chivalrous deeds. From here on out, Don is represented by a solo cello voice. When ...
On a Wednesday night I saw Texas State Theatre and Dance Department's performance of A Chorus Line. The main plot of the musical entails the audition of 17 dancers for several Broadway roles on the chorus line. However, during their auditions the director Zach asks for personal stories of each dancer's life. Though the plot of this musical is seemingly simple in its twist on the traditional audition, it explores themes that reveal the human experience, the search for individuality, and the sense of self.
One can argue that the emotional impact of the musical delivery may have much more impact on an audience than the original message Springsteen hoped to portray through his
The entity of the chorus, which serves as the narrator of the play, still holds true to that function as a camera crew and news reporte...
Despite the nature, origins and even existence of the Renaissance being subject to intensive investigation by many historians, the traditional understanding of the European renaissance as being defined as the bridge between the Middle Ages and modern era has resonated in society throughout time. Exemplified through the influx of creative arts, literature and philosophy of that time, Swiss cultural historian Jacob Burckhardt defined this bridge as being the result of an immense intellectual transformation in humanity. In fact, the term ‘renaissance’, coined by the French historian Jules Michelet, can be translated to mean ‘new birth’ or ‘rebirth’. Spanning roughly through the 14th to 17th centuries, the renaissance is often recognised as the time of a revolution of cultural revitalization and exploration. These traditionalist ideas of the Renaissance as developed by Michelet and later expanded by Burckhardt were however ultimately disposed by revisionist historians like Charles Homer Haskins who began a revolt against Renaissance idea, motivated by the goal to deny the era any legitimate historical existence and annex the period to the middle ages. However, the perspectives of these historians in this debate are ultimately a reflection of their own context and purposes. Both Michelet and Burckhardt’s approach reflect their own 19th-century world, whilst Haskins was heavily influenced by his liberal, optimistic 20th-century ideals. A more contemporary approach to the debate is exemplified through historiographer Wallace K. Ferguson. Ferguson had chosen to focus and draw conclusions from the mirrored reflections and controversies surrounding the Renaissance idea that persisted amongst past historians. However, despite argua...
Musical theatre is a type of theatrical performance combining music, dance, acting and spoken dialogue. Written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, ‘West Side Story’ is a classic American musical based on William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The through-composed score and lyrics are used to portray different characters and their cultures, the rivalry between the Jets and Sharks, and the emotions felt as the story progresses. This essay will be exploring the music and how effective the score is in realising the world and characters of the musical. Furthermore, it will discuss how Bernstein and Sondheim relate characters’ diverse ethnicities to particular musical ideas and motifs.
Singing was also very important in the play. Most often, the songs that were sung in the play were used in conjuction with lighting to create the mood. Deep, slow songs indicated that times were changing from good to bad, or from bad to worse. High, fast songs introduced happy scenes. Scenes were also changed according to song, such as the jail scene. The cast began to sing a song about freedom and the jail bars disappeared, indicating through song that the men had been freed. Also, song was important in the play because the songs were specific to the african american culture.
It was good setting to get the attention from the audience and also a way to move around or change settings of the play. Although I love this play my small critic for this play was the players. Some others actors had understandable accents but others didn’t. For example, the brother of the servant his accent was confusing because he kept switching his accent from different country languages. This play was really nice it had a little of bit of everything drama, comedy, romance, betrayal. What like about this play it was how they used the dramatic structure the inciting incident and the climax. The inciting incident for this play of musical comedy murders of 1940 was guessing who the killer of the play was because there was tension building up not knowing who the murder was. The climax for this play would be for me finding out who was the murder and just being in shock how everything had change into a new scenario. Overall it was amazing show how it developed and how well an organized transition the play
...sion, the solo song I Know Things Now by leading composer Stephen Sondheim is a definitive example of integration of musical and dramatic devises to develop the character as well as plot. The integral key of C Major and common time signature portray the simplicity of the character, however then delves into the confusion and heightened stakes with a range of accidentals and modulations as she describes descending the wolf’s stomach. Adopted from Hammerstein, Sondheim uses repetitious lyrics in order to allow the audience to understand and absorb completely. He uses literary devises to give voice to what Red has learnt from her adventure and in turn uses the song as an enabling therapy to progress the plotline by giving the cape to the Baker. Thus, Sondheim integrates a range of musical and dramatic devises to develop the character and thus correspondingly the story.
The Renaissance was a significant, culture movement that began in Italy during the early 1300’s. During the Middle Ages the branch of learning that was most important was theology which means the study of God. Some Renaissance religious leaders had the belief that corrupt cities could be redeemed if their citizens sincerely practiced Christianity. (Hankins Web) During this time of the English Renaissance: Roman Catholicism, Puritanism, and Anglicanism were popular religions that played a major role during this period.
1. Riff- He is the leader of the Jets. Founded it with Tony. A wild man that acts like a punk and dies in a fight.
Lloyd Webber’s widely regarded masterpiece Phantom Of The Opera uses key motifs and themes throughout the musical to establish its characters and scenes in an effective manner. Throughout the production the motifs, themes and songs all develop to reflect the changes their respective characters undergo. This is particularly evident when analysing The Phantom, his motifs and songs, and how they develop throughout the story.
Beethoven knew Guicciardi through her family (Steblin, 2014). He began to give piano lessons to her, and that is when the infatuation began. He wrote many letters to friends about the enchanting girl, but alas, he knew that they could not be married; Beethoven later dedicated the Moonlight Sonata to Guicciardi. I believe that the relation to the music and the dedication is easily detectable. In the first movement, the constant arpeggios and lack of damper not only reflect a moon’s reflection on water, but also this continuous love and desire for Guicciardi. The second movement is happy, which can reflect how Beethoven felt when he was around her. The third movement is what really makes the connection. Although the arpeggios and notion of this constant love return, there is a “large storm” as well. Beethoven knew that he would not be able to be with Guicciardi, which created an inner turmoil, or storm, inside of