Kathryn the Theatre Critic Takes Over
It's strange. I'm cold all over, but my knuckles feel particularly Arctic at the moment. Just thought the world should know . . .
Went to see "Songs For A New World" tonight. Erm. Yeah. It was . . . a good effort. Basically a revue of songs loosely (and I use the word "loosely" loosely) based around coming to and living in the US. A lot of singing about flying and dreams and new beginnings. However, it lacked any sort of real through line. It didn't need a plot, but it did need some kind of linking system, I'm not really sure what exactly.
The individual songs were a little like monologues. They more or less told mini stories or at least alluded to small narratives of some sort. There were a couple that actually did hold my attention and made me want to hear how they developed. Most, though, I would have been more interested in overhearing while eating dinner.
The actors put a lot of umph in, but it didn't help the fact that their director had given them singing parts they weren't ready for. A lot of moments where I could tell that a section was out of an actor's range. Nothing painful, but it was evident at times that they were straining. One actor also tended to sing with a distinctive nasal tone. Don't get me wrong, they were all nice vocalists (a million light years better than me, not that you could ever call me anything as refined as a "vocalist"). However, they obviously needed to either receive more training or just stay within their range.
The costumer did a good job with keeping things simple and the set was basic, so it was framed well. The band was quite good too.
All in all, I didn't regret helping out the Drama Soc with my £3.50 (and I didn't leave at intermission), but I also didn't think it was a good selection or the best directing I'd ever run across.
On an entirely separate note, our landlords are being mildly irritating. They sent us a letter something like two months ago mentioning showing the house in February. I don't remember it saying anything more specific, but I'm also not known for my stellar memory. However, I'd think it'd be common courtesy (not to mention a line in the lease contract) to warn us 24 hours in advance before they show FOUR groups of strangers through the house. NONE of us remembered (or, in some cases, knew) that people would be through this week and not a one of us was told it would be today. Grrr. Luckily, my room was fairly decent, but what if . . . well, there are a lot of what ifs, but the point was that it was just plain rude. Everyone in the house felt a little steamed about it and Laura gently mentioned it to Mr. W. I have a feeling, though, that the one we really should have been speaking to was Mrs. W, since she seems to know much more about what's going on than he does (corrected him twice about when groups were showing up). ::Sigh:: Clearly what we have here is a lack of communication skills. More people tomorrow at 10:30, so I'll have to make sure I'm through the shower by then.
Rest of the day was pleasant enough (minus the criss-cross flying snow this morning) with class, grocery shopping, and hanging out with housemates. We played Bananagrams, which was great fun and caused quite a bit of hilarity (which I needed).
I probably won't post tomorrow due to my London night out. I'm actually surprised at myself that I post pretty much everyday now. Joelle was right, you get a little attached to this thing we call LJ. (:
Went to see "Songs For A New World" tonight. Erm. Yeah. It was . . . a good effort. Basically a revue of songs loosely (and I use the word "loosely" loosely) based around coming to and living in the US. A lot of singing about flying and dreams and new beginnings. However, it lacked any sort of real through line. It didn't need a plot, but it did need some kind of linking system, I'm not really sure what exactly.
The individual songs were a little like monologues. They more or less told mini stories or at least alluded to small narratives of some sort. There were a couple that actually did hold my attention and made me want to hear how they developed. Most, though, I would have been more interested in overhearing while eating dinner.
The actors put a lot of umph in, but it didn't help the fact that their director had given them singing parts they weren't ready for. A lot of moments where I could tell that a section was out of an actor's range. Nothing painful, but it was evident at times that they were straining. One actor also tended to sing with a distinctive nasal tone. Don't get me wrong, they were all nice vocalists (a million light years better than me, not that you could ever call me anything as refined as a "vocalist"). However, they obviously needed to either receive more training or just stay within their range.
The costumer did a good job with keeping things simple and the set was basic, so it was framed well. The band was quite good too.
All in all, I didn't regret helping out the Drama Soc with my £3.50 (and I didn't leave at intermission), but I also didn't think it was a good selection or the best directing I'd ever run across.
On an entirely separate note, our landlords are being mildly irritating. They sent us a letter something like two months ago mentioning showing the house in February. I don't remember it saying anything more specific, but I'm also not known for my stellar memory. However, I'd think it'd be common courtesy (not to mention a line in the lease contract) to warn us 24 hours in advance before they show FOUR groups of strangers through the house. NONE of us remembered (or, in some cases, knew) that people would be through this week and not a one of us was told it would be today. Grrr. Luckily, my room was fairly decent, but what if . . . well, there are a lot of what ifs, but the point was that it was just plain rude. Everyone in the house felt a little steamed about it and Laura gently mentioned it to Mr. W. I have a feeling, though, that the one we really should have been speaking to was Mrs. W, since she seems to know much more about what's going on than he does (corrected him twice about when groups were showing up). ::Sigh:: Clearly what we have here is a lack of communication skills. More people tomorrow at 10:30, so I'll have to make sure I'm through the shower by then.
Rest of the day was pleasant enough (minus the criss-cross flying snow this morning) with class, grocery shopping, and hanging out with housemates. We played Bananagrams, which was great fun and caused quite a bit of hilarity (which I needed).
I probably won't post tomorrow due to my London night out. I'm actually surprised at myself that I post pretty much everyday now. Joelle was right, you get a little attached to this thing we call LJ. (: