Wicked

First of all, I saw Wicked at the Straz Theater. It was truly amazing! I went into it not knowing what the musical was going to be about, but I had heard only good reviews about it on the radio. I asked my mom if we could go (mostly because I didn't think that any of my friends would find this enjoyable) but we loved it!! 

Watching the behind-the-scene video really puts into perspective how much work really goes into a performance of this size. And the effort that goes into this has to be 100% from ALL the people involved. Like the video says, it requires effort from the director, cast, orchestra, writers, makeup, everyone's part is crucial to a successful performance. 

As much as I loved this musical, my all time favorite was Dirty Dancing. I saw this in Boston and I cannot even describe in words the way it makes you feel. It's so real and just takes you to a different place. Definitely makes you appreciate this type of art when you see it for yourself. 

Oculus Rift

These seem awesome! Now I'm not a big gamer, but I can enjoy a good action movie. This equipment seems as if it is similar to 3D glasses (which as such a hassle to wear through an entire movie!). But I like the idea that I can watch my favorite action/adventure movies through these as well as listen to concerts that I may have missed out on over the summer. I love music, and I love even more that music, is live music. These would be an amazing product that one day I hope to try and/or own. :)

p.s. I thought that the video at the end of the article was pretty cool too. I liked the way that this artist incorporated his own music into the orchestra and the chorus. Not very many performers like to take the spotlight away from themselves.

South Pacific and Coco Cola Commercial

There is much controversy in the most recent super bowl commercial for Coco Cola. This commercial is about America being beautiful and diverse and having it's own culture. Part of the song is sung in English and the other part of the song is sung is Spanish (which a high percent of Americans speak today.) The argument is that this should not have been performed in this way as those in American should speak English and be a true "American". These racial issues are the same that are bought up in the broadway music "South Pacific." This musical is about an American army man who falls in love with an Island girl, they have two children together. Then the man is a widower and cares for the two children of mixed race. As this man goes out to look for another wife he gets a lot of criticism for raising children that are of mixed race. There is so much controversy about this musical, and they got criticized hard for the main song of the musical. This song is called "How You're Taught." This is a song about racism being something that we are taught to feel it is not innate in us from birth. They sing about how each person should be loved and valued the same way no matter the race or background of the individual.

This musical was from the late 1940s, and we are currently in 2014. This is some 50 years later and we are still dealing with the same issues. Now there are laws and rules that say that each individual is equal in all aspects, however this clearly is not the case. I do believe strongly that it is how we are raised. Children learn by example and if there is some issue going on between a white man and a black (or other racial background) man, the children pick up on this much more that we would think. In the United States this has been such an issue that it created the Civil War. Although the war is over and rules have changed, society has yet to change. I fear that this issue will never truly go away.

It is really sad to see kids getting treated differently for something so small as skin color. I grew up in New England, Massachusetts to be specific and we did not have such racial issues in the little town that I grew up. Although people look at whites and blacks differently, there does not seem to be as much segregation as there is in the south. Now I learned this when I moved to Florida 3 years ago. I got a job in Ybor, Tampa and saw first had the discrimination. I was appalled at first, and spoke with managers and coworkers from the area and they see no issue with how they are treating minorities. They told me "this is the south, its our culture." Now after being here for 3 years I see how this is their culture and it is completely unlike New England.

I think that white Americans feel and act this way towards minorities as part of a pride issue? We are all taught in schools that whites came over to America and discovered this land and that it is ours (whites that is.) You do not learn about black leaders in school, only those white presidents and persons of importance. You learn in school that blacks are slaves, and that there was a huge problem that there was a war in place of it. Now things may not have changed because people do not want to accept change and believe in ways they were brought up, or possibly they do not change because people EXPECT things to be a certain way and look out for this.

As far as the Coco Cola commercial "offending" some people because it is in a different language, comes from those uneducated people who believe that there is no room for diversity. In all honesty, when I was younger I did not believe that we should allow immigrants into the country because we should maintain America's way and their culture. However now that I am older and educated, I understand that the WAY of America IS to be diverse and be different. This is a magical place where anyone is welcome and should feel at home. Not a place of discrimination and racism.

Now it may take years and years or we may never see true equality, but I certainly don't think that we should encourage this among children. I do see first hand that it is a cultural issue, and if children in MA are brought us to treat everyone equally I don't see why children in the "south" can't be taught the same thing!!

Madama Butterfly

This was a very interesting animated opera. It is clearly to be viewed by adult viewers seeing as there is graphic detail in the first two minutes of the opera. However, this is a story about a woman who falls in love with a man who leaves her. When he leaves, he gives her his jacket and hat, but takes her little butterfly. He also leaves her pregnant with his child and does not return for some years. This little lady waits and waits for her man to return, and just as it seems he will not return, he does. This time however, he returns with another lover. This wicked stepmother breaks up Madama and her baby girl. Now this woman has not her child, lover, or butterfly. She then cannot handle being alone and abandoned and commits suicide. I have mixed thoughts about this video. I find it interesting because of the story and I'm a sucker for love stories however the way it is presented is so odd to me. I do not understand why this woman's baby originally is a fish in a glass tank in her stomach, and then when she is born she is a normal baby? I don't know, maybe I'm missing an important idea but it just seems odd to me to make a video of an opera in such a way.

Deus Ex Machina - Catching Fire

If you are a fan of The Hunger Games, you've probably seen the most recent sequel Catching Fire. This movie was excellent!! I chose this movie to use as my example of deus ex machine because the entire movie is fictional, yet is portrayed in such a way that it feels real, rather than fictional. This movie is about a world where instead of fighting in the US Army to protect your country and todays democratic government, the world is flipped upside down. The government is so bad that it encourages those of upper class to watch the lower class citizens fight to the deal in a series of games called The Hunger Games. These games are similar to the Olympics that are taking place this year, however on a much sicker scale. The first movie of the trio is the introduction of how the games are run, and Katniss (the main character) volunteers to fight in place of her little sister. Here she fights along side another boy from her district Peeta. Together they end up winning the games together, which is unusual because the point of the game is to have one winner. However these two convinced the viewers that they were lovers and sympathy allowed them to win together. :)

The sequel to this first movie is next year when it's time for the picking for this years hunger games. They decided to do a unique year where they invite all of the winning tributes to fight as sort of a "advanced" game. Katniss and Peeta return for battle, knowing this time they won't make it out together. The government they have is so corrupt and brutal, that even members of their government are beginning to turn against them. Katniss and Peeta are favorites from the games, and they want to rescue them. The example of deus ex machine comes in the ending of this movie. They go through a series of challenges that bring them near death, and remember the point of these games is to "put on a show."

All of the other members in the tournament decide that they want to go against the government and save Katniss, since she seems to be the head target of the game leaders. We, as the viewers do not know that everyone is on Katniss' side and this makes the movie very interesting. People come close to killing her but it's all for show. The ending of the movie happens when one of the members sacrifices herself to save Katniss, she cuts her tracker out of her arm. And just when Katniss is about to die she is randomly rescued from a jet that enters the game zone and picks her up. Obviously the game leaders do not know that this has occurred since her tracker has been taken out. This is when we find out that her mentor and Peeta, and other members of the government team were out to save Katniss this whole time.

I thought that this was an example of where technology saved an unseeingly solvable problem because in the movie it's at the end, and the entire field is going to burn with everyone in it. Katniss has encountered some serious battles and is almost dead from exhaustion and just at the last minute this giant jet comes from no where and picks her up and puts her on IVs to save her.

Hope this is what you're looking for!! :)

Opera Gone Modern Video Game

The opera I chose is Ernani by Verdi. This was originally performed in 1844, and was a very dramatic opera. This opera is classic in that it is about a woman, Elvira, that is a love triangle. She is told to marry Gomez de Silva by her family, however is in love with bad boy Ernani, whom she cannot marry. Ernani is collaborating with a bunch of bandits who feel sorry for him because he is so gloomy. They decide to capture Elvira and run away with her. Ernani breaks in when King Carlos and Silva are there, he challenges them both to battle and tells Elvira to prepare to flee. Elvira chooses to marry Silva because she believes Ernani is dead. Ernani however finds his way into the palace again, to tell Elvira they will run away together, and she tells him that she plans to kill herself at the altar. Then Ernani and Silva get together to get Elvira away from the King. Strangely the two worked together well, and even though the King demanded answers and help Elvira captive, Silva did not turn Ernani in. Carlos overhears Ernani and Silva talking and demands that Ernani is dead however once he sees the connection between Ernani and Elvira he decides to unite the two lovers. At the end Silva hands Ernani a dagger and he ends up killing himself as he promised Silva he would do so in return for freeing Elvira from the King.

From this opera I learned that many operas are the same story, however presented differently. It seems to me that most operas are a dramatic love story between two lovers who cannot be together and at the end one of the lovers commits suicide. When this opera was originally presented I think that the audience reacted very well to the opera because it was based on events that were happening around them. This time people were forced into marriages and many times, the ones whom they were told to marry were not the ones they loved. I'm sure many men and women could relate to the feelings that were presented during the operas. Besides, everyone loves a good love story! 

This piece is important chronologically to opera because it is telling stories of what was happening in this time in history. It also is testing the limits with opera by performing acts that may have been otherwise known as taboo. Committing suicide on stage has got to have been a bold statement at this time in history. Unfortunately, today we hear of suicide much too often. There is minimal use of technology in this opera however it can be seen in the beginning when the bandits are fighting the man on the white horse. This use of technology makes the skit come to life. Also as in most other operas the use of technology can be seen through the different back drops during the opera. 

If I were a 21st century director, I would turn this opera into a video game by making the game about capturing Elvira. The way the game would work is by going up levels each time you get closer to Elvira. You would encounter challenges such as Silva and Carlos, however to win the game would have to overcome these obstacles and eventually get the girl. This game would have lots of action as Ernani is part of the bandits and there is a lot of "almost" fights between Ernani, the King, and Carlos. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcInGVq_ERw

The Birth and Life of Opera

After watching the birth and life of opera it definitely made me have more appreciation for this form of art. Opera is an amazing art form the combines several different forms, such as dance, music, and theater. Those that made the opera were from the Camerata (people such as artist, philosophers, scientists, and writers) in Florence over 400 years ago. I found it most interesting that the styles of opera changed depending on what was going on around them. There were several styles of opera. Ones that were looking to tell a story, a romantic and/or serious opera that included the audience. Then there were operas that wanted to show up one another, or highly impress their guests (usually the kings and queens.) One example of an opera for the rich and famous is Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. Because operas were political in many ways, people began exploiting the operas based on their political views such as in 1996, when a Venetian opera burns because of political views. Today opera is not as popular as once before, however they seem to be rising in countries that are experiences rapid change and growth. One example is in China in the People's Republic of China as they just completed that Shanghai Grand Theater in 1998.