My Musical Weekend

I have some serous sensory overload right now so I’m going to take a moment out and put some thoughts down. I have always had a dream of going to New York and spending a week there seeing every show that would possibly let me in. I LOVE watching musicals. And I have been made fun of by some people saying that I’m not a real man because I like musicals, but I watch them for the outstanding musical abilities, the lights, sound, and incredible sets. I typically spend half my time identifying where the microphones were taped to an actor’s face and how the sets are designed to move in and out.
On Thursday, I had a friend that invited me to go see Children of Eden at BYU. My senior year I was able to be in this show, so it takes a special place in my heart. This was while I was spending time helping out with security at my high school. The production was amazing, the actors were very good and every harmony was hit right on. The sound was great, but I didn’t need it because I sat on the front row. There was even one point when an anteater (that was bigger than I am) came up to me and whacked me in the face. It was intense! It brought back a lot of memories and reminded me of the good times I had in high school with all my friends.
Friday, I was lucky enough to take a back seat role in Security for the show at the high school, so I spent a lot of time talking to the stage manager in-between cues, watching the show, and at one point even made a cameo on stage, though nobody but the actors saw me. The show is awesome. There are many great dancers and singers this year at the school that they were able to put on a very nice show.

Then Saturday started… I went to Provo to help a friend film a tap routine for an audition. From there, I went to the show Little Shop of Horrors. (SPOILER ALERT: if you don’t know the show, just skip the rest of this paragraph) The show itself is quite gruesome and shows the hostile takeover of the planet by a plant. I was happy with the arrangement. I hadn’t ever seen a show at the Hale Center Theater in Orem and had wanted to for a long time and figured that this show would be a good reason to go see it. The acting was wonderful. The Shoo Bop girls were beyond amazing. They brought the story alive and their singing was captivating. Seymour’s voice was a little worn out and I could tell that he was ready to be done with his role, but still did a great job at entertaining the audience with his acting and singing. I was extremely disappointed with the technical aspect of the show. There were terrible squelching noises, speakers which kept failing, as well as light cues that were not in place. I spoke with the tech guy after the show and he didn’t seem like he had any interest in fixing the problem which bothered me because he seemed to have no regard for his audience, even though we ultimately pay his paycheck.

THEN, if that wasn’t enough, I decided to go to ANOTHER show that night. I went to see Aida at Timpanogos High School in Orem. I was excited. I have been listening to Aida for a long time after having watched the show at Woods Cross High School in Bountiful. When I saw it there, it was overwhelming how good they were. The set was extremely simplistic but the singing was beyond anything I’ve heard on a high school level before in my life. I had watched it another time at a school I attended for a year in Wyoming. I wasn’t impressed at all and was sad that I had driven all the way there. Back to Timp’s production: I could tell that they had reserved this show for now. They had a beautiful black girl that played Aida (you can read the story if you want to know what it’s about, just look it up on Google). The show started and the Amneris sang. She was great and hit every note solid and deliberate. She was one of the most solid stakes in the show. I was impressed with her precision while singing but was sad she didn’t sing out more. I could tell that inside her was a HUGE voice just wishing to get out, but she held back. The men in the show were weak and showed very little commitment to their character. Now, I’m not saying I’m an actor at all and probably couldn’t do any better than they do, but I can say that I KNOW when someone is acting and someone is reacting. Actors learn how to react instead of act… That is to say, instead of following a script they’ve been given, they live the story on stage and when something happens, they see if for the first time and react to it, instead of reacting because page 174 says that they are to react at that point. The men lacked in this department! As for Aida, she blew me away! I was convinced the whole time that she was a princess taken captive and forced to be a slave. Her singing was great and she put her heart and soul into the show. I’m glad I was able to go just to see her talent and ability. I hope she is able to go on and be very successful wherever she goes.

Overall, my musical weekend (while still not over) was wonderful. I was able to see, feel, and even participate in some incredible experiences with friends and family. I will forever enjoy the talents others choose to share, and probably always be critical of what they do, but still will appreciate that they’ve done it and were willing to share what they had.