Theatre Report Essays - Creative Works, Musicals,

Edward Griggs Music 24B 5/10/19 Concert Report 1: Cabaret This past Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a local PCC musical production titled "Cabaret," from the book written by Joe Masteroff and Christopher Isherwood. Musical selections were composed by John Kandar and brilliantly conducted by our very own Dr. Shin. The performance took me by surprise as I was not prepared for what was to come. If I could use one word to describe the entire production, it would be "daring." Daring, due to the fact that it was bold and brave to take us through a love story taking place during the preliminary stages of the fascist Nazi Germany in 1931. This production set in Berlin in 1931 depicts the life of a newly arrived American named Clifford Bradshaw and his struggles with the rise of Nazism. The performance included many lengthy musical numbers which were excellently performed by a "pit" and actors including the finest from Pasadena City College. As for performing forces, these included a whole cast of singers whom were also acting, a small orchestra, often times referred as the "pit." This is a much smaller pit consisting of: 4 trumpets, 2 trombones, a drum set, 2 altos, 1 soprano saxophone, 2 tenor saxophones, 1 double bass, 1 F horn, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 1 pianist, and a conductor. The venue was beautifully decorated in a big New York Broadway style complete with flashing lights, fog machines, and big beautiful platforms for performers to sing on. Theme wise, and set wise the background illustrated a bed room, a cabaret club, train, and train. There were other sets, but most of the dialogue took place inside the apartment or the halls of the apartment of Clifford Bradshaw, the shows protagonist. Upon taking my seat, I noticed there was a very ethnically diverse a udience in attendance, ranging from all ages, mainly college students and adults. The principal performers included that of; Emcee played by Adam Older, Sally Bowels played by Lexie Laundy, and Clifford Bradshaw played by Jack de Lorimier. The first three performed selections included; "Wilkommen," as performed by the M.C and cabaret girls, "So What," performed by Fraulien Schnieder, and lastly "Don't Tell Mamma," performed by Sally and cabaret girls. The first number, titled "Wilkommen," was your typical loud Broadway-style musical number. Very loud fast exciting music giving the audience a preview of what was to come. The vocals as performed by the cabaret girls was exciting watch, their electrifying performances really brought the vivid world of 1931 Germany to life. Wilkommen included the reoccurring theme of the musical in which the pit utilized various fast tempos and major key signatures to illustrate a vivid world to the audience. I couldn't really make of it what the exact time signature was. Tempos felt like they shifted from a standard 4/4 feel to a faster cut time 2/2 time. The performers managed to keep the energy going by flawlessly shifting from your standard, more common time signatures, to duple meters such as 6/8, and even a cool 3/4 jazz swing. Moreover, there was not many changes in musical dynamics. This piece "Wilkommen" was performed in a forte/fortissimo dynamic to give you the sense of the typical musical Broadway sound. Topping off this introduction scene, there was a hilarious, well-choreographed dance routine like something out of an early 1930's film. Apart from everything, I really appreciated the attention to detail from the musicians in the pit. I constantly caught myself carefully staring at how they would seamlessly execute instrument changes and create different musical effects with the use of horn mutes, changes of basses (stand-up double bass to electric bass), a different array of auxiliary percussion instruments, and use of different cymbals and percussion techniques to get the right timbre of thin a nd heavy crashes when required. The second piece, titled "Fraulien Schnieder," introduced us to one of the key characters of the play. Sweet, calm-mannered, and your typical mother figure, Fraulien Schnieder, performs a very melodic and groovy paced aria. The actor portraying Ms. Schnieder did a wonderful job in utilizing melisma during musical phrases, often carefully manipulating phrases between her and the pit playing behind her. Both the