Blogged Performance Reports 2

Introduction
Side Show: The Musical performance I attended took place on a cool evening as I scurried along at 8:01 p.m. arriving at the University Theatre’s doors. I arrived late, wanting to bring a friend again to this performance, but he wasn’t in his apartment. When I was lead in by an usher to my seat, I noticed that the performance room was quite dark and pact, since getting to my seat posed a minor challenge. I was shocked to find the performers all dressed up in strange clothing and one half naked as his costume, which was quite different from the Shakespeare and Song. As I soon settled in I noticed that the music wasn’t coming from a prerecorded speaker, but a small band of instruments in the back, mainly consisting of a synthesizer, brass instruments, guitar, and clarinets. Though all the instruments were in the back, the performers did all the singing, thus a musical.

Music
Western styles, timbres, and keys were used thoroughly throughout the entire performance. Multiple strange electronically layered sounds were most likely produced from the synthesizer adding to the tension and feel of the acting while singers were taking breaths and shifting the stage around. The voices also like the Shakespeare and Song used many thick textures and harmonies. Harmony was at the end and very heavy on the end of every song. Most of the songs contained a duple meter and simple meter. The music contained mainly heterophony textures with the band as support, but occasionally would contain monologues, soliloquies, and dialogues. Some songs would be sung solo also to show the thoughts of one character or two, while the rest of the performers were often off stage or frozen. Timbres mainly consisted between deep diaphragm choir harmonizing sounds and deep diaphragm talking pitched sounds that created a great deal of carol like sounds combined with a the musical aspect. The dialogue was much easier to follow making the plot easy to understand and creating a more engaged audience. Some songs were jolly while others were melancholy, depending on how the characters were feeling and the event the characters were suppose to play a role in. Like most music, the more melodramatic songs had a slow minor tone along with slower smoother dance moves, while the joyful songs were faster rhythmically and the dance moves were more acute and jagged. The music seemed to never stop, though there were occasional pauses for a line in between scenes. The strangest song was Come Look At The Freaks, which had Bryan Thompson playing Jake, a Cannibal King, who was wearing a sacked cloth and jumping on the front row chairs, creating an engaged atmosphere with the audience as if we were part of the musical.

Performers
The performers had many costumes and changed based on the scenery. Unlike the last performance I attended, the people playing the instruments had no costumes.

Audience
The audience contained more of an elderly senior population with fewer students than the previous performances I have attended. I didn’t recognize any students or adults in the audience, although I did recognize Eli the “Geek” who seems to be a performer in every performance I attended.

Time and Space
The space didn’t have much room for many to wiggle around, but sufficient enough for one to enjoy the performance. The spacing on the stage was constantly changing as large props were taken on and off and turned to create a change in environment. Though the instrumentalist didn’t move at all, the stage was quite dynamic.