Introduction
The performance Shakespeare in Song is a mix of acting and singing performed by the UT Dallas Chamber Singers in the Jonsson Performance Hall on Friday at 8 p.m. at UT Dallas. The performance takes different scenes from eleven different Shakespeare plays, and puts songs after acting many of these scenes out.
Music
The music of the concert was very varied. There were many minor and major songs, with solos accounting for about a third of the music. The minor songs tend to be more romantic, with quite a bit of dynamic difference. On the other hand, the songs in major keys tended to be more classical, with some even just seeming to go up and down the scales.. Another big difference between songs was that while soloists seemed easier to understand, they also used much more vibrato. Many of the songs had similar themes, especially since they all came from Shakespeare. The laments were plentiful, though certainly not the only types of song. In fact, some songs didn’t even use words. For example, one used onomatopoeia throughout while another kept repeating the phrase “ding-a-ling” over and over throughout the song (Shakespeare in song). Many of the songs also used similar structure types. Most of the minor songs resolved at the end with a major chord. Also, in keeping with this older type of song, both the minor and the major songs would resolve different sections of song by using a suspended fourth to a major chord.
Performers
The performers themselves were dressed up to play their parts, in what seemed to be Shakespearian clothing. The accompanist and the director both seemed to have more lavish clothing than the choir itself. The performers themselves played many different roles, splitting between singing and acting. Some of the members of the choir actually played multiple characters from the excerpts of Shakespeare’s plays. The soloists seemed to always act out parts from their plays before singing, since the text of the acting usually sets up the scene where the song is performed. A really surprising thing about the soloists is that none of them performed with the choir. They performed their solos and then sat down in the front row with the rest of the audience. The acting itself had no movement outside of emoting along with arm and hand movement. However, the members obviously had fun with it, especially with the drunkard giving messages. Much of the text and context was almost incomprehensible without the extensive paragraphs about each play in the program for the performance. Even the powerpoint that changed between each song gave almost no information about the text of the song or play. The acting was peppered with inside jokes of the plays that were also made much funnier with a quick read through of the program.
Audience, Time, & Space
The theatre itself was a very small auditorium, and the lights were surprisingly undimmed. This gave a very interesting air of informality about the concert. The crowd of the performance might have also contributed to this feeling, with many very informally dressed college students attending the concert. This audience was made up mainly of students supporting their friends that were members of the choir, and the parents and family of the choir members. Though this was true, the time of the concert was more typical of a formal setting, since it happened at night on a weekend. The audience did clap between each song, and there was still one accidental clap somewhere in the middle of a song. For this particular audience, it seemed very noticeable that many were taking notes for their respective classes.
Conclusion
The concert as a whole was an informal concert showcasing many of Shakespeare’s well-known works through both song and context from the play itself. It is obvious much time went into the production, whether shown by the complexity of the last song with 16 different rounds, or by the extensive program notes on each play that was performed.
MLA Citations
Shakespeare in song. Dir. Kathryn Evans. Perf. UT Dallas Chamber Singers. Cond. Kathryn Evans. Jonsson Performance Hall, Richardson, Tx. 3/26/2010.
Evans, Kathryn. Program notes. Shakespeare in Song. 3/26/2010 Richardson,Tx. Jonsson Performance Hall
No comments:
Post a Comment