Comedy of Errors

1.    Describe the Theater, sets, and costumes

Comedy of Errors was put on in Drayton Hall.  This is a small theatre and did not have too big of a stage.  I believe they only opened two curtains throughout the play and only a hand full of stage lights.  But, it is nice being in a small theater sometimes and being able to see everything so clearly.  The scenery was well organized though.  The stage had the same backdrop throughout the play.  The backdrop was just scenery of outside.  They had some table and chairs on the side where the characters would sit down and eat and drink.  They also had a part of the stage where one individual could walk up stairs and be at what was meant to be a balcony.  A dog was also up on his own balcony on the left side of the stage type writing the entire play.  He would randomly bark, which brought humor to the play.  The costumes were my favorite part of this play.  All of the characters had bright colored clothes on and they had wigs to match.  This made them look rather funny!  My favorite costumes were the twins and the genie girls.  They all had on really bright colors with fun wigs.  The costumes were what allowed me from the first scene of the play to know that this play was going to be very humorous. 

2. In what period does this play take place? Who is the author? What period did the play write live?

The play takes place in the Greek Period.  The Comedy of Errors was written by William Shakespeare.  William Shakespeare lived during the Renaissance period.

3. Discuss the plot

The Comedy of Errors is a humorous play about two sets of identical twins that get separated at birth.  The play then fast forwards to the twins grown up.  The sets of twins have no idea that they have other siblings, so when the confusion starts is when they are both in the same town at the same time.  All kind of confusions happens during the play.  The one twin is waiting for money to be returned to him and it is given to the wrong twin.  So, throughout the whole play the twin is angry and thinks people are lying to him.  One twin is cheating on his, wife and the other twin is the one who is accused.  The twins are not the only ones confused, but all the people who are around them.  The play is guided by song and dancing.  It was very entertaining to watch, because of all that was going on.  Every scene had another twin in it and people were always confused.  The confusion is what makes this a comedy play! 

This was the cover to the program of the play!  It pretty much describes the entire play and how everything was confusing anf truned upside down!  When I first looked at it i didn't get the hint about the twins.  But, I knew after the first scene that their was going to be twins and that most likely means confusion!

Phantom of The Opera

Describe- The movie Phantom of The Opera is originally based off of a novel that is now known as a well-known theatre play.  The movie is about a man named Phantom that haunts a French opera house.  The performers and those who run the theater do not know who this man is and cannot see his face because he hides half of it with a mask.  During the movie the lead girl of the performance becomes Phantoms obsession.  His dreams are soon crushed when he realizes the girl is in love with another man.  So, Phantom becomes determined to get the girl.  He creates all these obstacles for the performers so that he can capture the girl.  When he indeed captures the girl he takes her down to his own dungeon underneath the theatre and they hide out there.  Finally after everyone is looking for her, her lover comes and finds her.  The Phantom threatens the man by saying either you die or she does.  They are both terrified, but the Phantom has a change of heart and lets the girls go back to her love.  The Phantom then disappears.
Analyze- In the beginning of the movie there was a scene with a young boy getting beaten and made fun of.  This scene was made to be a reminder throughout the play of who this young boy could be.  Later finding out it was the Phantom, but things into perspective.  A person’s first impression of the Phantom is a mean and scary man who wants to ruin things for the theatre and its’ performers.  Throughout the movie you knew that there was more behind the way Phantom acted and why he would not show his identity.  This movie is all about identity and a person’s past. 
Interpret- The reason that the Phantom was so bitter was because he was treated so badly as a child.  He was beaten up and treated with no respect.  Because the Phantom was so mean people were so terrified of him and never actually thought about why he acts the way he does.  The one person that finally realized that there must be a reason behind his actions was the girl of his dreams.  She wanted to know why he wore that mask and why he wouldn’t show his true face to her.  But, when he did take off his mask she realized what he was hiding and felt sorry for him.  The lesson people can take from this movie is not to judge people before knowing what is truly going on in their life.    
Evaluate- I had never seen the Phantom before this class.  Many of my friends have seen it several times and were shocked that I had never seen it once.  I’m glad that we watched this movie as a class.  I enjoyed all the music and the scenery!  I have always been into theatre and the Phantom is on my list of plays that I want to attend.  It is a very intriguing story.  I took a lesson away from watching this movie and that is to not judge people so quickly before I know their real story.  I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Phantom at the end.  I don’t blame him for not wanting to show his face to others.  There is a reason the Phantom of the Opera is such a popular play and that is because it is a great story! 

I enjoyed all of the music in Phantom of The Opera but Angel of Music really stuck out to me.  The girls voices are just beautiful.  Christine is singing to her father and she has faith that their is angel guiding over her.  Even though her friend does not believe her, so still knows that her angle of music is there.  She belives that it is the Phantom and he does appear to her at the end of this song.  This is where you can see how truely talented Christine is. 

Assignment 8

1.    Describe the difference between opera, light opera, and musical theater

Opera is an elevated style of musical theatre as defined by the age of Mozart from about 1775-1910.  The performers are accompanied by an orchestra or a musical ensemble.  Light opera is less demanding form of operatic theatre.  It incorporates spoken words and appeals to broader audiences.  But, it still requires operatic voices and live orchestra.  Musical theatre is a type of theatre that songs, dance, and spoken dialogue.  Musical theatre is performed all around the world.  Many of these shows are performed on Broadway in New York City and London.  While musical theatre can be very similar to opera, it differs because it can have spoken dialogue.  Operas are all music and that is the way the story is told.  Personally i prefer musical theatre, because I like listening to both music and spoken dialogue.  One of my favorite Broadways that I saw in New York was the Lion King!  I saw this show when I was only six years old, but I still remembering almost the entire show.  I loved hearing the characters sing!  The scenery was also amazing in the show and the way they portrayed the animals!  It was a great experience and I have seen several Broadway shows since!

No one is naturally born with an operatic voice.  An individual’s peak performance voice is not until after 30.  Opera singers are known for being notoriously demanding.  Opera singers are classified by the type of voice they have.  The soprano is the highest voice which is followed by mezzo soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, and then bass.  Some famous singers are Senesino and Farinelli.  So, even if an opera singer has been singing almost their whole life, their voice will not fully be trained and formed correctly until after they are 30 years of age.

3. Choose an Opera by Puccini? Describe and interpret.

Puccini wrote the opera Madama Butterfly.  He based this opera on part of the short story Madama Butterfly by John Luther Long.  The opera premiered on February 17, 1904 in Milan.  It had noble singers such as, Rosina Storicho and Giovanni Zentatello.  Act one of the opera starts off with a US navy lieutenant wanting to marry a fifteen year old Japanese girl.  The young girl is madly in love with husband to be!  So, the lieutenant is warned not to take this marriage lightly.  The bride to be is known as Madama Butterfly and the lieutenant claims he is just as in love with Butterfly.  Madama Butterfly’s family refused her from marrying this man, but the lieutenant ordered then to leave and the two said their vows.  The two have a house in Japan and the lieutenant was gone for three years and had another wife in the US, but Madama had confidence that he would return.  Madama tells the lieutenant that they have a son and he wants to take him to the US with his and his new wife.  After all this drama Madama commits suicide and the lieutenant is the one who finds her dead.  This opera is a drama and yes it was written a long time ago, but it tells a story of how things were at the time.  Throughout the opera you could foreshadow that Madama was going to be betrayed and the lieutenant was up to no good.    

This video is a scence from the opera whre the lieutenant and madama are singing a love duet to eachother.  You can see on madama face and her emotion that she is truely in love with this man and deep down he doesn't have the same feelings for her!  It is a very emotional song and the two are expressing their love for each other through song.  This shows how powerful opera's can be and how engaging they can be to their audience!

assignment 7

1.    Describe the difference between a thrust stage and proscenium stage.

A thrust stage is more of a modern stage.   It is also known as a platform or open stage.  The stage extends out to the audience on three sides, so that the audience may view the stage from at least three sides.  The proscenium stage is more of an old fashion stage.  Its main feature it the big arch that is located near the front of the stage.  This arch is known as the proscenium arch and proscenium is a Latin word meaning in front of the scenery.  Rather than the audience being able to view the stage from three sides, the audience is directly facing the stage.  The space in proscenium theatre that holds the audience is called the house.  This type of stage and theatre is decorated much more elaborately than a thrust style.  I have seen shows on both types of stages and it is a totally different type of experience.  At the thrust stage a saw a country concert.  I actually had my seats on one of the sides and the country singer Keith Urban made sure that he walked on all runways of the stage so all of his audience could see him!  I saw the musical The Sound of Musical on a thrust stage.  I got all dressed up to go the theatre.  The play was very elegant and was definitely fit for this performance.  I liked being able to see all of the play head on, so that I did not miss anything that was going on.  I enjoyed seeing both different types of stages!     

Thrust Stage

proscenium stage

2. What is the fly gallery?

A fly gallery is an area directly above the stage, equipped with machinery that lowers or raises scenery onto the stage (scenery is flown in and out).  Fly galleries can be on both right and left sides of the stage or can just be on one.  If they are on both sides of the stage they may be connected by a catwalk at the upstage.  I have never been in plays, but I use to be a dancer and I remember people working on the side of the stage raising the ropes to open the curtains of the stage.  I never knew that it was called a fly gallery though!     

 

3. How does a scrim work?

Scrim is a curtain of thinly woven fabric that is opaque when lit from the front and transparent when lit from behind.  This curtain is used so that when light is shined on the curtain you cannot see what is behind the curtain.  In the beginning of the show the curtain is always shut and the lights go out and the first light that is shown is on the closed curtain.  But, the audience cannot see who or what lies behind the curtain!  This does not give away what is coming up for and makes the audience be in suspense until the curtain opens!

 In this video you can see how the light is shinning on the curtain and you could not see the man that was behind the curtain.  This shows how scrim works!