Music Report 1: Shakespeare in Song

As I arrived into UTD’s performance hall, I noticed I did not get a chance to see their opening act to get decent understanding of the plot that played through the performance. The plot just went on without me, I guess. Everybody in the auditorium was silently paying attention to the music playing as some of them eagerly wrote down notes for some a class assignment. The auditorium was half-filled with some students and quite a few adults with their kids. I then went to get a decent seat to view the performance on the right side corner to see the pianist a little more.

Anywho, I sat there I noticed their peculiar Shakespearian attire that had put on for the performance. It did not really detract from the musical performance, but it added some character to the performers that stood off the benches to recite some lines. Even the conductor and the accompanying pianist had fit themselves to wear some of the clothing to make to blend in with their stage. Speaking of the stage, there was nothing out of the ordinary, just a simple layered out stage with the performers lined up from tallest to smallest.

The music itself varied throughout every act due to it constantly switching tones from the several of the actors that were singing alongside the performers. Often the performers would step off the stands to recite some lines of some play while the music still continued to play without starling anyone in the choir. Sometimes it was hard to catch what they were saying while the choruses were gleefully singing to the heart’s content. The story then was implanted to the music as the actors stood forth and continued to speak into the crowd freely. In certain songs, the actors would speak out normally during some the crescendos and codances.

Of course, I would see them stress out certain words in a full booming crescendo in almost every song they performed, but still audible to the ears. I’m guessing this common in most opera music. Of course their diction is still intact even though it’s hard to catch some of the lines.

The performers were giving it all and truly into their character, or so it seems. As whole group they varied in different facial expression. You could see a cheery faces on them sometimes in one of their energetic songs and sometimes see some static faces amongst them. Not that it affected the performance in anyway, but it seemed like the natural thing to do when standing in the benches. They are sort of limited in having some gestural movements compared to the soloist that freed themselves from clutches of the benches. Still, the soloist really didn’t feature any gestural movements at all, but they showed some signs of despair in their faces, especially the female soloist. I’m surprise she did not really took advantage of the wide space she was given to fully carry on their roles, including the actors who were reciting their lines from a visible script.

The audience seemed like they already know when it was appropriate for them to clap during the acts. Others were busy taking down notes for some crucial report or mildly enjoying the music. As I mentioned before, the auditorium was half full, but after the short break, the numbers dwindled a bit. Most of the time the audience was quite until some drunk character came into play and you could hear few chuckles in the crowd.

It wasn’t your typical Shakespearean play, but I did sort of expected to see them frolicking around the stage with the given space between the pianist and the chorus. The audience seemed to enjoy the music and performers were glad to share their music with them. Everybody in the stands then bowed to the crowd and walked off the right side of the auditorium, thus ending this musical adventure for today.