Assignment #9

Concert
My friend Beth and I attended one of the USC Symphony Orchestra's performances at the Koger Center. It was led by cellist Wendy Warner. It was conducted by Dr. Donald Portnoy The first part of the concert consisted of the USC Symphony Orchestra playing alone. The music was very slow and calming. I'm not really into orchestral music, but I actually sat and tried to figure out what was going on in the music. Then Wendy Warner came on stage to play with the Orchestra. It was amazing to see how grateful the students were to be playing with her. We were unfortunate and had to sit up close to the stage. Therefore, we were not able to see every person playing. I feel that if we were to have been able to see everyone playing we would have had a more enjoyable experience.

 Even though she is hard to see, this is when Wendy Warner was playing along with the orchestra. We were scared to take pictures during the performance. (Left)

Beth and I had some fun while listening to the orchestra warm up before their performance started. (Below)

Assignment #8

Play

One long weekend, I went back to my hometown of Greenville, SC and went to see White Christmas: The Musical  at The Peace Center, with my mother. This play was a rendition of the 1954 film White Christmas. After leaving the Army after WWII, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis team up to become a top song-and-dance act. Davis plays matchmaker and introduces Wallace to a pair of beautiful sisters (Betty and Judy) who also have a song-and-dance act. When Betty and Judy travel to a Vermont lodge to perform a Christmas show, Wallace and Davis follow, only to find their former commander, General Waverly, is the lodge owner. A series of romantic mix-ups ensue as the performers try to help the General. I expected this play to be filled with more Christmas or Winter themed songs, but in reality the characters mostly sung songs about love or coming out of the war. The costumes in this play were very authentic looking. The costume designer must have done plenty of research to learn what kinds of outfits people wore after WWII. Most of this play was spoken words compared to the amount of songs sung. I didn't really enjoy the musical as much as I thought I was going to.

The taking of photographs was not allowed during the play. Therefore, I took a picture of the backdrop that was shown before the play and during intermission.

Assignment #7

Dance

I attended the performance of Dracula: Ballet with a Bite at the Koger Center. My mother came down the Thursday before Halloween to see it with me. Dracula is a story of love and seduction. The young and ambitious real estate tycoon Jonathan Harker is trying to secure the listing of Castle Dracula. Jonathan is seduced by Count Dracula’s three wives; Jonathan’s daughter, Victoria, is kidnapped by Count Dracula; and his best friends’ lives are in jeopardy. This rendition of Dracula was a modern dance, therefore, more modern types of ballet were incorporated, as well as more recent song selections such as Lady Gaga and La Roux. It still followed the original plot line, but just added in more modern dance numbers. When I first entered the Koger Center I was expecting the ballet to be very boring and slow paced, but in reality when it started there were so many colors and the music selection was very interesting. I think this ballet was redone so a wider audience would be interested in seeing it. I would recommend this ballet to another person any day.

Count Dracula's Three Wives. (Pictured above)

The Picnic before Dracula comes and takes Johnathan's daughter away. (Picutured above)

Dracula's procession of the living dead performing a ritual in the graveyard. (Pictured below)