- Published on
Blackout
A voice -
Once upon a time…
The crowd erupts into
Rapturous applause
Lights up
The host, Mo Rocca, walks onto the stage
He says he is
Excited
Well, excited and scared
The full house
Responds with
Appreciative laughter
Sondheim and Lapine are welcomed to the stage
The audience is on their feet
Cheering with
An ecstatic roar
Conversational banter
The who, what, why, and how
Into the Woods came to be
The Baker and his Wife
Chip Zien and Joanna Gleason
Are like a married couple
Charming and funny
They have a genuine affection for each other
How many times have I heard their voices?
Seen their images on my screen?
And there they are on stage
Singing
“No More” and “It Takes Two”
Kim Crosby appears
“On the Steps of the Palace”
Still as bright and clear as 26 years ago
The prince arrives,
Robert Westenberg
Cinderella’s real-life love
“Hello Little Girl”
Wonderfully humorous
Danielle Ferland
Little Red Riding Hood
All grown up and wearing a red dress
“I Know Things Now”
Ben Wright
Also grown, now a father of four
Nails “Giants in the Sky”
We hear behind the scenes stories
And audition anecdotes
Joanna Gleason talks of walking into the room
She hadn’t been on Broadway in 10 years
She had one song with her, a ballad
There was Lapine. And there was “Zeus.”
They asked if she had an uptempo number
She offered to sing the ballad faster.
Act 1 closes with
“Any Moment” and
“Moment in the Woods”
Mo Rocca warns us it will all fall apart in the second act
Laughter. Lights up.
The audience chatters loudly.
Act 2 opens with
Bernadette Peters
She has not aged a single bit
Perhaps she really did drink a magic potion
But she hasn’t lost her powers
The rap, complete with witch’s prosthetic nose, is
Perfect
Through
“Stay With Me”
We are captivated
And not going anywhere
You can hear a pin drop
But for the piano and
Bernadette’s voice
She is utterly, utterly divine
More banter
Sondheim is (it seems almost redundant to say it, because, OBVIOUSLY he is)
Incredibly articulate
And funny
The camaraderie of the cast
Warmth and love
Appreciation that they were a part of this magical creation
I wonder if this all would have been possible if they had never filmed the original production?
Listen up musical producers! Film your shows and give them a life time well beyond the original run!
“Your Fault/Last Midnight”
Bernadette’s final note is astonishing
“Children Will Listen”
I know I’m not the only one crying
The finale.
Another standing ovation
What an extraordinary event
So special to see these wonderful people gathered
In celebration of art
And music
And story-telling
The joy of nostalgia
The wonder of my childhood being accessible
And on my doorstep
I love being in New York
And living a life
Made of these moments.
A voice -
Once upon a time…
The crowd erupts into
Rapturous applause
Lights up
The host, Mo Rocca, walks onto the stage
He says he is
Excited
Well, excited and scared
The full house
Responds with
Appreciative laughter
Sondheim and Lapine are welcomed to the stage
The audience is on their feet
Cheering with
An ecstatic roar
Conversational banter
The who, what, why, and how
Into the Woods came to be
The Baker and his Wife
Chip Zien and Joanna Gleason
Are like a married couple
Charming and funny
They have a genuine affection for each other
How many times have I heard their voices?
Seen their images on my screen?
And there they are on stage
Singing
“No More” and “It Takes Two”
Kim Crosby appears
“On the Steps of the Palace”
Still as bright and clear as 26 years ago
The prince arrives,
Robert Westenberg
Cinderella’s real-life love
“Hello Little Girl”
Wonderfully humorous
Danielle Ferland
Little Red Riding Hood
All grown up and wearing a red dress
“I Know Things Now”
Ben Wright
Also grown, now a father of four
Nails “Giants in the Sky”
We hear behind the scenes stories
And audition anecdotes
Joanna Gleason talks of walking into the room
She hadn’t been on Broadway in 10 years
She had one song with her, a ballad
There was Lapine. And there was “Zeus.”
They asked if she had an uptempo number
She offered to sing the ballad faster.
Act 1 closes with
“Any Moment” and
“Moment in the Woods”
Mo Rocca warns us it will all fall apart in the second act
Laughter. Lights up.
The audience chatters loudly.
Act 2 opens with
Bernadette Peters
She has not aged a single bit
Perhaps she really did drink a magic potion
But she hasn’t lost her powers
The rap, complete with witch’s prosthetic nose, is
Perfect
Through
“Stay With Me”
We are captivated
And not going anywhere
You can hear a pin drop
But for the piano and
Bernadette’s voice
She is utterly, utterly divine
More banter
Sondheim is (it seems almost redundant to say it, because, OBVIOUSLY he is)
Incredibly articulate
And funny
The camaraderie of the cast
Warmth and love
Appreciation that they were a part of this magical creation
I wonder if this all would have been possible if they had never filmed the original production?
Listen up musical producers! Film your shows and give them a life time well beyond the original run!
“Your Fault/Last Midnight”
Bernadette’s final note is astonishing
“Children Will Listen”
I know I’m not the only one crying
The finale.
Another standing ovation
What an extraordinary event
So special to see these wonderful people gathered
In celebration of art
And music
And story-telling
The joy of nostalgia
The wonder of my childhood being accessible
And on my doorstep
I love being in New York
And living a life
Made of these moments.
- Published on
Come hither Lego.
Warning: The below contains spoilers. All pictures in this post from here.
The Lego Movie is fun, clever, and visually spectacular. It’s one major flaw is its failure to adequately represent, or include, women in its story-telling.
You Can Build It!
In a world whose premise is you can build anything if you only have the imagination, it seems we still can’t build gender equality.
It’s just a movie! Why should we care? Because it has raked in $425 million worldwide, and in the US was the number one film at the box office for three weeks after its initial release, and third in its fourth week. Because media influences both the way we perceive ourselves, and the way in which we frame our world. It is not the be all and end all. Education, family, and a variety of other factors will also come into play. But we cannot deny that media plays an enormous role.
The Lego Movie fails the most basic test of females on screen, the Bechdel test (two or more named female characters, who talk to each other, about something other than a man). While there are more than two named female characters, they never engage with each other (unless the two sentence throw-away lines between WyldStyle and Princess UniKitty constitutes a “conversation”).
The women in the film are representations of outdated stereotypes of women. The Rebel. The Mother. The Perky One. The Demon. The film establishes very quickly that the idea of Lego is play and imagination. In a world where absolutely anything can be built, created, or established, why are women still relegated to these few (tired) roles? Where are the space women? The inventors? Explorers? Sage women? The female heroes who actually get to save the day?
The Lego Movie is fun, clever, and visually spectacular. It’s one major flaw is its failure to adequately represent, or include, women in its story-telling.
You Can Build It!
In a world whose premise is you can build anything if you only have the imagination, it seems we still can’t build gender equality.
It’s just a movie! Why should we care? Because it has raked in $425 million worldwide, and in the US was the number one film at the box office for three weeks after its initial release, and third in its fourth week. Because media influences both the way we perceive ourselves, and the way in which we frame our world. It is not the be all and end all. Education, family, and a variety of other factors will also come into play. But we cannot deny that media plays an enormous role.
The Lego Movie fails the most basic test of females on screen, the Bechdel test (two or more named female characters, who talk to each other, about something other than a man). While there are more than two named female characters, they never engage with each other (unless the two sentence throw-away lines between WyldStyle and Princess UniKitty constitutes a “conversation”).
The women in the film are representations of outdated stereotypes of women. The Rebel. The Mother. The Perky One. The Demon. The film establishes very quickly that the idea of Lego is play and imagination. In a world where absolutely anything can be built, created, or established, why are women still relegated to these few (tired) roles? Where are the space women? The inventors? Explorers? Sage women? The female heroes who actually get to save the day?
women: demonic robots or cat ladies
Women in the World
The four main worlds, Bricksburg, the Wild West, Cloud Cuckoo Land, and the Octan Corporation, of The Lego Movie did portray some women, but women still fail to make up half the population. In the Bricksburg community, just one female is named, Mrs Scratchen-Post. Her defining feature is her parade of cats, because older women without husbands around are OBVIOUSLY cat ladies! At the construction site, we hear many female voices (progression!), however only one is named, Gail the Construction Worker. Her defining feature is that she is “perky”. In the Wild West, females are heard, but not entirely visible. Denzil over at Medium states in her post that women were visible as performers or barmaids, but I missed that entirely. If this is the case, women exist in this world for the benefit of men to watch, or to serve them. In Cloud Cuckoo Land, the Council of Master Builders is inhabited by a crowd of mostly men, and a grand total of three women - Wonder Woman, Princess Unikitty, and WyldStyle. One of these women is not human, but a unicorn/kitten, one is scantily clad and only around for comedic value (invisible space ship! LOLZ!). Women can become leaders, but their presence is the exception, rather than the rule, or even close to standard. Over at the Octan Corporation, the females are represented by the company computer, and Ma, BadCop/GoodCop’s suffering mother. In this evil-looking dark world, women are either subservient, or mothers. Women in leadership positions?! Forget about it.
In the brief portrayal of the human world, women are off-screen voices, a mother and sister whose sole purpose is stop/destroy the fun of the boy’s playful and imaginative world.
The four main worlds, Bricksburg, the Wild West, Cloud Cuckoo Land, and the Octan Corporation, of The Lego Movie did portray some women, but women still fail to make up half the population. In the Bricksburg community, just one female is named, Mrs Scratchen-Post. Her defining feature is her parade of cats, because older women without husbands around are OBVIOUSLY cat ladies! At the construction site, we hear many female voices (progression!), however only one is named, Gail the Construction Worker. Her defining feature is that she is “perky”. In the Wild West, females are heard, but not entirely visible. Denzil over at Medium states in her post that women were visible as performers or barmaids, but I missed that entirely. If this is the case, women exist in this world for the benefit of men to watch, or to serve them. In Cloud Cuckoo Land, the Council of Master Builders is inhabited by a crowd of mostly men, and a grand total of three women - Wonder Woman, Princess Unikitty, and WyldStyle. One of these women is not human, but a unicorn/kitten, one is scantily clad and only around for comedic value (invisible space ship! LOLZ!). Women can become leaders, but their presence is the exception, rather than the rule, or even close to standard. Over at the Octan Corporation, the females are represented by the company computer, and Ma, BadCop/GoodCop’s suffering mother. In this evil-looking dark world, women are either subservient, or mothers. Women in leadership positions?! Forget about it.
In the brief portrayal of the human world, women are off-screen voices, a mother and sister whose sole purpose is stop/destroy the fun of the boy’s playful and imaginative world.
Leading ladies are SEXY!
Leading Ladies
The film boasts two central female characters. Princess UniKitty and WyldStyle. Women have two options here: fluffy sparkle rainbow girl, or punk-goth-angsty girl. The range of role models is overwhelming. We’re being generous if we throw in Wonder Woman, the busty, scantily clad, though mostly silent and absent in this film, cameo. Beyond two throwaway sentences, the women never interact. Princess Unikitty comes from the land of sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. She is always positive, and when she’s not, she’s fierce and angry. Women can only have two sides: outrageously happy, or a demon.
We learn very quickly that WyldStyle is highly skilled and talented - she initially finds the Piece of Resistance, and rescues the protagonist, Emmett, in a daring and exciting high speed chase. Unfortunately, her skill and bravado ends there. Emmett’s only sees her as “beautiful” - face radiantly lit, hair swirling round her perfect yellow lego head, so beautiful that he cannot even focus on her words. The film reinforces the idea that woman can only be pretty, and it’s ok if a man doesn’t engage with her actual thoughts and words. Once in the Wild West, in order to “blend in”, WyldStyle changes into a busty costume, despite the fact that no other females are dressed in this way. Again, women can only be busty, pretty, and overtly sexualized, even when there is zero need for them to be do.
The animators/story-tellers use these tropes so that audiences (at least adult ones) understand that this is itself a joke, set-up as tongue in cheek, but we never get to see any other side of WyldStyle. She is never given an authoritative voice. That privilege is given to Vitruvius, old man lego, (although voiced by Morgan Freeman, Vitruvius is a yellow/white lego. The presence of one or two black-skinned legos suggests the yellow “regular” legos are representative of caucasion people. Why can’t Vitruvius be black? Because in our world, ultimate status is given to old white men, reinforced in the film by the presence of Dumbledore, Shakespeare, and Gandalf. Which leads to another important question, where are the women of color in the Lego world?).
We discover that WyldStyle has undergone a series of name changes in order to “find” her current persona. The name WyldStyle in itself refers to the fact that she is not a regular female. By dressing in black, dying her hair, and being a rare female master builder, she is not a regular female, she is “wild”, and untamed. WyldStyle only becomes happy with her “real” name, Lucy, and “true self” (which apparently means no longer being an action hero) when a man tells her he likes it. In the end, despite establishing that Lucy and Batman genuinely care for each other, Lucy gives up gives up her love for the “flawed” Batman in order to be with Emmett, the “hero” of the film. Again we see the tired trope of women as objects, in this case a trophy that the male protagonist wins by saving the world. Although established as an exciting, gutsy, and capable women, WyldStyle becomes the object of Emmett’s affections (not for her skill, but her beauty), and once Batman arrives on the scene, fails to offer leadership, new ideas, or anything of substance. Girls can be independent, but once a boy arrives on the scene, their job is to look pretty. The end.
The film boasts two central female characters. Princess UniKitty and WyldStyle. Women have two options here: fluffy sparkle rainbow girl, or punk-goth-angsty girl. The range of role models is overwhelming. We’re being generous if we throw in Wonder Woman, the busty, scantily clad, though mostly silent and absent in this film, cameo. Beyond two throwaway sentences, the women never interact. Princess Unikitty comes from the land of sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. She is always positive, and when she’s not, she’s fierce and angry. Women can only have two sides: outrageously happy, or a demon.
We learn very quickly that WyldStyle is highly skilled and talented - she initially finds the Piece of Resistance, and rescues the protagonist, Emmett, in a daring and exciting high speed chase. Unfortunately, her skill and bravado ends there. Emmett’s only sees her as “beautiful” - face radiantly lit, hair swirling round her perfect yellow lego head, so beautiful that he cannot even focus on her words. The film reinforces the idea that woman can only be pretty, and it’s ok if a man doesn’t engage with her actual thoughts and words. Once in the Wild West, in order to “blend in”, WyldStyle changes into a busty costume, despite the fact that no other females are dressed in this way. Again, women can only be busty, pretty, and overtly sexualized, even when there is zero need for them to be do.
The animators/story-tellers use these tropes so that audiences (at least adult ones) understand that this is itself a joke, set-up as tongue in cheek, but we never get to see any other side of WyldStyle. She is never given an authoritative voice. That privilege is given to Vitruvius, old man lego, (although voiced by Morgan Freeman, Vitruvius is a yellow/white lego. The presence of one or two black-skinned legos suggests the yellow “regular” legos are representative of caucasion people. Why can’t Vitruvius be black? Because in our world, ultimate status is given to old white men, reinforced in the film by the presence of Dumbledore, Shakespeare, and Gandalf. Which leads to another important question, where are the women of color in the Lego world?).
We discover that WyldStyle has undergone a series of name changes in order to “find” her current persona. The name WyldStyle in itself refers to the fact that she is not a regular female. By dressing in black, dying her hair, and being a rare female master builder, she is not a regular female, she is “wild”, and untamed. WyldStyle only becomes happy with her “real” name, Lucy, and “true self” (which apparently means no longer being an action hero) when a man tells her he likes it. In the end, despite establishing that Lucy and Batman genuinely care for each other, Lucy gives up gives up her love for the “flawed” Batman in order to be with Emmett, the “hero” of the film. Again we see the tired trope of women as objects, in this case a trophy that the male protagonist wins by saving the world. Although established as an exciting, gutsy, and capable women, WyldStyle becomes the object of Emmett’s affections (not for her skill, but her beauty), and once Batman arrives on the scene, fails to offer leadership, new ideas, or anything of substance. Girls can be independent, but once a boy arrives on the scene, their job is to look pretty. The end.
Gail: building progress!
Gail: Building Progress! The Lego Movie 2: Let's Try Again
Women in the Lego world? Cat ladies, mothers, construction workers (only if you’re perky), girlfriends, perky v. demon, rainbow v. goth, and subservient. Not very imaginative. A sequel is already in the works. I only hope that the writers and story-tellers get the Bechdel Test memo and a crash course in feminism 101 before they start writing. In a world where anything is possible, I hope they can start imagining and building lands where women and men play equal roles, or at least where there are more than two female women, who speak to each other at length, about something other than a man.
I believe you can build it, all you need is the imagination.
Women in the Lego world? Cat ladies, mothers, construction workers (only if you’re perky), girlfriends, perky v. demon, rainbow v. goth, and subservient. Not very imaginative. A sequel is already in the works. I only hope that the writers and story-tellers get the Bechdel Test memo and a crash course in feminism 101 before they start writing. In a world where anything is possible, I hope they can start imagining and building lands where women and men play equal roles, or at least where there are more than two female women, who speak to each other at length, about something other than a man.
I believe you can build it, all you need is the imagination.
- Published on
image from USA Today
Idina performed
Let It Go
Along with Jimmy Fallon and
The Roots
A completely different setting
To the Oscars
Surrounded by musicians
Relaxed
Casual
Playing classroom instruments
Everyone clearly
Having a total blast
For whatever reason
The instruments they're playing?
Vocal exhaustion?
(The woman has flown across country
Twice in as many days
Performed at an intensely hyped
Awards ceremony,
Her collaborators won a bunch of
Said awards
And she's in tech rehearsals
For a new Broadway show
That's gotta take some sort of toll)
The arrangement is down
A semitone from the original
And what a difference
A semitone makes!
Without the microphones
Flying cameras or
Hollywood elite
Staring up at her
You can hear the full power of
Idina's voice
The. Woman. Can. Belt.
And oh god, it's
Thrilling
The money note
It's just a D
Idina's got this
Let the storm rage OOOOOOON.
YES!
Nailed it.
Let It Go
Along with Jimmy Fallon and
The Roots
A completely different setting
To the Oscars
Surrounded by musicians
Relaxed
Casual
Playing classroom instruments
Everyone clearly
Having a total blast
For whatever reason
The instruments they're playing?
Vocal exhaustion?
(The woman has flown across country
Twice in as many days
Performed at an intensely hyped
Awards ceremony,
Her collaborators won a bunch of
Said awards
And she's in tech rehearsals
For a new Broadway show
That's gotta take some sort of toll)
The arrangement is down
A semitone from the original
And what a difference
A semitone makes!
Without the microphones
Flying cameras or
Hollywood elite
Staring up at her
You can hear the full power of
Idina's voice
The. Woman. Can. Belt.
And oh god, it's
Thrilling
The money note
It's just a D
Idina's got this
Let the storm rage OOOOOOON.
YES!
Nailed it.
- Published on
image from Billboard
Singing musical theatre
Is hard work
You are required to
Sing, act, and sometimes dance
All at the same time!
Belting
Sometimes referred to as
Controlled screaming
Requires technique.
Training. Breath.
Control of vocal chords
The diaphragm.
Being able to access
Every single body muscle
Whilst singing about
Love, loss, and dreams.
Movie musicals
Along with the Patti’s and Kristen’s and Bernadette’s
Have made it look effortless
And that’s the performer’s job
Right?
To make it look easy.
But the ease
Belies the effort it takes
To be. That. Good.
There is a theory
That belting changed
For women
With Lloyd-Webber’s
Evita
Before Evita, women were usually belting up to B’s and C’s
Think Don’t Rain on My Parade or Rose’s Turn or On My Own
Yes, the women could/can sing higher
But the money note sat right in a woman’s chest voice
Noboooody is gonna raaaaaaaain....
Etc.
Then Evita
And Patti. With a belt range from here to eternity
And the game changed.
Belts were written and sung up to E’s
Which sit higher in the voice
And now we have our Defying Gravity’s and Surabaya Santa’s and
Let It Go’s
And in the words of Jason Robert Brown,
Girls
Belting as hiiiiigh as they can.
Bette, Pink, and Idina
All performed iconic songs
At the Oscars last night
And in varying degrees,
Nailed it, hit it out of the ball park,
Or weren’t quite there.
Pink’s performance
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
The slightly husky voice
Capable of deliciously pleasing
Vocal gymnastics
The end of the first section
“Somewhere beyond the raaaain”
Rain, hitting the traditional money note
Bb
Satisfying to the ear
(And mighty satisfying to sing)
The chorus, one of the most well-known refrains,
Somewhere over the rainbow
Needs to be seamless
Smooth
The octave jump between
Some and where
One of those phrases that sounds easy
But try singing it
Without sliding
Keeping the where light
Remembering you’re singing about
Rainbows and dreams and lullabies...
Pop singing is less precise
Allows for riffing
And sliding between notes
And showing off.
Pop is about sound.
Musical theatre is about story-telling.
Pink sang
Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up (breath) where the clouds are far
Be (breath) hiiiind me.
Twitter was ablaze
PHRASING!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!
MUSICAL THEATRE 101!
DON’T BREATHE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WORD!
And I’m certain no self-respecting music director
Conducting one of the most iconic songs of the
Twentieth century
Would have gone through rehearsal and said
“Those breaths in the middle are totally cool.
Good job”.
The song ended on a satisfying
Ab
Rich, resonant
The chords underneath creating movement
Resolve.
A lovely performance, but too breathy
For musical theatre. Even a pop rendition of musical theatre.
Perhaps it was nerves
Perhaps it was the
“Oh-god-I’m-singing-THE-song-at-the-OSCARS-in-front-of-LIZA-FREAKING-MINELLI” adrenalin
Sometimes nerves just grab you by the throat
And no amount of rehearsal
Meditation
“I’ve got this” vibes
Will be controlled
Once you’re on that stage
There is no going back
The show must go on.
Then the In Memoriam
Wind Beneath My Wings and
Bette. Oh Bette.
How to sing musical theatre 101.
She walks out, cool as a cucumber
Takes her place
And starts singing.
Her face radiates calm
She is in control
She is telling a story -
Dear friends who have departed
I am singing this for you.
A quick sneaky little mid-phrase breath -
You always walked a step (breath) behind -
But her face remains calm
It’s about the song. Not about her singing the song.
She connects with the audience
She connects with the words, the text,
Thank god for you
Vocally
She sang the song in a lower key
From the original
Riffed down rather than up
Never belted higher than a B
Came straight off the top notes
But it was all about connection
Control, calm and
Breath
Finally, THE. BIG. NUMBER.
The most written about
Played, covered, and parodied
Record-breaking Disney tune
Since Part of Your World,
Let It Go
Sung by Adela Mazim. Oh Revolta.
The musical theatre community may never forgive you...
(I’ve done it myself. Fraught with nerves
In a presentation
I kept referring to my co-presenter, and good friend,
As Ethey, instead of Ethel
I didn’t even realize what I’d been saying until afterwards
When everyone asked
WTF?!
It’s mortifying)
So Idina.
The beltress who is
Maureen. Elphaba. Queen Elsa
Emerged amidst
Sparkling Swarovski crystals
She looked tense
You could almost read her inner monologue
Stay connected. BREATHE. I. Got. This.
And it made us nervous to watch
Oh god, she’s gonna crack...
But the notes kept coming
Clear and strong
And while it’s a song she has sung
Many times over
Unlike Bette, it’s not standard repertoire, yet.
She’s not had years to perfect the performance of it
It wasn’t about story-telling
Or being an ice queen liberated from the strictures of a patriarchal society.
It was about BIG NOTES.
AND BELTING.
You could see the relief in her eyes
Every time she nailed a big note
It’s an awesome song
It speaks to us
It’s empowering
It’s gutsy,
It builds and swells,
And right to the last phrase,
I held my breath...
She might actually nail it?!
Let the storm rage....
That last money note,
A bitch of an Eb
OOOOOON...
Her voice cracked.
Dammit!
Too forcefully hit
Too much tension.
I pity the woman
Who’ll play Elsa on Broadway.
Eight times a week of
Let It Go is going to wreak some sort of damage.
In one night
Pink, Idina, and Bette, showed us that
Belting is hard work.
Even for highly regarded
Pop stars and Broadway veterans known
For their belting prowess
(Except for Patti. Nothing seems hard for Patti. Watch this and you’ll understand what I mean).
Somewhere beyond the excitement
Of the big belt
Perhaps we need to return
To story-telling
Where the music serves the story
Rather than “controlled screams”
Of terrifying heights
Dominating our minds and vocal chords
And for the belt
Learn to
Let it go
Read about Idina Menzel's completely different performance the next day!
Is hard work
You are required to
Sing, act, and sometimes dance
All at the same time!
Belting
Sometimes referred to as
Controlled screaming
Requires technique.
Training. Breath.
Control of vocal chords
The diaphragm.
Being able to access
Every single body muscle
Whilst singing about
Love, loss, and dreams.
Movie musicals
Along with the Patti’s and Kristen’s and Bernadette’s
Have made it look effortless
And that’s the performer’s job
Right?
To make it look easy.
But the ease
Belies the effort it takes
To be. That. Good.
There is a theory
That belting changed
For women
With Lloyd-Webber’s
Evita
Before Evita, women were usually belting up to B’s and C’s
Think Don’t Rain on My Parade or Rose’s Turn or On My Own
Yes, the women could/can sing higher
But the money note sat right in a woman’s chest voice
Noboooody is gonna raaaaaaaain....
Etc.
Then Evita
And Patti. With a belt range from here to eternity
And the game changed.
Belts were written and sung up to E’s
Which sit higher in the voice
And now we have our Defying Gravity’s and Surabaya Santa’s and
Let It Go’s
And in the words of Jason Robert Brown,
Girls
Belting as hiiiiigh as they can.
Bette, Pink, and Idina
All performed iconic songs
At the Oscars last night
And in varying degrees,
Nailed it, hit it out of the ball park,
Or weren’t quite there.
Pink’s performance
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
The slightly husky voice
Capable of deliciously pleasing
Vocal gymnastics
The end of the first section
“Somewhere beyond the raaaain”
Rain, hitting the traditional money note
Bb
Satisfying to the ear
(And mighty satisfying to sing)
The chorus, one of the most well-known refrains,
Somewhere over the rainbow
Needs to be seamless
Smooth
The octave jump between
Some and where
One of those phrases that sounds easy
But try singing it
Without sliding
Keeping the where light
Remembering you’re singing about
Rainbows and dreams and lullabies...
Pop singing is less precise
Allows for riffing
And sliding between notes
And showing off.
Pop is about sound.
Musical theatre is about story-telling.
Pink sang
Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up (breath) where the clouds are far
Be (breath) hiiiind me.
Twitter was ablaze
PHRASING!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!
MUSICAL THEATRE 101!
DON’T BREATHE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WORD!
And I’m certain no self-respecting music director
Conducting one of the most iconic songs of the
Twentieth century
Would have gone through rehearsal and said
“Those breaths in the middle are totally cool.
Good job”.
The song ended on a satisfying
Ab
Rich, resonant
The chords underneath creating movement
Resolve.
A lovely performance, but too breathy
For musical theatre. Even a pop rendition of musical theatre.
Perhaps it was nerves
Perhaps it was the
“Oh-god-I’m-singing-THE-song-at-the-OSCARS-in-front-of-LIZA-FREAKING-MINELLI” adrenalin
Sometimes nerves just grab you by the throat
And no amount of rehearsal
Meditation
“I’ve got this” vibes
Will be controlled
Once you’re on that stage
There is no going back
The show must go on.
Then the In Memoriam
Wind Beneath My Wings and
Bette. Oh Bette.
How to sing musical theatre 101.
She walks out, cool as a cucumber
Takes her place
And starts singing.
Her face radiates calm
She is in control
She is telling a story -
Dear friends who have departed
I am singing this for you.
A quick sneaky little mid-phrase breath -
You always walked a step (breath) behind -
But her face remains calm
It’s about the song. Not about her singing the song.
She connects with the audience
She connects with the words, the text,
Thank god for you
Vocally
She sang the song in a lower key
From the original
Riffed down rather than up
Never belted higher than a B
Came straight off the top notes
But it was all about connection
Control, calm and
Breath
Finally, THE. BIG. NUMBER.
The most written about
Played, covered, and parodied
Record-breaking Disney tune
Since Part of Your World,
Let It Go
Sung by Adela Mazim. Oh Revolta.
The musical theatre community may never forgive you...
(I’ve done it myself. Fraught with nerves
In a presentation
I kept referring to my co-presenter, and good friend,
As Ethey, instead of Ethel
I didn’t even realize what I’d been saying until afterwards
When everyone asked
WTF?!
It’s mortifying)
So Idina.
The beltress who is
Maureen. Elphaba. Queen Elsa
Emerged amidst
Sparkling Swarovski crystals
She looked tense
You could almost read her inner monologue
Stay connected. BREATHE. I. Got. This.
And it made us nervous to watch
Oh god, she’s gonna crack...
But the notes kept coming
Clear and strong
And while it’s a song she has sung
Many times over
Unlike Bette, it’s not standard repertoire, yet.
She’s not had years to perfect the performance of it
It wasn’t about story-telling
Or being an ice queen liberated from the strictures of a patriarchal society.
It was about BIG NOTES.
AND BELTING.
You could see the relief in her eyes
Every time she nailed a big note
It’s an awesome song
It speaks to us
It’s empowering
It’s gutsy,
It builds and swells,
And right to the last phrase,
I held my breath...
She might actually nail it?!
Let the storm rage....
That last money note,
A bitch of an Eb
OOOOOON...
Her voice cracked.
Dammit!
Too forcefully hit
Too much tension.
I pity the woman
Who’ll play Elsa on Broadway.
Eight times a week of
Let It Go is going to wreak some sort of damage.
In one night
Pink, Idina, and Bette, showed us that
Belting is hard work.
Even for highly regarded
Pop stars and Broadway veterans known
For their belting prowess
(Except for Patti. Nothing seems hard for Patti. Watch this and you’ll understand what I mean).
Somewhere beyond the excitement
Of the big belt
Perhaps we need to return
To story-telling
Where the music serves the story
Rather than “controlled screams”
Of terrifying heights
Dominating our minds and vocal chords
And for the belt
Learn to
Let it go
Read about Idina Menzel's completely different performance the next day!
- Published on
The Bean Cycle Coffee Shop,
And Wolverine Farm bookstore
Fort Collins, CO.
Is the most perfect of coffee/book shops
Comfy couches
Walls lined with second-hand books
And poems
And artworks of local artists
The smell of coffee and old books
Handmade signs
Everything a little dusty
The old bicycle on the wall
Music plays
Audible enough to create a vibe
Chill enough to allow conversation
And reading
People sit
Sipping coffee
Absorbing in other worlds
Through words and print on paper
Type away on laptops
Face each other
Over round tables
Conversation
A background hum
The kids’ corner
Tucked away
The rocking chair and teddy bear and doll
Mom reading to her daughter
You are welcome to sit
And read
And browse
And drink coffee
Small children clamber up the stairs to the loft
They turn their heads
Grin the through the railing with cheeky smiles
The clanky old register
Books to be priced, stacked, and shelved
I can’t even begin to describe the satisfaction of
Rows of dusty books
Sorted by category and author’s surname
Every shelf
Contains treasure,
My “to read” list
Ever growing.
Even if I sat down and read books
Cover to cover
All day long
For the rest of my life
I would never reach
The end.
And Wolverine Farm bookstore
Fort Collins, CO.
Is the most perfect of coffee/book shops
Comfy couches
Walls lined with second-hand books
And poems
And artworks of local artists
The smell of coffee and old books
Handmade signs
Everything a little dusty
The old bicycle on the wall
Music plays
Audible enough to create a vibe
Chill enough to allow conversation
And reading
People sit
Sipping coffee
Absorbing in other worlds
Through words and print on paper
Type away on laptops
Face each other
Over round tables
Conversation
A background hum
The kids’ corner
Tucked away
The rocking chair and teddy bear and doll
Mom reading to her daughter
You are welcome to sit
And read
And browse
And drink coffee
Small children clamber up the stairs to the loft
They turn their heads
Grin the through the railing with cheeky smiles
The clanky old register
Books to be priced, stacked, and shelved
I can’t even begin to describe the satisfaction of
Rows of dusty books
Sorted by category and author’s surname
Every shelf
Contains treasure,
My “to read” list
Ever growing.
Even if I sat down and read books
Cover to cover
All day long
For the rest of my life
I would never reach
The end.
- Published on
the power of body language
To get what she wants (travel, experience of another culture),
Ariel must trade in her voice
But, without my voice how can I-
You have your looks!
Your pretty face!
Because a princess from the most powerful, if not only, kingdom under the sea,
Has nothing to communicate with
Beyond BODY LANGUAGE
For as we all know, and has been well documented,
Disney exists to reinforce the patriarchy
And the notion that girls/women are there to be looked at
Not heard
And certainly not to use their skills to expand their horizons
Or fulfill their deepest wishes
Ariel must trade in her voice
But, without my voice how can I-
You have your looks!
Your pretty face!
Because a princess from the most powerful, if not only, kingdom under the sea,
Has nothing to communicate with
Beyond BODY LANGUAGE
For as we all know, and has been well documented,
Disney exists to reinforce the patriarchy
And the notion that girls/women are there to be looked at
Not heard
And certainly not to use their skills to expand their horizons
Or fulfill their deepest wishes
ready to know
Ariel is educated
She is an explorer and hungry for knowledge
I’m ready to know what the people know
She can grasp metaphorical concepts beyond her own experience
What’s a fire, and why does it, what’s the word?
BURN?!
She has a shining shimmering treasure trove,
A complete collection of human paraphernalia
Organized by type
But beyond things, Ariel wants more
Our mermaid heroine has feminist notions of a utopian place/time
Where educated women have freedom
To do as they please, speak out, and move freely
Betcha on land, they understand
Bet they don’t reprimand their daughters!
Bright young women, always swimmin’
Ready to stand
Clearly these notions don’t come from Daddy
Who would rather Ariel find a nice merman
Settle down
And make merbabies
She is an explorer and hungry for knowledge
I’m ready to know what the people know
She can grasp metaphorical concepts beyond her own experience
What’s a fire, and why does it, what’s the word?
BURN?!
She has a shining shimmering treasure trove,
A complete collection of human paraphernalia
Organized by type
But beyond things, Ariel wants more
Our mermaid heroine has feminist notions of a utopian place/time
Where educated women have freedom
To do as they please, speak out, and move freely
Betcha on land, they understand
Bet they don’t reprimand their daughters!
Bright young women, always swimmin’
Ready to stand
Clearly these notions don’t come from Daddy
Who would rather Ariel find a nice merman
Settle down
And make merbabies
sophisticated hand-writing
Ariel signs the scroll in developed cursive handwriting
Suggesting an education beyond kindergarten level
Unlike her father Triton, who only engages with other species through domination,
(His page is a seahorse, his music director is a crab)
Or banishment,
(Ursula. Can’t have educated powerful women floating around the kingdom. Might give young girls ideas.),
Ariel can relate with other species without power struggle.
Her best friend is a fish
Her teacher is a seagull.
We know Ariel has overcome her childhood conditioning of
Other = evil
And if we go beyond the miracle of cross-species communication
(In the magical world of Disney merpeople can communicate with all forms of aquatic life, and with humans;
Everybody conveniently speaks English)
Suggesting an education beyond kindergarten level
Unlike her father Triton, who only engages with other species through domination,
(His page is a seahorse, his music director is a crab)
Or banishment,
(Ursula. Can’t have educated powerful women floating around the kingdom. Might give young girls ideas.),
Ariel can relate with other species without power struggle.
Her best friend is a fish
Her teacher is a seagull.
We know Ariel has overcome her childhood conditioning of
Other = evil
And if we go beyond the miracle of cross-species communication
(In the magical world of Disney merpeople can communicate with all forms of aquatic life, and with humans;
Everybody conveniently speaks English)
now's your moment to use other skills
Why does Ariel not use her many other skills, beyond her body, to communicate?
In all her collection of bottles and human knick knacks
Does she not possess a message in a bottle?
Why doesn’t she write in the sand?
Use seashells to spell out a message?
Use her ability to talk to animals to ask the fireflies to spell it out?
Hi Eric! Remember me? I rescued you!
I’m totes in love with you!
Wanna hang out?
In all her collection of bottles and human knick knacks
Does she not possess a message in a bottle?
Why doesn’t she write in the sand?
Use seashells to spell out a message?
Use her ability to talk to animals to ask the fireflies to spell it out?
Hi Eric! Remember me? I rescued you!
I’m totes in love with you!
Wanna hang out?
disnified role models
Beyond the recent reduction of genuine kick-ass feminist role models
To big-eyes, sparkly dresses, and insane privilege
Give me characters who use their wit
And education
To go out into the world
And use their voice
In whatever way they can
To progress and flourish
And inspire those around them to do the same
Now that is something worth singing about.
The end.
To big-eyes, sparkly dresses, and insane privilege
Give me characters who use their wit
And education
To go out into the world
And use their voice
In whatever way they can
To progress and flourish
And inspire those around them to do the same
Now that is something worth singing about.
The end.
- Published on
Remember a time
Before you’d ever even been to Broadway
New York was just a place
Across the ocean
Far away
It may as well have been the moon
And musicals were accessed via cast recordings
Played on CD (and cassette!)
Repeated so often you knew
Every inflection
Pause and intonation
And then you’re sitting in the
Lyric Theatre, London
And Trevor Ashley
Australian performer
Who taught musical theatre at State Music Camp
And performed at Schools Spec
Is performing his Liza show
He is brilliant
The camp and the sass and the deadpan humour
Meet moments of utter sincerity
That make a caricature of Liza
(Though the portrayal is so spot on
It's more real than play)
Human
You remember
State Music camp and
Being around other people who
Got it
You performed ‘Over the Moon’ from RENT
(Which you had learnt by heart
By listening to the recording
Over and over til you got it right
Moo)
(And your friend
Gave you your first standing ovation
Lept to his feet when you finished moo-ing)
It was thrilling to sit in chairs around the piano
Holding sheets of music
And singing the songs
You had listened to
And already knew by heart
And all that jazz
And you remember all your teachers
Mrs Harrison and Mrs Ross
Mrs McAndrews
Mrs Stevenson, Miss Lorschy, Mrs Martinotti, Mrs Turner
Mr Harrison, Miss Boyle, Miss Richards (theatre etiquette!), Miss Paris, Miss Simone, Mrs Page, Mrs Stewart, Mr Kelso, Mrs Miltiades, Mrs Miller, Mrs Cull
George, Andrew, Gina, Frank, Kane, Ste, Christine
The ones who believed in you and gave you a chance
And if you could tell your fifteen year old self
You get to do it!
You go to New York
Broadway is real
You study musical theatre in London
You live in a houseful of actors
You learn for real the phrase
“Starving actor”
It’s not just about hunger and being poor
You need to perform and write and play music and tell stories
And when you don’t
You get really depressed
And even though it’s hard
It’s incredible
There is no other life you can lead
The Tony Awards are real
You actually go, twice
Get all dressed up
And sit in the rafters
And watch your childhood heroes
Make their acceptance speeches
You see Idina Menzel in concert (twice)
You see her rehearsing!
You see Marvin Hamlisch conduct the London Symphony Orchestra
In a medley from A Chorus Line
You see Liza in concert
You see Trevor as Liza in concert
And it takes you back to 15 year old you
Who wants nothing more than
This life
And you say
Hold on
You’ll get here
The end.
Before you’d ever even been to Broadway
New York was just a place
Across the ocean
Far away
It may as well have been the moon
And musicals were accessed via cast recordings
Played on CD (and cassette!)
Repeated so often you knew
Every inflection
Pause and intonation
And then you’re sitting in the
Lyric Theatre, London
And Trevor Ashley
Australian performer
Who taught musical theatre at State Music Camp
And performed at Schools Spec
Is performing his Liza show
He is brilliant
The camp and the sass and the deadpan humour
Meet moments of utter sincerity
That make a caricature of Liza
(Though the portrayal is so spot on
It's more real than play)
Human
You remember
State Music camp and
Being around other people who
Got it
You performed ‘Over the Moon’ from RENT
(Which you had learnt by heart
By listening to the recording
Over and over til you got it right
Moo)
(And your friend
Gave you your first standing ovation
Lept to his feet when you finished moo-ing)
It was thrilling to sit in chairs around the piano
Holding sheets of music
And singing the songs
You had listened to
And already knew by heart
And all that jazz
And you remember all your teachers
Mrs Harrison and Mrs Ross
Mrs McAndrews
Mrs Stevenson, Miss Lorschy, Mrs Martinotti, Mrs Turner
Mr Harrison, Miss Boyle, Miss Richards (theatre etiquette!), Miss Paris, Miss Simone, Mrs Page, Mrs Stewart, Mr Kelso, Mrs Miltiades, Mrs Miller, Mrs Cull
George, Andrew, Gina, Frank, Kane, Ste, Christine
The ones who believed in you and gave you a chance
And if you could tell your fifteen year old self
You get to do it!
You go to New York
Broadway is real
You study musical theatre in London
You live in a houseful of actors
You learn for real the phrase
“Starving actor”
It’s not just about hunger and being poor
You need to perform and write and play music and tell stories
And when you don’t
You get really depressed
And even though it’s hard
It’s incredible
There is no other life you can lead
The Tony Awards are real
You actually go, twice
Get all dressed up
And sit in the rafters
And watch your childhood heroes
Make their acceptance speeches
You see Idina Menzel in concert (twice)
You see her rehearsing!
You see Marvin Hamlisch conduct the London Symphony Orchestra
In a medley from A Chorus Line
You see Liza in concert
You see Trevor as Liza in concert
And it takes you back to 15 year old you
Who wants nothing more than
This life
And you say
Hold on
You’ll get here
The end.
- Published on
Suddenly you find yourself
Inside The Globe!
The detailed recreation
Of what once was
Shakespeare's playground
There is a feeling of exhilaration
The theatre has been beautifully re-created
The whole thing is utterly stunning
The grand columns
The box seats
The wide open space on the floor for
The "Groundlings"
The long and narrow thrust stage
Cutting through the middle
The floor is concrete
You try to imagine layers of straw and dust and dirt and grime
At the apex of the stage
A balcony,
Its windows closed for now
It seems Juliet could fling them open and lean over the railing and "ah me" at any moment
The boxes right above the stage with their richly coloured frescoes
You can imagine royalty sitting there
Sitting to be seen
Even from the position of the pleb
You really can see everybody
The audience watching each other
Playing a game of being
The audience
The way you see sky when you look directly up
There's something dramatic about Shakespeare and sky together
The sky is pale blue
Translucent thin whispy clouds
It's the end of the day
Mild, not too hot, not too cold
Tonight's play is called Blue Stockings
Rear centre stage a small drum kit and a music stand
A small balcony above, more music stands, a trumpet, lights for the musicians
(You forgive the modern intrusion)
The columns have been made to look like book shelves
The play is about the fight for women's access to college education
And the fight
At the end of the 19thC
For the right for women attending college to graduate
There is something tongue-in-cheek
About a feminist play being produced
At the Globe
It is beautifully produced
It is refreshing to see a genuine issue discussed, dissected
The relevance of women's education
The prejudice we faced
Still face
Through the play we see their struggle
And sacrifice
And we are heart broken
It is easy for a modern day, predominantly white, presumably educated audience to laugh at history
“I can’t believe he just said that!!”
Chortle.
But in this year, the year 2013
University fees are so prohibitively expensive
Many will not be able to attend university at all
Last year a teenage girl was shot in the head
For daring to speak out and fight for her right
To an education
And even still, today, right now
Men continue to try and ultimately control women
Deny access to basic human rights
Blue Stockings offers no solutions
Only that we must go on
Must continue learning
For the sake of learning
To inspire great minds
To allow people to go out into the world and achieve their fullest potential
To understand and to dream
I am incredibly aware of the privilege
That has bought me to be standing in the middle of The Globe
One night at the end of summer
The fact that I am a university graduate
With two degrees to my name
The fact I got to go to school at all
Is a fight
That was won
Before I was born
But is still being fought
In a treacherous warzone
History and story-telling
The stories that have resonated throughout
The Globe
To demand an understanding of history
So that we may imagine
The meticulous re-construction
Of a better place
The end.
Inside The Globe!
The detailed recreation
Of what once was
Shakespeare's playground
There is a feeling of exhilaration
The theatre has been beautifully re-created
The whole thing is utterly stunning
The grand columns
The box seats
The wide open space on the floor for
The "Groundlings"
The long and narrow thrust stage
Cutting through the middle
The floor is concrete
You try to imagine layers of straw and dust and dirt and grime
At the apex of the stage
A balcony,
Its windows closed for now
It seems Juliet could fling them open and lean over the railing and "ah me" at any moment
The boxes right above the stage with their richly coloured frescoes
You can imagine royalty sitting there
Sitting to be seen
Even from the position of the pleb
You really can see everybody
The audience watching each other
Playing a game of being
The audience
The way you see sky when you look directly up
There's something dramatic about Shakespeare and sky together
The sky is pale blue
Translucent thin whispy clouds
It's the end of the day
Mild, not too hot, not too cold
Tonight's play is called Blue Stockings
Rear centre stage a small drum kit and a music stand
A small balcony above, more music stands, a trumpet, lights for the musicians
(You forgive the modern intrusion)
The columns have been made to look like book shelves
The play is about the fight for women's access to college education
And the fight
At the end of the 19thC
For the right for women attending college to graduate
There is something tongue-in-cheek
About a feminist play being produced
At the Globe
It is beautifully produced
It is refreshing to see a genuine issue discussed, dissected
The relevance of women's education
The prejudice we faced
Still face
Through the play we see their struggle
And sacrifice
And we are heart broken
It is easy for a modern day, predominantly white, presumably educated audience to laugh at history
“I can’t believe he just said that!!”
Chortle.
But in this year, the year 2013
University fees are so prohibitively expensive
Many will not be able to attend university at all
Last year a teenage girl was shot in the head
For daring to speak out and fight for her right
To an education
And even still, today, right now
Men continue to try and ultimately control women
Deny access to basic human rights
Blue Stockings offers no solutions
Only that we must go on
Must continue learning
For the sake of learning
To inspire great minds
To allow people to go out into the world and achieve their fullest potential
To understand and to dream
I am incredibly aware of the privilege
That has bought me to be standing in the middle of The Globe
One night at the end of summer
The fact that I am a university graduate
With two degrees to my name
The fact I got to go to school at all
Is a fight
That was won
Before I was born
But is still being fought
In a treacherous warzone
History and story-telling
The stories that have resonated throughout
The Globe
To demand an understanding of history
So that we may imagine
The meticulous re-construction
Of a better place
The end.
- Published on
You expect,
With a name like
“Tanglewood”
Chaos and mess
And vines and dark woods
And twisting paths.
Instead there is
Total order
Calm
And loveliness.
Sweeping green lawns
Manicured gardens.
Rows of clipped hedges
Form an organized maze.
Hidden within are
Tributes to musicians past
(Mostly men)
A beautiful house
With wooden floorboards
And painted walls
And images of musicians past
(A mix of men and women)
In the centre of the sweeping grounds
A giant pavilion
The summer home of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra
World famous
Top notch
Leader in its field
Thousands of people surround the structure
They have come with picnic blankets and chairs
And baskets full of food
Wine and cheese and chocolates
Even glasses filled with wild flowers
And you sit in the field
On a warm summers day
And the sky grows dark
With threatening clouds
The bell rings
Once, twice, three times!
The concert is about to begin!
And the sky opens up
Sit in a field during the fall of summer rain
Without an umbrella
Rain on your skin
Grass beneath your body
Sky above your head
The feeling of liberation
The storm passes by
The sun is warm
And dries your skin
The concert commences
Stravinsky’s “Fireworks” Opus 4
Brings unexpected tears
Yo Yo Ma and Dvorak’s Cello Concerto
The sound is perfect
You can hear the bow scratching across the bridge
It is overwhelming
The accumulative hours of practise
Of the players of the orchestra
Are astounding to imagine
Imagine all the players as children
Drilling scales in their living rooms
You are transported to your own living room
More specifically
The living room of your grandparents
To be more precise
Down the hall, to your
Grandparents’ bedroom
Far away in Sydney
Twenty years ago
You would wake up and go into their room
And Abuelo would have
ABC Classic FM playing full blast on the radio
And you would dance to the music
And make him smile
You never talked about the composers
Or the history of the music
But the notes are as part of your legacy as your own blood
(Music passed down through generations
From your mother teaching ballet
Whilst you sat fetal, and later in a pram
Earlier: Abuela and Abuelo at concerts in Manila
Earlier still: Great-Abuelo fetal in Shanghai
While his father (great-great Abuelo) played violin)
And you, four generations later
Sitting in a field in Massachusetts
As a counselor in music
The history of notes
Imagine being in the theatre when Stravinsky premiered
The Rites of Spring
The boos and hisses!
Now, high art
The tangled web of family and history and influence
How we came to be
Where we are
Is orderly when viewed from a distance
Melodic lines able to be traced
Emphasized
Harmonized with
Made discordant
And written into
Music
The end.
With a name like
“Tanglewood”
Chaos and mess
And vines and dark woods
And twisting paths.
Instead there is
Total order
Calm
And loveliness.
Sweeping green lawns
Manicured gardens.
Rows of clipped hedges
Form an organized maze.
Hidden within are
Tributes to musicians past
(Mostly men)
A beautiful house
With wooden floorboards
And painted walls
And images of musicians past
(A mix of men and women)
In the centre of the sweeping grounds
A giant pavilion
The summer home of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra
World famous
Top notch
Leader in its field
Thousands of people surround the structure
They have come with picnic blankets and chairs
And baskets full of food
Wine and cheese and chocolates
Even glasses filled with wild flowers
And you sit in the field
On a warm summers day
And the sky grows dark
With threatening clouds
The bell rings
Once, twice, three times!
The concert is about to begin!
And the sky opens up
Sit in a field during the fall of summer rain
Without an umbrella
Rain on your skin
Grass beneath your body
Sky above your head
The feeling of liberation
The storm passes by
The sun is warm
And dries your skin
The concert commences
Stravinsky’s “Fireworks” Opus 4
Brings unexpected tears
Yo Yo Ma and Dvorak’s Cello Concerto
The sound is perfect
You can hear the bow scratching across the bridge
It is overwhelming
The accumulative hours of practise
Of the players of the orchestra
Are astounding to imagine
Imagine all the players as children
Drilling scales in their living rooms
You are transported to your own living room
More specifically
The living room of your grandparents
To be more precise
Down the hall, to your
Grandparents’ bedroom
Far away in Sydney
Twenty years ago
You would wake up and go into their room
And Abuelo would have
ABC Classic FM playing full blast on the radio
And you would dance to the music
And make him smile
You never talked about the composers
Or the history of the music
But the notes are as part of your legacy as your own blood
(Music passed down through generations
From your mother teaching ballet
Whilst you sat fetal, and later in a pram
Earlier: Abuela and Abuelo at concerts in Manila
Earlier still: Great-Abuelo fetal in Shanghai
While his father (great-great Abuelo) played violin)
And you, four generations later
Sitting in a field in Massachusetts
As a counselor in music
The history of notes
Imagine being in the theatre when Stravinsky premiered
The Rites of Spring
The boos and hisses!
Now, high art
The tangled web of family and history and influence
How we came to be
Where we are
Is orderly when viewed from a distance
Melodic lines able to be traced
Emphasized
Harmonized with
Made discordant
And written into
Music
The end.
- Published on
vegetarian spaghetti
I distinctly remember
As a teenager
Eating a chicken leg
Actually gnawing on the gristle
And declaring to my vegetarian step-mum
"I could NEVER be a vegetarian.
I LOVE meat!"
Nom nom nom.
And then
When I was twenty-something
I got sick
Really sick
I was sick for a year
I had everything
Laryngitis
Bronchitis
Influenza
I got sick of being sick
I did a bit of research
And decided what was making me ill
Was my diet
I cut out meat
And boosted my intake
Of fresh leafy greens
Became friends with farmers' markets
And devoured
All colours of the rainbow
In fruit and vegetable form
I did it slowly over time
To get used to new flavours
New ways of cooking
And you know what?
I stopped getting sick
I started appreciating
Food
I learnt how to cook
With what was available
And seasonal and fresh
If you had told my teenage self
That one night
For fun
I would whip together
Raw courgette and carrot noodles
With a red pepper and pine nut sauce
And meatless eggplant balls
Because those were what she had in the fridge
She would have laughed
And said
"GROSS! Where's the MEAT?!
That meal has NOTHING in it!"
But my present-day-self
Offers thanks
To the farmers who grew all the veggies
The people that delivered them
And the recipes that inspired their ultimate
Delicious consumption
The end.
As a teenager
Eating a chicken leg
Actually gnawing on the gristle
And declaring to my vegetarian step-mum
"I could NEVER be a vegetarian.
I LOVE meat!"
Nom nom nom.
And then
When I was twenty-something
I got sick
Really sick
I was sick for a year
I had everything
Laryngitis
Bronchitis
Influenza
I got sick of being sick
I did a bit of research
And decided what was making me ill
Was my diet
I cut out meat
And boosted my intake
Of fresh leafy greens
Became friends with farmers' markets
And devoured
All colours of the rainbow
In fruit and vegetable form
I did it slowly over time
To get used to new flavours
New ways of cooking
And you know what?
I stopped getting sick
I started appreciating
Food
I learnt how to cook
With what was available
And seasonal and fresh
If you had told my teenage self
That one night
For fun
I would whip together
Raw courgette and carrot noodles
With a red pepper and pine nut sauce
And meatless eggplant balls
Because those were what she had in the fridge
She would have laughed
And said
"GROSS! Where's the MEAT?!
That meal has NOTHING in it!"
But my present-day-self
Offers thanks
To the farmers who grew all the veggies
The people that delivered them
And the recipes that inspired their ultimate
Delicious consumption
The end.