Performance Report II: Side Show the Musical

Performance Report II

Introduction:

I attended Side Show the musical April 16, Friday night at eight p.m. in UTD's Johnson Performance Hall. The performace Hall was almost, if not entirely full. The director of the performance
began with an introductory speech and spoke of the great efforts to put on the show, the music culture that surrounds this performance is unique.
Although not know to be a liberal arts college, UTD has talented students in the arts program. UTD has been criticized as a "engineering and science" university,
this music strives to break the mold on that stereotype.

Music:

The music of the entire performance was a musical, even broadway type performanc. There were lead vocalists singing melody or a solo with the accompaning chorus
behind them. The chorus consisted of approximately twenty or so performers, male and female, who gave a very full texture to the overall sound of the song. There
was an accompaning instrumental ensemble at the back of the set consisting of a few alto saxes, oboes, trumpets, a tuba, a rhythm section, and flutes. Most of the
dialogue between the actors was even sung instead of spoken with no accompinament. The twins often sung harmonized duets, with one singing melody and the other
harmony, sometimes switching parts. The instruments, since there werent very many in the ensemble, often had solo type parts, were maybe the trumpet would sound, so the instruments played a vital role in the overall performance, they weren't just background noise. The conductor of the ensemble had a television screen of the front of the stage in front of him, in order that he remained in time with the dancing and singing of the entire performance.

Performers:

The performers were dressed in various costumes. The twins wore dresses and matching attire, with wigs to help create the 1930's mood. There was the ring leader of the side show dressed up in his circus garb, and each freak dressed in a costume according to his "abnormality." The lizard man was covered in green paint and slivered around. he cannibal was is loins and pranced around like a ravenous beast. There was the snake lady with her snake costume on her, the womanizer with his two gypsies. there was also an assortment of "regular"people dressed in 1930's clothing to represent the crowd that came to see the "freak show." I was also intrigued by the microphone location. The performers seemed to have their microphones on their foreheads, the cannibal man had it taped to the side of his face, but the black dot on all of the performers foreheads was distracting. The performers also interacted heavily with each other on the stage, they danced together, moved around the stage, spoke and sang to each other to create the performance.

Audience:

Most of the audience were students, with some friends and families of the performers, anyone is welcome, the play was a very inclusive event, the audience stood in standing ovation at the end of the performance. The canninbal man actually jumped into the audience at one point during the performance right in front of me! Many of the friends of the performers also were quite exuberant during the performance, the girl beside me was laughing hysterically everytime her friend would sing.

Time and Space:

The Friday performance being the second performance seemed to bring some energy to the performance, yet I would argue that the final performance on Saturday was much more energetic.

Conclusion:

Side Show the musical was a performance that involved theatrics, choral performance, and instrumental accompaniament. The actors's sang, danced, and engaged with the audience. There were many visually appealing props and costumes to engange and intrigue the audience, and the large chorus of singers created a very rich texture for the musical performance.

Works Cited:

Performance:
Side Show. By Russell, Bill. Music By Henry Krieger Perf. Robin Clayton, Emily McCoy, Ruben Rosales, Bryan Thompson, Davis Rogers, Lakshman Kashyap Manjunath,. Cond. Winston Stone. University Theatre, Richardson. April 16 .
(Side Show).
Program Notes:
Russell, Bill. Program notes. Side Show. 4/19/10. Richardson: University Theatre.
(Russell).