Assignment #10 Opera and Musical Theater

Opera and Musical Theater

1. Discuss the plot of Turandot? 
2. Name two operas that Mozart wrote
3. Discuss the difference between opera and light opera


1) The play revolves around a princess named Turandot. Men would line themselves up left and right to try and win her hand in marriage. All that the men would have to do is answer 3 questions to win her hand. However though, if they failed to answer correctly, they would ultimately be beheaded. Countless men would try and would fail miserably. A prince however then comes along and answers each question correctly and but tells Turandot that if she can guess his name, she could behead him by sunrise. Turandot then tries to frantically find out his name. She finds his servant who is madly inlove with him but doesn't break. When sunrise comes and everyone waits to hear her say his name, he turns around and whispers his name to her before she can say anything. In shock and amazement, she turns around and says that his name is "love". 


2) The Marriage of Figaro
     Don Giovanni


3) An opera is a theatrical performance in which a dramatic performance is set to music. A light opera is a musical play with light subject matter and a happy ending. The dialouge is usually spoken rather than sung. It can also be described as being an short amusing opera.  

Big Love (Play)

Big Love

The name of the play is Big Love which was written by Charles L. Mee. The play was located at the Longstreet Theater and was directed by Chris Clavelli. The play was performed in a a theater in the round type of theater. Some of the main characters are Olympia, a carefree girl who enjoys the comfort of men, Lydia, a girl torn between love and what she actually wants, and Thyona, a strong minded woman who feels that all men are corrupt and not needed.

The play used many lighting and sounding effects throughout the play. There was also parts of the show where  singing was added to add emotion and feeling to the show. Everytime something serious came up, the lights would start to to flicker creating a sort of tension among the characters and the audience. When the characters would hit the ground, drums would play adding to the impact. The lights would dim leaving the room in a dark blue atmosphere. 

Many different scenes of the play could be considered male bashing. In the beginning, the female characters described men as egotistical, arrogant, selfish, and self centered. Later on in the show however, it displayed men in a more realistic form describing them as having to portray a tough persona while actually being gentle and very caring. Many of the points that were trying to made in the play dealt with equality and realistic notions of marriage and how it is today. I could relate to many of the things that they were talking about thus making the play easier to watch. 

Overall, Big Love was a very well acted and directed play. All of the characters were believable. The lighting and audio also played a big part in the overall success of the play. I would highly recommend any who hasn't seen it to go and see it. I enjoyed the play a lot and will give it two thumbs up/

Assignment #12 (Music)

Music (Assignment #12)

A. What is the time for this music? 

44/44 Beats
B. How many beats does the solid green G get? 

8 beats
C. How many beats does the open green G get? 

2 Beats
D. What is one dark vertical line to one dark vertical line called? 

A barline which is used to mark off measures.
E. What song is this? 

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Peter and The Wolf

1. Who wrote "Peter and the Wolf?"

Sergei Prokofiev
2. What instrument is played as Peter?

String Instruments
3. What instrument is played as the wolf? 

French Horns
4. What instrument is play as the grandfather, duck, bird, and alligator?

Grandfather: Bassoon

Duck: Oboe 

Bird: Flute

Cat: Clarinet

Hunters: Timpani 

Assignment #4 (Make-Up Work)

The movie that I choose to view for the movie assignment was Animal Kingdom. It was a rainy day on Monday when I went to the Nickelodeon to see it. I really didn't know much about the movie except that it was a movie based on crime within a family from some of the trailers I saw for it. The movie was also filmed in Australia.

The movie revolves around a young character is caught in a web of lies and destruction within his own family. Even from the opening scenes of the movie, you could tell it would be a dark movie. The first few minutes of the movie, he talks to someone on the phone saying that his grandmother has died. Moments later, dark and gloomy music is played in the background thus forecasting the overall mood and tone for the movie. 

The way the angles of the camera and the tone of the music really captured the betrayal and sadness portrayed in the movie. You would always see when something bad was about to occur just from the music that was played. This movie was very dark in nature. There were many scenes that were shot that were very tragic and sad. Even the tone of the characters who stared in the movie voices even played a part and tied to the movie in many ways. I think this is one of the things that made the movie enjoyable. The angles at witch many of the characters were shot made them feel more believable and made you sympathize with the main character even more. 

All in all, I will have to say that I really enjoyed watching the movie. It's like you could feel the characters pain in many scenes just from the way things built up to different scenes. The tone of the music helped play a major part in doing this. From the many different camera angles as well, you could see the sadness and conflict among the characters. I have to say that it was an overall good movie that had many dark moments that I felt drawn to. 

Part 2: Architecture
The picture that I have taken comes from a building located around the Horseshoe. The building gets much of it design from the Greek Revival. It can also be described as a post and lintel type of structure. Large columns hold the building up while also giving it an ancient Greece type of feel and look. 

Phantom of the Opera

1) There are many reasons why The Phantom of the Opera was so successful. One of the reasons why it is is because many differerent forms of art were brought together to form this peice of artwork. 5 art diciplines that are combined in the movie are music, visual art, dance, opera, and film. All of these art disciplines added a different element to the movie that made it a good movie.

                                 

2)  Describe what the life of a ballerina would have been like at the Paris Opera House in the late 19th century.

The life a ballerina was very tiring and time consuming. They were constantly practicing and practicing. They would get sent off to ballerina schools ofter at the young age of 11. Often when they reached the age of 30, their careers would end. Males once dominated all of the roles in the ballet. There were hardly any male ballet dancers because they were going in decline when they first performed the Phantom of the Opera.