It seems to me a strange thing, mystifying....

[plumtreeblossom]

I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar at MIT last night. This is one of my favorite musicals in the world, but unfortunately it was my personal (and debatable) opinion that they slaughtered it. There was a lot of good effort evident, but I couldn't get past certain things, namely a miscast Jesus. I have no problem whatsoever with a woman playing Jesus, but a high soprano? Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) did the role quite well, but she's an alto and kept the score in its original octave. I felt sorry for this pretty soprano Jesus, who was at moments almost squeaking to reach top notes not written to be sung that way. I would have cast that girl as Mary Mag, thrown the much weaker Mary Mag into the chorus, and made everybody turn up the energy about 12 notches. Ah well, nothing can ruin my love for that play.

Comments

[desultor.livejournal.com]

well it was MTG, right? i mean...um....trying to say this somewhat tactfully....be aware of what group you're going to see.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about them, assumed they were the same as any student group. This was my first show of theirs. Oops, are they, like, special, or something?

;-)

[desultor.livejournal.com]

ah. let's just say....yeah, special. they've definitely done good shows, but (in my opinion) that was a long time ago, and the quality of shows has never been very high in the past several years. now, the shakespeare ensemble and dramashop, on the other hand, are good. (of course, i'm biased, having been involved with both groups.)

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I see. Well, actually not. I mean, they're all MIT students or grads, so I assumed they don't need their food cut up for them and stuff.

What's the buzz, tell me what's a'happenin'?

[desultor.livejournal.com]

well i'm not in the scene anymore so i can't say. but even with my bias, my experience has been that dramashop and the MIT shakespeare ensemble are the most consistently good of the theater groups there. i tend to feel like musicals ask too much of people, singing AND acting, and people are rarely up to both.

they don't need their food cut up for them, but that's quite different from being talented enough to both sing well and act well, not to mention being directed.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

That's the Gilbert and Sullivan Players. They have an LJ- mitgsp

[desultor.livejournal.com]

yup, that's mit gilbert and sullivan :)
i can't say how their shows are, since i've never been.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

We rock, of course ;-)