Comedy of Errors

1. Describe the Theater, set, and costumes.

      The Theater is on the smaller scale while still having many seats for the audience.  The stage is the proscenium type, where the stage is raised slightly above the auidence, and has seats close to the stage.  The set seemed like it was hand made by students at USC.  Some of the staging were pushed on and off of the stage by stage hands.  There were different buildings as part of the set on the stage.  Some of them was the jail and a house.  There was also a small cafe to the left side of the stage that had small table and chairs outside of the building.  The costumes for this play were very colorful and varied throughout the characters.  The two sets of twins wore either an orange suit or purple costume.  The belly dancers wore outfits that could show off all of their dance moves.  The rest of the cast wore colorful outfits. 

2. In what period does this play take place? Who is the author? What period did the play write live?

       This play takes place during the Ancient Greek period and was written between 1589 and 1595. The author of this play is William Shakespeare.  Robert Richmond brought this play to the University of South Carolina. 

3. Discuss the plot.


       A mother and father had twins and suddenly were given another set of twins.  One set of twins were both named Antipholus and the other set of twins were both named Dromio.  The mother and father seperated and each took one of each set of twins, so the twins were seperated at a young age and never knew about the other siblings.  The play jumps to when they are older. One of each of the twins is paired up together and have no idea about the other one.  The whole town, including them, is very confused since no one knows the other is a twin.  Antipholus of Ephesus is married but the wife, Adriana, confuses them and thinks that her husband is having an affair.  He is messing around with one of the dancers in town.  Luciana and Dromio of Ephesus suddenly fall for each other.  They think they are doing wrong since they believe that Dromio is her husband. The confusion increases when a gold chain ordered by the Ephesian Antipholus is given to Antipholus of Syracuse. Antipholus of Ephesus refuses to pay for the chain, since he never received it, and is arrested for debt. Adriana now begs the Duke to intervene and remove her "husband" from the abbey into her custody. Her real husband, meanwhile, has broken loose and now comes to the Duke and levels charges against his wifeAt the end of the play, they discover each other and everything is made good again.  

                                                              

Phantom of the Opera Assignment

Describe

     Phantom of the Opera was made in 2004 and is based off the musical that was written in 1984. The movie was directed by Joel Schumacher, and is staring Gerald Butler, as the Phantom, and Emmy Rossum, as Christine.  This story is set in the 1870s. There is a love triangle which contains Christine, Raoul, and The Phantom.  In the story, the cast is preparing for the opera, Hannibal.  The main lead in the opera is very upset at her salary and causes a lot of fuss about it. Suddenly, the backdrop falls onto the back of her head and you see that it is done by the Phantom.  She is very angry and storms out.  Christine now takes over and is the lead singer for the opera.  Once the show is over, the Phantom lures her into a hidden dungeon.  The Phantom sings for her and she suddenly faints. Then Christine removes the Phantom's mask and he becomes very angry and storms back upstairs to the opera house. He threatens the owners each week to leave pay for him and a certain box empty.  Drama keeps escalating when Christine starts falling in love with Raoul, all while The Phantom's love is increasing for Christine.

Interpret

     It was very interesting to watcht the way the love triangle was playing out.  Christine was not in love with the Phantom but also did not hate him even though he was obsessive and full of rage.  She was the only person who ever had interaction with him and did not think that he was full of evil.  After a while, she realizes that they could never work out and sees that he is turning jealous and murderous.  Raoul realizes this and starts to fight for her.  The Phantom takes her back to the dungeon but Raoul saves her again.  They go to the cemetery where her father is buried where the Phantom tries to seduce her again.  A sword fight starts between Raoul and the Phantom but Christine begs the both of the to allow each other to keep their life.

Analyze

     The love triangle symbolizes  a girl who must chose between a man who is great for her, and one that is mysterious and pulls her in.  Raoul is the handsome one who is kind and romantic to Christine.  The Phantom loves her just the same but is scarred by a childhood of abuse.  I really enjoyed the movie and watching Christine struggle to figure out who she really loved.  It does make you wonder though what would have happened if she would have choosen the Phantom.  I wonder if he wold have turned into a good person.  If I had been in the same situation, I would have made the same decision because who would want to be with a murderer.

Evalutate

     I was very excited to see this movie because I had always heard great things about both the movie and opera.  I had seen pieces of the movie but was curious to see the whole story line.  Gerald Butler is one of my favorite actors and it was great to see him in this role.  I had never seen him do a role that was this different but he did a great job.  Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and thought it was produced in high quality. 



Opera Assignment #8

1. Describe the difference between opera, light opera, and musical theater

     Opera is an elevated style of musical theatre that is defined by the age of Mozart from around 1775-1910.  Light opera is a less demanding form of opera.  It may incorporate spoken words and usually appeals to a broader audience.  However, it still requires operatic voices and a live orchestra.  Musical theater is something such as a broadway thearter where music is interspersed with dialogue.  It can be less demanding vocally and can be performed by singing actors.  

2. How long does it take for someone to have a fully trained operatic voice?
A person is not to their peak performance until the reach the age of 30. Their control of breath is imperative. Opera stars are notoriously demanding.

3. Choose an Opera by Puccini? Describe and interpret.

     While listening to Tosca by Puccini, I am able to hear many stron and powerfull notes being sung by a male.  After looking more closely at the opera, I was able to see that the singer had great control of their voice in order to complete this song in such a great and powerfull way.



Theater Assignment #7

1. Describe the difference between a thrust stage and proscenium stage.
   




     A thrust stage is a stage that goes out into the auidence.  Many times the auidence will surround the stage.  A proscenium stage is a theatre whose primary feature is a large frame or arch. In a proscenium theatre, the auidence faces the stage directly.  Also, the stage is usually raised so it can be difficult for the auidence in the front rows to see. An example of this type of stage can be found in Drayton Hall.



2. What is the fly gallery?
    The fly gallery is the area where the stage crew can quickly and quietly move curtains, lights, etc. without being seen.  Sometimes they may have metal walkways above the stage to help with these tasks.

3. How does a scrim work?

    Scrims are backdrops that are used in plays to quickly change the scene or setting of the play.  The stage crew pulls one up and lets the other one down in the fly gallery when changing scenery.  They can also be used for special effects.