Performance report: Shakespeare in Song.

Time and space:

Saturday, March 27 had been sunny and warm with a few clouds, but as show time approached. The clouds moved in and the air was noticeably cooler. It was a Saturday evening and I expected for there to be more people out at the time. The courtyard was deserted, but I presume that the sudden change in the weather discouraged a few from wandering about.

I was early in arriving to the theatre and I arrived just as the ushers were set to hand out programs to Shakespeare in Song. I entered the Jonsson Performance Hall when there was almost no one there at the time. I decided to stay in the back so that I would interrupt as few people as possible. On the stage there were choral bleachers, a grand piano off to the left and several music stands to the right. From these the performers would recite a few lines that would bookend each song.

Audience:

At the start of the performance the performance hall was about one-third full. The audience was mostly comprised of parents who had come to see their kids in action. There were some students, though many seemed to be there on assignment, I saw at least one other person taking notes. Most seemed to believe this occasion was informal, I only saw one group of people who dressed up for the occasion. Most of the audience seemed to have just come in their regular clothes.

Some thing that I found interesting about the audience is that they never knew when it was appropriate to clap. No one clapped too early because we no one knew when the performance was over. Since each song was introduced and then followed up by some more lines, people withdrew from clapping until they were instructed by the conductor. At first it seemed that people were confused, were they to clap after every recital, every song? Thankfully, the audience soon learned to clap whenever the conductor turned to face them.
Performers:

I was surprised buy the period costumes. For some reason I expected them to be in choir robes. They entered the performance hall in a single file line with the pianist first and the conductor last. Through out the performance, people would make their way up to the front of the bleachers to either give a solo or a recitation.
Music:
I hope that you will forgive me for the dryness of the following words, but I am trying to be as objective and descriptive as possible.

The music was vocals accompanied by a piano only. Many of the songs began with a soloist and then went on to a section that included the rest of the choir. The themes of the songs were either about love or on the tragedy of death. Most songs began with the pianist playing a tone and looking at the conductor. Generally songs began with a soloist and then went on the main part of the song. I noticed in more somber songs, the melody was played in parts that were offset in a round and that the more light hearted songs were sung in one harmonious melody. Tempos were mostly as expected, with the happier songs faster than the sadder ones, although I noticed that the songs did not vary much in tempo once they were started. Since the songs were originally meant to be stuck among the action in a play, they are short, single themed and they establish themselves very quickly with little build up. They were as a whole homophonic with a few moments of polyphony.

Conclusions:

Unfortunately, I left in a hurry so that I would not miss my ride, but as I was leaving, I noticed a lot of conversation between the parents and a few of the performers. Most of the songs were about two minutes in length and the concert seemed to go by rather quickly; the event seems rushed despite the recitations. Perhaps that was a good thing, better to let the performance flow along rather than have it sag.