2008 Woodie Awards
Musical score casts production in eerie light
Rudy Ornelas
Issue date: 11/2/06 Section: Lifestyles
- Page 1 of 2 next >
The drama department's thrilling revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," opened last Friday. This dark tale, which burrows into one's thoughts with the seductiveness of a campfire storyteller, is meant to disturb and alarm viewers. While the action on the stage accomplishes a fair amount of this, the overall effect would not be the same if it were not for the production's eerie musical score and the people who play it.
"We use a full orchestra, which is not done very often, usually a smaller orchestra is used, but we're doing it full scale as it was originally put out on Broadway," Doral "Skip" Mancini, theatre director, said. "We couldn't do this show without the orchestra."
Capitalizing on the sinister mood provided by the musical backdrop, Mancini and her cast use peculiar staging effects including an unexpected appearance by one of the actors who emerges from the orchestra pit.
The music is something Mancini said she feels helps set the mood for the audience as well as the actors.
"This is a musical melodrama with a very strong score," Mancini said. "Very ominous chords, organs, minor keys-all sounds that really get the mood of suspensefulness. It is simply darker [than pieces we've done in the past,] the structure of the musical is different."
The 22-person community orchestra, under the direction of Bruce Spiller, former GCCC instructor, includes five GCCC students. Musicians have logged more than 48 hours in group rehearsals over the past seven weeks in addition to the time they have spent practicing individually. Spiller said he thinks the group may be one of the best that has ever played as part of a GCCC production.
"Everyone rose to the challenge. This is not an easy one to play. It's an opera." Spiller said. "The musical score is very different and complex."
Spiller said the various keys, melodies and rhythms that often occur simultaneously in this score are rare and provide musicians with a challenge.
"We use a full orchestra, which is not done very often, usually a smaller orchestra is used, but we're doing it full scale as it was originally put out on Broadway," Doral "Skip" Mancini, theatre director, said. "We couldn't do this show without the orchestra."
Capitalizing on the sinister mood provided by the musical backdrop, Mancini and her cast use peculiar staging effects including an unexpected appearance by one of the actors who emerges from the orchestra pit.
The music is something Mancini said she feels helps set the mood for the audience as well as the actors.
"This is a musical melodrama with a very strong score," Mancini said. "Very ominous chords, organs, minor keys-all sounds that really get the mood of suspensefulness. It is simply darker [than pieces we've done in the past,] the structure of the musical is different."
The 22-person community orchestra, under the direction of Bruce Spiller, former GCCC instructor, includes five GCCC students. Musicians have logged more than 48 hours in group rehearsals over the past seven weeks in addition to the time they have spent practicing individually. Spiller said he thinks the group may be one of the best that has ever played as part of a GCCC production.
"Everyone rose to the challenge. This is not an easy one to play. It's an opera." Spiller said. "The musical score is very different and complex."
Spiller said the various keys, melodies and rhythms that often occur simultaneously in this score are rare and provide musicians with a challenge.
Be the first to comment on this story