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Ten Tenors make opera accessible to
younger generations, provide funny and charming entertainment
By Gabrielle
Wiegand
I’m in love, madly, deeply in
love. With ten men, or to be more precise, ten tenors. On
Sunday, Oct. 3, The Ten Tenors came to Sangamon Auditorium and
dazzled the audience with about twenty fabulous numbers from
classic opera to the Bee Gees.
 The
Ten Tenors are all Australian students of opera who got together
in the mid 1990’s and decided to delight audiences with their
own brand and style of music.
They make opera, which is
frequently considered old fuddy-duddy music, accessible to
younger generations (in particular, 21 year old girls with
raging hormones, AKA my roommate and me).
First, they sang beautiful
classic opera songs in Italian, German, and French. Then things
began to lighten up with Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Let me
tell you, no song about murder has ever sounded so good.
They sang a medley of Bee Gees
hits, a Beach Boys medley, and a collection of traditional
Australian folksongs, including “Waltzing Mathilda.”
The Ten Tenors were accompanied
by a very talented pianist and an equally talented keyboardist.
For “Cast in Stone,” a song from their new album “Larger then
Life”, my favorite Tenor, Craig Hendry, (though believe me,
picking a favorite Tenor is like trying to pick your favorite
star in the heavens) played acoustic guitar. The musical
accompaniment and set were very simple as not to detract from
the performance of the Tenors.
On one song, “Thunderpoint,” they
gathered around the grand piano. You could not help but feel
like you were watching 10 friends hang out and jam with nothing
but a piano and their voices, and you felt so extremely
fortunate to witness it.
The performance was more then ten
guys singing on stage. The lighting effects were very dramatic,
in order to portray the mood and feel of each song.
The Ten Tenors were not only an
auditory treat, but a visual one as well. Each song was
choreographed and while the Tenors are singers, not dancers,
they still did a wonderful job executing the moves. In
everything they did, from beginning a song to moving their
microphones, they did it in unison with impeccable timing.
The Ten Tenors sang with their
whole bodies. You could almost see the music begin in their
toes and build momentum until suddenly voices filled the
auditorium that must surely have come from angels. They were
that beautiful and perfectly blended.
The Ten Tenors were funny and
charming (they probably could have taken anybody in the
auditorium they wanted home that night, including the ushers,
ow-ow). They clowned around and enjoyed performing so much it
was impossible to sit in the audience and not have a good time.
I have never had as much fun at a musical performance.
Each of the Ten Tenors were
equally strong performers. Each had his own solo, his own time
in the spotlight, and yet, they worked together like a finely
tuned machine.
They were all in matching
tuxedos, which led me to wonder just how much their dry cleaner
bill is. The intermission costume change consisted of replacing
their white ties with black ones.
After the performance the Ten
Tenors signed autographs. And there in a crowded auditorium
lobby, a man got down on one knee to propose as the Ten Tenors
serenaded him and his new fiancee. It was the perfect ending to
a fabulous evening.
Ancient Irish secret
The Magdalene Sisters purge sin, stains
By Brian
Mackey
Until recent years, the Catholic
Church enjoyed a medieval grip on the morality of Ireland.
People deferred to the Church
and its priests and nuns on almost all questions of personal
morality.
Sex was strictly for married
couples, and then to be used only for the prevention of
extinction.
“The Magdalene Sisters” follows
four women through a program of reform sponsored by the Catholic
Church in Ireland from the mid 1800s through the latter part of
the 20th century.
Magdalene Asylums took in
“fallen women,” invoking the spirit of Mary Magdalene, the
prostitute forgiven and befriended by Jesus. The nuns who ran
the “charities” controlled the lives of these women. Consigned
to indefinite periods of servitude, they washed laundry
day-after-day for no pay, praying and toiling to cleanse the
laundry of dirt and themselves of “sin.”
Most of the women in the
Magdalene Asylums, however, had done nothing wrong. This is
true not only when measured by today’s standards, but also by
the standards of the rest of the Western World in the 1960s,
when the film is set.
The movie begins with a brief
introduction to each of the three women on the eve of their
consignment to the asylum.
Teenager Margaret (Anne-Marie
Duff) is at a wedding party when a relative sexually assaults
her. She tells a slightly older woman, perhaps a cousin, and we
watch as word spreads through the room and up the family
hierarchy.
Margaret’s father turns to the
family priest. The dialogue takes place across a crowded room,
so exactly what is said is kept from both Margaret and us.
The next morning, Margaret is
put into a car and sent off.
Next we meet Bernadette
(Nora-Jane Noone). She is also a teenager, and one of the
oldest girls in an orphanage.
She is seen rebuffing…quickly,
though not immediately…the advances of a group of young boys.
The camera pulls back to show the school’s headmaster watching
this exchange.
Here, writer-director Peter
Mullen shows his gift for deft exposition made apparent
throughout the film. The next shot is of Bernadette’s stripped
bed. It is clear that she too has been sent away.
The two other main characters,
Rose and Crispina, gave birth to children out of wedlock. At
that time in Ireland, sex out of wedlock was considered a mortal
sin, morally equivalent to — if not worse than — murder.
As in most cases, they were
forced to give up their children for adoption. “Would you have
the child pay for your sins?” a priest asks Rose.
In the Magdalene Laundries, the
nuns exercise total, brutal control over the “penitents.”
Disobedience is met with beatings and worse.
Some of the women are elderly,
and have clearly lived most of their lives in the laundry. For
most of the girls, it is hard to imagine anything else in their
future.
Mullen reportedly wrote this
film after seeing the documentary “Sex in a Cold Climate” on
British television (the doc is included on the DVD). One can
only imagine his indignation. Mullen has made an incredibly
angry film.
Time and again the protagonists
face injustice without reason. Some of the scenes are almost as
difficult to watch as they must have been to live through.
While “The Magdalene Sisters”
does not end without some satisfaction, the epilogue reminds us
that it is based on true stories.
The plight of the Magdalenes did
not enter the wider Irish consciousness until 1993, when a
cemetery of more than 150 unmarked graves was found near one of
the asylums. The poor treatment of the women, even in death,
provoked curiosity and outrage throughout Ireland. Even today,
some of the women have organized in the hopes of gaining an
apology (and possibly reparations) from the Catholic Church and
the Irish government that supported it.
The last Magdalene Laundry
closed in 1996.
The Magdalene Sisters” will be
shown this Friday at 7:00 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium. The
screening is sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs
through the Independent & Foreign Film Series; admission is
free. Running time: 119 minutes. The film is rated R for
violence/cruelty, nudity, sexual content and language.
Papa's got a brand new Baghdad
By Gabrielle
Wiegand
Imagine Will Ferrell
impersonating George W. Bush on Saturday Night Live, only much
funnier and with singing. That is the brilliant comedy of the
Capitol Steps.
The funniest night of my life was
spent with the Capitol Steps. A few years ago I was at a youth
conference in D.C. and the Capitol Steps performed for us. I
almost wet my pants. On Oct. 8, you can share that feeling when
Capitol Steps come to Sangamon Auditorium.
A political comedy group made up
of current and former Congressional staffers, the Capitol Steps
monitor the national political landscape and observe those in
positions of political power. Then they make fun of them in
song. Regardless of political party, if you are in the news,
you are open to parody by the Capitol Steps.
Since 1984, Capitol Steps have
released 24 albums of their songs, one each year with that
year’s songs and several special editions. From “Sheik, Rattle
and Roll (Songs of 1990),” to “Unzippin' My Doodah (Songs
of 1998)” (which I actually own if anyone wants to borrow it),
to “Papa’s Got a Brand New Baghdad (Songs of 2004).” They
constantly change their material to reflect current events.
Capitol Steps take popular and
classic songs, change the words and what results is
sidesplitting fun. For instance, “Who’ll Stop the Rain?”
becomes “Who’ll Stop McCain?” and “Help Me, Rhonda” becomes
“Help Rwanda.”
Their CD’s are available for sale
on their website
www.capsteps.com or by phone at 1-800-733-STEP. You can
also purchase them after their show at the auditorium.
Capitol Steps William Strauss and
Elaina Newport have also written a book capturing their 20 years
of comedic existence, entitled “Sixteen Scandals: Twenty Years
of Sex, Lies and Other Habits of Our Great Leaders.”
The book helps you rediscover the
humor in all the great scandals from Iran-Contra, to Bimbogate,
to hanging chads, to Enron. A CD accompanies the book with 52
classic musical parodies, such as “Livin’ Libido Loco,” “I Want
a Man with a Slow Mind,” and “Thank God I’m a Contra Boy.”
The Capitol Steps travel all over
the country, delighting audiences with their insights into our
political system and leaders. They also perform every Friday
and Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Building and International
Trade Center in Washington D.C.
Capitol Steps will be at
Sangamon Auditorium Saturday, Oct. 8 at 8p.m. Tickets range
from $27 to $37. For more information or to purchase tickets,
contact the Sangamon Auditorium Box Office at 217.206.6160 or
www.sangamonauditorium.org.
Art house of the corn
Inside the Student Life Independent and Foreign
Film Series
By Brian
Mackey
The Office of Student Life’s
Independent and Foreign Film Series has no greater ambition than
making the University of Illinois the cultural center of
Springfield.
That is a slight exaggeration,
but UIS’ relative non-status as a cultural destination in
Springfield (Sangamon Auditorium excepted) did play a part in
the creation of the series.
Two years ago, Cynthia Thompson,
the Director of the Office of Student Life (OSL), says her
department needed more programming.
Someone proposed a film series,
but Thompson did not want to compete with the commercial
theaters in town. Then, Karin Cotterman, the former Director of
Service Learning and Volunteer programs, suggested showing
independent and foreign films that were passed over by the
corporate chain-theaters.
The Independent and Foreign Film
Series began in the spring semester of 2003.
Thompson sent a campus-wide
e-mail asking for suggestions, receiving numerous responses from
professors, students and others. She also looked at what was
playing at various film festivals like Cannes, Sundance and
Toronto.
An informal committee consisting
of people working in and around the OSL discussed the
alternatives and decided on the movies they would show.
At first, the films were
screened on DVD or whichever format was most convenient. After
receiving many requests that the films be projected from 35mm
prints, the series became serious.
This meant being more subject to
the fickle availability of some of the movies that had been
scheduled. If a film is a relatively current release earning
more than expected at the box office, it may be held over in
commercial theaters.
Cost has been another factor in
determining which films will make the series. Thompson wanted
to screen “Super Size Me,” the documentary in which a man eats
nothing but McDonalds at every meal for one month. The cost of
$1,000, however, was prohibitive.
Most of the films are around
$600. Admission is always free; the money comes from the budget
of the OSL.
Thompson says that while she
does not look for controversial films simply because they are
controversial, the series does not shy away from them.
The first film shown in Fall
2004 was “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Michael Moore’s polemic against
President Bush.
Thompson says there was no
agenda behind the choice of the film, just that people were
interested in seeing it. That much appears to be true: an
unusual second showing was scheduled for later that night, and a
Journal reporter present estimated that more than 325 people
attended the screenings (there is no official attendance
information).
Some students, however, were
unhappy with the choice of film. An unidentified person left
copies of a pamphlet, “Fifty-nine Deceits in Fahrenheit 911”
[sic] outside the auditorium. A representative of the
libertarian/conservative Independence Institute wrote the
document. While it makes several valid points, it also
overlooks the use of rhetoric in finding its 59 “mistakes.”
Thompson counters critics by
saying the film was chosen because it received favorable reviews
simply as a film — apart from its political content.
Other films showing this fall
will challenge viewers in different ways. Half are rated R.
One, “The Magdalene Sisters,” scheduled for this Friday, Oct. 8,
has been acclaimed by critics but denounced by religious
organizations as anti-Catholic.
Another, “The Fog of War,” gives
voice to former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, a man
whom many regard as the architect of the Vietnam War.
Selection will soon begin for
the Spring 2005 Film Series. Thompson plans to send an e-mail
to the campus community in October or November.
Two of the five members of the
original ad-hoc committee have left the OSL. She has had many
requests from professors, students and others who want to join
the selection committee, but is unsure how to proceed.
“How do we pick one person?” she
asked. “Do we have tryouts?” |
