Introduction by JACOB YOON
The New York City trip is an annual excursion where students and teachers in the band, orchestra, and chorus classes at IHS have an opportunity to explore the culture of “The Big Apple” through eye-opening and diverse musical performances. This year, the group attended three events: My Fair Lady, a performance by the New York Philharmonic, and Wynton Marsalis and Ken Burns: Country Music at Jazz at Lincoln Center. These performances were a well-balanced exposure to the huge world of music for the students.
My Fair Lady
By ANDREW LIM
I’m going to be honest from the start—I’m not much of a theater person. The musical that we watched during this year’s NYC trip, My Fair Lady, is only the third live theater performance I have ever seen. I know that’s pretty bad, considering the multitude of opportunities I had living in Ithaca and going to NYC to see theater performances. Yet, My Fair Lady left such an impression that I just had to write a few words.
My Fair Lady is a musical written by Alan Jay Lerner based on George Leonard Shaw’s Pygmalion, and this production took place at the Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater. The towering stone theater and the big staircase leading up to the second floor, where we sat, left an overwhelming first impression. Although the opening set was simply a street with a couple of lamps, the intricacy of detail and the positioning of the set really allowed me to believe that I was looking down a pre-World War 1 London street.
Inside the colorful set, a talented group of actors play their roles. Shereen Ahmed plays the role of Eliza Doolittle, a street girl that rises up and becomes a proper lady with the help of Professor Harry Higgins, played by Harry Hadden-Paton. The play centers around these two characters when Higgins is challenged by his friend, Colonel Pickering, played by Allan Corduner, to correct Eliza’s speech from street talk to the language of the nobility. Throughout the play, Eliza learns how to talk and act like a noble-born lady, all while exploring her personal relationship with a borderline-abusive Professor Higgins. Although there is a budding romance, Eliza cannot shake her doubts about the professor, as he exposes his true personality, which is cynical in contrast to a more gentle and kind Colonel Higgins.
Not only was the plot interesting enough to watch, but the actors truly brought out the personalities of the characters they were playing. Although she was filling in for the usual lead actor, Ahmed played her role spectacularly. I was impressed by how she managed to stay in character during the emotional scenes between Eliza and Higgins. All of her facial expressions seemed to match the mood of the scene, and she allowed Eliza’s wit and emotion to come through to the audience. She managed to keep a soft face during most of the performance, which matched her character’s calm and composed personality. Hadden-Paton also had a spectacular performance that afternoon. I loved his erratic hand gestures, which emphasized his aggressive and imprudent nature. The subtlety, between the facial expressions and the movements of both actors, allowed for realistic drama between the characters, and I felt like I was watching a real story unfold in front of me.
If one was not impressed by the acting, they definitely would’ve been awed by the musical aspect of the play. The hidden gem of this musical was the pit orchestra, and I cannot express how much they brought out the emotion of each scene. Each musician played close attention to detail and it was clear that they made an effort to match the mood of the scene. For example, while Eliza and Higgins were in a heated argument about Eliza’s treatment, the pit played an aggressive chord followed by a melancholy tune to match Eliza’s sorrow. The actors themselves also had beautiful and powerful voices. I could feel their emotion and energy from the top of the second floor.
Besides the music and the acting, the plot of the play is very touching and real. It explores relevant topics like masculinity, feminism, and empowerment. I could feel myself and some audience members connecting some of the scenes to their personal lives or recent political and social events. This made for an interesting show, and surprisingly, among my fellow high schoolers, there weren’t many people napping during the performance. The combination of the realistic acting, emotional music, and touching storyline all combine to make a stellar musical which everybody can enjoy. Although I’m only a novice in experiencing live theater, I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to go see My Fair Lady, specifically at the Lincoln Center, because you won’t find a cast elsewhere that can deliver such a striking and sensational performance.
The New York Philharmonic
By NICK MCQUIRE
On Saturday’s concert, guest conductor Semyon Bychkov conducted two symphonies, Thomas Larcher’s Symphony No. 2, “Kenotaph,” and Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 4. These pieces had unique melodies that emulated contrasting, interesting moods with music that resembled the hardships and violence of war.
The 21st-century composer Thomas Larcher substantially enhanced the percussion section for more intense orchestral sound. With performers going back and forth between dozens of strikeable, shakeable instruments, large and small, the one that stole the thunder and captured my attention was the slide whistle. When creating this work, the Austrian composer took note of current events relating to immigration controversies that have mostly disappeared from US news media. According to the UNHCR, the desperate attempts of North African and Middle Eastern refugees to reach Europe in small, overloaded vessels continue to be ignored, resulting in countless deaths per day.
With whip and slapping sounds during the scherzo piece from the symphony, the classical orchestra style strayed away from its normal sound to more aggressive effects. The music showed a counterpoint between sections where sections played as if speaking in dialogue.
Larcher’s creatively constructed composition and the Philharmonic musicians received only respectful applause at the end. Audience members clearly were encapsulated by the music, as between each piece, everyone retained their coughs until brief pauses, which was humorous yet representative of how deeply the music impacted people.
Jazz at Lincoln Center: Country Music with Wynton Marsalis and Ken Burns
By DIEGO IÑIGO-PAYNE
Ken Burns and the Jazz and Lincoln Center Band put together a unique, inspiring performance during our visit to New York City. Ken Burns, a celebrity historian and documentary maker, had some very special guests lined up to join the Orchestra, such as Emmylou Harris, Rhiannon Giddens, and Marty Stuart, who contributed to the unveiling of his documentary series about the evolution of country music.
Throughout the performance, the band would play and then stop for a bit to play some clips from Burns’ documentary. The audience learned the background to many famous songs and artists that have influenced jazz and country music over the past century. The performers sang their songs with the help of the live orchestra just behind them. At times, they would stop singing and the jazz band would jam out for a couple minutes.
Although I am not a fan of country, I loved the jazz part, and would highly recommend going to Jazz at Lincoln Center to see the orchestra perform.