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Sophisticated Ladies: A Tribute To The Duke

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If you want to be dazzled by gorgeous costumes, amazing singing, terrific dancing, and stunning sets, then head on over to Porchlight Music Theatre’s Sophisticated Ladies.

On Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to go see an outstanding showstopper of lights, singing, dancing, and costumes. This was at Porchlight Music Theatre’s Sophisticated Ladies in downtown Chicago. As I watched it, I was completely taken back at the energy of this show. There were so many things I loved about this show that I don’t even know where to start. However, I do want to make sure that my readers understand what this show is. You see, this isn’t a play, or a concert, or a recital, or a musical. This is simply a tribute to one of the greatest musicians of all time – Duke Ellington. If you don’t know who Duke Ellington is, he is a world-renowned musician who has captivated audiences with his jazzy songs. 

What I love about this play is the true “entertainer” vibe. There are big facial expressions and energetic dancing. The dancers encourage the audience to get up and clap and dance themselves. I had never seen such a bright enthusiasm for the audience to participate before.  In fact, that was one of the best parts of the show. It was the performers’ hungry want for the audience to be immersed in a world they had never known. But I must say, they sure did their job. One thing that was very nice to see was that almost the entire cast African-American. It was nice to see some diversity.

You see, because this isn’t a “play”, there is no direct storyline. That’s right, this is just a collection of songs and dances that will make your very own heart sing. Another thing that makes this show stand out is the lack of dialogue. This show has very, very little  dialogue. A couple words here and there to keep the audience entertained, and maybe some “acting” small talk between the actors in certain scenes. Interestingly enough, there is so much acting that one would forget that there are barely any lines! Other than that, it is simply one song or musical number after another. 

“Another thing that makes this show stand out is the lack of dialogue.”

Moriah Mitchell, Sophisticated Ladies: A Tribute To The Duke

Now let me tell you about the DANCING. Specifically, the tap dancing. It is absolutely superb. Every dancer is perfectly in sync with the next. The performers wore tap shoes for a good ¾ of the show. Almost every other song was paired with rhythmic tap dancing that matched the beat. The dancing also added a soulful interpretation of the song. There was also jazz dancing, swing, and a little modern interpretive dancing.

The singing was absolutely superb. Every song made me want to get up and join the cast on stage and dance with them! There was a great amount of scatting which I was definitely new to, but nevertheless it was very entertaining. In the end, the performers even broke the fourth wall and had the audience get up and clap, dance and sing to “I Don’t Mean A Thing”.

 Porchlight Music Theatre’s Jermaine Hill portrayed the role of Duke with no acting, no dancing, and no dialogue. He just sat and played one musical melody after another. He was extremely gifted on the piano, and I definitely thought he was an extraordinary maestro. As he tickled the ivories, the live band sitting on the two-part set jammed with him. 

I absolutely loved this play. You can very easily see that I took part in it with everything in me, and I honestly, would recommend this to any theatergoer. You don’t have to be a dancer, or a singer, or an entertainer. You just have to have a love for the soul.

Billie Eilish: Queen of the 2020 Grammy Awards

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At the 62nd annual Grammy Awards, Billie Eilish sweeped the charts, broke records, and was nominated for the Big Four of the Grammy Awards. 

January 26th was the 62nd grammy awards. There were many interesting performances. From  Aerosmith and Dmc doing a fusion performance together, to Demi Lovato’s beautiful piano ballet, even to the most questionable Ariana Grande performance. Along with the performances, something very shocking happened that night. We all know Billie Eilish. She is the singer, songwriter who has recently become immensely popular these last two years .  She has gained more attention over these last few months but this year was her time to break out. She is in the prime of her career and only 18. What makes it even more astounding that she won 5 Grammys! Not only that, but she is the first woman and the first person in 36 years to take home the Big Four: Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. Her hit song “Bad Guy” won her both Record and Song of the Year. 

She won five different grammys, just after announcing that she will be on the new James Bond soundtrack. Talk about luck. Her performance was also very heart warming as she  did a ballet with her brother, songwriter,musician, and recording artist Finneas Eilish. She also sang her latest hit”When the Party’s Over.” Billie was nominated for 6 awards and won 5 of those nominations. She won Record of the Year, Best New Artist, Song of the Year, and Album of the year. If you didn’t think she had won enough awards, she also won Best Pop Vocal Album for “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”. 

Billie has been making music for a while now, but only her recent music has been gaining widespread media attention. Her brother Finneas helps her with her songwriting and has helped create some of her hits. Her debut Album was March 29,2019. It’s been number one on the charts of multiple countries including, the U.K , U.S,  Australia, and Canada.

After receiving her awards she had this to say; 

“…all the artists that were nominated deserved it, i’m so sorry…” and “…can I just say that Ariana Grande deserves this award…” 

as the camera turns back to Ariana, who is reassuring Billie that she deserves the award.

Out of all of the winners of the 2020 Grammy Awards, Billie Eilish stood out by far. Breaking the most records this year and becoming one of the most influential music icons of the past dec

Why the Hobbit Failed

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Many people know of Peter Jackson’s award-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy, but one thing many people try to forget is his overstuffed Hobbit trilogy. So this is part one of 4 or more articles about why the Hobbit failed.

So the main thing that I want to focus on in the part is the hobbits and the problems with what we got. Actually the problems with what we didn’t get. What I am talking about is the severe lack of character development. Take this for example. Towards the end of the third movie The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies there is this big emotional scene where Bilbo Baggins says goodbye to all 13 of the dwarves. Let’s see how memorable they are. I’m willing to bet that you didn’t remember many of Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Fili Kili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, and Bomber. Why don’t we go through their backstories and see how much you know?

First, we have Balin. Did you know that he was the one who funded the journey to the mountain yet he still has his doubts about them succeeding? Most likely not.

Then we have the brothers Fili and Kili who turn out to be the nephews and therefore heirs of Thorin. But Peter Jackson didn’t think that was worth noting until the middle of the second film.

And that is just three of thirteen unlikable dwarves. The problem is that without any scenes to develop and put emotional weight in the dwarves, all I can figure out is that their either fat, ugly, or stupid. When we get to the BEHIND THE SCENES we find out that Gloin is the banker of the clan, Nori is on the run from the law, and Bofur is mute and has part of an Orc ax stuck in his forehead. All they should have done was gotten rid of the Fili (or was it Kili?) and Tauriel romance and add-in a few scenes where we learn that Bofur can only speak in ancient dwarvish hand language. Maybe one where Gloin starts complaining about how much money they’ve lost in weapons, clothes, food, and arrows, like in the book. How about a scene where we see Nori hiding from his old village. is that too much to ask for. Oh, wait you can pay an extra $32 to see some, of the scenes I mentioned.

Another thing the dwarves from this trilogy lack is setups and payoffs. Take for example when Kili (or was it Fili?) is being taken captive by the Elves of Mirkwood. A guard searches him for hidden weapons and finds some in his hair, boots, and down his pants. What they could have done was have Kili (?) hide lots of weapons on him when the company is preparing for the battle of the mountain.

Next, we get to the point that every single dwarve is interchangeable. For example, In the first movie of the trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey we see Dwalin (I think) see the leader of the company, Thorin, step onto a loose rock on the side of the Misty mountains and slip. He is only able to stay alive thanks to Dwalin grabbing him and pulling him up. This could have just as easily been Fili or Balin or even Bombur (well maybe not Bomber since he is so fat he can’t bend over) 

In an interview with Andy Serkis, who did the Mocap and visual reference for Gollum, Peter Jackson said he dreaded the Hobbit films because of the thirteen dwarves. “Thirteen dwarves is one of the reasons I dreaded the Hobbit.” That is what Peter Jackson said in that interview, word for word. Why don’t we look at a scene from one of the movies? In this scene in The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Thorin is being corrupted by something called Dragon Sickness (this I am fairly positive was never mentioned in the book) and Dwalin tries to talk him out of a battle with the Elves and Men.

What we see is Thorin tell him that he should leave or he will kill him. Besides this being an awful scene, we have seen nothing in the two movies before this that would suggest that Dwalin would be here. It would have made much more sense for Balin to be here as that would carry more, albeit not much, emotional weight. Balin was there with Thorin when he saw his father killed and his kingdom destroyed. Thorin asked for Balin’s advice at Bilbo’s house. The contract for Bilbo is signed by Thorin and witnessed by Balin. When the company rests for the night Balin tells Bilbo about Thorin and how that “There is one I would follow. There is one I would call king.” When the door to Erebor won’t open Thorin immediately goes to Balin. When Thorin refuses to make a deal with Thranduil he goes to Balin.

If Peter Jackson had made only one film then having the dwarves being background people would have been fine, but if you are going to have nine hours of content you really need to do better. So that was just part one of a few articles based around why the Hobbit failed. See you at the next one.

Why You Should Watch Netflix’s Christmas Original Klaus (A spoiler free review)

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If you’re tired of watching the same old Christmas specials every year allow me to introduce you to Klaus, a Netflix original that is sure to capture your heart. 

Klaus was released on Netflix in August of 2019. As a Netflix original movie, you may not have very high hopes that this movie will interest you, and I don’t blame you. After all, Netflix originals are notorious for being controversial, mediocre or just plain bad. But Klaus is not only a well written, uniquely animated movie, it’s also an interesting new take on the lore of Christmas. So, what is Klaus about?

The story of Klaus follows Jesper, the spoiled, entitled son of a wealthy postmaster who owns a very successful postal service. Jespers father sends Jesper to the miserable town of Smeerenburg with the goal of delivering 6,000 letters in a year. If he fails, he will be cut off from the family fortune. Populating the town are two rival families, the boisterous Ellingboes and the dark Krums, who have a cartoonish hatred towards each other. He soon meets Klaus, a reclusive man with an enormous stock of toys, and Alva, a dejected school teacher turned fish merchant. From here, Jesper must meet his goal of 6,000 letters while surviving the towns crazy inhabitants.

That’s the basic plot of Klaus, but what makes the movie so unique? Why should you watch it?

Well, if you’ve seen the trailer or clips of the movie, the first thing you take note of is the interesting style of animation. Does it look familiar? If it does, it is because Klaus is done in traditional 2D animation. The same animation style seen back in the 70’s and 80’s with Disney classics, that ultimately died back in the 90’s with the rise of computer animation. The nostalgia of the animation is combined with 3D rendering, giving the movie its unique look and animation style. I bring this up because of how laborious this style of animation is. It is frame by frame animation. Not only that, but the animators behind Klaus did a remarkable job at creating gorgeous backgrounds and fluid animation in a style not seen anywhere else. So, if your looking for a visually stunning movie, Klaus is for you. I put this first because while the animation is nice, it is nothing compared to the writing, story, and characters in the movie. 

More than anything else, Klaus is a fantastic family movie. It checks all of the boxes for an enjoyable holiday classic for kids and adults. If you didn’t know, Sergio Pablos, the director of Despicable Me, wrote and directed Klaus. So you know that this movie will be full of fun gags and laugh out loud moments. The slapstick in this movie are some of the funniest I’ve ever watched and the jokes are hilarious and appeal to all age groups. However, like how the movie can be funny when it wants to, it can also pull on your heartstrings when the time comes. 

As I said in the beginning, Klaus tackles the lore of many of our Christmas traditions and beliefs.

 From why Santa comes down the Chimney, to the elves, to why Santa delivers toys on a sleigh led by flying reindeer. What you need to remember is that the movie shows why we think these things, when in the movies reality, they happen for completely different reasons. It’s fun to watch Klaus unravel our Christmas traditions and lore in increasingly interesting and clever ways. 

The characters are what is most enjoyable about this movie. They’re all charming and interesting in their own way, even from the start. The character development is done really well and it is satisfying to watch the characters grow. I can’t talk about character development much without entering spoiler territory, but it’s heartwarming to watch the characters and even the townsfolk break away from their miserable lives and become happier people. 

 Klaus is much more than another Netflix original, It is a heartwarming Christmas tale with wonderful characters, clever moments, and moments that get you right in the feels. It is a subversive take on Christmas lore.  I would absolutely recommend you watch Klaus and add it to your list of Must Watch specials for the holiday. 


Inside the World of The Nutcracker

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The Nutcracker is a classic performance displayed every winter by multiple dance companies and schools. But what really goes on behind-the-scenes of the Land of Sweets?

For the third year, I have been given the opportunity to dance in a production of the Nutcracker. It is a magical experience, dabbled with amazing memories that will last for years to come. However, there are blood, sweat, and tears that go into making this production a success. 

            The first step is casting and auditions, which start around July or August. After Summer break, the  roles of the production are organized, and the ballet masters and directors hold an audition. There are a massive amount of roles for all dancers.Auditions can be fun, but they can be stressful at the same time. Some dancers have preferred parts, but they might get a different part than what they hoped for. The auditions test your knowledge and ability of the steps for a chosen role. By late August, we were told what parts we had gotten. This year, I had been given the parts of Party Girl and Russian Dancer. This was my second time in a row playing Party Girl. After we were assigned roles, rehearsals started. 

  The party scene is the very first scene that occurs at the beginning of the ballet. It is long, and contains many intricate details and parts that have to be sorted out.  Because I was a Party Girl, I had to start rehearsals very early. The party scene depicts a Christmas party that Clara and her brother Fritz are hosting with their parents. Their friends and family all come over to  dance and exchange gifts. Suddenly, Clara’s mysterious grandfather appears and begins using magic to everyone’s awe. As a gift, he gives her a beautiful Nutcracker doll that she falls in love with. After the party, Clara falls asleep. In her dreams, she experiences a battle between her beloved Nutcracker, and the King of Mice. After the Nutcracker wins the battle, he transforms into the nephew of Clara’s godfather, and they go on a magical journey to the Land of Snow and the land of Sweets in her dreams. 

Just the acting part of this Party scene alone takes months of perfecting. Then the dances are refined. In my school’s production of the Nutcracker, we have decided to add lines and narration to what would be a completely word-less ballet. So instead of a completely classical ballet with only music and dancing, we’ve added narration to the first act of the play. This also makes for more rehearsal time as the actors need time to memorize their lines. About a month into rehearsals, costume fittings are made. The dresses for the Party Girls are made to look like a dress a girl would wear in the mid 1800s because  that is when the play is set. Then the tough rehearsals begin. The ballet masters demand nothing short of perfection from their dancers, even if it means that they have to give them harsh feedback: They will tell you if the dance looks horrible. This might cause tension between the dancers, but ultimately, the ballet is perfected. By November, we start to do big cast Tech Rehearsals. This allows the ballet masters to get a look at what the production would look like in full. It also gives the costumers a chance to see the costumes on the dancers. Then the sound and lights team can get a chance to see if the music and lights work smoothly. 

Opening Night: an evening of warmup classes, last-minute costume fittings and pre-show jitters. But when that curtain goes up and the music starts, it’s like you’re lost in another world. You are no longer in a theater acting as a dancer. You are Clara’s friend who just trudged through a winter snowstorm in Germany to be at this party. You are a Russian dancer gracing the Sugar Plum Fairy’s palace to dance for her guests. All of a sudden you are in this fairytale world, and to be honest, there is nothing on this earth like the adrenaline rush you get as the Nutcracker Overture starts. You say good-luck, Merde, and break a leg, and then you run into the stage to be greeted by your fellow dancers and praises by the ever-captivated audience.