Marina Nebro: Arts and Culture

Renowned actor Will Chase (front and center) as John Jasper, and actress Chita Rivera (far right) as The Princess Puffer.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is almost like a game of Clue – each performance has a different culprit and a different detective. The musical by Rupert Holmes is a fun-loving treat, but the light, airy, and joke-filled way he goes about telling the story of the mysterious disappearance of young Ned leads to a sort of plot let down. The only exposure I’ve had to the dark tale is through the Masterpiece Classic version starring Matthew Rhys as Jasper. Of course, because the audience members couldn’t vote in a film production, the writer, Gwyneth Hughes, created her own contrived ending to the mystery. The film took on a darker tone and feeling than did the musical. (more…)

I can’t believe my first semester of college is almost over!!! Today I presented my last emotional response project for my Introduction to Theatre Design class. Mine seemed to be very different from most of the presentations. So many people had moving traumatic experiences that they remembered – and if not experiences, moving and emotional fears. And what are my fears? (more…)

Marina Nebro
Acrylic, collage
2012

I’ve been asked by the Macaulay Messenger, my college’s online newsletter, to write a “blurb” about this piece of artwork. How they chose this one, I have no idea, but I was extremely flattered that they thought to contact me for a little bit of an explanation.

This painting was probably one of the last ones I worked on in my senior year’s AP Studio Art class. It was my thirteenth piece in my twelve piece collection – being a very punctual student, I had some extra time to give myself multiple options for my final portfolio. It might help to understand what my concentration actually was, and then to go on and talk about this particular piece. (more…)

A Dybbuk, Or Between Two Worlds was a theatre production sponsored by the Queens College Department of Drama, Theatre, and Dance, and the college’s Center for Jewish Studies. The play ran nearly three hours, with a fifteen-minute intermission, and there was a panel discussion afterwards in which the playwright was discussed, as well as the Jewish cultural tradition in Eastern Europe of the early 20^th century.

The play is set in Poland in the 1890s. The stage is designed to encompass multiple settings – inside the synagogue, outside the synagogue, and various other places – through the use of a rotating platform in the middle. When rotated, on one side is a gnarly tree, and on the other, an ark for the storage of the sacred Torah scrolls of the synagogue/shul. I’m starting off describing the staging in an intricate manner, as I had been involved in the creation of the set. The archways on either side of the stage were to resemble similarly gnarly trees, but the intertwining branches are curved in such a manner as to create the Star of David, or the Magen David, to further heighten the Jewish folkloric tradition of the play. (more…)

Normally, I would not recommend wasting five hours of your day watching videos on YouTube. It’s not a healthy habit. But, I was bored, had nothing to do, so I thought, “hey, why not?” I remembered hearing about some Harry Potter musical with Darren Criss from Glee in it, so I decided to look that up and see what all the hype was about.

The hype was definitely warranted. I’m telling you, I had such a blast watching A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel, that I think I would easily pay money to go and see it performed Off-Broadway or in some regional theatre. I mean, I went to see Potted Potter, a parody featuring Dan and Jeff from England, but I must say, I think the students from the University of Michigan blew those two Brits out of the water! (more…)

No composer impacted the course of Western music like Ludwig van Beethoven. The events of his life are the stuff of Romantic legend, his works permeate concert halls and he remains a cultural icon outside of classical music, turning up in movies, TV soundtracks, commercials and pop songs. After last year’s inaugural festival, Beethoven Awareness Month is back to celebrate Beethoven’s work through concert broadcasts, an all-Beethoven stream, multimedia projects, marathons and other features. -WQXR

Every night as I lay down to fall asleep, I put WQXR, New York’s classical radio station, on a 90-minute timer. Since November 1st, I’ve been falling asleep with the idea of writing a blog entry about the fact that it is Beethoven Awareness Month, but because I come up with the idea as my eyes are closing, I seem to always forget about it when I’m awake. Well, guess who finally remembered! (more…)

The Introduction to Theatre Design project on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing was probably the most nerve-wracking by far, but mostly because it was my first legitimate group project (with Tom Stagnitta and Livia Crespo) and I didn’t want to let anyone down. I was assigned costumes again, which I was very pleased about because the other options were set design and lighting. Set would be my second option, but lighting? I’d rather stick to costume design, thank you very much!

When I think of Shakespeare plays, I automatically think of Elizabethan style costume. This was my group’s first idea in terms of an overall theme for our design. But, when reading this play, it had a more airy quality than Elizabethan would allow for. Livia found an amazing picture while researching lighting: Fragonard’s The Meeting. I was so glad she brought this to our attention because Fragonard was one of my favorite artists when studying the Rococo era in Art History with Ms. Emily Man in high school. Once we all saw the painting, we immediately agreed on a Rococo theme. Easy, right? Not so fast! We weren’t going to make it that simple for ourselves. Instead of setting the play in the mid-1700s, we would pick a more modern era with Rococo inspired costumes and set. Not as easy as it might sound. (more…)

Again, I would like to apologize for the tardiness of this post. Being absent-minded, I forgot to take a program from the concert, and had to wait for someone to give me a list of the various pieces performed before commencing my review. I would also like to start off saying that I am part of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, but due to joining the group late in the semester, was not able to perform with them for this concert. There may be a slightly heavier focus on this group, then, because of my familiarity with the repertoire.

QC String Ensemble

Preludio for String Orchestra ……… Paul Whear
Molly on the Shore ……… Percy Grainger
Bethena, A Concert Waltz ……… Scott Joplin
Concerto Polonis ……… Georg Philipp Telemann

Symphonic Wind Ensemble

Masque ……… W. Francis McBeth
Danse Bacchanale ……… Camille Saint-Saens
Pagan Dances ……… James Barnes
I. Ritual
II. Mystics
III. The Master of the Sword
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 565) ……… J.S. Bach (more…)

It is true, CERRU and the Macaulay Honors College were not able to get Jon Stewart to come to Queens College for a lecture. But, they got the next best thing: Co-Executive Producer Steve Bodow, though the reason for that ability was probably due to the close connection between Bodow and one of our faculty members here at Queens, Katherine Profeta (also one of the seminar professors this semester for Macaulay’s Arts in NYC). Steve Bodow was not always Co-Executive Producer. He studied journalism and politics at Yale University, and later became involved with theatrical production as well as freelance journalism. He applied to the Daily Show as a writer, and made his way up from there, recently receiving this high title. (more…)

I apologize for my delay in posting this blog. So bear with me as I’m writing this more than a month after the fact.

The Godwin-Ternbach Museum and the Department of Comparative Literature sponsored Jue Loffelholz’s lecture on art, poetry, and nonsense. From the title of the program, I had a preconceived notion that I would be going to a poetry reading. I was in for a splendid surprise. Loffelholz is more than a poet, and I would argue, he isn’t a poet at all. But he isn’t an artist either. I believe that he even said he’d rather not be categorized. Loffelholz aims to make a statement – to be provocative in the most nonsensical sense. He rejects the combination of politics and art – he is not anarchical and doesn’t aim to send any sort of political message through his works. It was very difficult to hear Loffelholz at the lecture because he refused to use a microphone. At first, I thought it was simply a mistake that there wasn’t any amplification. But after conversing with Loffelholz, I learned that he didn’t use a microphone because, to paraphrase him, “that’s what politicians do”. His rejection of conformity is extremely strong, and very present in his “art.” (more…)

I must say that it was an extremely wicked experience going to see Wicked the musical. Not only did I get to see the show, but also I got to see the show for free, and meet an actor (Michael DeVries) and ask him questions. It was also a pretty wicked time getting stuck in the freezing cold with wet feet, but that is a story for later.

The reason that my Arts in NYC class got such perks for this show was because we had originally planned to go see the musical about a month earlier, but the box office had lost our tickets. To repay us for the inconvenience, we got to have a Q&A with one of the seasoned actors in the show – Michael DeVries who has been in the ensemble for seven years, playing various characters including Elphaba’s father. Also at the Q&A session was a playwright Michael Feinstein. They answered a lot of our questions pertaining to the life of actors and playwrights, and the world of Broadway. I asked a specific question about historical research that goes into creating a set and costume – as I’m interested in history and art history, this might be one way that I can see myself take off in a career (though currently I have my eyes set on a museum profession). It was pretty awesome that my professor, who accompanied us, acknowledged me as a set designer to the actors. Though I am taking a pretty awesome class on theatre design, and though I have been involved in set building, I would not consider myself a set designer, but that extra attention that the panel of two gave me was received very warmly. (more…)

-2012-
Election
Romney VS Obama 

Who I voted for is really not of large importance when it comes to today. The more important issue is that today was my first experience when it comes to being a participating American citizen that is eligible to vote. And to be quite honest, the new, exciting experience was quite a let down.

I remember being very little and going to E.M. Baker Elementary School in Great Neck with my mother or father. I remember always being nervous – Am I allowed to go in with you? Isn’t that illegal? I was quite the proper child – still am! I remember wanting to pull the lever to close the curtain, select the presidential and other candidates (usually not understanding how the entire process worked), and then finally try to open the curtain once again – but… I was too weak! Probably still am. (more…)

The story of Carmen originates in the short novella written by Prosper Mérimée. In this case, Bizet’s opera Carmen, libretto written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, is an adaptation of the original just as Carmen Jones is a different version written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Robert Russell Bennett. Adaptations are increasingly popular in this day and age as most films shown in the cinema are remakes, as many Broadway shows have been previously performed in past decades, and as many music pieces are covered by amateur artists on the internet. Such adaptations like the ones mentioned above receive great criticism from fans of the original. A revival or new spin on an old idea always adds something, but similarly, always leaves something out. In the comparison of Bizet’s Carmen and Hammerstein’s Carmen Jones, there are many things that are a let down while there are some things that are more accessible to a modern-day audience, especially in an American setting. Let us explore some of these differences and come up with an overall conclusion – which version is the most effective? (more…)

Twice before I have posted blogs about emotional response projects I had for my Introduction to Theatre Design class. This is the third time that I shall post something of the sort: this time in response to Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. The assignment for this play was to create a sculpture. I am an artist, but I rarely venture into the realm of the three dimensional artwork, so this was a new adventure for me! Just like for any other art project for which I have an idea, the idea is a lot more crisp and clean than the outcome. And due to the the terror that hurricane Sandy wrought on Long Island, I didn’t really have time or a way to get any commercial art supplies to aid my struggle. (more…)