I have to say that my favorite part about this class wasn’t our discussions or the plays we read or movies we’ve seen (although I really enjoyed both). My favorite thing about this class is that it exposed us to live theater and gave us new experiences (both good and, shall we say, not so good). Would I ever have gone to see “Little Foxes” at New York Theater Workshop, or any play at NYTW for that matter, on my own? I have to say probably not. But am I glad that I went as part of our Arts of NYC class? As Sarah Palin would say, “you betcha!!” Would I have gone to the Metropolitan Opera? Not in a million years. Now would I go back? Yeah. Would I ever have gone to see Ralph Lemmon on my own? No. Now would I see it again? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
I guess it is clear that the Ralph Lemmon performance was my least favorite this semester and that I thought it was the least effective. It was strange, and hard to relate to, and there was not a clear point of it, which made it ineffective. After our discussions in class and with Ralph and the dancers, I understood that there was a point he was trying to make. But to the average person who wasn’t studying the performance and didn’t have a chance to speak to Lemmon and the dancers, the point would have been unclear and the dance would have been excruciatingly boring, which is why many people left in the middle.
But since I’m pretty sure that most people in our class will say Ralph Lemmon was least effective/ least favorite, to be different I’ll say that Kissing Fidel was pretty out there. While it was definitely an entertaining piece to read (who wouldn’t love gay incest??) I don’t think it was effective in conveying a point or opinion. Here is where I would go into reasons why I don’t think it was effective in proving a point, but the problem is that I don’t even know what point it was trying to prove which is why I can’t even disprove it or claim that he didn’t say the point he wanted to-because I DON’T KNOW WHAT POINT HE WAS TRYING TO MAKE. That fact alone is enough to tell me it was ineffective in getting a point across.
Out of all the live performances we saw, I think my favorite was Contes D’Hoffman. It wasn’t only the performance, it was the whole experience. I loved seeing all the people getting dressed up in ball gowns and it was fun to follow them and take pictures of them. I felt like the paparazzi. Next time I go to the opera, I want to dress up like those fancy ladies. I also loved the actual performance because of the spectacle and the singing. I didn’t understand it, but that was fine because I enjoyed the experience. Also the subtitles helped. Although it was my favorite, I don’t know if I would call it the most effective because again, I wasn’t sure what point it was trying to make. I think it was more of teaching us to appreciate the opera by showing that it is not just for old people.
I think the most effective piece we saw this semester was Fahrenheit 9/11. It was the most effective because it was the clearest- it had an agenda, a clear opinion pointing in a certain direction, and it made its point very, very clearly. As I spoke about in the Fahrenheit 9/11 blog, whether you agreed with it or not, there was a clear point that couldn’t be mistaken or misunderstood.
All in all, I have to say that I loved this class and all the performances we saw. Even Ralph Lemmon. I mean, I didn’t love the Ralph Lemmon performance, but I enjoyed complaining about it and talking about how much I hated it. But for real, I truly enjoyed the performances and I plan to go to more performances on my own in the future. Oh! I forgot to mention the exhibits we saw. I love museums, so it was cool that I got to see the Andy Warhol exhibit-that was my favorite exhibit that we saw. Not only was the exhibit cool, but it was also my first time going to the Brooklyn Museum and it was really nice. Thanks for a great semester!!
