Torch Song was one of my favorite performances that we’ve been to as a class. I feel like the actors, the comedy, and the set played a major role in this. The first scene was the dressing room of a drag queen’s show. When I first saw the set, I thought that we came to early because they weren’t done setting up yet. But I was mistaken. The disorder and chaos of the set resembled the disorder of the Arnold’s life. There was so much going on with his family and his love life that it perfectly came out in the first scene. The next scene was a conversation between both Ed and Arnold. Ed’s life was very kept together on the outside and that’s how the set seemed as well. Everything was very clean and very simple. The next scene happened on the large bed. This was my favorite scene because they utilized the bed so well, without the audience being confused. At one end, the bed was being used as a kitchen and on the other it was an outdoor porch. I also like the 4 way conversation that happened on that bed. I felt like it went by in 2 seconds but it was so meticulously planned out. The final scene took place in Arnold’s house. It definitely looked like a blast from the past with the old radio and the purple bunnies everywhere. I liked how the actors used the front of the stage as well. It made it feel like the audience was a part of their conversation.
Student Posts
Posts written by students in The Arts in New York City (Fall 2017).
Turandot- Acting
When I think about acting, I think about emotion. The emotion that I could visibly see through the character’s faces and the emotion that I can hear through their voices. Our seats in the balcony weren’t ideal to watch the actor’s face since we were so far back and high up. However, because I came late to the opera, they put me in a separate room. At first I thought that we would get put in a shabby room and I would have to watch the opera from this small room on a tiny screen, but I was wrong. This room was similar to a small mini theater and it had a huge HD screen. We were able to see all the little details on the stage and we were able to see it so clearly. It truly did feel like a movie. I was able to see the emotion on all of the character’s faces and I could see the strain in their faces when they sang. It was beautiful. After the first act, I got to join the class in the balcony. This time, I could tell a lot about a character’s acting through their voices. There were no microphones, but some of their voices were so loud and powerful. It was truly an experience.
Turandot-Themes
Two big themes in the play Turandot by Giacomo Puccini is love and revenge. The prince, Calaf, was willing to risk his life to answer the three riddles to marry princess Turandot. Many princes died before him because of this challenge and Calaf, seeing the princess just once, was still up for the challenge. He was so in love with Turandot that even after many people warned him not to put his life at risk, he still disregarded what they said and went to the gong and pounded it symbolizing that he accepted the challenge. The theme revenge is seen by this challenge. Turandot believes because of these very complicated riddles no one will ever marry her. Turandot does not want to get married because she is convinced that her ancestor princess Lo-u-Ling lives in her and Lou-u-Ling wants to avenge the fact that she was raped and murdered by a prince. She then asks Calaf to withdraw, warning him you only have one life but you still have to answer three riddles one mistake and he will be beheaded, but he does not listen again. She then asks him the three riddles and Calaf gets all of them right. After he gets them right Turandot now realizes she has to marry him and she does not want to. Calaf, still believing love will trump all, gives her one escape, to find out his name. Turandot quickly sends many people to discover his name or she will kill them. She also ends up finding Liu (calaf’s slave) and Calaf’s father. Liu says she is the only one who knows Calaf’s name and ends up killing herself instead of the princess finding out, in spite of love for Calaf. After all of this, Calaf goes to visit Turandot, kisses her, and announces his name, so now his life sits in her hands. After the kiss, she softens and realized that she actually loves the prince. When it was time for Turandot to say his name she says his name is love. This show portrayed that love was triumph after all.
Turandot: Story
Being my first experience at an opera, I don’t have much to compare Turandot to. However, that doesn’t take away from how amazing the experience was in its entirety. Everything from the story, to the way you could hear the performers so clearly (without microphones!) just added to its quality. With a performance as long as Turandot was, however, an interesting story is essential to keeping viewers’ attention. Thankfully, thats exactly what it had. A tale resembling a Brothers’ Grimm kind of story, accompanied by lots of movement and dramatic music, kept me wanting to see it to the end.
The story is set in China, where a princess by the name of Turandot leads several men to their deaths by pursuing their dreams to marry her. A system is set in place whereas one must answer three riddles correctly in order to succeed- or else they die. Though many suitors have faced the executioner being drawn in by Turandot’s appeal, a character known as the Unknown Prince takes the challenge. And though his recently found father and companion Liu try to convince him otherwise, his will to marry the princess overcomes him- and he signals for the challenge to begin.
As Turandot reveals herself, she explains the consequences of failure- a result she has a lot of faith in. She then goes on to read the first riddle, which the Unknown Prince correctly answers. Slightly taken aback by this, Turandot continues to read the second, which the Unknown Prince also gets right. Finally, with the prince’s life at stake having everyone on the edge of their seats, she recites the third riddle. After a moment of pacing, the prince announces his answer, which turns out to be Turandot’s name, as well as correct. Clearly shaken by this, Turandot reveals her reasoning for this system and says he’d be just as those who forcibly married and tortured other past princesses or queens. Seeing her clearly distraught, the Unknown Prince offers a trial of his own.
The prince offers his life once again: he’d have himself killed if the princess could figure out his name by dawn. With a character deemed “the Unknown Prince,” this seems like it’d be a rather difficult challenge- similar to Rumpelstiltskin in this aspect. With everyone in the city commanded to search for any clue to his name, the father of the prince as well as Liu are eventually recovered. In order to prevent the elderly father from facing the lengths Turandot would go to get his name, Liu says only she knows it. Though she puts herself in danger because of this, she makes it clear that her lips are sealed and that she would keep the prince’s name to herself. At this point in the performance its more than obvious that Liu has something for the Unknown Prince. Turandot, not understanding the feeling of love, can’t comprehend why Liu wouldn’t tell her his name, or why she ends up killing herself. The scene was very emotional and clearly a pivotal point in the opera, for dawn follows soon after.
As dawn approaches, Turandot has a moment of venting mainly out of fear of what is to come. Her bad perception of men as a whole causes this, but the Unknown Prince reassures her he only wants to have her happily. He reveals his name to her, and seeing that he is willing to give up his life for her more willingly than before, she feels love towards him. In the end, they end up married and Turandot, known as the princess of frost and ice, is overcome by lovely fire.
Torch Song Venue
Firstly, the venue is located just off 8th Avenue and the train stations were nearby, thus allowing us to reach the theatre easily. The building entrance is street level, and the theatre is located on the second floor, accessible by stairs or elevator. Upon entering the theatre, I realized that the box office was a repurposed bank vault and that there were old safes throughout the first floor. This caused the lovely, intimate theatre to have a great ambience. The restrooms, concessions and lobby were all located on the same level as the theatre. The stage was extremely tiny but it could still be seen clearly. It was decorated very nicely and was aesthetically pleasing. The seats were reasonably comfortable, the sound system was very effective and the staff were very pleasant. I loved how when the play started, the curtains on the windows closed as the lights were dimmed. Although the venue was not very fancy, it was still very quaint.
-Noshin Choudhury
Opera Venue
Even before entering the venue, I was shocked at how beautiful the architecture was. The fountain gave the venue a sense of fanciness we had not experienced at other Macaulay Events. After walking in, the venue only looked better. The stairs were endless and everything was covered in a beautiful red velvet which gave a sense of elegance. The chandelier dangling in the middle was my favorite part.
However, the steps leading to our seats were very tiny and it felt like I was going to fall. Our seats were located very far from stage which made it hard to see the actors clearly. The seats themselves were very comfortable, but as we learned from experience, only meant for one person. The highlight of the opera house was probably the small screen in front of every seat with the subtitles. They were special because you were only able to see yours from your seat. Thus, other people’s screens were not distracting.
-Noshin Choudhury
