Abe Morell: Photography

When I went to Abelardo Morell's website, I was looking for a few examples of his work that had to do with the camera obscura. Instead I found not only a massive body of work dealing with that one technique, but also a whole website of brilliant photography. Morell plays with light and perspective in his photos. He starts with a theme and builds on it with each work. Each individual photo tells a different part of the story.

In his camera obscura work, one collection I have to rave about is titled "Tent Camera". It appears that he has made the camera obscura technique work in a tent. He has traveled to rooftops, city streets, etc., getting incredible shots!

Tent-Camera Image on Ground: View of Rome from the Spanish Academy, 2010 (Abe Morell)

In the section called Light & Time, Morell has showed photography's ability to manipulate light and time. He makes us feel the movement that once happened in this artwork, and even feel that it is still happening/about to happen.

Motion Study of Hammer Impressions on Lead , 2004 (Abe Morell)

I was touched so deeply by the images in "Childhood" that I really believe he is one of the most inventive photographers (and artists) of the post-modern era.

Laura and Brady in the Shadow of Our House, 1994 (Abe Morell)

Here's one last image, though I could choose so many, from "Money" and "Theater" particularly. This one is from the "Alice in Wonderland" set.

Curiouser and Curiouser, 1998 (Abe Morell)

In this collection and others he becomes a sculptor, collage maker and a photographer. He uses various media to create the most "realistic" fantasy possible.

All of Abelardo Morell's photography is multidimensional. As you can tell, he not simply 'taking pictures', he is making them with his bare hands. He is connected to each one in a way that is palpable to the viewer. It is nice to see that there are still some cerebral pieces out there by truly smart artists.

Pictures from Der Rosenkavalier

Leave it to Open Office to not know how to insert pictures to a doc file. Anyway, here are the stills for my Der Rosenkavalier paper.

Brief summary: A princess named Marschallin has an affair with a younger man. The princess feels old and thinks the young man will leave her. The princess' cousin, the Baron, almost discovers the affair when he visits to announce his own wedding. The young man disguises himself as a maid, and proceeds to be goosed and harassed by the Baron. Their secret affair is safe, and the princess wants Octavian (the young man) to be master of ceremonies at the Baron's wedding. The Baron is a terrible person who wants to sleep with everyone. His young bride, Sophie, is virtuous and kind. When Octavian and the young bride (Sophie) meet, they fall in love. A plot develops to free Sophie of her horrible marriage to the lecherous Baron.

Watch it! It's gorgeous.

Marschallin and Octavian are having an affair.
(Kiri Te Kanawa and Anne Howells)
(Yes, the boy is a woman.)

Marschallin laughs as the Baron seduces her "maid".
(Kiri Te Kanawa, Aage Haughland, and Anne Howells.)

Der Rosenkavalier (Octavian) gives the silver rose to the Baron's new bride.

The Baron, on a date with the "maid" (Octavian). A scary spectre in the wall!
(Yes, the woman who's playing a boy is now disguised as a woman.)

The ghosts are haunting the Baron!

Marschallin gives Octavian and Sophie her blessing.
(Barbara Bonney, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Anne Howells.)

Inventive Technology and Broadway

Galinda's Magic Flying Bubble

So for this assignment we are required to look at the Stage Door blog and find seven examples of technology used in creative ways. I found quite a few myself, some questionable and some obvious.

I cannot view the individual Wicked link because my Internet connection is too slow for HD video. However, I saw Wicked when it was at the Straz Center (before it was the Straz Center). Wicked is one of the most mechanized musicals I have ever seen! The facade framing the stage was a huge glowing dragon that started to move during the overture. The backdrop was, at the opening, a projected map of Oz. Glinda has a huge industrial-themed magic bubble that she rides down from the sky! People fly, monkeys fly, everything flies!

I could go on, but there are more shows to cover. 

Elphaba "Defying Gravity"

Dragon and Map of Oz

In the West Side Story revival at the Tony Awards, the crew used red lighting for Mambo and Blue for the slow dance between Maria and Tony. Lighting is an easily overlooked form of technology. (The color change can be seen at 2:20.)

Now let's look at the La Cage Aux Folles revivals from 2004. I don't know if this is considered technology, but the giant cage skirt that the drag queen is wearing contained all the other women (0:25). Very cool! This was definitely reminiscent of The Nutcracker.

For the movie version of Fiddler on the Roof, film is the interesting technology. The director uses the media to show us the entire town in new depth, to have real locations instead of just the changing of sets (0:20). We also get "smaller" acting. This does not mean that the actors are less talented, but that their facial gestures can be seen clearly on film (0:49 – 1:00). The camera has always been a special medium that brings us in closer, to a more personal level than theater, where everything must be huge in order to be seen.


In Mary Poppins there is of course the fact that Mary flies throughout the show, even over the audience (0:45, 0:55, 2:22, and so on). There are magical things that Mary does to make objects “move by themselves”, so a lot of the sets are fully mechanized. In the clips you see a giant moving umbrella (2:55). Also, the skyline is most likely projected upon or backlit (3:26).


Admittedly I watched the How to Succeed in Business clip because I wanted to see Daniel Radcliffe sing and dance. (Singing, pretty decent – dancing, great.) In the background of this swanky sixties set we have glowing oval light panels that change color throughout the dance scene. (No specific time.)

In A Chorus Line, the mirrors in the back rotate to reveal a decorated mirror on the opposite side (0:30, 1:25).

Adios. Time to review my notes on Der Rosenkavalier and finish this paper already.

Faculty exhibit - what a show!

Hello again. As you may have gathered, I have no life outside of academia. Luckily, academia provides quite an incredible life for me. Music major, art minor. I get to know all the most astounding talents from around the world. Speaking of which, I just came back from the grand opening of the faculty exhibit.

What a wonderfully diverse showing of art we had tonight! I took notes on my cell phone, so I hope no one thought I was a rude text messaging fool. Let's have the gallery tour with six artists:

1) Gil Demeza - Pretty Woman. The metallic paint and bright color splotches reminded me of what it looks like when your makeup explodes in your purse. (Nightmare!) The paintbrushes caked in paint attached to the canvas were a humorous addition. Very clever.

Gil Demeza - Sonata for a Sultry Cat. What fun! I noticed the 'musical staves' secured to all the canvases. I love the colors in this painting. They remind me of coffee and chocolate. Delicious.

2) Doug Sutherland - Big Mumfordian Statement. It was love at first sight with me and Robo Christ. From the time capsule of all the greatest disasters of the 20th century, to the juxtaposition of Sarah Palin and rising gas prices (two 21st century disasters), to the glowing neon INRI, everything was pure magic.

3) Chris Valle - Body Buy Victoria. Gorgeous layering of images! Just viewing the complexity is intimidating. I noticed what looked like a Greek mural of an orgy/party in the background. This painting features the emaciated beauties of Victoria's Secret, held together barely by connective tissue and Botox. Note: Forty-dollar bras will not make your nudity less tragic. Sorry, average woman. You'll just have to strut your reality. :)

Chris Valle - Saint Lady of Gaga. I just have to say I adore it. That's about all I can say. You have to see it for yourself to really appreciate how much careful work it must take to get the final effect.

4) Santiago Echeverry - Prick. (I swear that was the title and not a value judgement!) What an amazing work. I have never read such an edgy, well written contemporary poem. I may be an Ed Madden fan now. The video is dramatically lit and every shot was gorgeous. Granted, the model was just about the most beautiful man I have ever seen, but the choice of model is also to Santi's credit. (Thanks for that.) Photographs were stunning!

5) Kendra Frorup - Duran Duran. I really enjoy Kendra's work because she mixes media to such an extent that you get a whole living environment in every sculpture/painting/mutant. There is a great boxing theme in this new set of works. The paintings are solid and the gloves are striking (I can find no less pun-like description that works).

6) Catherine Chastain-Elliott - Orange Sunset 2010, A Perfect Year, October Sunset. I have seen plenty of paintings of landscapes in my life, but none like this. I like the less-than-clean brush strokes used here, because they provide a more realistic depiction of a sunset. There are not just solid bands of color in a perfectly clear sky, there are little remains of larger clouds and the view is partly obscured by the forest. Here I almost feel the woods. Lovely.

The depression, the recession, the death of cinema.

The depression was a fabulous time for the film industry. Films were very popular and also very cheap for moviegoers. Musicians and musical theater stars had a very difficult time keeping on the stage. I remember hearing stories about the Great Depression from my grandfather who was born in 1928. (He just passed away this New Year's Eve.) It was impossible to find the time to work and to be a musician. Though he was a talented singer, his 60+ hour work week had him out of the educational system by middle school. His favorite entertainment: the movies. He would walk through Trenton on a day off and for five cents he could sit in the movie theater all day if he wanted (popcorn included). This high level of accessibility was largely responsible for the era of the silver screen.

In our recession the exact opposite reaction is taking place: cinema (or at least the movie theater itself) is dying. With the boom of online videos and the advance in quality of home theaters we can have any entertainment we want instantly. Even DVD rental stores are closing their doors with new rapidity. What has happened to printed media (books, newspapers, magazines) will continue to happen to anything not computerized.

On another note, landline phones are becoming a thing of the past. More and more families are choosing to own only cell phones. The phone companies are buying each other out in a panic. Will one company end up having a phone/wireless/internet/cable monopoly? Most likely no, but our choices are dwindling.

Yes, Youtube, Netflix and Hulu are the popular media of the Recession.

Madama Butterfly animation

Fantastic! I really enjoy the home made Butterfly doll with the wire structure underneath. Even her umbilical cord is a wire. The fishbowl womb is quite cool! I can't quite figure out why it is used, other than maybe the relation of Butterfly and the ocean. She watches the horizon for Pinkerton's ship every day for three years. The constant connection by umbilical cord reminds us to what extent Butterfly lived only for her child. It makes me laugh to see that Pinkerton (the sailor) and his American wife are Ken and Barbie. (Plastic butt love scene? Hilarious!) In addition, this particular Barbie has practically "collected" one child from each race. The most incredible moment of all is when Butterfly leaves the set to dismember and unplug herself.

Only the single aria "Un bel dì" is used for the entire film. This plays on a phonograph held by Butterfly. That is the intention behind the entire aria, to be Butterfly's constant prayer that she clings to blindly. She kills herself (at least in this video) to the phrase "io con sicura fede l'aspetto" (I with secure faith wait for him).

In the opera, Kate (the new wife) is seen as an innocent, benevolent character. She is not a heartless, stupid Barbie. She is a woman told by her new husband that he married and impregnated a fifteen year-old Japanese girl! Pinkerton is the truly detestable enemy in this story.

I would call Butterfly a feminist character. She is a brave woman who abandons her religion and consequently her entire family for love. She is a teenage girl who manages to care for a child mostly on her own. When her true love betrays her, she agrees to give up her son so he may have a better life in the United States. And most astonishing of all, she is able to commit suicide with a blade, to "die with honor". All of these actions are much braver than anything the honorable Lieutenant Pinkerton could have done in his entire military career.

In parting, I say, "Oh yes, I would love to play Madama Butterfly."

Baroque and classical in pop culture

So I know there was a Cascade dish detergent commercial with this aria in it, but the other commercial I found is so much better.

The Queen of the Night (Die Hölle Rache) from Mozart's The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte).

Additionally, a flash mob performed the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah. Oh, and there's also this great Nike commercial with suspiciously baroque lighting.

Handel: a Christmas Flash Mob
Nike ad with Mozart's Reqiuem Mass in B minor "Lacrimosa"