Elena Pearson

Chamber Singers

3-20-15

Foothill Operetta Performance Critique

This is the first operetta performance I had ever been to at Foothill High School

so I was extremely excited to hear and experience my friends performing. I can say

without a doubt that I was not disappointed.

The performance started off with a scene from The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act

1. Both ladies had just received a letter from a man that disgusted them. They also

found out from each other that both letters were exactly the same! They then went on

to sing about how they would get revenge on him to have the nerve to mess with them

like that. I really enjoyed this scene because Sarah and Olivia did a wonderful job

portraying their characters. They used dynamics in conjunction with their moods and it

showed in their faces, reinforcing their characters. Their voices blew me away,

especially Sarah’s. The power behind her voice was incredible especially with how she

was able to control the sound at the same time. Both did a wonderful job in having us

feel the anger and sassiness that they were feeling.

The next performance was a scene from The Medium. Their performance was

haunting, especially when the little girl, Elizabeth, came out onto stage singing, “Mother

mother, are you there?” over and over again. She has such a pure and resonant sound

so when she sang that high phrase repeatedly, it made it an extremely haunting

experience for me. She used a tone that had slight vibrato as to not overpower the

natural spookiness of the song. It was absolutely incredible.

Lauren and Michael sang a duet together as mother and son, from Giulio Cesare.

It was about a mother losing her son and it was just really sad how misunderstandings

can cause so much pain and loss. They did a very good job of creating the sombre

mood. As I watched, I felt the pain that they were going through and it was extremely

sad. While we watched this, my mom turned to me and said, “This is why I don’t like

watching operas, they're all so depressing.” I agreed how Michael and Lauren made the

mood sad, but don’t worry I still like operas.

The next performance was one of my favorites. It was Cosi Fan Tutte, Act 1 with

Sarah, Elizabeth, Katie, Michael, Justin, and Joshua. This scene was hilarious to me

because of the story, for one, and also because of how well they all knew their

characters. Justin and Joshua portrayed their proud and scheming (in a funny way)

characters so well. Also, the song worked very well with all their voices. Sarah and

Katie were really strong in their part but it didn’t feel forced. They were engaging their

stomachs and I could tell that they were using really good technique. Everyone did very

well in their parts.

For the last performance, everyone performed excerpts from Porgy and Bess. I

can’t remember all of the songs that they did but I particularly enjoyed I Got Plenty o’

Nothin' and It Aint Necessarily So. Jeffery did a really good job singing I Got Plenty o’

Nothin' and he did a really good job of acting care free and happy. His character that he

portrayed for this song really spoke to me. What I understood was that even though he

didn’t have much, he was satisfied with what he had and he did a fantastic job of

portraying that. The next song that I really enjoyed was It Aint Necessarily So. I

enjoyed this song because everyone was on the stage interacting with each other.

They seemed all so real while they sang, not like they were on a stage performing a

song. They all knew their parts so well that it seemed to just come naturally. Joshua

did a really good job and seemed to just have a lot of fun up there. He didn’t seem

nervous at all.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching the Foothill operetta performance! I could tell

how much preparation that they put into learning their music. I enjoyed how they all

seemed so natural and comfortable in their parts, even when they were singing in a

different language. I’m looking forward to seeing their next show!