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Show ARTS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2004 & ENTERTAINMENT DIXIE SUN From the South Pacific to Oklahoma Southwest Symphony presents "Pops on Broadway" by Rachel Glidden Dixie Sun A&E Editor a child I grew up listening to the wonderful sounds of Disney music. My world was good. But then, without even realizing it, my family began to introduce me to a new world. This world can be anything from floating down the Mississippi river on a show-boa- t to the dusty roads of New York in 1933 to the mystical and magical world of Camelot. As This is the world of Broadway music. Needless to say, I am a big fan. So when I discovered that the Southwest Symphony Orchestra and Chorale was going to perform popular Broadway music, I told my family that we had to go. The evening began with a selection of Broadway performed by the Orchestra. Then, the featured singers and the master of ceremonies were introduced. Margo Watson was the soprano for the evening. She is most show-stoppe- at the Cox Auditorium over the weekend. Am I a "Jersey Girl?" There are only two types of people, New York and New Jersey by Megan Truman Dixie Sun At least thats what Ben new Afflecks movie, Jersey Girl, states at the beginning. But if you want to know what category you fall into, you may have to call Ben directly, because the movie never tells you. I guess youre supposed to derive it for yourself. I, for one, never figured it What I did figure out is out. that people are still obsessed with Bennifer, because there is no other explanation as to why this movie grossed over $8 million at the Box Office open ing weekend. In fact, I found the whole thing rather disturbing. The movie starts with a comical group of youngsters giving reports on their families in front of the class. Young Gertrude Trinke (Raquel Castro) tails up the reports with our unanswered question and proceeds to tell us about her family. This is where we flash back in time to see a happy Ollie Trinke (Ben Afleck) and his Gertrude new wife, (Jennifer Lopez), start their life together. It all comes to a halt when Gertrude dies after giving birth to their child and most of the comedy dies with her (no pun intended). The comedy from there on is rather crude, and the see JERSEY GIRL page 17 recently known around town as having played Anna in The King & I at Tuachan last summer. Steven G. Evans was the baritone for the evening, and has played so many wonderful roles that its hard to pick one to list. Sterling S. Poulson was the master of ceremomes, and was known by many in the crowd as the weatherman from KUTV channel 2. Watson and Evans started with songs from Showboat, a musical that Im not all that familiar with. So for me it was hard to get into at first, however, by the end of the second song I was hooked. Both had fantastic voices, and they not only sang the songs, but also acted out the songs as welL For example, at the beginning of People Will Say Were In Love from Oklahoma, they pretended to be annoyed with each other, only to (basically) admit that they were in love with each other by the end of the song. The Chorale also did a good job, though, because they were standing in the very back of the stage, they could have benefited from a few microphones. The Chorale sang selections from Oklahoma, A -- 15 ... Chorus Line, The Gondoliers, and one of my favorite songs, Youll Never Walk Alone Dr. Ken from Carousel. Peterson directed the Chorale. The Orchestra has never sounded better to me. Aside the from accompanying singers, they also had a few solo" pieces in which they played selections from The Sound of Music and Annie. As much as I loved the singers, there were times when I would have loved to )ust sit and listen to the Orchestra all evening. Perhaps the most entertaining part of the evening was when the audience became a little too enthusiastic and thought that the Orchestra was finished with the medley from Annie. The look on Director Gary Caldwells face was priceless as he waited for them to calm down so that the song could continue. Other musical selections included songs from The Music Man, Camelot, a jazzed-uversion of West Side Story and Phantom of the Opera All the performers did a great job. It was an entertaining night of Broadway music, right from the comfort of home. p |
