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Show Arts & Leisure SOUTHERN UTAH STATE COLLEGE, CEDAR CITY THE THUNDERBIRD Arty Facts MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1990 A While the concert is free to the public, donations will be accepted for Library acquisitions and choral scholarships. NEW COMMENTARY BY JASON NORTH Audience defines last word All hail the omniscient Theatre Critic! In New York City a theatre critic can close a dollar production overnight with a vicious review theatres all along the Eastern Seaboard cancel the performance with blind trust in that one persons opinion. I have the last word and its in print, said theatre critic Jackie Campbell of The Rocky Mountain News. But that isnt necessarily true. The only last words that really matter are the opinions of the audience members. The purpose of a play review is to help the public decide whether or not it wants to attend a performance. Criticism has the dual function of improving the quality of theatre in general and educating and keeping the public interested in drama. How can a critic contribute to the improvement of the dramatic art form? One director said criticism might help him see a problem that hasnt been recognized yet because its difficult to see where changes need to be made when more and more time and money are being invested in a production. But he also said he would not make any major changes just because one person said he should. A good review is not supposed to be a detailed checklist for the technical director. The critic can point out problems and state an opinion without being vicious against individuals or public relations piece. The turning the review into a sticky-swefair while is remain to challenge expressing judgmental feelings. A review that increases public interest in the theatre outlines the main message of the play and describes how well this particular performance meets the playwrights goals. The critic is expected to comment on the cohesiveness of the plays are costumes, mannerisms, set design and casting concept appropriate for the plays treatment of its historical era? When a critic is concerned with these things, readers will be motivated to attend the performance and make their own judgments. A critics words can only be taken at face have the last word in determining a plays success. multi-millio- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,' scheduled for performance in May. Friday afternoon in the basement of the Auditorium, theatre arts major Kwin Peterson, a sophomore from Stockton, Calif., practiced his audition piece. It was a monologue in pig latin, the native tongue of the Romans, he said. The director of 'Forum' is Roger Bean, public relations director for theatre arts. n value-theatre-- goers Lost art involves pipe organ music BY NATALIE SPARKS Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by J. S. Bach, known as the theme from The Phantom of the Opera, is a well known piece to all who attend Thorley Hall pipe organ concerts. old practice The Wicks pipe organ, a organ, was donated by BYU about two years ago and replaces an electronic Hammond theatre in organ, which is now used as a practice organ the Music Building. The pipe organ has two manual keyboards and one complete peddle board. It is considered to be small because it has only four ranks each key makes four different sounds. In comparison, the Mormon Tabernacle organ has 206 ranks. The pipe organ has been played for several concerts. Michael Ohman, an organist and organ tnaintenance technician at BYU, played spontaneously to the 1925 silent film classic, The Phantom of the Opera. This type of accompaniment is almost a lost art, said Jan Harrison, organ instructor and adjunct instructor of music. Last December the organ was upgraded with the installment of a new relay system. Ohman maintains the Wicks organ and tunes it twice a 20-ye- 13 DIRECTION The Southern Utah State Womens Chorus will present a winter quarter concert free to the public March 6 at 8 p.m. in the Thorley Recital Hall. Program highlights, said Choral Director Mark Mecham, include a rousing oratorio and a Baroque-styl- e barnyard song. A set of three dance songs is another selection, and several choral members will sing in small ensembles, including two barbershop quartets. The finale will be Panis Angelicus. Two March 10 performances by BYUs International Folk Dance Ensemble start at 2 and 8 p.m. in the Cedar City High School Auditorium. SUSC students are admitted free by show of activity cards. The Southern Utah State Concert Choir will present two works by contemporary composer John Rutter at a March 11 concert (8 p.m. in the Thorley Recital Hall) his 1985 setting of the Requiem and a brand new setting of the Te Deum. PAGE year by pulling on the pipes which range from two inches to eight feet. The organ is very susceptible to temperature, and even fingerprints can alter its sound. Most people associate organ music with church music. Some of the students commented from one of the concerts that they had no idea organ music could be so much fun and how complicated it could be to master the music, said Harrison. There have been many organ concerts in Thorley Hall since the Wicks organ was obtained. Among the performers are Ethelyn Peterson, adjunct organ faculty member at UNLV, who played works from the Romantic era of Mendelsohn, Widor and Vierne; and James Welch, internationally famed organist and carillon player at the University of California at Santa Barbara, who had a fun and showy recital, including works by Bach, Vierne, Mulet, Ives, and Clokey. Students interested in taking organ instruction spring quarter should contact Jan Harrison, She recommends that students have a good background in piano and sight reading. The class will also go on a tour to see pipe organs in Salt Lake City and Provo. 586-789- One of ten pipe organ students, senior Deeann Jessen from New Harmony, Utah, is majoring in organ performance. |