Some Enchanted Evening
I’m always fascinated by how intricate certain communities on our campus are, especially those found in the music department, where I spend the majority of my time. Every Monday through Thursday during the evening in Sloan 201 is Chorale, a time spent by the choristers coming together to bond over the literature we’re studying for our next concert. Chorale is the encompassing, grand experience, serving as the most open connection between those who participate in the ensemble and the rest of campus.
Within Chorale are smaller, select ensembles that study and perform one genre of music, like After Hours Vocal Jazz and Collegium Musicum. The most obvious requirement for these ensembles is to be in Chorale, and they meet to study their respective genres outside of typical chorale meetings.
An even smaller subset of people from Chorale are those awarded voice scholarships to study and perform classical literature throughout the academic year in addition to performing with the Chorale.
It’s in the smallest of these communities, the voice students who perform in the annual opera workshop, where I have found my niche, and have experienced my favorite form of community.
Every semester, the studios of the voice faculty present their workshop in Tyler-Tallman Hall. Referring to it as a workshop is tricky, however, because even though the voice students have been workshopping the opera or musical collection, only the final product (the production itself) is presented to the audience in attendance. I was lucky enough to be cast in Some Enchanted Evening:Songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and found myself engrossed in a new community of eleven other singers.
Some Enchanted Evening is a comedy featuring the best hits of works by Rodgers and Hammerstein, including pieces from Oklahoma!, The King and I, and South Pacific. The Rogers and Hammerstein Organization describes the show as such on their website, stating:
“This stunning collection of compositions places five performers in a theatrical setting-first ‘backstage,’ where the songs are sung as personal interplay, and then ‘onstage.’ While offering the performers an opportunity to explore the songs within their own styles and sensibilities, it offers the audience a glorious parade of genuine hits.”
What made this show magical to the audience was the different interpretations of classics songs patch-worked into a show of 34 select numbers, blending the tunes from the different universes of those shows into something new and utterly exciting, making one collaborative show that takes on a totally new meaning altogether. For example, “Cock-Eyed Optimist” was a song of hope and love in South Pacific, however, Some Enchanted Evening transformed it into a passive-aggressive breakup song and crowd pleaser. My brother, who happens to also be my biggest critic, had this to say about the show, “The cast and costumes were great, I liked how well you all sang together, you all had super high energy!”
But it wasn’t the show or the songs at all that made this project so magical to work on. In fact, the best parts all happened back stage, away from the eyes of our audience and directors.
We became a family, a team of cheerleaders huddled around the live stream TV that showed us who was where on stage as it was all happening, to let us know the exact moments to enter. What was originally a tool to help with timing became an opportunity to cheer each other on as we all performed, and that’s what made the show so worth it. From what I remember, nobody moved too far away from the TV while backstage—not in fear of coming on late, but out of wanting to cheer on whomever was singing from the sidelines.
The audience saw tension between characters and awkward romances and really simple waltzing that took us way too long to learn, but they didn’t see the process getting there, the bonding, the bad jokes and movie pajama parties that made our community into what it was.
It’s also been really fascinating to see twelve strangers become friends over a three month period. Sure, we all knew each other from Chorale, and occasionally saw each other coming to and from our voice lessons, but it took the opera workshop to build us into the community that we now have. And for that, I’m really thankful!
Citations
Allen, H. Gay. Davidson College Presents: Some Enchanted Evening. 2017. Tyler-Tallman Hall, Davidson.
Hammerstein, O., Rodgers, R., “Cock-Eyed Optimist”, Nellie Forbush. South Pacific. 1958
Oklahoma! Dir. Fred Zinneman. Magna Theatre Corporation, 1955. DVD.
The King and I. Dir. Walter Lang. 20th Century Fox, 1956. DVD.
“Some Enchanted Evening-The Songs of Rodgers & Hammerstein.” Rodgers & Hammerstein. Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2017. <http://www.rnh.com/ show/91/Some-Enchanted-Evening-The-Songs-of-Rodgers-#shows-news>.
South Pacific. Dir. Joshua Logan. 20th Century Fox, 1958.
Walters, Reid. Personal interview. 23 Apr. 2017.
