Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Eighteen years after its debut in a city junkyard, Squonk Opera is still not ready to settle down or settle in.
Repeating tried-and-true formulas holds no interest for founders and co-artistic directors Jackie Dempsey and Steve O'Hearn or the flexible collection of interdisciplinary artists who collaborate with them.
'We always try to throw out a creative challenge,' O'Hearn says. 'We try to surprise people.'"
2 comments:
Having studied Squonk Opera in the Basic Design scavenger hunt project, it is very interesting to hear about their latest work which seems like a major departure from their past works. The earlier pieces are visual spectacles while this is auditory, and the former are so intrinsically tied to storylines and deep intellectual thought (If we had to describe ourselves as a town, or as a world, what would we say?) while this one seems to strip away the story and focus on the emotional impact of the music. I am very excited to see this production and compare it to the shows that I have studied previously.
I saw the performance of its opening day, last night. Even though I have heard about Squonk Opera by its name before, this is my first time to see their production.
Simply, I was just amazed by very energetic and elegant musicians/performers.
As far as its staging goes, the performance includes lots of intriguing elements. The mechanical motion of some props(The automation systems seem to be simply hand-made ones, but its movement on stage was seen fairly eye-catching), the impressive use of video design and the surprising way to remind us of the taken-for-granted kinetic and physics symptoms of sound and musical power, which is really educational for the audience.
However, because all of these events happen at the same time, if you are coming to see the show, be prepared not to miss any of exciting events on stage. Or it would be also enjoyable to see it as an art of juxtaposition in the show window.
In terms of sound and music, as they intend that the vocal is treated as one of instruments among others, the vocalist's clear voice and mysterious melody beautifully colored the canvas of artistic collaboration, even though the lyrics was mostly buried in the music.
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