Event an intellectual and artistic gem
Mentioned in Despatches: Advent Sketches:
‘‘The Sallies are coming. They’re just down the road by the Aitchison’s.’’ and the snowbound landscapes of Good King Wenceslas melted into the warm New Zealand evening. Their old Bedford truck grunted and knocked and vibrated its smoking way down the street, a couple of chains at a time, loaded with the Sallies’ band – tambourine, bugle, tuba, and a piano. The ancient piano had been loaded on, and kept on, by chocking the wheels. The truck stopped clearly suffering from Bedford’s Parkingsong’s (sic). As it shook the chocks loosened, unobserved by the pianist who was whacking out an orchestrally loud Silent Night. Ready to move down the street again, the driver put the venerable old wagon into gear, juggling clutch, brakes and accelerator with only two feet. The aged clutch engaged like a rugby scrum, the truck leapt forward like a surprised giraffe, the piano did not. It shot rapidly toward the back of the truck. The pianist cried ‘‘Crikey’’, a permissible cry in those days, and fell backwards. The piano stayed upright, accelerating rapidly. The truck bunny hopped on and the piano off. It hit the ground with a cacophonously orchestral tintinabullation like said orchestra retuning, exploded, and died. Eternity paused for breath, whereupon the Dannevirke Municipal Brass, Munis for short, playing trombone, trumpet, tuba, piccolo, ant ze flugelhorn, came loudly round the corner to All my
hope on God is founded, saw the wreckage of the Salliepiano, sounded a quick fanfare, retuned for a verse of Hear the pennies dropping and then apparently spontaneously, Now
thank we all our God … as they drove past the dashed dreams of the competition. And my Father, prolix as always, grinned, muttered oops, and we all went out to help.
An Event of Note: Musical Fireworks
Isn’t it a delight when one listens to a speaker who knows her topic, is passionate but objective, delivers genuinely interesting ideas, explicates those ideas with illustrations which clarify and illuminate rather than overpower the ideas, themselves and includes the audience in the conversation as though we were old and valued friends. I have just had such an experience, but more than that, the speaker made new and tantalising historical and philosophical links between composers their works, and the politics and styles of their times which change history. The speaker was Dr Rachael Griffiths-Hughes, convener of Music at Waikato University. She was at the Waikato Museum at the behest of the Friends of the Museum, and demonstrating that so much of the best music from the past was not just delicately or passionately beautiful as so many listeners believe, but carried with it intentional political or genre critiques which examined the political and artistic issues of the time. Stravinsky’s famously riot provoking The Rite Of Spring shifted the basis of composition for over 100 years, while Mozart’s entertaining
Marriage of Figaro was also a stunning opera full of tough political challenges. This was an intellectual and artistic gem.
Looking Ahead:
Hung from November 27, with an official opening on Saturday December 1, the Wallace Gallery in Morrinsville will be home to
Ragpicker at 4am. It is an exhibition in which award winning illustrator, cartoonist, and ceramicist Anna Chrichton is exhibiting the results of a three month artist residency in Varanasi in India where she was exploring the ‘‘…sculptural potential of bead and thread embroidery and woodblock carving as media for social commentary…’’ The curator of the Wallace Gallery, Claire Ashton, refers to Crichton’s work as ‘‘exceptional.’’ This is a rare opportunity to see craft working at the level of art, and in the process, gain some insight into the lives of the Indian embroiderers with whom Crichton worked.
This is Riverlea’s second run with local playwright Michael Switzer’s work. The first was back in 2006, and it is a fun and funny production which has the potential to audiences looking for some relaxation and laughter before Christmas. Expect the usual comic suspects, caricatures of nasties like Al Capone and a rather thicker Elliot Ness than the original, and an hilarious gender mixer from Callum Braithwaite’s cross dressing Frank.
Enjoy vigorous, albeit unnecessarily overmiked, singing from a well voiced chorus and top quality voices like Sophie Nairn’s Boopsy. The problem of high volume levels is that they affect a listener’s ability to concentrate and reduce the capacity for pleasure.
Making love at 100Dbs is a total fiction. Simply revel in the dancing. Superbly choreographed by Shanelle Borlase, who people will remember from Legally Blonde , the complexity of interactions on the smallish stage appeared so easy, and the ability of the cast to deal with complex rhythms and routines so effortlessly, dance became the high point of the show.
The four designated dancers were superb. This show has such potential, such a sense of fun, and such opportunities to iron out the hiccups, it should have a cracker (hahaha) Christmas season.