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magidOn Yom HaAtzma'ut I went to see this year's Liars and Believers show, 28 Seeds, made in collaboration with Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys. I'd last seen the band years ago at a show they did with Emperor Norton's, out somewhere like Framingham. I didn't care for their music then; I like it much more now, though I realized again that the first time I hear a song, I mostly only catch the refrain, not the rest of the lyrics, letting the emotion evoked by the music itself carry me along.
The show is at the BCA, in one of the smaller theater spaces next to the Cyclorama, the one with fixed seating, not a total black box. However, the stage was set up in such a way that many of the seats on either side wouldn't have a good view, some musicians with their backs to those sections. In addition to the seven musicians' places, the stage had lots of storage across the back, a metal tree, and more than a dozen computer screens wired together, set up so they would not only broadcast pre-recorded video, but also show stuff on a live feed from a camera. It was a cluttered space, but necessarily so.
The band included five strings (usually two guitars, a bass, a ukelele, and a violin) and two others, one with a traditional drum kit, the other using all sorts of different instruments, ranging from a penny whistle to a portable xylophone, to a cylinder with a metal tail coming out of it, and others I don't even know how to describe.
The show is a time capsule about how the government used technology intended to benefit people in unintended ways, making horrible decisions and ignoring the meteor on trajectory to hit the planet. I was impressed with how the show wove music, movement, traditional dialogue, and video to put together a coherent show, and more so how well different roles were shown with not only different words, but different voices: I could tell it was a politician, or a newscaster, or talk show host, even without hearing the actual words, because of how they were delivered.
The plot featured a metal tree that generated air, dubbed an Oxy-Gen, being used as an excuse to scorch all those unsanitary woods and such, who- or what-ever might be in the woods, which was especially effective in helping the war effort with Canada, as a military junta took over and helped the US president be voted in for life. Which might sound dismal, and in some ways was, but for me that was because it was all too plausible.
And it was an interactive show, with an impressive search going into the audience, and someone brought onstage for a brief non-speaking role (I was asked, but was far too stage-shy), plus most of the audience ending up onstage during the last song, dancing with the cast.
All in all, a very enjoyable show, with a bunch of funny moments,, and unlike anything I've seen before. It's running through May 12 if anyone wants to check it out.
Huzzah, the odd scissors icon for lj-cuts has vanished!
The show is at the BCA, in one of the smaller theater spaces next to the Cyclorama, the one with fixed seating, not a total black box. However, the stage was set up in such a way that many of the seats on either side wouldn't have a good view, some musicians with their backs to those sections. In addition to the seven musicians' places, the stage had lots of storage across the back, a metal tree, and more than a dozen computer screens wired together, set up so they would not only broadcast pre-recorded video, but also show stuff on a live feed from a camera. It was a cluttered space, but necessarily so.
The band included five strings (usually two guitars, a bass, a ukelele, and a violin) and two others, one with a traditional drum kit, the other using all sorts of different instruments, ranging from a penny whistle to a portable xylophone, to a cylinder with a metal tail coming out of it, and others I don't even know how to describe.
The show is a time capsule about how the government used technology intended to benefit people in unintended ways, making horrible decisions and ignoring the meteor on trajectory to hit the planet. I was impressed with how the show wove music, movement, traditional dialogue, and video to put together a coherent show, and more so how well different roles were shown with not only different words, but different voices: I could tell it was a politician, or a newscaster, or talk show host, even without hearing the actual words, because of how they were delivered.
The plot featured a metal tree that generated air, dubbed an Oxy-Gen, being used as an excuse to scorch all those unsanitary woods and such, who- or what-ever might be in the woods, which was especially effective in helping the war effort with Canada, as a military junta took over and helped the US president be voted in for life. Which might sound dismal, and in some ways was, but for me that was because it was all too plausible.
And it was an interactive show, with an impressive search going into the audience, and someone brought onstage for a brief non-speaking role (I was asked, but was far too stage-shy), plus most of the audience ending up onstage during the last song, dancing with the cast.
All in all, a very enjoyable show, with a bunch of funny moments,, and unlike anything I've seen before. It's running through May 12 if anyone wants to check it out.
Huzzah, the odd scissors icon for lj-cuts has vanished!