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floop
= Wannabe Volunteer =
Mexico
15297 Posts |
 Posted - 02/24/2003 : 13:53:34
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i saw MIRROR MAN on Saturday night.
to be concise: it was interesting and i'm glad i went, but i don't think i'd want to see it again.
obviously the draw for me was Frank. i'm not really a Pere Ubu fan, though i don't have anything against them.
for those who didn't see it, i guess you'd describe it as kind of a conceptual opera. the stage was dressed with random pieces of southwestern iconography, mostly related to driving and on-the-road stuff (the central theme of the show, if there is one), old-style telephone poles, industrial looking structures, a bus bench, a diner-style table and random found object stuff (street lamps, road signs etc..)
there was also projection going on throughout the show, mostly images of desolate highways and printed text from the opera itself.
apparantly it's a "reworking" of Edgar Lee Master's "Spoon River Anthology".. which i'm not familiar with, so i missed any extra level of appreciation there.
i guess my biggest criticism of the show, as a show itself, was the ultra-serious tone of the whole thing.. it was just soooo serious. i know that's the tone of the piece, but i think it would have benefitted from a bit of comic relief .. it most definitely wasn't "fun".. not that there's anything wrong with that, but it just wasn't necessairly my pint of ale.
as far as being odd and spooky and VERY VERY VERY artsy fartsy, i think David Thomas succeeded gracefully. i have a lot of respect for everyone involved, so i kept an open mind throughout the show.. but i have to say, if i walked into something like this, and didn't know what it was, i might almost think it was a parody of some ultra-pretentious performance art / multi-media concept thing..
as for Frank (what you want to hear about), it was cool to see him perform something so unusual and unique. like most of the other singers/performers in the piece, his parts were a mixture of spoken word, poetry and singing..
i'm curious how much liberty he took from David Thomas' text, because he did interject the phrase "here at the end of miles" a few times in his piece.
like most of the show, his parts were very dark and dour. all about abandonment and darkness and identity.. (all that fun stuff that's cool to think about when you're up really late at night).
i thought Frank's part was one of the better ones (not just because he's frank, but his lyrics/poetry were some of the most compelling).. Syd Straw was amazing too and the guy in black with the black top hat (who was that?).. he was fucking great.
David Thomas clearly put a lot of work and thought into this and it shows.. the music was outstanding and overall, it's an impressive show i think.. again, just not my cup of tea per se.
one thing i'm wondering, was the special guest singer Tom Waits or what? i figured it was him, but wasn't sure.. also, if it was him, do you think it was pre-recorded or was he backstage or what?
in other news, my girlfriend and i went to Spaceland afterwards to check out Morris Tepper. good show, fun times.. it was a nice to hear some rowdy rock and roll after all that somberness. and also nice to drink several margerittas.
celebrety appearances:
PJ Harvey joined him for one song, semi-disappointingly, just playing the moraccas (sp?).. but looking excellent as always. grr.
oddly enough, i also spotted Giovanni Ribisi in the crowd, up front, who seemed to be really into Morris Tepper. what do you know?
and finally, i saw celebrety catholic Dave Phillips as well, chatting it up with Tepper after the show. i opted not to be stalker-esque and left them alone..
Floop
i been meanin' to get out of Hollywood. |
Edited by - floop on 02/24/2003 14:36:09 |
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