First of all I have conceptualized many shows and always like to do something fun and interesting. This year's show is a show the staff and I picked earlier in the year, but I was searching for some way to give this a cool twist. Then one day, it came to me and here in the following paragraphs is what our show for next year will be!
Here we go! I have a whole dramatic plan for it in my head along with the drill, staging, and visual design. Like the shows that I have written in the past, it is pretty simple to play, easy to understand and we can absolutely master all aspects of the show, allowing for us to achieve some very high scores as well as a tremendous amount of audience appeal. There are two main actors, a young couple, that will be present throughout the show. There will be no talking by them, just poses, acting, and a little dancing. It will be very obvious what is going on throughout the show. The opener and closers are arranged by Jay Dawson, the same arranger of our "Piano Lesson" show. The middle work is the original piece by Holst, which is a part of the famous "Second Suite for Military Band" which can be played indoors or outdoors. The audio and all music is now up on the downloads page of the roslynband.com website. Here we go!
Opener: Emperata Overture by Claude T. Smith - Bride and Groom getting married, Ballerina Dance group (6 to 15, as many as make the team) will do abstract and modern choreography around two actors getting married and throughout the show. The colorugard is a separate entity that provides additional visual support, so we have two "visual" teams working throughout the show. This is a staple of almost every show that I have conceptualized and implemented. By having two visual things going on we can keep the attention off the fact that we are only doing 35 sets. Dancers in very light off white lace, guard in a very light color, pastel orangeish or light light blue. The guard will use huge streamers and flags throughout, providing tons of visual "fireworks." The dancers will dance around and between the couple at all times throughout the show.
Ballad: Song Without Words, Gustav Holst. This is our "class winner" piece. One of the most beautiful ballads ever written for the Wind Band, Holst composed this for the military band and is meant to be played indoors or out. It is mysterious, beautiful, and fitting to what we are going to do visually. Between tunes the bride changes into yellow dress, groom changes to army fatigues, they are separated by war, he goes to a bunker and she stays at home, they write letters to each other, all staged, while the dancers react with abstract and fitting dance moves, letters going back and forth, etc. The colorguard provides the intensity of the war with big streamers as an additional visual. Picture this playing out as you listen to this piece. Drums do not play on this tune. We will have the drummers doing fitting poses throughout this work, showing how a war can impact our lives, something "out of the box" and modern.
Closer: Chorale and Shaker Dance, by John Zdechlik - Pretty simple, they are reunited at the end. Once again, I have it all storyboarded in my mind integrating the guard, dancers, and drill. This song is built around the famous melody "Simple Gifts" which is fitting in that the young couple is reunited to spend their lives together at the end. There will also be some surprises in the closer which will give everyone goosebumps, patriotic stuff!
The actors will change clothes behind two movable backdrops on wheels, not that big, that will also provide a place for the guard and dancer props and flags to be hidden.
The show will be called "Show Without Words" based on the second piece. These three tunes are all very famous works from Wind Ensemble literature, are well known by all judges and will be received very warmly by everyone, especially in this context.
Trust me on this one! I have a ton of incredible ideas that will really work. It's a winner! A bonus is that this show is totally appropriate in terms of us being at war. This is something that we are dealing with as a country. It also has struggle and a happy ending.
Along with today's unveiling, all the music is downloadable on the "Downloads" page of the roslynband.com website, along with the audio of the show. This is a simple show that we can master, have fun with, and get into! Download your music and start learning this immediately! We can win with this show!
