The Arts and Entertainment section

(2007-2008)

 

  

A lot on display at MFA's sumo exhibit

 

     Stomp. Stomp. Thud. Yeah!
     That’s the sound of a sumo wrestling match.
     Now sumo wrestling can be seen at the Museum of Fine Arts in an exhibit, “Sumo: Japan’s Big Sport,’’ through Aug. 3.
     Sumo wrestling is the most famous and popular sport in Japan, featuring two fat guys in little outfits. The object of the match is for the wrestlers to either knock their opponent out of a ring or get him to touch the ground with his upper body.
     The MFA has 50,000 pieces of Japanese art, enough to have changing exhibits every nine months for 30 years. To put the exhibit together, MFA research assistants Abraham Schroeder, Quintana Heathman, and others had a lot of choices to make.
     The MFA also had to borrow from other museums, get items on eBay, and one of the employees even bought wrestler’s hand prints.
     The exhibit shows sumo from hundreds of years ago through today, the Sumo wrestling is shown in many ways in the exhibit.

     A visitor will find trading cards, post cards, video, sculpture, paintings, and woodblock prints, which were made by putting each color on a different piece of wood and then placing it, color by color, on the paper
     The works are arranged by category, such as sumo in everyday life, fantasy scenes (a print from the 1770s by Kitao Shigemasa shows Kintaro judging a wrestling match between a monkey and a bear), and famous sumo wrestlers and matches.
     Some of the interesting works include:
     * Poetry sumo is a poetry competition arranged like a sumo match. The poets – all named in the picture -- are in a sumo wrestling stadium basically fighting about whose poem is better with the head poet acting like the referee.
     * A woodblock print of kids sumo wrestling.
     * Three woodblock prints by Utagawa Kunisada from 1857.
     One painting was ripped, but the MFA has a team of specialists working in the basement that restores damaged pieces of art. Even on close inspection, it was hard to tell that it was ripped.

     (Story reported and written by Cunniff Kids News staff reporters Kaitie M., Charlotte V., Shannon M., Ryan O., Renee S., Isabella V., Julia F., and Ryan L.)
     (For more information on “Sumo: Japan’s Big Sport” at the Museum of Fine Arts, go to http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/sub.asp?key=15&subkey=5005. To see a sample of the works on display, go to http://www.mfa.org/tours/package.asp?key=837)

 

 

Watertown, on display

 

By CHARLOTTE V. 
Cunniff Kids News staff reporter

     Art work by many Cunniff School students is being shown at the annual Art Exhibit at the Watertown Mall. The exhibit features work from K-12 students throughout Watertown and will be on display until April 11.

     A reception, including free ice cream, was held for all of the artists and their families Monday, March 28.

     “The art show had a wonderful turnout,’’ said Cunniff art teacher Jessica Gillooly. “It was great to meet with so many families and see how proud the students were of their work.”

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This big, beautiful space

awaits big, beautiful voices

 

     Even when it’s empty, there is a lot going on.

     The Shubert Theater is a very fancy building in Boston’s Theater District. It has a nice tile floor and beautiful pictures in the lobby and a huge chandelier that weighs about 2 tons.

     It is home to the Boston Lyric Opera. The BLO will put on three operas this season, “L’elisir d’amore,” “The Abduction from the Seraglio,” and "Hansel and Gretel" (for children and families).

     Michael Patterson, the BLO’s production manager, needs two weeks to get the nearly 100-year-old building ready.

     “I have the coolest job because I get to know about all of the stuff that is going on in the building,” he said.

     Inside the main theater, the walls are beige with gold-colored patterns. There are 1,600 bright seats covered in red velvet. Because the operas are in Italian and French, plasma TVs hang near the stage so the audience can follow along with the English translations. The sound is so good in the theater that only two speakers are needed for people sitting under the balcony.

     Above it all is the crystal chandelier. It is so big that is only taken down once a year, using pullies, to polish it and replace the light bulbs (whether they need it or not).

     In front of the stage is a false floor that hides an orchestra pit that drops 10 feet down, where 50 to 55 musicians usually sit. Some of the musicians wear ear plugs because the person sitting behind them might be playing loud instruments.

     Patterson said the BLO uses live musicians instead of taped music, because “There’s something great about a live show with live singers. It adds to the thrill,’’ he said.  “It’s much more of an experience.”

     There are many people needed to put on an opera. Besides the musicians, there are 20-30 singers, and about 100 backstage people.

     The backstage language of the theater is taken from ships because the first people to tie the knots to hold the poles together were fishermen.

     Above the black stage floor at the Shubert Theater – the ceiling is 74 feet high -- are 64 poles that hold curtains and scenery. The ropes that control them, known as the “fly system,” use a perfectly balanced weight system so the poles won’t fall and hit someone. When Patterson lowers a big pipe from the high ceiling, using ropes called “lines,” it is completely silent.

     Curtains that weigh 50-100 pounds are stored in hampers but the rest of the scenery is stored in Avon. The BLO barters and trades scenery with companies throughout country. Sets are built to be completely collapsible, taken apart, and moved.

     Underneath the stage is called the “Trap Room,’’ because that would be where a trap door in the stage floor would lead (if there was one).

The Star Chair is a barber’s chair that was bought from a barber shop down the street that was going out of business. There is big table where people can sit and relax until it is their time to go on stage.

     “If it’s busy on stage, then it’s quiet down here,” Patterson said.

     Next to the Trap Room is the dressing room. It can fit eight people and has makeup mirrors and lights. There is also a shower for the performers, who often need one after a 2½-hour show.

     “Doing an opera can be like playing a sport,” said Patterson, who explained that opera singers perform one night and take one night off.

     Singing opera is a controlled scream, he said. In Broadway musicals, the singers usually use a microphone, but there is no microphone in opera.

     Before he leaves, Patterson makes sure he turns off all of the lights except one.

     At the front of the Shubert stage sits a longtime tradition of the theater called a “ghost light.” It is an ordinary electric floor lamp that is kept on all the time (except for performances) so people -- and the “ghosts” of the building – know where the edge is so they won’t fall off.

      “The most dangerous place in an empty theater,’’ said Patterson, “is the edge of the stage.”

     (Story reported and written by Cunniff Kids News staff reporters Charlotte V., Isabella V., Julia F., and Ryan L.,  and CKN correspondents Liam W., Erin H., Patrick W., Mairead W., and Maeve W.)

     (For more information about the Boston Lyric Opera and the Shubert Theatre, go to http://www.blo.org/ and www.citicenter.org/restoration-shubert.html.)
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Winter concert hits right note

 

By CHARLOTTE V. and RACHEL Q.
Cunniff Kids News staff reporters
     'Twas a week before Christmas and all through the school, lovely music was swelling, much louder than a mouse.

     On Tuesday, Dec. 18, the Cunniff School Orchestra, Band, and Chorus held their annual winter concert in the cafatorium. Many traditional songs were performed, such as "Jingle Bells" and "Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)", as well as other songs, including, "Hot Cross Buns," "Firoliralera," and "Good King Wenceslas."

     All of the performers wore white shirts and black pants or skirts and most of the fourth-grade band wore Santa hats.

     The first group to perform was the fourth-grade band, followed by the fifth-grade band, both directed by Art Wallace and Dan Jordan. Then came the fourth-grade strings and, after that, the fifth-grade strings, directed by Sharon Woodworth.

     Last but not least was the chorus, directed by Anthony Spano, which combines fourth- and fifth-graders. The successful concert was topped off by the audience participating in "Michael Row the Boat Ashore."

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