Art Conjures Magical Moments

by Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President

     The arts can conjure all kinds of magic. The character Hecate is usually left out of Macbeth. The play will never seem complete without this superwitch in future productions. Her entrance with a huge set of wings that need a team of helpers to navigate is an ultimate diva moment. The wings reminded me of the puppet animals in Lion King, but on a grander and more diabolical scale.

     Arts leadership workshops stress creating a memorable experience for the audience. That is part of the programming decisions for art museums, theaters, concerts, and dance companies. How can you add the sizzle that makes the audience sit up and take notice? Even better, how can you make it so good they share with their friends or come for a second performance?

     The children attending the Utah Shakespeare Festival Greenshows have obviously found performances they want to see more than once. They jump up to participate in the tug of war and to dance along with the energetic cast. It is apparent that they have attended many times. All ages are enjoying the free performances that start at 7:10 p.m. from Monday through Saturdays. Take your lawn chair or a blanket and enjoy a Greenshow before the final performance on Sept. 6.

     Sometimes the extra touches don’t work out as planned and you just have to go with the flow. We had balloons for decorations at one of our Orchestra of Southern Utah family matinees. Of course, one popped during the music. Fortunately the percussive effect came at an appropriate time in the music. I silently thanked the music sprites and did not use balloons again when I was directing operations. There were lots of balloons during a later orchestra fundraising event and the musicians were fortunate that night because not even one popped while they were playing. During the cleanup we had fun popping them.

     Technical glitches with projections can be annoying. The wrong image or a computer screen with icons can appear rather than the planned artwork. We are increasingly seeing projections that change the set magically from a city to the countryside with the ease of a computer click.

     Sound system malfunctions are also not the magic that we want. The goal is hearing the words clearly and it is an art for the sound technician to adjust microphones precisely.  For the shows that rely on actor projection it takes a lot of skill to clearly speak so the back row can hear every word. 

     Unexpected noises can be distracting during music performances. One time I was conducting the Suzuki Strings student orchestra in a piece from a Harry Potter movie. There was a loud percussive bang. A bridge had popped out from under a viola’s strings. The student was extremely calm. She "air bowed" to the end of the piece as if nothing had happened. The rest of the orchestra managed to keep playing. The video of the performance shows the bridge jumping out and her calm demeanor. We all had a good laugh later. 

     Whatever happens in live performances is part of the package. When there is a problem we keep going. When everything works properly it feels great. No two performances are exactly the same and that is part of the magic of the arts. 

(for Iron County Today)