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Phantom Regiment 2018


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After several years of under-written shows that didn't give the corps a chance to succeed, Phantasm at least had the chops to give them a chance. But there were still a lot of problems. Most key for me: the past two years, Phantom has had shows with a lot of great IDEAS that have failed to coalesce into a working whole. The cohesiveness of show design is simply not there and, let's be honest, hasn't been for a while. This leads me to my first, most drastic suggestion:

1. Replace Dan Farrell and/or Wes Cartwright

Phantom needs new eyes at the top and, quite frankly, some fresh design and instructional staff. This won't be an easy task: quality program coordinators do not grow on trees. But Rick Valenzuela is already in place and I think he can bring in good replacements. This corps has scored below 90 at Finals only four times since the build-up system was introduced in 1984. Three of those have been in the past nine years. Their Finals score has dropped five years in a row, and their Finals placement has dropped four of the past five years. There has been no correction in the opposite direction to provide optimism. It's time for a big change. In fact, it's time for multiple big changes. This leads me to my second drastic suggestion:

2. Lose the helmets

Yep, I like the look, too. But they are visual albatrosses and it's not reasonable or feasible to keep designing holes in the show for the members to take them on/off. Phantom wore shakos before, they can go back to that, go bare, or even get creative like Crown and invent an entirely new type of headgear that fits the Phantom image without hamstringing the corps' visual potential. Visually, the activity is leaving Phantom behind. You can argue all you want that it shouldn't be that way, but that's the way it is. 9th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 9th, 10th have been their visual subcaption scores the past two years at Finals. The middle 7th and middle 9th are their Visual Analysis scores, which means they are maxing out what little visual vocabulary is written into the show.

3. Keep your classical identity

It might seem contrarian to my prior two statements, but there's no reason Phantom needs to reinvent the wheel on their musical books. There's more than enough content in the classical repertoire to provide Phantom with great shows for years to come. (Mr. Will Pitts, please check out a work by English composer Granville Bantock entitled "Thalaba the Destroyer".)

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I'd like to see them get rid of the padded bra and rollerblading armor (?) from the uniform and keep the sleek, trim garment they have underneath. It still looks modern, even with the helmets.

Then do a show in the vein of the Mandarins, where they take some simple little idea and create a bizarre, rather dark world from it. Cartwright has the imagination to pull it off. Fill it with rich and emotional classical music. 

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I'm really curious to see what they do from here as far as the uniform goes. They've been changing the uniform at least a little every year since 2007. Some of my favorites are when they have kept it show-themed, but simple (2007, 2008 2011, 2012, 2016 to an extent). I didn't dislike this year's uniform, but it was really busy and had a bit too much going on I thought. I hope they can find a good modern but simple look going forward.

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25 minutes ago, hostrauser said:

After several years of under-written shows that didn't give the corps a chance to succeed, Phantasm at least had the chops to give them a chance. But there were still a lot of problems. Most key for me: the past two years, Phantom has had shows with a lot of great IDEAS that have failed to coalesce into a working whole. The cohesiveness of show design is simply not there and, let's be honest, hasn't been for a while. This leads me to my first, most drastic suggestion:

1. Replace Dan Farrell and/or Wes Cartwright

Phantom needs new eyes at the top and, quite frankly, some fresh design and instructional staff. This won't be an easy task: quality program coordinators do not grow on trees. But Rick Valenzuela is already in place and I think he can bring in good replacements. This corps has scored below 90 at Finals only four times since the build-up system was introduced in 1984. Three of those have been in the past nine years. Their Finals score has dropped five years in a row, and their Finals placement has dropped four of the past five years. There has been no correction in the opposite direction to provide optimism. It's time for a big change. In fact, it's time for multiple big changes. This leads me to my second drastic suggestion:

2. Lose the helmets

Yep, I like the look, too. But they are visual albatrosses and it's not reasonable or feasible to keep designing holes in the show for the members to take them on/off. Phantom wore shakos before, they can go back to that, go bare, or even get creative like Crown and invent an entirely new type of headgear that fits the Phantom image without hamstringing the corps' visual potential. Visually, the activity is leaving Phantom behind. You can argue all you want that it shouldn't be that way, but that's the way it is. 9th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 9th, 10th have been their visual subcaption scores the past two years at Finals. The middle 7th and middle 9th are their Visual Analysis scores, which means they are maxing out what little visual vocabulary is written into the show.

3. Keep your classical identity

It might seem contrarian to my prior two statements, but there's no reason Phantom needs to reinvent the wheel on their musical books. There's more than enough content in the classical repertoire to provide Phantom with great shows for years to come. (Mr. Will Pitts, please check out a work by English composer Granville Bantock entitled "Thalaba the Destroyer".)

i think #1 sounds almost right...i just didn't like that upper brass sound this year. something need to be changed, especially w/ finishing out of TOC for next year. To quote my friend, who writes for DCW, Everyone got better over the years, Regiment has stayed stagnant. 

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1 hour ago, NakedEye said:

Then do a show in the vein of the Mandarins, where they take some simple little idea and create a bizarre, rather dark world from it. Cartwright has the imagination to pull it off. Fill it with rich and emotional classical music. 

That is what is puzzling me so much. Cartwright's work with Broken Arrow (and, before that, L.D. Bell) was constantly inventive, original, and fresh. Why have the past several Phantom shows he's been involved with been so... well, basic? And uninspired? I don't have the answer.

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5 minutes ago, hostrauser said:

That is what is puzzling me so much. Cartwright's work with Broken Arrow (and, before that, L.D. Bell) was constantly inventive, original, and fresh. Why have the past several Phantom shows he's been involved with been so... well, basic? And uninspired? I don't have the answer.

Didn't Cartwright only join Phantom this year?

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1 minute ago, ftwdrummer said:

Didn't Cartwright only join Phantom this year?

Yes.

6 minutes ago, hostrauser said:

That is what is puzzling me so much. Cartwright's work with Broken Arrow (and, before that, L.D. Bell) was constantly inventive, original, and fresh. Why have the past several Phantom shows he's been involved with been so... well, basic? And uninspired? I don't have the answer.

I thought Regiment's show was very much in the style of a Broken Arrow show: some loosely tied classical tunes with a guard theme. 

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9 minutes ago, hostrauser said:

That is what is puzzling me so much. Cartwright's work with Broken Arrow (and, before that, L.D. Bell) was constantly inventive, original, and fresh. Why have the past several Phantom shows he's been involved with been so... well, basic? And uninspired? I don't have the answer.

How long has he been there? This was the first year that I noticed his signature style on it, and the guard reminded a lot of his past work, such as SCV's Miss Saigon, the covered faces, etc. Even though the show was more than a bit frantic, and the 1-900 voiceovers were not a net plus, I thought the program was a big step in the right direction from recent efforts. 

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I like a lot of the music ideas in the thread, but I am very sorry, Regiment MUST do Janacek's Sinfonietta before they do anything else. I have been telling them that for years.

 

...and you can see how much they have listened to me.   :8_laughing: 

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