GMichael1230 Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 (edited) The Cadets often get stuff right the first time, but not the subsequent times.They got West Side Story right in 1984 (1994 and 2009 were great, but pale compared to 1984) They got one-piece symphonic right in 1987 They got the guard character right in 1991 They got World War II right in 1995 They got OMG THAT WAS HARD right in 1997 They got weird and voice right in 2005 Didn't loook at it like that but wow, that's really true. I think of how glorious 1995 was and how trite and pandering 2002 was. I think of 1991, and how perfect the character fit into the show without being overbearinbg, then I think of 2006..... 1997 reminds me of something I forgot. How terrible the guard was this year in cadet uniforms, tossing the shakos. A sad, pale comparison to what they used to be. That 1997 guard was outstanding, this year...not so much. West side story, I disagree a little. While 1994 was nothing new, it still generated a lot of "wow" and was considered a (mild) threat, you still couldt write them off, no matter how good BD was...you dont get that lately. G Edited August 18, 2010 by GMichael1230 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 It's really simple. The Cadets are held to a very high standard. They came along in the early eighties on a destined path of (DCI) greatness. Broke the west coast stranglehold on the championships and set the entire activity on its ear. They were so far advanced that it took many years for the other corps the catch up, and eventually surpass them. Now, we have a corps whos director wants to recapture that greatness and again set the world afire. Unfortunately the things he is trying/proposing are coming with such rapid implementation that all the effort and energy are being wasted trying to break new ground instead of just letting it happen naturtally. When you have world class Brass, guard, percussion, and visual..how onearth can you be satisfied with rabbits, red-queens, living rooms, silly narration, out of sync singing, a door, drum speak, overbearing synths, amps, shoddy narration and other elements that put what you do/did best in the background ??? Its time for George to take a less pro-active role in the design of the show and let the Cadets become what they once were. Respected, celebrated, formidable, feared, cutting edge, head-scratching, jaw-dropping drum corps. G I think the Cadets' biggest failure in these regards is the seeming inability to leverage these items to their fullest, and yes, this starts at Hop's feet and rolls downward. What happened was that these new elements were regarded from the outset as "tools" and treated accordingly, and that was a fundamental misjudgement. Let's look at 2007 / 2008 - two shows with championship caliber brass lines, top level drumlines... and spoken word parts written by the music and visual staff. Where are the professional writers? The acting coaches? An actual theater director? Voice coaches? Professional audio engineers? You wouldn't expect Michael Cesario to teach a top level brass line, so why are you letting these guys on music / dance staff write the scripts? If anything, I don't question the choices the Cadets made as to what shows to perform, or how they wanted them to go. What I question is the level of committment to these new - *truly* new to DCI - concepts, that failed through a flawed approach from their inception. I'd love to see The Cadets perform a show like "Through the Looking Glass" again - something easy to watch from a distance - only this time with a theater director in charge of getting the 'story' across, a scriptwriter handling dialogue (as well as edits along the way) and professionally trained and coached singers backing it up. I think *that* would be the quantum leap forward that they've been looking for. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdaddy Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 How would a show concept like 97/98/99 be received now? I loved the (almost) no-gimmick wind band/brass band explosion to break-neck drill they were doing those days. It would essentially be 2008 without narration. What would the judges think about such a show? I know at least one fan who would love to see it (though I have no problems with offerings like 09 and 10). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdaddy Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 I'd love to see The Cadets perform a show like "Through the Looking Glass" again - something easy to watch from a distance - only this time with a theater director in charge of getting the 'story' across, a scriptwriter handling dialogue (as well as edits along the way) and professionally trained and coached singers backing it up. I think *that* would be the quantum leap forward that they've been looking for. Mike, while I agree that would be the definition of innovation, I think it'd leave more than a few Cadets fans in its wake. And perhaps that's okay. I just feel they've built up some pretty substantial capital with fans lately, and I'd hate to see them lose that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynkin Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 I think the Cadets' biggest failure in these regards is the seeming inability to leverage these items to their fullest, and yes, this starts at Hop's feet and rolls downward. What happened was that these new elements were regarded from the outset as "tools" and treated accordingly, and that was a fundamental misjudgement. Let's look at 2007 / 2008 - two shows with championship caliber brass lines, top level drumlines... and spoken word parts written by the music and visual staff. Where are the professional writers? The acting coaches? An actual theater director? Voice coaches? Professional audio engineers? You wouldn't expect Michael Cesario to teach a top level brass line, so why are you letting these guys on music / dance staff write the scripts? If anything, I don't question the choices the Cadets made as to what shows to perform, or how they wanted them to go. What I question is the level of committment to these new - *truly* new to DCI - concepts, that failed through a flawed approach from their inception. I'd love to see The Cadets perform a show like "Through the Looking Glass" again - something easy to watch from a distance - only this time with a theater director in charge of getting the 'story' across, a scriptwriter handling dialogue (as well as edits along the way) and professionally trained and coached singers backing it up. I think *that* would be the quantum leap forward that they've been looking for. Mike Oh my gosh, if Julie Taymor ran a drum corps... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Taymor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 We have a winner! You nailed it Jeff...this has been their problem for 5 years now hell has frozen over. you agree with me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynkin Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 If you want a story on the field, the stakes have to be supremely high. I want to see conflict and drama. I want to see a character need something from the very beginning and then he or she either achieves it or doesn't in the end. And there has to be obstacles in achieving that need throughout. Jeffrey's need in this show was never really clear. He was a kid running around with a gun who happened to stumble upon some soldiers. What may have been cool is if he ended up leading some battle with the soldiers versus...I dunno, some enemy toy or something. Maybe it gets way out of control and his wishful dreaming turns into a harsh reality that he just wants to go home. I just never cared after a while. I don't mind stories on the drum corps field, but they have to be told extremely well, staged flawlessly and have some real drama (the Crown show suffered from this, mostly in the staging aspect, I think). When you have those elements in the right mix, I think you can gain an edge. Will it win? I'm not necessarily convinced of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 I don't mind stories on the drum corps field, but they have to be told extremely well, staged flawlessly and have some real drama (the Crown show suffered from this, mostly in the staging aspect, I think).When you have those elements in the right mix, I think you can gain an edge. Will it win? I'm not necessarily convinced of that. I think I'm saying the same thing as you, honestly - if you're going to do it, then it *has* to be done well. And I think they haven't devoted as many resources to it as they have the music and dance elements. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 When you have world class Brass, guard, percussion, and visual..how onearth can you be satisfied with rabbits, red-queens, living rooms, silly narration, out of sync singing, a door, drum speak, overbearing synths, amps, shoddy narration and other elements that put what you do/did best in the background ??? I nominate this paragraph as post of the decade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 It's really simple. The Cadets are held to a very high standard. They came along in the early eighties on a destined path of (DCI) greatness. Broke the west coast stranglehold on the championships and set the entire activity on its ear. They were so far advanced that it took many years for the other corps the catch up, and eventually surpass them. Now, we have a corps whos director wants to recapture that greatness and again set the world afire. Unfortunately the things he is trying/proposing are coming with such rapid implementation that all the effort and energy are being wasted trying to break new ground instead of just letting it happen naturtally. When you have world class Brass, guard, percussion, and visual..how onearth can you be satisfied with rabbits, red-queens, living rooms, silly narration, out of sync singing, a door, drum speak, overbearing synths, amps, shoddy narration and other elements that put what you do/did best in the background ??? Its time for George to take a less pro-active role in the design of the show and let the Cadets become what they once were. Respected, celebrated, formidable, feared, cutting edge, head-scratching, jaw-dropping drum corps. G Actually I thought the 05 Door show was well done and well executed. It was the 06 where George fell onto the bong! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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