Your Theater Experience

[mellophonium]

Their marching seemed crisper than BD.

Anyone find this hilarious?

[Dmiggles]

My 2 cents with what I saw:

BD: Sloppy. Music is great but not reaching potential. Feels like they focused on trying to make all the props work and carry the theme through out. When they had the opportunity to move, they didn't. Show off that great marching technique. Out of all years, the year Todd Ryan is in the Hall-of-Fame, you don't move. Still very early. They just have to align everything to make all the puzzle pieces fit. Still a contender FTW.

Cav: Cool show. Guard unis remind me of Aquaman. I wish they didn't have the fabric flappin' away. Stilts were cool... but they really didn't do anything (see crown comment). Tenor feature... cool. Will it sustain the coolness factor till the end? We'll find out. Reminds me of the oohs and ahhs BD got with the rotating tenor feature and the spinning drums. Even without the end, the rest of the show seems pretty dialed in. Will they peak early?? Def contender FTW

BC: Awesome beginning. I can see why everyone's having a hard time with their ballad. It's not as engaging as the rest of the show. Costume designer for the guard... please fire them. They looked through too many dance catalogs. Little kids dancing to "turn the beat around" should be wearing those.

Crown: I actually liked the pre-show. I read a lot of people found it cheesy but if it gets the crowd going, all the power to you. I was a bit confused jumping back and forth from rock music to Rach music. I think I need another viewing. The guard seemed good (again). Can't tell with the wind. I liked when the guard members climbed the structures and started spinning. I wished Cavies did more things like that when they're on the stilts.

Cadets: Awesome show! One of my favs from them. Love the beginning. Ballad needs some work. It looses umph. The 2 uniforms work well with the visual program. For some reason, parts of the show reminded me of what they were trying to portray when they did WSS in 2009. Def contender FTW.

Phantom: Great show. Really appreciate the training the guard got with the dancing they are doing. Their technique really came through even from a far camera view. Horn book is great. It has all the elements to win. Still not a fan of their marching technique. I thought drums would suffer but they seem to be hanging in there. They should move up (or will after some cleaning).

SCV: I love their show but you can tell it's a hard show for them. Even the pre-show made me melt. I hope they can get it together because their show's pretty cerebral in comparison to the majority of the top 8. I felt like this during Martha... I'm rooting for you Vanguard.

Blue Stars: Cool opening. Then it just looses steam as it progresses. Fix the scaffolding. Looks cheap. Even for missing designs elements. If you're gonna do something like that... Invest in designing something substantial. Not straight from Home Depot. I get the guard outfits and the transition from grunge to hooded "Bourne". I thought that guy playing Bourne at the end was a girl. He had from chest corset (but with a strap). I don't remember Bourne going to Euro Pride as a tranny. Sorry but his character was a cool guy. Maybe I got it all wrong. If I did... whoops.

last 2 cents:

I wish DCI got rid of all the scores and all the fan voting and just let everyone show off their shows. It's a cool idea to show the top corps all together in the start of the season but from what it sounds like, everyone rushed to finish FOR THE FIRST SHOW. 1) To make a good impression to the whole nation watching in theaters. 2) To prove you can finish a show for the competitive premier. What about the anticipation to see the shows? the excitement of actually making time to watch a show live? I really curious to see how these shows progress now that they performed 80-90% completed shows. Of course everything will be fine-tuned but I still wonder how it'll effect the end result.

Thx for listening.

[Rawtv_JohnChristensen]

My thoughts.

http://www.facebook.com/DCfilms

[cgts]

saw it in cinemark in davie .... lost sound during crown super upset. some one mention because of copy right but i guess it was a non issue... loved crown visually only that they took some ideas like the "rockers" in the front ensemble from a corps new to world class * cough teal sound cough* not innovate when it was done before even if it was in open class. But still love the show regardless wish there was sound... Liked cadets the have potential but the guard does not look as strong this year.. but the wind kick every ones butt . Glad to see BD is not number one I dislike this show way too much very boring... loves the fact that phantom is back to an all girl guard great idea... Glad to see cavies are in the lead hope this tread continues. I think blue coats is the one to watch for they can get to be very sneaky ;)

[CloudHype]

Huntsville, Al

About 75 in the theater, nice volume level and the staff made sure to tell us about the problems about the audio after intermission well BEFORE the show started... Well, they actually told me to pass the word and I did. LOL

Crowd reaction in the theater.

1. Cavaliers

2. Blue Stars (Not kidding)

3. Cadets

4. Bluecoats

5. Blue Devils

-------

The following corps got 0 applause

Crown... Yes Crown

Phantom

SCV

One thought... I'm a visual designer and I just want to add.

<Rant> Reading reviews of this shown on here is proof of why fans voting should never be factored into the final outcome. Jay Murphy once again showed some AMAZING visual/staging brilliance, the design is quite nice, the transitions are not forced. The variety of movement has lots of depth but the show is dirty. I believe the BD vis staff focuses so much on getting the transitional flow of the show worked out that they come out a little dirty but we don't get to see that unless you live out west. This is a top 3 quality visual package. It's just not traditional drill, I use the term "stagging" because there is such a winter-guard influence to it. Jay Murphy makes me want to utilize guard better in my designs.

Also for the love of all things cute and fuzzy... GE is NOT a moment of fast drill and loud music. A FFF impact is not "GE" music and geometric drill is not "GE" visual. GE is simply... " HOW and DOES it work together". </rant>

And no... I did not march with the Blue Devils.

Last thought... Bluecoats design staff. I'm not offended by the word "hell" at all BUT I believe the lyric "I don't belong here" would work MUCH better.

Edited June 21, 2011 by CloudHype

[Contra94]

My Thoughts, Not surprised that SCV didn't place top 5, Their drill and music is crazy and it's only June. Cav's Tenor feature was awesome, Loved Elsa's Procession(just wanted it to last longer and get even louder)

Overall, Needed more cowbell and Tuba from everyone.

[Dmiggles]

Crown... Yes Crown

Phantom

SCV

One thought... I'm a visual designer and I just want to add.

<Rant>Jay Murphy once again showed some AMAZING visual/staging brilliance, the design is quite nice, the transitions are not forced. The variety of movement has lots of depth but the show is dirty. I believe the BD vis staff focuses so much on getting the transitional flow of the show worked out that they come out a little dirty but we don't get to see that unless you live out west.

Also for the love of all things cute and fuzzy... GE is NOT a moment of fast drill and loud music. A FFF impact is not "GE" music and geometric drill is not "GE" visual. GE is simply... " HOW and DOES it work together". </rant>

Well said!!

[AlexL]

Also for the love of all things cute and fuzzy... GE is NOT a moment of fast drill and loud music. A FFF impact is not "GE" music and geometric drill is not "GE" visual. GE is simply... " HOW and DOES it work together". </rant>

The real question is: Is this how it should be? What is the purpose of the general effect caption? Scoring should, in general be a way of identifying the best show through a balance of execution based captions (how well are they playing, how well are they marching, how well are they doing these things together, etc, which you need trained judges to identify these things the crowd may not have expertise in), and effect based captions (how well does this work to engage the audience.. and we need judges here because regional biases would render a fan-voting system for the effect component worthless).

Maybe it should be "How and Does it work together to engage the audience. I dont care how well its pieces work together with themselves. If it doesnt engage the audience, it has failed. If the designers have to explain it to the judges, it has failed (the average crowd member will never get that benefit). And, quite frankly, some corps get far more 'general effect' points than they deserve, because their shows have very little effect on the audience. They have failed in THE primary goal of drum corps: engaging and entertaining audiences.

Edited June 21, 2011 by AlexL

[CloudHype]

...

Edited June 21, 2011 by CloudHype

[fsubone]

Quick review for everyone. My theatre was moderately filled, maybe 50+, lots of local kids, which was a good thing.

BD: Musically, this is the most I've liked them since probably '04? Even the beginning was just great, and the best blending I've heard from BD in a long time. But I still can't hear the tubas at all. i'm convinced that BD just has tuba players on the field to carry the horns, cause I never hear them play. Visually though, I think Jay's time has come and gone. Better than last year, but for a corps that marches as well as the Devils do, and their history of amazing visual shows, WILL YOU PLEASE JUST LET THEM MARCH? Put away the props, put away the scatter drill/body movement/running, and just let the kids march? I would have no problem with this corps winning if they could do it actually marching a full show. I just don't see them winning with this show, I think medaling might even be a stretch, maybe just no room at the top for them this year?

Also, the house thing just seemed kind of wasted. Sure, they built a house, but was it necessary at all?

Cavaliers: Easily the best of the night. Drill looked late-July clean already. Musically, I'm enjoying Cavaliers more lately, more music, less pit breaks, which is always good for me. I enjoyed the stilt thing, even though I didn't fully understand it, and the upside-down tenors were amazing. But, sadly, DCI's cameras missed the amazing stuff the pit was doing during the tenor break. They were doing some 2000 Cadets-esque stuff down there, and I wanted to see it on the screen. I see them taking it all this year, as long as their ending is good.

Bluecoats: I'm going to say it, I LOVED THIS SHOW. Then again, I'm a trombone player, so anyone who plays Harvest like they did, I will love. But their opener, with Radiohead, was just lush and gorgeous. And for everyone freaking out over the "What the hell am I doing here" line, it's from the song, it's all in context, I guess.

The ballad still seems kind of disjointed to me, but I'm sure given a few more viewings, it will start to sink in. Guard uniforms really didn't make much sense, but we'll see if I like them by the end. I see them picking up where they left off last year, and really pushing to the top, and being a legit threat to win. The only corps, besides Crown, where I knew I was hearing tuba at the low end of the sound, and not synth. a heard a few pedal notes come out from those guys.

Crown: Um, what to say here? Their pre-show was awesome, but can they please put those drum parts in the JUDGED portion of the show please? I felt like it was such a waste of good parts, and just tired the kids out before the show even really started. And also, MORE BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY!!!!!! I was really looking forward to what they would do with it this time, only to give me a 15 second clip.... Overall though, a little bit cheesy for my taste, but still a good show. Visual is much improved from the last few years. I always thought that was holding them back. I think this will fall in the 4-6 range, but that's just me.

Cadets: This show was one of the best I've seen out of the Cadets in awhile. The split uniforms really were an amazing idea, and carrying it through the whole show worked out perfect. The "bathrobe angel" was a bit odd for me, but it didn't distract too much. I'm just excited to see where this show can go by August, especially with the different endings idea. I think this one could easily medal, and maybe win?

Phantom: First, the new uniforms? Great choice for Phantom. The white, with little hints of black, much better than the all-white from last year. Now, you can actually seem people from the high-cam, not just white blobs. Not sure what the point of the tiny mirror is on the crest, anyone know?

About the show though, not really much I can remember. I enjoyed the East of Eden at the beginning, and then Elsa's. Not much out of the middle I can remember. But Elsa's, needs to be longer, and MUCH LOUDER at the end. I know given time, they will up the volume as the endurance builds, but I want Lucas Oil to move a few feet at Finals when they get to the end.

SCV: This show seems to be the polarizing topic of discussion, now doesn't it. Well, I'm going to fuel the fire I guess. This show reminded me very strongly of the 2000 SCV show. The structure of the show, the musical selections, the drill, even the vibe I got from the whole show reminded me of that, and I see no problems there. The drumline is cleaner now than the were at FInals last year, and I see them taking home the Sandford award. The brass, really not as bad as people are making them out to be. This show, is without a doubt, the hardest show I've ever seen SCV do, and at least these kids are making it to the end right now. This show will take a ton of work to get clean, but hey, there's two months left in the season. I think this one is the dark horse of the year, and could end up in the top 4 or 5.

Blue Stars: Not really sure here, I liked the hornline, way too much pit, but the show didn't really wow me like I was expecting. I came away from it thinking I could have seen that exact same show at BOA in November, and had the same reaction to it. It felt like one of those shows, and that hurts to say, because I've really enjoyed Blue Stars in the past. But it just seems like they designed this one down, maybe so it is easier to get perfect, and hopefully get them out of the 8 rut? I'm not sure, but I think this show could get to 6 or 7, not any higher though. I think Blue Stars might need to switch things up if they want to push to the top, faster show might help that out.

My predictions for the season as of right now:

1.)Cavaliers

2.)Cadets/Bluecoats

3.)Bluecoats/Cadets (could really go either way)

4.)BD

5.)SCV

6.)Crown

7.)Phantom

8.)Blue Stars (someone has to be in that spot)