Theater Thoughts

[Fran Haring]

My two cents, from a theater at Arundel Mills, a mega-shopping mall near Baltimore and Annapolis in MD:

The auditorium was maybe half-full. We put in a pre-show request for the theater manager to pump up the volume, and apparently that request was granted. It was really loud tonight. Never a bad thing for a drum corps show!

Totally agree with others who are praising The Cadets this year. Very much enjoyed them tonight. Another terrific visual presentation from the pen of Jeff Sacktig... and another Gino Cipriani horn line that is not shy about putting out some serious sound. I can easily see this show being in the title hunt.

Also really liked Phantom and Spirit. Man... can Phantom max out a ballad or what? Another great vehicle for them this year.

Spirit's show would be a great DCA show... and I mean that totally as a compliment. Fun, fun, fun, and their best overall corps in recent memory. They should have a very good summer ahead of them.

Bluecoats... one of those "kinda out there" shows that was bizarre enough to be cool to watch!!! Parts of it reminded me of a dysfunctional family July 4th picnic, but in a fun sort of way. LOL. Also... I think the new uniforms are wonderful. Sharp, clean look.

Crusaders... they normally grab me/entertain me... but for whatever reason, not tonight. Some of that, I'm sure, was because this was their first performance of the season, and I'm used to seeing their later-season efforts.

Cavaliers... when I heard the show theme was "Secret Society" I thought, cool... they're doing a show about the IRS. Seriously... the show seemed to have more life than last year's effort...and man, that lower brass can really bring it at times... but the visual program, like last year, still does not scream out "Cavaliers" to me. Something's not quite right, and I'm not sure what that "something" is.

Overall, a nice night out with some friends. Best wishes to all the corps on their journey this summer!

Edited June 25, 2013 by Fran Haring