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MADISON SCOUTS 2016


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I do not even pretend to understand what the judges are looking for in scoring these days. But I can say that when I saw Judas live it was an awesome show! A police officer told me after the show on the way out of the stadium that he did not know much about show judging, but if it were left up to him he would have had Madison in the top two that night in Nashville. He said that Madison and probably crown had the only two shows that kept his interest while walking through the stadium looking over the crowd.

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I do not even pretend to understand what the judges are looking for in scoring these days. But I can say that when I saw Judas live it was an awesome show! A police officer told me after the show on the way out of the stadium that he did not know much about show judging, but if it were left up to him he would have had Madison in the top two that night in Nashville. He said that Madison and probably crown had the only two shows that kept his interest while walking through the stadium looking over the crowd.

I've given up too. I absolutely floored as to why SCV isn't scoring higher. To me, Madison's brass line is better than corps that are beating them. They are also moving while play more than corps who are beating them. I'm only watching SCV, Madison and BK this weekend. That's it.

Edited by henry7184
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The three corps that I like to watch these days are Madison, SCV and Bluecoats. I have loved the choices of music the Bluecoats have chosen since "Tilt ".

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Just so we're all on the same page. Huge number of narrative pitfalls to stay away from with a corps show around Judas.

  • Judas has historically been played by a black actor, simply becuase of American racism. Judas was no more black than Jesus, who was in all likelihood black. Don't cast Judas with a black performer. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/judas-the-troubling-history-of-the-renegade-apostle-by-peter-stanford-book-review-10120100.html Here's a magazine article at the time of the film's premiere. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905328,00.html
  • Tyler Perry is doing a (white Judas) version for Fox starring Daughtry-- is it the same show as Madison? Probably not. http://www.eonline.com/news/734782/tyler-perry-finds-his-sexy-singing-jesus-judas-for-the-passion
  • Judas hangs himself from guilt. Yay! Sorry, way too heavy an element to depict in a corps show. (Juliette's seppuku worked because she was self-empowered to do it.) Even worse if he's black performer and hangs himself-- that just doesn't work. http://reverbpress.com/news/frisco-centennial-football-coach-racist-remarks/
  • The Judas story is inextricably tied to Jesus, an impossible character to feature in a historically accurate context in a drum corps show. Robes and crosses and drums and bugles? Sorry, that's way too on the nose. That would look like a children's passion play at a church rummage sale. No robes, no crucifixes, no last supper, god help us.
  • It's tough to take a musical and flip it over so it's about the antagonist-- but still use the original music. That's an issue right there. Judas is a different story entirely. That's like doing the music from the Wizard of Oz and making it about The Wicked Witch of the West. (Wicked used new music to flesh out the character. So should this.) http://www.musicalwriters.com/write/stephen-schwartz/starting/adaptation.htm
  • Where's the standing ovation moment? When he dies? A twelve minute show about the world's most famous antagonist is really dark and really exposed. This isn't a show about the Riddler or Marvel's Sharkmouth. It's about the guy who was the traitor to the most beloved religious figure in the world. Do we want to develop sympathy for Judas and give him 360 degrees of depth in twelve minutes? Or make him some villain without depth? Do you want kids to spend all summer portraying Judas? Maybe that's easier to portray the complexity of this character in a full length musical like Perry is doing. But in twelve minutes? The risk is enormous. It's like doing a show about the devil. Unless you're at a Christian rock festival for kids, it's just complicated and political.
  • Let's be frank. This Middle Eastern myth created by a male dominated culture just doesn't translate any more in its original form. The whole myth is based on people not having cell phones to say "Where Jesus at so we can arrest him? Can Judas tell us?" It simply makes no sense why Judas would need to be hired as an informant to identify Jesus's location if Jesus has thousands of followers. Just follow the trail of people until you get to the front. Even if he's hiding out in Gethsemane it's not that hard to identify the guy. If Jesus was so popular and such a threat to the government, you'd think Pilate could identify where he is. Other story problems that don't translate are many: Jesus not being a clear communicator, Jesus' having no skill at public relations or politics, the whole nomadic society being disorganized and having limited language skills, and Jesus' sudden shyness about pulling out some magic tricks for the political elite, and frankly the whole "I'm dying because my father says so" just doesn't fit sophisticated sensibilities. The religion just doesn't translate any more to modern audiences whose language is hundreds of times more sophisticated and painfully aware of clunky stories of Middle Eastern male domination, fathers sacrificing sons, blind faith and paternalistic monotheism.

Only way to produce Judas with narrative elements:

  • Do a modern take on it. Godspell like. Two friends, one politically radical, the other sells him out. Only a hint of the original story.
  • Focus on the personal betrayal, not on the historical religious crap.
  • Avoid the nasty suicide by hanging, and only hint at it. It's too grim.
  • Be creative with Judas's madness after the betrayal-- maybe have a hundred Jesuses surround him and make him go mad.
  • Cast a white guy as Judas, or else face insurmountable crevasse of racial questions. All. Summer. Long.
Good luck!

I feel like you try to ruin things.

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I've given up too. I absolutely floored as to why SCV isn't scoring higher. To me, Madison's brass line is better than corps that are beating them. They are also moving while play more than corps who are beating them. I'm only watching SCV, Madison and BK this weekend. That's it.

It's as simple as this...Most everyone nowadays are playing and designing their programs to the "sheets". Therefore, this is why so many of the top 12 don't give a rip about entertainment and many in the stands don't know what it's like to get their faces blown off. For those that might still remember, there was an annual award given out by Disney during the DCI Finals award presentation for the corps that was the most entertaining...To my recollection, Madison was the primary recipient of that award for the years in which the trophy was awarded. Furthermore, if memory serves me (I was told this while serving on the Board Of Directors), there were many complaints and grumbling from a number of top 12 corps that didn't like the fact of Madison being continually being rewarded for being ENTERTAINING!...I certainly may not be clear on all of the facts...But,then the award went away, go figure.

Edited by Mad75
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I realize we have one more night of the Eastern Classic in Allentown, but Scouts being 1.4 behind Academy tonight more than likely leaves the Men firmly in 12th...Depending though on Boston, we could be on the outside looking in come Saturday night in Indie...Wow!

Edited by Mad75
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Not that I give a flip about scores and placement, but the reason why Scouts might be that low this year is because the corps is pretty new in terms of membership. For example the drumline has 1 returning bass, no returning tenors, 2 returning snares, and 3 returning cymbals.

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Are you surprised?

I am surprised....mainly in that I'm not grasping how the Scouts were up on both Academy and Boston...by 2+ points just a show or two ago. So Academy improved by 3.5 in one day? Boston by 4.5? Scouts are flat? Just doesn't seem right. Scouts, IMO, have a top 12 show. Will be a shame if they don't make it. Maybe we'll get lucky and get 13 corps in finals!

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