Tobias Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 The cancer that's blighting WGI is that design teams are selecting weighty, maudlin, glum, lugubrious themes. Some of these heart-on-the-sleeve productions are like middle eastern funerals with gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, with psychiatrists on the sidelines assigned to each performer. Some of the on-the-nose subject matters are so preachy that the guards should sell end times food buckets with a 1-800 number. Utterly humorless, overwrought, without insight or subtlety, and just uncomfortable to watch. Clearly the most WGI-influenced corps is the Blue Knights who wins the prize for their show about images that flash before your eyes as you die. A maudlin subject matter, painfully on the nose. The Blue Knights snapped out of their depression a little with 2015's Because, but they still managed to remained glum and humorless. Runner-up goes to the woman with cancer interview on NPR that Cadets did. Great message, but the who-what-where platform was just too on-the-nose and too weighty. Third place goes to Cadets literally shouting at the audience "This I believe!" The color guard should have been spinning sledge hammers. The show coordinators put the onus on the performers who endure these heavy themes-- a real death sentence. It's like getting stuck in a production of a 22-month run of the Grapes of Wrath at the Steppenwolf. Think about the psychological burden you're subjecting your unpaid performers' minds to for seven or eight months. Life's too short to spend eight months dressed as a Civil War soldier with flies buzzing around your bandaged head when you're 18. I want his meds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shempy Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 The only difference is that my man character would not put on a microphone and scream "This is the circle of life!" Do you even get what we're talking about? We're talking about being "on the nose." For example, in a show about why kids are passionate about drum corps, you don't angrily scream, "I'm passionate about drum corps!". "This I believe!" Get it? You don't scream the thematic argument at the audience. That's such amateurish, preachy WGI melodrama. That's just leaves no room for subtlety or complexity, no room for interpretation, no wiggle room for the audience. The show was an homage to the radio program and essay series "This I Believe," wherein the first sentence of each piece is literally always something akin to "I believe in drum corps." The show itself is an essay in that style. For all your design bravura, how did you not get that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 The show was an homage to the radio program and essay series "This I Believe," wherein the first sentence of each piece is literally always something akin to "I believe in drum corps." The show itself is an essay in that style. For all your design bravura, how did you not get that? Actually, I give Channel3 a pass on this point, since that connection doesn't seem to be very well known. On DCI's website, Michael Boo's weekly "Spotlight" corps for Oct. 8, 2012 was the 2007 Cadets' "This I Believe", and nowhere in that article does he mention the radio show of that name. And when I asked on these forums in 2013 if the Cadets' show was inspired by the "This I Believe" radio show, no one here responded in the affirmative except that Michael said that while there was nothing in his notes about this, he vaguely remembered it being the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FTNK Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 The cancer that's blighting WGI is that design teams are selecting weighty, maudlin, glum, lugubrious themes. Some of these heart-on-the-sleeve productions are like middle eastern funerals with gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, with psychiatrists on the sidelines assigned to each performer. Some of the on-the-nose subject matters are so preachy that the guards should sell end times food buckets with a 1-800 number. Utterly humorless, overwrought, without insight or subtlety, and just uncomfortable to watch. Clearly the most WGI-influenced corps is the Blue Knights who wins the prize for their show about images that flash before your eyes as you die. A maudlin subject matter, painfully on the nose. The Blue Knights snapped out of their depression a little with 2015's Because, but they still managed to remained glum and humorless. Runner-up goes to the woman with cancer interview on NPR that Cadets did. Great message, but the who-what-where platform was just too on-the-nose and too weighty. Third place goes to Cadets literally shouting at the audience "This I believe!" The color guard should have been spinning sledge hammers. The show coordinators put the onus on the performers who endure these heavy themes-- a real death sentence. It's like getting stuck in a production of a 22-month run of the Grapes of Wrath at the Steppenwolf. Think about the psychological burden you're subjecting your unpaid performers' minds to for seven or eight months. Life's too short to spend eight months dressed as a Civil War soldier with flies buzzing around your bandaged head when you're 18. I can't help but agree, to a large extent. Some of the themes are ridiculous and over the top. The thing is, there isn't a ton of nuance you can do in a 12 minute show on a football field, so you get the same broad themes ("Love is nice!" "Good over evil!" "Darkness into Light!") over and over, and the emotional manipulation is incredibly direct and unsubtle. I mean, opera is often emotionally really over-the-top, right? Drum corps has the same problem, but cut to 12ish minutes, sans (most) text, and on a football field. Kinda the nature of the medium. Which is why I wish the emphasis wasn't skewed so totally to story-telling these days. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted February 19, 2016 Author Share Posted February 19, 2016 Actually, I give Channel3 a pass on this point, since that connection doesn't seem to be very well known. On DCI's website, Michael Boo's weekly "Spotlight" corps for Oct. 8, 2012 was the 2007 Cadets' "This I Believe", and nowhere in that article does he mention the radio show of that name. And when I asked on these forums in 2013 if the Cadets' show was inspired by the "This I Believe" radio show, no one here responded in the affirmative except that Michael said that while there was nothing in his notes about this, he vaguely remembered it being the case. No. It wasn't based on a radio show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candl Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 DCI can't survive with only audiences that appreciate technique (alumni, parents and band kids). It can't sell enough tickets. It will only survive if the nontechnical general public attends shows and theater events...and so, show themes must appeal and performances must impress them. IMO that means accessible (recognizable?) themes and impressive movement and sound. Maudlin and esoteric themes (WGI?) are risky, as is movement and sound that appear to be easy (frenetic movement and amplification?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 No. It wasn't based on a radio show. Someday.... some corps... a Gene Shepherd show. Well... the guy was a master storyteller on the radio!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.l. Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 (edited) Actually, WGI has evolved much in the same way DCI has. There even used to be more drill in a typical show. Check out this show from a familiar drum corps designer. Easy and entertaining concept too, The Doors. Edited February 19, 2016 by c.l. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandandl Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 No. It wasn't based on a radio show. Actually, it was GH who in explaining the show pre-seaon spoke about a conversation with Marc Sylvester and that conversation referenced the NPR radio show. According to faculty and MMs who marched it, they said GH spoke about the radio show with them. I will try to find the GH article/video of the same pre-season blurb, but it has been a few seasons, I believe. Then again, ask GH directly. I find it humorous and I believe Michael Boo, though flattered, would also find it humorous that what he did not say is considered infallible "proof" according to N.E. Brigand. Although Boo has many talents and good facets, being omniscient and absolute are not among his usual claims to fame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted February 19, 2016 Author Share Posted February 19, 2016 Actually, it was GH who in explaining the show pre-seaon spoke about a conversation with Marc Sylvester and that conversation referenced the NPR radio show. According to faculty and MMs who marched it, they said GH spoke about the radio show with them. I will try to find the GH article/video of the same pre-season blurb, but it has been a few seasons, I believe. Then again, ask GH directly. I find it humorous and I believe Michael Boo, though flattered, would also find it humorous that what he did not say is considered infallible "proof" according to N.E. Brigand. Although Boo has many talents and good facets, being omniscient and absolute are not among his usual claims to fame. The 2008 program http://dci271.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=3bf758bd-96b0-43c3-8896-a982406a3bc4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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