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Which is your favorite 12th place show of the decade?


Which is your favorite 12th place show of the decade?  

128 members have voted

  1. 1. What's your favorite 12th place DCI show of the 2010s?

    • Above and Beyond (Crossmen 2015)
      2
    • Alma Gitana (Crossmen 2014)
      5
    • ATL Confidential (Spirit of Atlanta 2011)
      18
    • Fragile (Crossmen 2012)
      28
    • I Am Joan (Phantom Regiment 2019)
      21
    • The In-Between (Crossmen 2018)
      15
    • The Last Man Standing (Madison Scouts 2017)
      11
    • The Prayer Cycle (Glassmen 2010)
      12
    • Quixotic (Boston Crusaders 2016)
      8
    • Voodoo (Blue Stars 2013)
      8


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6 hours ago, Cappybara said:

Definitely Crossmen 2012

Agree. Personally I thought the semifinals performance if not necessarily a better performance was passionate too.

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My vote goes to Madison 2017. I found that show to be very different and entertaining.

HMs for Fragile and ATL

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I once saw a musical in previews in New York; a musical that never opened, and that was never at the mercy of reviewers. In fact, watching it play out was fascinating. My seat was on the back row of the section of seats closest to the stage. There was an aisle right behind the seats. Two of the shows' producers stood right behind me for the entire production, talking (yeah, just like sitting too close to drum corps judges) about its merits (or lack thereof), and its potential to make money and become a success. It closed three nights later.

But that's not the story behind "Nick and Nora," a musical adaptation of the noir detective series. This was a show with every known pedigree: both lead stars were award-winners, as were the writers, composer ... down the line ... to the producers. It was a lousy show; poorly staged, forgettable songs, bad pacing. But there was this one little written wrinkle that was genuinely funny: a single actor, in this case a woman, played every murder victim in the show. She was shot, stabbed, and strangled, to increasingly hysterical effect as the play wore on. Everyone associated with "Nick and Nora" went looking for new gigs, but it was the luck of the "dead woman" that will always stand out. I saw her, one year later, in her Tony Award-winning performance as Miss Adelaide in the revival of "Guys and Dolls." Faith Prince.

Thank goodness for her that "Nick and Nora" -- I have forever called the production "Dick and Dora" -- turned into "Guys and Dolls" Something had to change.

__________

Crossmen's finalist run origins and Spirit's three-peat notwithstanding, this is perhaps as relevant a question to pose right now as any other placement. This decade is a perfect example of what can, and does, happen to Saturday night's opening act. And the aftermath; when something has to change.

Boston Crusaders' 2016 "Quixotic" was an abject mess of breezeless, inert windmills and a show that aimed for little, no unreachable star, it seemed at the season opening contest. Wholesale rewrites, a nod to "Conquest", an Audible book full of narration, and the chameleon nature of the malleable performers kept the show, and Boston, in finals. By a mere breeze. Its aftermath is the current model for sudden success and relevance in the upper echelons: an infusion of money, which leadership had been growing and stockpiling, made it possible for the organization to lure the just-crowned visual and color guard caption winner designers to a new Massachusetts home. In a single season, the Crusade reached the top six star, instantly becoming a drum corps Goliath.

The following year, Madison's Scouts embraced every current design model with "The Last Man Standing," shaved heads and all. It was no Scout outing that anyone had ever seen, much less its apparently angst-ridden alumni and rabid supporters. But the corps was in finals, and was competing with the same metrics as every other corps. Whew ... it will be great to see a modern day Madison model, lots of us thought -- and hoped. Its aftermath became a confounding conundrum, too much current competitive bad cholesterol that caused cardiac arrest in the very masculine chest of the corps. "Too much" ... name the idiom other than drum corps that was leveled. Something must be done to get the venerable Scouts back in the Top 6! Maybe if the corps had played Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" this year, that "something" might have worked. Heaven knows the performers gave it their all! So, as show titles would have it, "The Last Man Standing" was Madison's last Saturday night performance as its six decades-long brand. May the full infusion of women into its DNA, help propel this all-time drum corps favorite back to its majestic perch.

And finally, this year's Phantom Regiment. "I Am Joan" was an abject mess of inert, homemade looking props and a show that aimed for costume changes and a crowd call-and-chant. Even a fantasy of finals was dashed, it seemed at the season opening contest. Wholesale rewrites and edits, along with the chameleon nature of the malleable performers not only kept the show, and Phantom, in finals, but endeared fans for "what they overcame." (A tacit "I Am Joan".) So here we all are again, wondering what the organization has the ability (resources), will (staff changes), and desire (upward competitive movement) to make happen for 2020. Don't claim recruiting woes: the same type and caliber of performers were in both 2018 and 2019's Pacific Crest. In a comment that has probably outlived its usability, "If there had only been one more week in the season," the crest of momentum just might have been from the west coast, just might have sent "Joan" home before Saturday night. Performers rise. They want to excel. They want immediate adulation from the crowd and judges adulation from the sheets.

Seems to me, in the case of our fine founding DCI corps Scouts and Regiment, the question for 2020 competitive relevance is: Will the adult leadership rise to the level of their performers? I always hope so.

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2 hours ago, BranchHill said:

I once saw a musical in previews in New York; a musical that never opened, and that was never at the mercy of reviewers. In fact, watching it play out was fascinating. My seat was on the back row of the section of seats closest to the stage. There was an aisle right behind the seats. Two of the shows' producers stood right behind me for the entire production, talking (yeah, just like sitting too close to drum corps judges) about its merits (or lack thereof), and its potential to make money and become a success. It closed three nights later.

But that's not the story behind "Nick and Nora," a musical adaptation of the noir detective series. This was a show with every known pedigree: both lead stars were award-winners, as were the writers, composer ... down the line ... to the producers. It was a lousy show; poorly staged, forgettable songs, bad pacing. But there was this one little written wrinkle that was genuinely funny: a single actor, in this case a woman, played every murder victim in the show. She was shot, stabbed, and strangled, to increasingly hysterical effect as the play wore on. Everyone associated with "Nick and Nora" went looking for new gigs, but it was the luck of the "dead woman" that will always stand out. I saw her, one year later, in her Tony Award-winning performance as Miss Adelaide in the revival of "Guys and Dolls." Faith Prince.

Thank goodness for her that "Nick and Nora" -- I have forever called the production "Dick and Dora" -- turned into "Guys and Dolls" Something had to change.

__________

Crossmen's finalist run origins and Spirit's three-peat notwithstanding, this is perhaps as relevant a question to pose right now as any other placement. This decade is a perfect example of what can, and does, happen to Saturday night's opening act. And the aftermath; when something has to change.

Boston Crusaders' 2016 "Quixotic" was an abject mess of breezeless, inert windmills and a show that aimed for little, no unreachable star, it seemed at the season opening contest. Wholesale rewrites, a nod to "Conquest", an Audible book full of narration, and the chameleon nature of the malleable performers kept the show, and Boston, in finals. By a mere breeze. Its aftermath is the current model for sudden success and relevance in the upper echelons: an infusion of money, which leadership had been growing and stockpiling, made it possible for the organization to lure the just-crowned visual and color guard caption winner designers to a new Massachusetts home. In a single season, the Crusade reached the top six star, instantly becoming a drum corps Goliath.

The following year, Madison's Scouts embraced every current design model with "The Last Man Standing," shaved heads and all. It was no Scout outing that anyone had ever seen, much less its apparently angst-ridden alumni and rabid supporters. But the corps was in finals, and was competing with the same metrics as every other corps. Whew ... it will be great to see a modern day Madison model, lots of us thought -- and hoped. Its aftermath became a confounding conundrum, too much current competitive bad cholesterol that caused cardiac arrest in the very masculine chest of the corps. "Too much" ... name the idiom other than drum corps that was leveled. Something must be done to get the venerable Scouts back in the Top 6! Maybe if the corps had played Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" this year, that "something" might have worked. Heaven knows the performers gave it their all! So, as show titles would have it, "The Last Man Standing" was Madison's last Saturday night performance as its six decades-long brand. May the full infusion of women into its DNA, help propel this all-time drum corps favorite back to its majestic perch.

And finally, this year's Phantom Regiment. "I Am Joan" was an abject mess of inert, homemade looking props and a show that aimed for costume changes and a crowd call-and-chant. Even a fantasy of finals was dashed, it seemed at the season opening contest. Wholesale rewrites and edits, along with the chameleon nature of the malleable performers not only kept the show, and Phantom, in finals, but endeared fans for "what they overcame." (A tacit "I Am Joan".) So here we all are again, wondering what the organization has the ability (resources), will (staff changes), and desire (upward competitive movement) to make happen for 2020. Don't claim recruiting woes: the same type and caliber of performers were in both 2018 and 2019's Pacific Crest. In a comment that has probably outlived its usability, "If there had only been one more week in the season," the crest of momentum just might have been from the west coast, just might have sent "Joan" home before Saturday night. Performers rise. They want to excel. They want immediate adulation from the crowd and judges adulation from the sheets.

Seems to me, in the case of our fine founding DCI corps Scouts and Regiment, the question for 2020 competitive relevance is: Will the adult leadership rise to the level of their performers? I always hope so.

So. Which one was your favorite?

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I'm partial to Boston 2016. Love that show!  I also absolutely love Crossmen 2018. 

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I have to choose 2011 Spirit of Atlanta, as that was the show that gave our child an avenue to experience a winter camp for a DCI finalist Corps.   

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2 hours ago, KVG_DC said:

So. Which one was your favorite?

The Scouts.

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I'm the one vote for Corpsmen 2014.  

During the season...it wasn't all that but when putting on the finalists for a long drive I''d reordered the tracks for 12-1 rather than 1-12 and hearing that show's energy an verve to open led me to discover so much more to it than I had during the season.  

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1 hour ago, KVG_DC said:

I'm the one vote for Crossmen 2014.  

During the season...it wasn't all that but when putting on the finalists for a long drive I''d reordered the tracks for 12-1 rather than 1-12 and hearing that show's energy an verve to open led me to discover so much more to it than I had during the season.  

It was a big step up after the confused "Protest" show the year before: a solid finalist, entertaining, but with few bells and whistles. I haven't voted yet, but this was one that I was considering.

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