phantomws Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 (edited) I just got off the phone with my Mom who was at Phantom's dress rehearsal...Yikes! They sounded great! Wish I could have seen them but it's long drive from North Cacalacky. Did anybody go? If so what was your assessment? Edited June 12, 2006 by phantomws Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPRBari Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 C'mon, there are 54 members on the board right now. Somebody had to be there. I've been waiting impatiently all weekend to read peoples' impressions of the show! Don't be shy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmalsom Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Ok. I just drove back to Chicago from Winnebago and was able to watch/listen to two run-throughs of the show. I'll try to be as complete as possible, but I'm exhausted. I may chime in tomorrow when I'm a little more awake.... Anyway... On with the show. It was a pretty chilly evening, and the dress rehearsal started a little late, due to some rain. Regardless of the temperature, there was a great level of support from the community, as the stands were packed. People were showing up over an hour before the run-through. The corps is in their familiar white uniforms from 2003 on. The gauntlets are all white, as opposed to the blacks ones that have been used in the past. The sashes are the same black, though. The guard ladies are wearing form-fitting outfits and the guys look quite sinister in their black, leather armor-type outfit. I wanna say there are 8 guys in the guard. Sorry... Didn't pay that much attention. The show... Well. It's non-stop. The opening statement of Scythian is IN YOUR FACE, and the show just builds from there. The drum line has a great feature in the second piece, and they are very, very good. I'm sure the feature will expand and grow in complexity as the summer goes on. Ava Maria is beautiful, with the surprise twist in the trumpet section. The ending chord to this is going to knock your socks off. The Mahler is awesome. Just awesome. I'm a low brass guy, and the euphs and tubas own this tune. Hands down The altos have some great arranging here, as well. Pat explained some of the plans with the guard. The girls and guys have to put in quite a bit of their show yet, but there are three central characters that will be built on all season long: Faust, Margarite, and the Devil. Margarite gets beat down a little bit, but I'm very anxious to see how this grows. I spent most of the day cutting out patterns for one of the flags that are going to be used, and what Adam has planned is going to be incredible from a visual perspective. I wish I could talk more to the drill, but I was sitting about in the middle of the stands and didn't have a great perspective. The corps is CONSTANTLY in motion, though. Practically jazz running wherever they go. I got tired just watching it. So... some critique. It's early June. I know this. Still, I'm more used to seeing shows in July and August, and it's hard to separate that mindset. That being said, there's some dirt in the show. There's some clarity issues in the brass (mainly in the first of the two run throughs... the nerves worked themselves out), and some of the harder licks need to be worked out. The difficulty of the music, coupled with the fact that most of the show is ff and above, as well as the constant motion on the field, the corps seems to run out of gas near the end. I believe that this will get worked out as the summer goes on. They'll just get stronger and stronger. So? How's the show stack up? Well, I think you can tell that I liked it. It's really a good skeleton right now, but you know some of the other corps are going to start out cleaner out the gate. Don't be surprised if PR has some more stiff competition than they've been used to early on in the season, but as they get this monster of a production under their belt, it's going to be something special. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomMom Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Thank you for the review. Wish I could have been there. Only 8 days until they are here in Memphis! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipdaily Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 The guard ladies are wearing form-fitting outfits and the guys look quite sinister in their black, leather armor-type outfit. I wanna say there are 8 guys in the guard. Have I been under a rock and missed this or something? You mean to tell me that Phantom's guard in NOT still all female and we haven't had multiple threads on how this is the end of the world or, at least, the end of drum corps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmalsom Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 Have I been under a rock and missed this or something? You mean to tell me that Phantom's guard in NOT still all female and we haven't had multiple threads on how this is the end of the world or, at least, the end of drum corps? I think this year (as well as last year), it makes sense to have male guard presence on the field. The show isn't Faust without at least a couple masculine portrayals of Faust and the Devil. Who knows. Maybe the PR guard is officially co-ed. My guess is that in following years, the guard will be all female unless the show theme makes sense to have some guys in there. Don't quote me on that. I'm just a fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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