A great night in Hartford

  October 17, I went on a trip to watch a fantastic music show of Disney's in Hartford. It was one of the greatest performance I've ever seen. 

  The Newsies introduces a story took place in the 19's New York. With the launching of spotlight, the story began with a conversation between the main character - Jack Kelly and his friend. There were a few distinct details that attracted my eyeballs immediately. The staging was really interesting: Actors stood on a huge staircase, with a projecting background on their back. I finally realized that the musical was pretty different from the opera I saw before, I used to watch some of the Italian Operas with my father, because there's a theatre near my house. Those types of Opera are usually quite traditional, with only few of even zero background images.

  The identity of Jack Kelly became clearer to me later. When he and a bunch of other young men with the similar clothing style showed up in a stall-like place, there were thick stacks of newspaper on the ground. Yes, they were the newspaper delivers, I said to myself. Although it must be a tough job for them, because the newspaper seller didn't look really kind and he wasn't indeed; the newsies looked really optimistic. They joked and danced around instead of complaining about this  low-paying job. That actually gave me really positive impressions for them. 

  Next, a city councilor came into audience's sight. He next announces his decision on rising the Newspaper cost. At that moment, the conflict of the whole play appeared. With this conflict, the rest of the play was basically talking about how Jack Kelly, and his fellows started a protest and finally solved the problem. 

  Music, was absolutely the biggest part of the performance, that's why it was called the"musical". There was a professional band playing background music under the stage, it was somehow hilarious to me because I'd never imagined they would performed under the actors. The music moods always go with the atmosphere of what's going on at the stage. When there was a sad scene, the music sounded depressed; when a happy scene took place, the music became light and fast. Music had a substantial impact on the atmosphere, it highly strengthened those emotions that were expressed by the actors. In additional, the dancing parts were always accompanied by the music, the combination of them makes perfect stage effect. There were a few times that I even close my eyes to enjoy the music, without watching the play, it was just beautiful. Speaking of dancing, the moves were ridiculously difficult, I was so impressed by them. The theme of those dances never deviated the life of Newsies, their most distinctive personalities were showned in the dance: passionate and optimistic. The spirit of the play was placed deep inside music and dance.

  One of my favorite setting in the play was the love story between Jack Kelly and C(K)atherine. It was inspirational; the two young lovers worked together and finally went through all the toughness and fell in love. Nothing can be better than that! I loved seeing them together because they both had such great qualities; Jack Kelly had strong leadership and was always being positive, Catherine was helpful and warm-hearted. They were just two lovely couples.

  After all, I love the musical so much, and I would love to watch again.

 Picture souce:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsies_(musical)

Ideas about written project

Scene: The ending of Act 5 Scene 3
Ideas: Will there be a different result, if Juliet didn't drink the poison. What would happen to the young lovers, how will their families treat them. How should I make the scene looks really tragic, and what should the actors do and say, especially for Romeo and Juliet.

Scene: Act 2 Scene 3, When Friar Lawrence first appears.
Ideas: What is the first impression of Friar Lawrence in the play. How does his identity or personality affects what he does to Romeo and Juliet. How would the actor shows those personalities of Friar Lawrence.

Scene: Act 1 Scene 1, the beginning of the play
Ideas: What would I do to make the Prince has a strong dignity. The street must be messy after the fight, how will the people react to the fight.

Pardoned or Condemned, Live or Die(Topic #6)

  The general conflict of the play-"Romeo and Juliet" is the immature love under the hostility between two families- Capulet and Montague. Some people believe that the stubborn personalities  of Romeo and Juliet's are what caused the final tragedy. Prince Escalus, on the other hand believes that hatred is responsible for the deaths. He blames the two family for fighting each other several times in the play. For example, in Act 1 Scene 1. Escalus intervened the fight and announced, "If ever you disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace."(1.1 98-99) He was absolutely being mad about them. Finally, in one of his sentences from the long speech at the end of the play. The Prince criticizes this whole background setting of the "Romeo and Juliet". "Go hence to have more talk of these sad things. Some shall be pardoned, and some punished."(5.3 318-319) In my opinion, the first "some" stands for Friar Lawrence and the two young lovers. The second "some", on contrary stands for not only Master of Capulet and Montague, but everyone. Below are my reasons.
  One of the most controversial characters in the play--Friar Lawrence, is responsible for the final tragedy in a great degree. As a "Ghostly Confessor" of the young lovers, he held the secret wedding , gave them advices and most importantly, gave Juliet the sleeping potion. He started different series of events that could cause the deaths. Although there are other factors that could be responsible for it,  Friar Lawrence's role was just substantial. However, I believe he is the one that was been "pardoned". First of all, he is a prestigious priest. The impression of him should be saint and innocent. People at that time were mostly religious people, so he could receive forgiveness by that. The prince better indicated that by saying, "We still have known thee for a holy man."(5.3 279). Also, Friar Lawrence actually did everything along the willingness of Romeo and Juliet's, so he shouldn't be condemned.  For Romeo and Juliet, they were already dead when the prince was giving the speech, there can't be any punishment for dead people. At the end, they were the victims of the forbidden love. "See what a scourge is laid upon your hate"(5.3 302); in this sentence, the Prince clearly pointed his finger at the parents, and described the death as "scourge". With his sympathy to Romeo and Juliet, they should be"pardoned".
  Right before the sentence I mentioned above, the Prince said, "Where be these enemies?—Capulet, Montague".(5.3 301) Again, there are no worse existence than Capulet and Montague, in Prince Escalus' mind. He just loathe the two families and their fight for too much, there shouldn't be anyone else to be punished.
 However, Prince did mention something else at the end

 "That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!
  And I, for winking at your discords, too
  Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished."(5.3 303-305)

 This, is the ultimate version of his opinion.
 Nobody could escape from the pain that was created by the tragedy, thus everyone were punished.
 In conclusion, the play really has drastic changes. Being a summary, the Prince's speech provides a chance for self-recognition to everyone. As he said, "Some shall be pardoned, and some punished."
 

Romeo and Juliet quiz study questions

Fact Questions:
In Act 1 Scene 2, what does Benvolio mean by saying that"Tut man, one fire burns out another's burning"?, what is he implying for?

2.   In Act 2 Scene 5, why is Juliet talking bad about the nurse by saying that,"But old folks, many feign as they were dead, unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead"?

3.   In Act 3 Scene 1, what emotions are Mercutio expressing when he says "Here's my fiddlestick, here's that shall make you dance. Zounds, consort!"

4.   In Act 4 Scene 5, why does the nurse say "Oh whelladay, that ever I was born?", how does it related to Juliet's death.

5.   In Act 5 Scene 3. In fact, Romeo barely knows Paris, but why does he say," By heaven, I love thee more than myself."

 Thinking Questions:
Did Romeo die with happiness?
What made up the worries of Juliet's, before she drank the potion.
Was the love between Romeo and Juliet considered "true love?"
What is the role of the nurse in the whole play?
What was the importance of Tybalt's death?

Essay Questions:

Analyze the death of Mercutio and Tybalt. What led to the result like that?(Event, Relationships)
Explain the role of Friar Lawrence in the whole play. What does he mean to Romeo and Juliet?

Use specific examples and details to demonstrate the ideas.

Studying, Acting, Improving

  Staging a scene is not an easy work and it takes a lot of time and thoughts to accomplish it.
  My group and I had worked on two scenes. The first scene we staged was originated from Act 2 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet. Honestly, it didn't go well at the beginning. Shakespeare's plays are quite hard to demonstrate, the complications of language and the time difference were the difficulties that needed to be solved. We decided to keep the original sentences and made an big change on the setting; put Romeo and Juliet on different sides of a pillar, instead of meeting at the balcony. We really liked this idea because the distance between the lovers was shortened, since Juliet doesn't need to stay up at the balcony. Also, it became much easier to set the scene.(No ladders or additional tools required).
  We had plenty of funny moments while performing the scene. Cherry was the plot designer and she made another significant change to the original play: Eric and I had to play for Romeo and Juliet. Suddenly the performance became a little awkward. The lovers' role didn't fit us well, but we still tried our best to make the play seemed real.
  However, the problems just kept showing up. One of the biggest ones was caused by shyness, Eric and I didn't have loud enough voice at the beginning, so the audience couldn't hear us well. But we improved right away. The lack of performing experience really caused a bunch of mistakes. A good example would be that Eric and I were always facing each other while performing, and the audience couldn't see our faces. The performers should always face toward the audience in order to show the facial expression. Thanks to the teacher, we corrected the problem and were able to move on.
  The second scene started at this week, and I joined a new group to work on it. Since it's no longer
our first performance, there were a few improvements on the practice. As I mentioned above, I didn't have loud enough voice at the first performance, yet at the practice this week I was able to speak clearly. The second scene is mainly about the conflict between Tybalt(Joseph) and Mercutio(Leo), and Romeo(me)'s intervention. This scene is less difficult than the one on Act 2 Scene 2. All the actors are boys and we have the passion to perform the fighting scene. Passion is the most important factor to makes the scene better. The only problem we are facing right now is my poor control on laughing. I'm just not a good actor because I always laugh and ruin the whole scene, it confuses me so much. Maybe in the future practices , I will find a way to prevent laughing.
  It's quite challenging to shorten the whole scene into a five to ten minutes performance. Leo and I need to cut a lot of lines of ours because Tybalt(Joseph) has less lines. And it actually turned out well, the briefer plot shows the main storyline.
  In conclusion. After all the problems, our performance keeps getting better. I had learned not only from correcting mistakes but also from watching other's performance. Julie and Ryan's  performances are always my favorite, they act naturally and speak fluently. Those are my short term goals

Father, this time is for real.

(Adapt from Act 2 Scene 3)

The garden is full of flowers, sunlight shining, birds singing.
Friar Lawrence comes in with a basket in his hands.

Friar Lawrence

What a bright morning! Shines away all the darkness from the sad night.
Look at all those amazing images reflexing on the sky,
The sunshine just burns all the chaos and doom into ashes.
Now, I need to fill my basket with all the poisonous herbs and amazing flowers.
Mother Earth, you granted us the nature, our lives!
We lived and died at your embraces, keep alive with your gifts.
No creature is the same as the other, and yet all beautiful.
The herbs, plants and stones are the essence of the true nature,
Only the good should exists, with no evilness.
Yet the evilness can be corrected by the right action.

Romeo walks slowly toward Friar Lawrence, with a frown on his face.

However, inside the little rind of this flower, is full of both poison and cures.
A smell of it, is able to make the day better.
A taste of it, goes straight into your heart.
The opposing powers are always fight against each other,
Both human and herbs,
Both graceful and cruel.
Good morning, my dear Friar Lawrence.

Friar Lawrence smiles back.

God is with you.
Oh, here comes my son, the sweetest voice in the morning greets me.
Isn't it a bit early to be awake and leave your bed?
Is something wrong?
Every old man has worries, right through our eyes.
With the old man's cares, rest may never dies for them.
There must be something in your mind, twisting in all the empty areas.
Our young blood Romeo had not been into bed last night.

Romeo stops and looks up, says sadly:

You did make the right guess, I had a rest rather than sleep.

Friar Lawrence responds disappointedly.

May God forgives you!
Did you spend the night with Rosaline?

Romeo getting emotional, shouts out:

Rosaline? She had passed away in my world forever.
All the sadness? Gone!
All the love? Gone!

Friar Lawrence goes back to calmness.

That sounds right, but where did you go then...

Romeo responds secretly,

Stop asking, I'll confess.
I went the the Capulets' gigantic party.
And my heart just stopped, turned into fire when I looked at her, only you can cure us.
I have no hostility toward the Capulets, because my decision will benefit them.

Friar Lawrence puts his hand on Romeo's shoulder, trying to appease his emotions.

Don't worry, just tell me about it.
A good confession can help you clear up your mind.

Romeo suddenly starts crying, whimpering:

I had a crush on the wealthy daughter of Capulets'.
I'm so in love with her, while she just loves me back.
You have to hold our wedding, please!
I have to exchange vows with her, saying we love each other.
Yes, we have to marry today!
Please, father, please!

Friar Lawrence gets shocked, starting to stuttering.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!
This is a bit too much for me,
Are you telling me that you forget about the Roseline,
Whom you are talking about every single day?
Young people like you are just so superficial on your loves.
For the god's sake, I can't even count how many times you cry for Roseline.
Please!
You can't just change your mind like that, my son,
Love is harsh yet being young is sharper!
Now you just turn back and walk away so quickly?
No wonder why girls are unreliable when boys are worse!

Romeo depressed

You're just blaming me for forgetting about Roseline.

Friar Lawrence angrier

But I didn't tell you to love someone else!

Romeo still depressed

Stop judging, father.
She is the only girl that actually likes me back.

Friar Lawrence sighs, nods his head and agreed

Fine, young man, I will forgive you.
Also, I will hold the marriage for you and the girl,
Of course, secretly...
I just hope your family to stop fighting, with the love of you young bloods.
No more hates.

Romeo finally smiles.

See you father, I'm in a hurry.

Friar Lawrence smiles back

Be careful, my son.

Analyze of death

  In Act 3 Scene 3, based on the incident of the banishment to Romeo by the prince. We can tell that Friar Lawrence and Romeo have different perspectives to the term"death". For Friar Lawrence, he said "A gentler judgment vanished from his lips, Not body’s death, but body’s banishment."(3.3 11-12) He considers not being dead as a gentle punishment, which shows that he cherish people's life. However, Romeo thinks death would be a better choice than been exiled and not able to see his Juliet. "Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say “death”(3.3 13). Death is mercy to him, because he is just overwhelmed by love. It's not about right or wrong, but the significance of love and life. Both of them have deeper explanations next: "Thy fault our law calls death , but the kind prince, Taking thy part , hath rushed aside the law And turned that black word “death” to “banishment."(3.3 26-28) Friar Lawrence just doesn't want Romeo die, life weighs much more than death for love. It might related to his identity of a priest, has love and faith in people's lives. Romeo just doesn't care,:"Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp-ground knife, No sudden mean of death, though ne’er so mean, But “banished” to kill me? “banished”?(3.3 46-48) I think this sentence not only shows his extreme emotions on love but also foreshadows his death later in the play. Of course death is cruel, but to some people, live without love can be crueler.