6 — Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
WHISPER
SUBMIT A
WHISPER
By Craig Stowe
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/18/20
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
02/18/20
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Tuesday, February 18, 2020
ACROSS
1 Govt.-backed
investment
6 Travelocity
recommendations
10 Comprehends
14 Commandment
verb involving
parents
15 Niño’s “nothing”
16 Difficult exam
17 Kagan of the
Supreme Court
18 Fruit grown in
bogs
20 *Billy Crystal
comedy featuring
a cattle drive
22 __, amas, amat ...
23 Gnaw (at)
24 Grocery walkway
28 Offshore oil
drillers
30 *Exact look-alike
34 Stiff-upper-lip
type
36 Under, in French
37 Graffiti signature
38 *Daily filming
schedule on the
set
42 Musical gift
45 Roman robe
46 Hustle genre
50 *One in la-la land
54 Croat or Serb
55 Mexican mister
56 Correct
58 “__ had it!”
59 Somewhat
liberal, or where
you might find
the first words in
the answers to
starred clues
64 Soap opera
genre
67 1960s jacket style
68 Cooking spot
69 Large-scale
70 Warning signs
71 Like fake fruit
72 See socially
73 From
Lillehammer, say
DOWN
1 “My Best Friend’s
Girl” rock band
2 Like poker games
for high rollers
3 Small takeout
order
4 Tiger mascot with
a red scarf
5 Clear data from
6 Provoke
7 Dealer’s foil,
briefly
8 Southern
neighbor of
Sask.
9 Reasonable
10 Enters
11 “To say they
__ I dare not
be so bold”:
Shakespeare
12 North Carolina
__ Heels
13 Cunning
19 Slow-cooked, as
short ribs
21 Young chap
25 Bilko’s rank:
Abbr.
26 Grazing area
27 Joule fraction
29 [not my error]
31 Family name in
Mideast politics
32 Homer’s “I’m an
idiot!”
33 Feel remorse
over
35 Provided food for
39 Tone-__: “Wild
Thing” rapper
40 NYC airport near
Citi Field
41 “__ the
season ... ”
42 Scout leader?
43 Monkey
relative
44 Sought a political
seat
47 Move like a
mamba
48 Carlsbad __
National Park
49 Do to death
51 Revolutionary
territory
52 Wear away, as a
coin surface
53 Nervous twitch
57 Noble gas
60 Dancer Astaire
61 Spanish
appetizer
62 Leave out
63 Verne captain
64 Work on a lawn
65 “Training Day”
actress Mendes
66 “Superman”
villain Luthor
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SUDOKU
MEDIUM
5
3
6
5
3
8
7
3
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5
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1
5
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5
Sudoku Syndication
http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/
1 of 1
3/30/09 10:03 AM
SUDOKU
It’s no shock that Carly Pearce
released her self-titled sophomore
album on Valentine’s Day. She tied
the knot with fellow country artist
Michael Ray last October and hasn’t
been very shy about her feelings for
him on social media. It makes sense
that her starry-eyed Instagram
posts would carry over to her music.
Luckily for listeners though, Carly
Pearce isn’t mushy gushy, but open-
hearted.
Sure, this album is stocked with
its fair share of love songs. The
most conventional of these sounds
so sweet it feels sour: On “Finish
Your Sentences” Pearce and her
husband alternate verses, proving
that they literally have the ability
to accomplish the title’s cliche.
It should be cute, but when the
answers to questions like “Should I
wear this dress?” are obvious, it just
comes off as trying too hard.
On “Closer to You,” “Call Me”
and “You Kissed Me First” Pearce is
far more in her element: flirtatious,
lively and light-hearted. Using these
songs, one could easily trace the
beginnings of her love story with
her husband. That’s why it’s a little
off-putting to discover that Pearce
didn’t write any of them.
On an Instagram post for “You
Kissed Me First,” Pearce wrote
that she felt like songwriter Hillary
Lindsey had written her story for
her. Even though there’s a certain
expectation in country music that
singers write their own material,
Pearce’s choice to cut these tracks
is commendable. She isn’t going
to stop herself from singing a song
that suits her just because she didn’t
write it.
The stand out track is a song that
Pearce did have a hand in writing —
it’s about an ex. On “I Hope You’re
Happy Now,” a soaring duet with
Lee Brice, Pearce takes all the blame
for the failed relationship. “It’s all on
me / it’s my mistake / I said ‘I don’t
love you’ a little too late,” she admits.
The
album’s
throughline
is
Pearce’s vulnerability. Everyone
loves a good party song or a bit of
alcohol-related word play, but it’s
refreshing that Pearce didn’t lean
on either common country music
crutch to compile her record.
Because country radio’s airwaves
are male-dominated and beer-
loving, not playing into that kind of
song is a risk. One that Pearce makes
the most of.
For
every
party
song
slot
she sacrifices, Pearce flexes her
storytelling skills. “Woman Down”
is a high-stakes late night drive
following a woman “down on her
luck.” “Dashboard Jesus” is a sunny
update to “Jesus Takes the Wheel.”
And the most personal song on
the album, “It Won’t Always Be
Like This” catches Carly in the
strangeness of feeling nostalgic for
both the past and present. Anyone
can (and pretty much everyone
does) sing about love, but stories are
a more difficult feat.
Pearce is open-hearted on
self-titled sophomore LP
BIG MACHINE
KATIE BEEKMAN
Daily Arts Writer
Inside the Newman Studio
of the Walgreen Drama Center,
two rows of actors wearing
white face paint silently sat
facing each other on either side
of an empty black stage, while
audience members filtered in.
This was the student-run theatre
organization
Basement
Arts’
“Spring Awakening,” the original
play written by Frank Wedekind
in 1906 from which the 2006 hit
Broadway rock musical of the
same name took inspiration. But
the viewer experience was far
from the same.
The
play
follows
several
interwoven stories of teenagers
growing up in an oppressive
provincial
Germany
in
the
late 1800s. They grapple with
newfound
and
unexplained
sexual desires, spar with their
parents and face the crushing
pressure to succeed in school,
all while struggling with their
new identities as young adults.
“Spring Awakening” is famous
for dealing with teen sexuality,
suicide and the dangers that
institutionalized pressure and
silence can have on young people.
To no fault of Basement
Arts, the major downfall of this
production was the writing. The
language was archaic and at
times incomprehensible. The play
opened with a scene supposedly
set in a schoolyard. However,
as the actors played catch with
a rubber ball, their antiquated
dialogue was a harsh contrast to
their childish demeanors. The
overly complex and philosophical
language continued to detract
from the powerful story. The play
was also two hours of non-stop
darkly heavy content. While the
ideas may be timeless, the show
was too serious to sit through
without any comedic relief, or,
for that matter, an intermission.
Even with this controversial
and slightly problematic script,
the direction could have been
what saved the show, but I did
not find this to be the case. When
delivering their lines, most of
the actors employed the same
strange mix of teen angst through
a somewhat Shakespearian tone.
Even more unsettling was
that, for the majority of the
play, every line seemed to be
screamed. For yelling to be at
all effective, it needs to happen
rarely. However, I found it
hard to care more about a main
character’s speech preceding his
death than his woes regarding
his class rank because both were
delivered in the same tone and
volume. Given the consistency
in screaming across characters,
it seems more plausible that this
was a directing issue rather than
a personal choice coincidentally
made by almost the entire cast of
drama students.
For a show that deals so
heavily with female adolescence
and female sexuality, I was
surprised to learn that both
directors were male. It was
definitely interesting to watch
the actors, both male and female,
work
through
this
material
knowing it was both written
and directed by men. While it’s
admirable that these students
desired to shed light on female
issues, watching this raised the
question of why we continue to
perform and celebrate stories
written about women by men,
instead of bringing the opinions
and
perspectives
of
women
themselves forward.
Despite
the
questionable
directing, it was clear that
the actors were well-trained
drama
students.
Particularly
successful was SMTD junior
Emma
Steiner
as
Wendla
Bergmann. Steiner carefully and
maturely executed the innocence
and
sincerity
necessary
for
Wendla. She had clear intention
behind her actions, as well as
an understanding of both the
language and the objectives of
her character. Consequently, her
scenes were some of the most
enjoyable, as she was able to
more explicitly convey the plot
points and underlying emotions.
SMTD junior Nathan Correll as
Hansy/Mrs. Gabor also stood
out because of the contrast in his
portrayals of the overbearing,
ultimately
sympathetic
Mrs.
Gabor and the closeted gay
schoolboy, Hansy. He was able
to reach the audience because of
the variation both between and
within each of his performances,
and he was exceptionally precise
in his emotional delivery of each
of his monologues.
Most importantly, audiences
might be tired of shows that
merely present how bad things
were (or are). It’s harmful to
present themes of homophobia,
sexism, suicide and rape to
audiences if there is no new or
insightful take on them. We know
that things used to be and still are
bad, and a lot of times this stems
from deep-rooted societal issues.
But what next? There needs to be
an adequate justification to show
these deeply personal topics in
such a blunt and graphic way,
and this play did not deliver this.
Furthermore, to present these
heavy and extremely relevant
topics so inaccessibly borders on
irresponsible.
In the end, the content and
delivery left me wondering why
Basement Arts chose this play.
The reason why the 2006 musical
adaptation was so successful
was because it took a heavy yet
important story and presented
it appropriately for 21st century
audiences. This return to the
original play fell flat because
neither the presentation nor the
source material are relevant to
modern viewers.
‘Spring Awakening’ can’t
reach modern audiences
CAROLINE ATKINSON
For The Daily
Carly Pearce
Carly Pearce
Big Machine
ALBUM REVIEW
ALBUM REVIEW
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
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