More performances

It seems that all I do on this blog is write about performances I've attended!

A few weeks ago I went to the Warehouse open mic night. There were several performances from MIT grad students, and the quality was impressive. Highlights were:

The MIT grad student choir, including my friend Ray. I enjoy choral music, and the choir did well.

Slim Overdrive's "A Winter's Tale", an original alternative Christmas carol. It was irreverent and very amusing, if a little explicit.

Of course, I have to mention Jordan's performance! He performed two original songs and one cover. I was very impressed with his songwriting: I don't follow contemporary music much, but they sounded like songs I would hear if I did. And I also thought his singing was better than I've ever heard it when he practises at home!

On Saturday afternoon I saw MITGSP's Ruddigore. The show is not one of my favourite from the canon, but the group did well. Ben Morris, who played Despard, was a stand-out as usual. Even in crowded dance scenes it was obvious that Rebecca Graber was the best dancer on stage by far.

In the evening, I went to see Playwrights in Performance, a set of four short plays written by MIT students. Once again, I was blown away by the high quality. There was a young woman who had just broken up with her boyfriend because he proposed, an astronomy student whose father's mission went awry due to mistakes she blamed herself for not catching, the world's worst orgy, and a peacekeeper in Bosnia depressed by the failures of his mission. The second was very emotional - it started with what we are used to seeing in students and dug far deeper due to the magnitude of the situation - and the others felt very real. I only wish I had scene the equivalent productions in my last four years!