A mesmerizing tale of forbidden love that rather swiftly unfolds into a nightmare, Miss Julie written by August Strindberg is a play set on Midsummer’s Eve on the estate of a Swedish Count in the 1880s. Specifically taking place on the longest day of the year, the festivities reflect on Julie’s upbringing as a child while taking into consideration the beliefs instilled in her, all of which come together to ultimately lead to her demise. Richard Prioleau portrays the character of Jean beautifully, as he laments about “the gulf between what I wanted and what I was.” He emphasizes on the point that once given the lowest branch, he would climb relentlessly to the top.

The celebrations are reminiscent of those held at a mansion from The Great Gatsby, while Julie is initially an elusive character similar to Jay Gatsby. We only know of her through what other characters say about her and she seems to have a larger-than-life personality. At the beginning of the play, we learn of the reputation that Julie has established for herself amongst the farmhands through the heated conversation between Kristin and Jean. Several parallels are drawn as the description given prior to the start of the play provides insight into the aesthetics of the setting. For example, cutouts of phalluses, an abundance of dancing, and this once-a-year casual mixing of social classes made it out to sound very much like a bachelorette party.

While occasionally heart-wrenching and emotional, the dialogue between Julie and Jean fell flat occasionally. At times, it seems that Julie would never be able to make a decision. We watch as “Her Ladyship” gradually transforms into Julie, a broken girl whose issues begin with the opposing views that her parents raised her with. For all the trouble she goes through in order to rise up as a dominant woman against societal norms, she makes an awful lot of commotion insisting on taking orders from a man. Yet, the imagery of her father’s boots subtly on the side of the stage, while ignored for the most part, serve as a powerful reminder that his presence constantly lingers. His ideas and convictions live on through Julie’s actions towards Jean, no matter how much she claims to dislike men. Mikaela Feely-Lehmann effectively takes on Julie’s character development and puts her heart into displaying the confusion and complexity of the character. Meanwhile, Melissa House wonderfully depicts the character of Kristin, who is the epitome of a respectful and religious woman adamant in conforming to the traditions and societal norms of that time period.

Overall, Miss Julie can be intriguing in certain moments and repetitive in dialogue. Still, while it may be difficult to be fully immersed for the entire duration of the show, Strindberg does a terrific job in bringing the social conflicts of the 1880s to the present world and ended the play perfectly with Julie finally getting peace, although not in the best way.

Of the three plays I have seen this semester the most entertaining and enjoyable play would have to be School of Rock. It was funny and breath taking. Watching these young kids play these instruments was amazing. They are so talented and it really makes you appreciate their talent. I grew up loving the movie and everyday at the train station I see a poster for the musical. It made me want to go see this musical and I am so happy I did. Seeing it live makes it so much          better and that’s why I believe that I enjoyed the musical more than the movie itself. There really were not any major differences from the two due to the fact that it was based off the movie. When they perform at the Battle of the Bands at the end of the musical it was the best part. You really got to see the talent that these young kids have.

I had a little trouble trying to connect this musical to something we have learned in class but the only thing I could think of was Medea. He was obviously not as bad as Medea in the sense that he was not evil. But Dewey did lie about whom he was to get what he wanted. Just like Medea manipulating the men of the Athenian society. He pretended to be someone he was not so he can perform in the Battle of the Bands. Although Medea always knew who she was, she did lie to Creon about her intentions for revenge. It is not a great connection but it was one the closest thing that reminded me of what we learned in class.

Dewey was caught and they realized the progress he had made and were not that upset with him. The kids still wanted to learn and play with him. The kids touched his heart and it really made him turn his life around. He is no longer a lazy bum without a job. His job is too teaching these kids music and he is no longer a wannabe rocker. He found what makes him happy and what he was good at. That is being a mentor to these young kids and it was great to see the development of this.

Well, this second half of the Selections is not so much many stories, but a few stories stretched out over several nights. Way to save up on brainpower by not having to think up a new story every single night, Shahrazade.

Anyhow, she continues with the themes of deceitful women as mentioned in the post about the first half. We’re not even thirty nights in and it feels like a dead horse trope. I’ve also noticed that she raises the theme of a cruel and/or controlling king, as seen in the last three stories. This raises the question: Is Shahrazade trying to send a message about Shahryar?

I found ‘The Tale of the Enchanted King’ particularly interesting. Besides the fact that the previously mentioned themes of a deceitful woman and a cruel/controlling king are hammered in, it also displays a deceitful side to the king in the latter part of the tale when he attempts to trick his wife to change back the city. This hasn’t been seen before in the previous stories, at least not to this degree. Trickery is usually reserved for the woman. Why would this tale give the man a (stereotypically) woman’s trait? Was it to challenge the male/female dichotomy that was so common in literature of this time period or am I reading too deeply into it and it’s just to move the plot along?

As much as I find this read entertaining, at this point, I’m starting to find the stories somewhat redundant, at least in the sense that the same themes and tropes are always there. Besides the previous tropes mentioned, a talking a animal is often brought up, a demon is messing with everybody (Why did the author translate ‘djinni’ to ‘demon’? The two have very little in common.) perhaps a poor character will stumble upon riches, and twice now someone has been partially turned into black stone. Still, the servants are enthralled by Sharazade’s stories, to say nothing of Shahryar. Was everyone at the royal court just that bored or do they just not notice the repeating tropes? Maybe it’s a testament to Shahrazade’s storytelling genius that she is able to rehash these same ideas over and over again and still make for an entertaining listen.

Oh, and before I go, I found this comic. It doesn’t add much to the conversation but it is relevant and rather humorous.

Actually, that raises another question: why didn’t Shahryar try something like this sooner if he wanted the whole story?

Growing up we’ve all heard at least one story from The Thousand and One Nights. But I had no idea that The Thousand and One Nights that I remembered was all censored. Original “adult” version shows women being manipulative, evil, dissolute, and perverted. It seems like even demons were better than women. My question is why is it that all women in The Thousand and One Nights are shown as evil?

When the vizier is trying to talk his daughter Shahrazad out of marrying the king, he tells her this popular saying, “I would be sitting pretty, but for my curiosity.” What do you think about this saying?

So the first half of the text The One Thousand and One Nights, the story is mainly about two king brothers that both find their wives committing adultery.  The first brother Shahzaman finds his wife sleeping with the kitchen boys and kills them both. He then goes to visit his brother Shahrayar and catches his sister in law also cheating with slaves that are disguised in woman’s clothing. Shahzaman has a hard time telling his brother but eventually tells him and they both decide to go on this journey. On this journey, they come across a demon who has imprisoned his wife in a chest. When he has taken her out of the chest and is fallen asleep, the wife sees the two brother and demands that they sleep with her. They realize that no matter what they do, they can’t control the woman. Shahrayar comes back to his town and kills his wife. Then he promises himself that he is never going to marry and have himself a new woman every day. He will sleep with her and then kill her. Shahrayar’s vizier is to find his king a new woman everyday but then his daughter offer’s herself to marry Shahrayar. Her father fears for her but she is fully aware of what will happen to her but still agrees to go on due to a plan that she has.

After reading this story, I wondered what I would do if I was to be in Shahzaman’s shoes. Would you be able to tell someone close to you that their partner is cheating on them and how would you tell them? What is that person didn’t believe you?

Also this seemed to be biased against woman. The women were caught to be doing wrong and were killed. Shahrayar’s wife was called a “slut” by the slave but what makes it okay for Shahrayar to sleep with a new woman every day and kill them? Just because of what happened to them, does that mean every woman are the same? Instead of blaming the woman, maybe something was wrong with the men in the story?

This story also reminded me a little of Gilgamesh. How Gilgamesh would rape any woman and brides to be just what Shahrayar is pretty much doing. Only after reading the first half, Shahrazad (the vizier’s older daughter) seems to be that she will play a part similarly like Enkidu.

A few weeks ago, I went to go see the play Wicked with my girlfriend. I had such a great experience with mom when seeing The Color Purple that I wanted to go back to see a play that everyone has always talked about. I was such a fan of the Wizard of Oz as a child that I knew I would instantly love Wicked. My brother recommended it to me so I thought it would be a good idea to go see it. First thing that stood out to me was the costumes in the show. The wicked witch of the west green costume was incredible. It really reminded me so much of the movie but seeing it in person were even more incredible. What I loved about this play was the story of this play. You see why the wicked witch, Elphaba, has become who she is. If you have just seen the Wizard of Oz you thought that she was always evil but when watching this prequel you are able to see why. Her and her friend Glinda are very different people and view life very differently. You struggle to see why they were friends due to the fact that they have opposite personalities and fight over the same lover, Fiyero. You see the downfall of Elphaba and her transformation into the Wicked Witch of the West. Elphaba is a person who fights political injustice and tries to undo mistakes who ultimately fails and becomes the way she does. It is amazing to see the other side of the story.

I immediately connected this story to Antigone. I did this because in that story you see that everyone has a past and everyone has different reasons for their actions. Antigone thought it was right to bury her brother due to fact that it was her family but Creon believed that it was his right to make it against the law to bury Polynieces because he rebelled and went against him. Everyone has their own opinions and reasoning for their actions. We cannot judge someone’s actions until we really see their side and their reasoning for being the way they are. Sometimes we do not understand why someone is acting a certain way and that is because we don’t take the time to know. That is what this play shows us. We are able to see the importance of seeing that there are two sides to every story. We see the importance of friendship and trust or lack there of and how it can effect a person.

When my mom dragged me to go see the musical The Color Purple I was not a happy camper. I don’t want to see any musical especially not about a story I have never even heard of before. Let me tell you, I was wrong about that. I could not connect personally with this story but I did have a deep feeling of emotions while viewing this play. It was a great story about how powerful love is. The main protagonist Celie was forced to marry a farmer that was very mean and this makes her separated from the ones that she loves. You see a shift in Celie and by the end of the play you see her really become her own person. That was what made me feel so deeply about this play because you see the struggles that she was having but you see her rise above it and overcome adversity. This was the first play I have ever seen so I do not know if I can compare it to anything else but I was amazed by the voices on these actors. The singing was incredible as well as the acting. Honestly, I feel the reason that it made me feel the way I did was because she had someone have such a positive influence and change their perspective on life. Her new friends Shug and Sofia have show her that there is more to life and she needs to be positive because there is more to life than being treated poorly.

It was very different than the Athenian plays were the up and coming young leaders sat in the front. Since the plays are very expensive it seemed that older people were sitting in the front rows since they had the money. My mother and me were standing the whole play. Although my legs got tired it was definitely worth it. I was not sitting in the front but we did get a great discount for standing.

This play reminded me a lot of the proverbs we learned about in the beginning of the semester. It is teaching us about life and how powerful love is. It can over power all the bad things that you have in your life. Sometimes a new perspective on life is all we need to get past and rise up against the adversity in our lives. It teaches us a lesson that we can use and incorporate in our everyday lives. It goes way past an extra credit; it is about what we can learn from these experiences. I am very happy that I went to go see this heart-warming play because it makes me want to go see another very soon. It is safe to say that my first Broadway experience was a successful one.

I also got to see how women and people of color were mistreated. This took place in 1600’s Georgia when slaves were present. She was mistreated because she was a woman and she was black. In class we talked a lot about gender discrimination and it was the main conflict of this play. She was treated as an inferior due to the color of her skin and her sex.

The Cirque du Soleil has been out there for many years (since 1984). They are probably one of the best well-known circus world-wide. It’s not just another ‘circus’.

Over my winter vacation in the west coast (Las Vegas, San Fransisco, LA and San Diego) I felt like going to see an impressive show. Even though we have some of the best shows right here in NYC with Broadway, it’s always a bit more special when it is a part of vacation.

The performance was spectacular, starting from the outfits, the professional moves, their physical attributes and abilities. A great sense of humor was involved which contributed to a final great deal of experience for every single guest. They also engaged the crowd and chose a few people to help and participate in the show, once in a while.

The show was in the New York Hotel in Las Vegas (how ironic), which provided the perfect setup and stage for the vibe of such a show. Since the very moment you enter to hotel you feel like you are in another planet, taking you away from routine (even vacation has it’s routine).

I wanted to connect this show to our material, since we discussed in a few classes about the setup and nature of such shows in ancient times (especially in Europe and particularly in Greece). What i found interesting is how technology, experience and advanced options allow the shows to focus more in content and elevating the experience of guests, rather then dealing with problem solving. Yet, a few things remain the same. And probably always will.

For instance, we talked about how the masks were made of stone or other heavy materials, in order to cover the actors faces, and to have a different character needing them to switch every time they play another role (Followed with expressions). Furthermore, the ‘audio’ aspect was problematic, since even though the coliseum and similar stages built on the same style weren’t enabling everyone to have the same experience (especially hearing what’s going on) as the one’s sitting in front (requiring the actors to shout, whereas microphones are very clear today).

Another very interesting we also mentioned during class was the age/ cultural / social-economic status which had to vary between the audience when it comes to placing the seats – back then young crowd were most likely to sit closer with respectful elders ( an issue that exists still until today – more expensive tickets are closer to the stage, therefore most like providing a better experience of the same show!).

Also, the cultural aspect is being globalized – meaning everyone can enjoy almost every show nowadays, regardless of their culture. In the audience there were people from all over the world. It’s not necessary a single-culture or country thing today. Technology and social media has given us the chance to share everything with everyone. No one is left alone in his culture really anymore.

Either way, it’s very nice to see that the concept of a show or performance is still playing a vast role in our entertainment aspect of life, until today (with almost everything possible to achieve online).

Highly recommend these guys (they have unlimited amount of different shows to pick from in many locations all over). It’s not really cheap but the value for money is worth it!

Have a great weekend!

Idan.