NOVEMBER 2022

A Preview of NHS Theatre's Little Shop of Horrors

Ella Stern, EIC

Note: Some of the following quotations have been edited for grammar and clarity. 

It was the day the cast, stage crew, and pit band had been waiting for: the puppets of the evil, man-eating plant had arrived. 

Theatre Director Mr. Miller and Music Director Ms. Burns conspired to reveal the much-anticipated puppet to the students in the production in as dramatic a manner as possible. The cast assembled in the auditorium, the pit band began to play, and the curtains drew back to reveal the nefarious set piece. 

This plant puppet is one of many surprises in store in Natick High School’s production of Little Shop of Horrors, which will be playing in the NHS auditorium on Friday, December 2 at 7:30 and Saturday, December 3 at 3:00 and 7:30. The show presents growth opportunities and fun for cast, pit, and crew alike, while teaching them and the audience about the dangers of greed and the perils of poverty. 

Little Shop of Horrors follows the story of Seymour and Audrey, plant store employees working in a shop on run-down skid row, and Audrey II, the plant that could give them fame and fortune but demands a bloody price. 

Below the surface, this show touches on themes that are still relevant today, such as greed and selfishness, homelessness and poverty, and self-confidence and success. Specifically, Mr. Miller, the director of the show, has been having cast members consider their personal interpretation of the refrain don’t feed the plant. “One of the things that I’m thinking about and that we’re working on is: What does that mean? What does it mean to feed the plant? What is the plant? And this is not just about this show that was written in the late 70s/early 80s about the 1950s; this is about now. This is about our temptation to feed something, to have success no matter what,” Mr. Miller said. 

Connor Federico-Grome ’23, who plays the voice of Audrey II (the plant), appreciates that Mr. Miller is “not just trying to put kids onstage and make a play; he’s trying to teach us a life lesson within it as well.” Connor said that, for him, “This whole idea of don’t feed the plant is that you might have certain urges toward doing things that might progress you personally and might have an advantage for you personally, but if you have the foresight to sit back and see the impact it can have on other people, and if that negatively outweighs your own personal gain, you shouldn’t do that thing, you shouldn’t feed the plant in that scenario.” However, Connor was sure to emphasize that their interpretation is not the only correct one—on the contrary, part of the beauty of theatre is that it allows everyone to have their own interpretation. In their opinion, this juxtaposition of ideas makes the show more interesting, as it lends itself to different character motivations, ensuring that the actors seem to be portraying individuals rather than working as a hive mind.   

For example, in group numbers, ensemble members are assigned a job or identity—from mail clerk to homeless person—so that they make up a selection of people on skid row rather than a homogenous background. This allows them to approach group scenes with, as Connor put it, “their own understanding of ‘why am I here, why am I angry, why have I done nothing to change my situation, is there even anything I can do to change my situation, and do I even want to do those things, or am I just going to continue to stay on Skid Row?’”

Although the range of styles presents a challenge, it also makes the show exciting. Ms. Burns particularly appreciates how it allows the student musicians in the pit band to be exposed to many types of music, as the band plays in every song and during transitions. On top of that challenge, the pit band only had four rehearsals going into tech week. “That’s pretty remarkable for a group of student musicians. I really hold [them] all to the same standards that I would hold pros to,” Ms. Burns said. 

This year, the crew has been working with Mr. Ballard, the new tech director. According to Stage Manager Charlotte Gagliardi ’23, Mr. Ballard has been fun to work with. He balances his own industry experience with valuing student input. “Just being able to have someone on board that’s clearly in our corner, and is willing to take our ideas and help us execute them, is very helpful,” Charlotte said. 

A few weeks out from show weekend (at the time of this interview), the stage crew is still doing a lot of work, but they are confident that it will get done and are anticipating the final product. As Charlotte said, “It’s nice to look at all the things you’ve done and have it be this very 3D thing in a space where you can interact with it, and being able to say, ‘Look! This is a thing I made!’...is super fun.” 

Together, the cast, pit, and crew have great surprises in store—the giant plant puppet is only the beginning. As Connor put it, “The joy of theatre is when all of those things [cast, pit, and crew] come together, and those are always my favorite moments.” 

To future audience members, Connor says, “Be ready to laugh, be ready to be surprised, be ready to tap your foot, and also be ready to be totally flabbergasted by the way the show ends—and if ya like the color green, you’ll love the show.” 

Ticketmaster is “Trouble, Trouble, Trouble”: A Rundown of the “Eras” Tour Controversy

Olivia Zeman

I, like many other Taylor Swift fans, was frustrated and quite frankly angry when I was unable to obtain tickets to her “Eras” tour, especially after Ticketmaster announced that they would cancel November 18’s general-public sale just a day before it was supposed to take place. They cited “extraordinarily high demands on ticket systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory” as the explanation. This left presale as the only sale (for now) of tickets. For several fans (including me), the general-public sale was the only chance at getting tickets to the tour. 

After years of delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, presale tickets opened for “Verified Fans'' on Tuesday November 15, leading to a “historically unprecedented demand” in which over 2 million tickets were sold. However, this rush led to numerous glitches (including people losing their tickets in the carts and getting kicked out of the queue), long wait times and queues (some with over 2,000 people), and of course, thousands of upset fans. “i literally cannot understate how disappointing this has been like i waited in the queue and FINALLY got in only to be told that i cannot buy a single ticket because their codes broke. it sucks,” one fan tweeted. In a statement, Ticketmaster blamed a “staggering number of bot attacks” as well as “unprecedented traffic” due to fans who didn’t have codes still attempting to buy tickets, resulting in 3.5 billion system requests, as the reason behind the technical difficulties. 

After Ticketmaster’s brief tweet announcing the general-public sale cancellation, an influx of backlash rolled in from fans. “why is a company as big as Ticketmaster having trouble with the one thing it does as a business?” tweeted one frustrated fan. 

This debacle has caused several criticisms of Ticketmaster to arise, in which critics allege that they disproportionately control the ticketing industry. Customers and consumer advocates alike detest the high fees on sales and the fact that Ticketmaster profits off of their secondary market site, which many say sanction the hoarding of tickets by price gougers and resellers. According to critics, there is no clear alternative to Ticketmaster, especially after their merge with the 2010 Ticketmaster-Live Nation merge. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted “Ticketmaster is a monopoly, its merger with Live Nation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in. Break them up.” 

This is a problem that began long before 2010’s Ticketmaster and Live Nation merger. In 1994, rock band Pearl Jam, one of the biggest music acts in the world at that time, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster after being prompted by the Justice Department. The band claimed that Ticketmaster was abusing their power in the ticket industry by charging high service fees and signing exclusive deals with several concert venues, which left several customers with Ticketmaster as their only option. Thanks to Ticketmaster-hired-lobbyists, a bill requiring that ticket service fees be spelled out on all stubs was defeated. Soon thereafter, the Justice Department closed their investigation. 

Due to the recent incident, the Justice Department announced a new investigation on November 18 that would focus on the question of whether Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, has a monopoly over the industry and is abusing their power within it. According to the New York Times, the Justice Department’s antitrust division has recently contacted other music participants in the ticketing industry and several live music venues to learn more about the company’s ticketing methods. 

Adding onto this investigation, Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, stated that the Senate would hold a bipartisan hearing on the issue, citing the company as anti-competition. She also said that the company is “the story of a monopoly gone wild.” Klobuchar announced that she had sent a letter to Michael Rapino, Ticketmaster president and CEO, expressing her concern about company practices and their lack of competition. Klobuchar wrote, “Ticketmaster's power in the primary ticket market insulates it from the competitive pressures that typically push companies to innovate and improve their services. That can result in the types of dramatic service failures we saw this week, where consumers are the ones that pay the price." She also asked Rapino to respond, by Wednesday, November 23, to a set of five questions. The questions asked included the amount of tickets that Ticketmaster saved for presale vs. the amount of tickets listed for the general public sale, how much money they spent on upgrading its platform systems to meet surges in demand, and if Rapino remained “confident” that his plan to create an “easy-access, one-stop platform” that will be a “trusted business partner” is working, if they knew of any complaints made in the past year that they were non-compliant with the consent decree  it entered when the merger with Live Nation was approved, and finally, if any of Ticketmaster’s board of directors was given any information about decree compliance in the past three years and if they had, to share materials with her. 

Attorney generals in Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Tennessee would also open respective investigations. Pennsylvania’s attorney general Josh Shapiro tweeted: “Having trouble using Ticketmaster? Pennsylvanians experiencing problems using the site should submit a complaint to my office.”  Nevada’s Attorney General Office also tweeted: “Our office has received consumer complaints regarding the recent issues with Ticketmaster, and we are investigating the company for alleged deceptive or unfair trade practices.” Attorney general of Tennessee, Jonathan Skrmetti, told reporters that “[t]here are no allegations at this time of any misconduct, but as the attorney general it’s my job to ensure that the consumer protection laws and antitrust laws in Tennessee are being honored.”

On the flip side of the issue, some backlash has also come out against Taylor Swift herself, with several fans on twitter calling her “little miss capitalist.” Eric Budish, an economics professor at the University of Chicago told The Washington Post that he believes that Ticketmaster is “a punching bag.” He noted that the artist is typically the one who makes the most money off of ticket-sale profits, and that they often play a role in choosing how to price tickets. Budish stated that it was very possible that dynamic pricing, in which tickets are priced according to demand, was used. He also pointed out that Swift, along with Ticketmaster, has the power to control ticket resales. The system that he believes would be most appropriate for Swift would be “paperless ticketing”, in which the artist can set the price to one deemed fair and restrict the resale market by putting names on the tickets. Budish said that Swift “could’ve chosen that, and she didn’t…It would not be as profitable.” Several fans also criticized her slow response that addressed the difficulties it took to get tickets, but not the pricing. 

On Friday, November 18, via her Instagram story, Swift shared a response to the debacle and apologized to her fans. Swift restates: “I’m extremely protective of my fans”, and that she feels that it’s been “excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.” Swift writes: “I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could.” She expresses that “it’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.” For those who didn't get tickets, Swift writes that she hopes “to provide more opportunities for us to all get together and sing these songs.” 

Ticketmaster also addressed the situation on Twitter on November 18. They apologized to Swift and her fans, “especially to those who had a terrible experience trying to purchase tickets.” They shared a post on their website and Twitter to share information about the issue. They explained 3.5 million people registered for the presale (the largest registration in history) and that 1.5 million people were sent presale codes while the remaining 2 million were placed on a waitlist incase tickets were still available after presale. They also explained that they had never had that much traffic on the website before (4x their previous peak) which they were not prepared for. Overall they estimated that 15% of people had experienced technical difficulties. They stated that less than 5% of the tickets had been sold or posted for resale on the secondary market. They hypothesized that “Taylor would need to perform over 900 stadium shows (almost 20x the number of shows she’s doing)” based on the amount of traffic on the site. They clarified that “we know we can do more to improve the experience and that’s what we’re focused on.” 

Although it is unclear what will happen in the future of the Ticketmaster investigation or the “Eras” tour ticket opportunities, one thing IS clear: live music is inherently suffering from a difference between supply and demand. The biggest artists are overwhelmed with demand, leaving fans feeling frustrated and betrayed. In the meantime, Ticketmaster had better relook at its system. Who knows what will happen?

Book Recommendations for Native American Heritage Month

Diya Sebastian, Business Manager

When we think of November, oftentimes, the holiday of Thanksgiving comes to mind immediately. However, it’s important to recognize, honor, and give thanks to the Native Americans who are the core of American history. 

November is a month to celebrate the rich traditions, cultures, and histories of Native people as well as to acknowledge the important contributions they’ve made and challenges they’ve overcome. 

The following books provide perspective into Native American life and to understand the hardships Native Americans have faced throughout history.

My Thoughts:

This book is not for the light of heart. Tommy Orange has a way with words that evokes such a visceral feeling of grief and pain that I genuinely felt ill at times. There is no escaping that sense of searing pain the entire novel. I wouldn’t call this a happy story, but it is a powerful one. One that everyone needs to read at least once in their lifetime. I wouldn’t say I’m ignorant of the struggles Native Americans face in the U.S. today, but this story opened my eyes to just how awfully the world treats them. It’s clear from the get go that American society has perpetuated the stereotype that Native Americans cannot do well, and the characters, no matter how hard they try, cannot seem to escape this self-fulfilling prophecy. Orange also discusses the way the U.S. has killed Native Americans, not just physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. The reparations we hear about in the news are simply a bandaid to the gushing, bleeding wound that is Native American generational trauma. The novel is a reality check, but it also reveals such unique parts of Native culture and the heritage many have suppressed to stay alive, much of which I had no idea about before. This is one of the most powerful books I have read this year, so I highly recommend checking it out! 

After Daunis witnesses a shocking murder that thrusts her into a criminal investigation, she agrees to go undercover. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home. How far will she go to protect her community if it means tearing apart the only world she’s ever known?

My Thoughts:

This is a young adult book, but it is still very graphic. My heart broke while reading this story because the heroine, Duanis, experiences so much trauma in so very little time. There is a lot that she shares that would have killed an ordinary man. But her spirit is so incredibly strong that she manages to stay afloat despite the number of times life tries to drown her. There were a lot of plot twists in this novel that I did not expect, which was thrilling and had my head spinning in a thousand different directions. Also, this book may appear like a romance but do not fall for that! Firekeeper’s Daughter has a lot of difficult themes that are hard to come to terms with, but overall, I absolutely loved this novel. It was raw and it was emotionally turbulent, but it was amazing. 

Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot 

Goodreads Summary:

Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder; Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father―an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist―who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.

My Thoughts:

There are simply no words in the English language that could ever describe this memoir the way it deserves. Mailhot recounts her memories and experiences in a manner that makes it feel like you experience them alongside her. That being said, it also means that you feel every violent relationship, every heartbreak, and the raw hardships of battling mental illness. Mailhot gives readers insight into her life, but also the underrepresented parts of life that Western media would never cover. Her narrative is unlike any other, and more often than not she left me speechless. I fell in love with her voice, and I wanted to ease her pain after every traumatic experience because this woman has suffered more than any human being ought to. The novel is chaotic, but it's real and it's insufferably painful, but it offers so many insights into Native life and a woman’s life in general. 

After Danielle Geller's mother dies of a withdrawal from alcohol during a period of homelessness, she is forced to return to Florida. Using her training as a librarian and archivist, Geller collects her mother's documents, diaries, and photographs into a single suitcase and begins on a journey of confronting her family's history and the decisions she's been forced to make, a journey that will end at her mother's home: the Navajo reservation.

Geller masterfully intertwines wrenching prose with archival documents to create a deeply moving narrative of loss and inheritance that pays homage to our pasts, traditions, heritage, the family we are given, and the family we choose.

My Thoughts:

Substance abuse has been a common theme among all the books I’ve reviewed so far, but as Geller recounts her relationship with her addicted mother, I genuinely struggled to keep reading at times. The relationship between drugs and a family have never been more clear and Geller writes about the cycle of addiction so poignantly. This brutal cycle is seen throughout the novel, with its accompanying ups and downs and roller coaster of emotions. This novel does end on a more positive note, if you can even call it that. Geller does a beautiful job of showcasing that resurrection from addiction is possible. She doesn’t do this from the point of view of an addict themself, but of the children in alcoholic families, who often feel like collateral damage, but do have a chance to overcome their circumstances. This was once again an absolutely devastating read but one that sheds light on important issues in Native American life now that no one really seems to acknowledge properly. 

Four other powerful novels to check out: 

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

The Removed by Brandon Hobson 

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson 

The Sentence by Louise Erdirich

As Anticipated: Boston Ballet’s Most Recent Showing

Hildy Wicks

I’ve had an absolute adoration for the choreographer William Forsythe since seeing his piece “The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude” in the Boston Ballet’s performance of Kaleidoscope in 2016. Since then, he has continued to amaze me with how innovative and satisfying his creations are. Generally, his pieces are contemporary or modern ballets that incorporate unconventional elements like body percussion, speaking, and seemingly random props. His backgrounds in both visual and choreographic arts converge to create dances that appeal not only to the ballet appreciator, but to anyone with a taste for boundary-breaking flair. For these reasons, any time I notice a Forsythe piece coming to the Boston Opera House, I know it’ll be a must-see.

To preface this review, and to be completely upfront about my Forsythe obsession, I have seen parts of this ballet performed prior to the November 12th showing of As Anticipated. Certain parts of Artifact Suite have been performed by the Boston Ballet before in 2017, but this particular performance included a world premiere of the suite’s first movement, as well as a piece entitled “Approximate Sonata.” Regardless, it was a fresh interpretation with a new cast, and I was 12 the last time I saw parts II and III. 

Act I: “Approximate Sonata”

Starting the show with the curtain up, the stage was set with a royal blue backlight and a flag stating “JA”. Prior to any flashing lights or indicator that the show was starting, principal dancers Lia Cirio and John Lam entered stage left and began their first pas de deux of the show. For this first performance, the women on stage wore black leotards and no tights—aiding in the definition of their superhuman quads and calves—and the men wore bright blue pants paired with pink tank tops. To be quite frank, I have absolutely no defense for this costume. It didn’t fit well with the movements and unfortunately did not grow on me whatsoever as more men joined. I find that a costume can make or break a piece and if I were a betting man, I’d say that’s exactly why I have barely any memory of the men’s choreography in this piece. I was far too distracted by the outfits, but more importantly, the amazingly talented women on stage. I cannot say enough about Lia Cirio, Nina Matiashvili, Sage Humphries, and Crystal Serrano as a quartet. Any team with Cirio and Matiashvili is an immediate dream team in my book. Stylistically, this piece consisted of dynamic solos, duets, and quartets from the eight dancers selected for it. Sharp movements, unnatural contortions, and classic Forsythe use of casual onstage conversation made this quite enjoyable and nearly canceled out the atrocity done by the costuming director. The soundtrack built starkly over time, with a synthetic feel akin to early Sophie Xeon work. It got fairly offensive towards the audience halfway through, causing people to jump in their seats in a most satisfying way. The experimental water-dropping sorts of sounds and vibrating bass kept me intrigued in a way classical music often cannot. “Approximate Sonata” was a mild start to As Anticipated, but I would certainly hesitate to call it disappointing. 

Acts II and III of As Anticipated comprise Forsythe’s Artifact Suite, with the first of the two being separated into the movements—“Défilé,” a prelude to the following two dances currently having its world debut, and “Chaconne.” For organizational purposes, I’ll be treating these as two separate acts. 

Act II: “Défilé” 

For those lacking in attention span, this piece was made for you. In “Défilé,” Forsythe uses the blackout curtain as a physical barrier between the dancers and the audience to separate different configurations of dancers. Led by soloist María Álverez with robotic arm movements and a face void of emotion, this amalgamation of solos, group arrangements, and duets was highly captivating. The costuming was much better—the men wearing green unitards and the women wearing green leotards with black footless tights over top rather than underneath. Usually, starkly colored footless tights are avoided because they shorten the leg onstage when the goal is to appear longer. In this case, it created a more pedestrian feel that added to the impressive and effortless casualness of the dancers. More solo work from Lia Cirio was greatly appreciated, marked especially by a scene in which the entire ensemble circled around her and slowly encroached upon her with stiff and slow movements. Recurring use of body percussion (specifically clapping) from on and off stage kept things increasingly interesting. As the music was made up of detached cello and horn solos, the polyrhythms created by the claps of different groups at different times added to the musical component in a way we almost never see in the ballet world. A mix of classical movements and modern contemporary additions is what Forsythe does best. 

Act II: “Chaconne” 

Forsythe’s “Chaconne” was marked subtly, so much that I nearly missed it myself watching the performance. With another brief drop of the blackout curtain, the wings receded to open up the stage, and the lighting moved from overhead to one single warm light coming from stage left. A key difference between classical and contemporary ballet that occurred to me during this piece specifically is the transformation that is made from dancers being people to dancers being props. Forsythe’s use of the human body to create Busby Berkeley-esque formations and dynamic shadows gives them a purpose beyond dancer, becoming the set of the piece. “Chaconne” included a lot more group work than the previous movements - which consisted mainly of solos and duets - leading to more dynamics and variety of energy on stage. The costumes were unchanged, with María Álverez maintaining her role as a godlike soloist, leading the group in movement and at times dancing in ways directly opposite to the rest of the group. The music shifts additionally to one of the longest violin solos I have ever heard, only adding to the everlasting flow of As Anticipated: Artifact Suite. 

Act III

The third act of As Anticipated closed out the show with a continuation of the Artifact Suite. After a mass exodus from the audience of people thinking the show was over after Act II, the theater was significantly quieter and more personal than before. The music changed to a piano solo, and the lighting and stage format both returned to their traditional places. The movements consisted of cannons and line dances, once again reinforcing Forsythe’s proclivity for unconventional choreography and mixing genres of dance together like a melting pot. His work addresses aspects of ballet that are not often thought about. This piece specifically spoke to the discrepancies between men and women on stage and their choreographic differences, giving more solos and group dances to men with talents that are often overlooked in a scene dominated by women. 

In closing, the performance was brilliant, and aptly named. Although often the ballets with storylines and characters pull the most outsiders, I would greatly recommend attending any of the modern compositions coming to the Boston Opera House this spring. The program for the rest of the season, which resumes in Spring of 2023, includes Don Quixote, Our Journey, along with the more frequent showings of The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty. Engaging with this local source of culture and artistic mastery is incredibly worthwhile every time.