{"id":7879,"date":"2011-09-23T10:56:55","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T14:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=7879"},"modified":"2022-09-29T12:56:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T16:56:20","slug":"wright-state-dpo-performance-of-bernsteins-mass-on-dayton-public-radio-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2011\/09\/23\/wright-state-dpo-performance-of-bernsteins-mass-on-dayton-public-radio-this-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Wright State, DPO performance of Bernstein\u2019s MASS heard on Dayton Public Radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Listeners across the Miami Valley heard the Bernstein’s MASS performance broadcast\/live web stream on dpr.org<\/a> and WDPR 88.1 FM in Dayton and 89.9 FM in Greenville Saturday, September 24, at 10 a.m.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Last spring, audiences got a once-in-a lifetime chance to see the most complex and controversial work of composer Leonard Bernstein in a production that boasted nearly 200 of Dayton\u2019s most talented performers, including more than 100 Wright State students and faculty.<\/p>\n

Bernstein\u2019s MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers fused the talents of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (DPO) and the Wright State University\u2019s departments of Music and Theatre, Dance, and Motion Pictures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was really a major event for the Dayton region,\u201d said DPO Music Director Neal Gittleman, who pointed out that patrons from at least 10 states came to the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center for the performances.<\/p>\n

The piece uses the structure of a Catholic Mass to tell the story of a personal spiritual journey. Though portions of the show are sung in Latin, English lyrics by Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell) provide much of MASS\u2019s humor and irony. It was first commissioned by former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy for the opening of the national arts center named in honor of her late husband, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The work premiered as part of the Kennedy Center\u2019s opening festivities on September 8, 1971.<\/p>\n

MASS is rarely performed in its entirety due to its massive scope. The Schuster show featured a chorus of 60 singers, 19 actors in a \u201cstreet chorus,\u201d 10 dancers and a 19-member children\u2019s choir. Musicians included a 90-piece orchestra, a five-piece rock band and a three-piece blues band.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a huge challenge logistically to put it all together,\u201d said W. Stuart McDowell, chair and artistic director of Wright State\u2019s Department of Theatre, Dance, and Motion Pictures.<\/p>\n

Pulling off a production of such epic proportions required a creative team from several disciplines. DPO\u2019s Gittleman conducted both sold-out performances. Wright State\u2019s faculty involvement included choral direction by Hank Dahlman of the Department of Music, as well as stage direction by Greg Hellems, choreography by Gina Gardner-Walther and scenic designs by Pam Knauert, all of the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Motion Pictures.<\/p>\n

The production also included the Kettering Children\u2019s Choir under the direction of Natalie DeHorn and noted tenor John Wesley Wright in the crucial role of \u201cThe Celebrant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though MASS was written in the \u201970s, there\u2019s not anything in the show that isn\u2019t relevant today,\u201d said Hellems. For example, he pointed to a lyric about \u201coiling the seas,\u201d recalling how eerie it is in the wake of the 2010 Gulf oil spill.<\/p>\n

While MASS gave Wright State students an excellent chance to perform with a professional arts organization, it also gave them a rare opportunity to work with their fellow students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe music and theatre departments are both so busy that we don\u2019t get the chance to work with each other very often,\u201d said Dahlman. \u201cThis is probably the largest collaborative effort between the two departments, at least in my memory, and I\u2019ve been here 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen different facets of the arts come together, it makes for a truly unforgettable experience,\u201d said Samantha Helmstetter, a musical theatre major who performed in the show\u2019s street chorus. \u201cMASS was unlike any other performing experience I\u2019ve ever had, and I\u2019m grateful to have been part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…a production that boasted nearly 200 of Dayton\u2019s most talented performers, including more than 100 Wright State students and faculty. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":7882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4859,725,727,747,715,719,720],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fine-and-performing-arts","category-home-news-sidebar","category-homepage-photos-and-video","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-special-categories","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7879"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111903,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7879\/revisions\/111903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}