First Play and My Rating System

This weekend my dad and I watched 33 Variations. This play is about the 33 variations that Beethoven wrote on the famous waltz by Diabelli. The main character, Doctor Katherine Brandt, studies classical music and tries to uncover why Beethoven spent so much time during the end of his life on this waltz. She does not understand why he would waste his time on this waltz. Throughout the play both Beethoven and the Doctor become progressively ill. Beethoven starts to become deaf, which frustrates him and the people around him immensely. But, he still continues to write the variations. Doctor Katherine has ALS, and she becomes increasingly worse throughout the play. This also affects her and the people around her.

The play was absolutely amazing!! I loved it!!!

Before I give this play a rating, I would like to talk about my rating system. This rating system is not very original, but I feel it works well. A play, movie, or song will be rated on a one to ten system. One is the best, and ten is the worst. One meaning the piece of entertainment had a minimal amount of mistakes, and ten meaning the piece of entertainment had a very large amount of mistakes.

I am giving this play a one and a half out of ten. I loved this play, and I really did. But, there was one thing missing for me. In my opinion, I feel as though some parts of the play were too slow. Some scenes, when the main character Doctor Katherine was looking through Beethoven's journals, were rather slow. At first, these scenes were very interesting. But, after several similar scenes, I didn't want to watch them any more.

Other than those couple of slow scenes this play was fantastic, and I would absolutely watch the play again!!! One thing that I really enjoyed about this play was the character development. It had great characters that were very well developed, and I identified with the characters. This is a quality I feel every work of art should have. One of the reasons I watch plays and movies is to see a story. If I don't identify with the characters, I feel like the story was not told well enough.

One thing that was different about this play was that I knew the actress, who played the main character, personally. This was such a different experience than I have ever had. Knowing the main character helped me realize how different people are on stage from how they are in real life.

I recommend this play. As far as I know it is not currently on broadway. But, since I just saw it about a week ago, I am fairly certain it is still playing in numerous places around the U.S. If you would like to find out more information about this play you can visit the link above.

Image courtesy of silver summit theatre

Fantastic, Amazing, and "Epic"!

Since I was little, I have always been a fan of animated movies, and I still am today. I don't know what it is about these type of movies that I enjoy so much. It may be the innocence, or it may remind me of my childhood.

This past weekend I watched an animated movie called Epic. The title fits the movie because this movie was epic! My sister tried to convince me to watch this movie for about 4 months. Every time she has asked I have said no because of the trailer. The trailer does not do this movie justice. The trailer makes the movie seem like every other animated film, but this movie had a great plot, great characters, and a great ending. All the ingredients for an epic movie.

Let's start by talking about the plot of this movie. It was fantastic, awesome, and epic even though it was similar to the average cartoon movie. The beginning of the movie gave some clues about the main characters. The middle has more character development. But, the ending was different from the average cartoon movie. There was a boy and a girl in the movie and obviously they had feelings toward each other. But, they didn't end up together. I personally enjoyed this part of the movie. It made the film more realistic.

The one thing missing from the movie was one character's development. Most of the movies I review seem to be missing at least one character's development. The main characters were very well developed, but the movie did not show enough of the villain. With most animated movies they spend more time developing the villain. By the time you finish watching an animated movie the villain should be cemented into your brain. How about Tangled for example? When I had finished watching Tangled I could not forget the name of the villain, Mother Gothel.  Epic did not have this affect on me; sadly, I have already forgotten the name of the villain. So, the one thing that could have been improved is the character development of the villain. Other than that, the movie had great character development.

Even though the movie was missing this one element, I still recommend you see this movie, especially if you are a fan of animated movies that are different. Go watch it soon and I assure you will have an epic time!

Image courtesy of imp awards