By Ashlei Havili Thomas
The Other Mozart by Off the Map: BYU International Theatre Festival at the Franklin Harris Fine Arts Center in Provo, Utah, is unlike anything previously performed at BYU or in the vicinity. Most do not know that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (a name that will never be forgotten throughout history) had an older sister Maria Anna, equally talented and musical. All that is known of her is through her brother, and her own music and story have been lost. Sylvia Milo and her team right this injustice in this monodrama, which has been performed around the globe. With an original score punctuated with snippets from both Leopold and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as Marianna Martines, The Other Mozart is a feast for the eyes, ears, and soul.
Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart (also known as Nannerl) is the older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and performed with him across Europe throughout their childhood. As they grew older and though their musical talent was equal in almost every way, soon Amadeus was thrust alone into the limelight while Nannerl was left at home to become a young woman groomed to suitably marry. Amadeus was pushed to greater heights of achievement and success while Nannerl’s gift was smothered under the beliefs and laws of the time. The entire story is told on the eighteen-foot skirt of a dress, strewn with the letters and pieces of Nannerl’s world: a miniature harpsichord, an embroidery hoop, a fan. The production covers the full of her life as a precocious child entranced by music, a young woman driven by her thirst for knowledge and culture, and lastly as an older woman, married, broken, and hollow.
Sylvia Milo is not only the sole actress of the 75-minute piece, she is also the creator and writer of the project. Milo masterfully molds the audience in her hands, keeping them entertained and entranced while giving life to this remarkable story. She tells it without pity and without veering from the mark, unapologetic for the heartbreak the audience feels at Nannerl’s numerable losses. Her transformation from the lively child to the worn down widow is almost imperceptible. Her storytelling moves her around the skirt like a whirlpool, circling around the monstrous corset in the middle. When she finally enters the bodice and fastens it around her, the palpable mourning of her loss of freedom and the constraints of womanhood are overwhelming. Milo takes on the life of a woman removed from time, and breathes an energy, realness, and passion into it that is beyond anything I have ever before witnessed.
The music for the show was composed by Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen, with sound design by Davis. In a brief talkback following the show, Davis spoke about the music and sound in the show, using all sounds Nannerl would have heard in her life in Salzburg. He calls the combination infused with famous pieces of Mozart’s operas and other compositions a “musicological dramaturgy.” The blend of natural sounds and classical music is hypnotic, and truly makes you wonder what music Nannerl heard in the world around her. You truly wish you could have heard her play. The costume design by Magdalena Dabrowska and Miodrag Guberinic with dress concept and additional contribution by Anna Sroka is the perfect storm of practical and ethereal. The white dress, covered with letters and sheet music, creates the image of a woman made of letters and music, a ghost of history. The dress also has many hidden pockets and seams, allowing the many small props (a powder puff, a quill, a teacup, etc.) come and go without distracting the audience from the story. While being simple, allowing for easy travel and a range of different settings, it still pulls the audience in, entrancing them. Joshua Rose’s lighting design paints the canvas of the dress with a multitude of graduating colors and focus spots, but never distracts from the storytelling, enhancing it subtly, giving Milo an additional element to play and interact with during the performance. The collaborative work of the designers adds immensely to the story and art of the piece, to create a truly once in a lifetime piece of theater.
The BYU Arts website recommends this performance for ages 12 and up, and while I think that is a little too restrictive for this piece, there are concepts that may be elusive or hard to explain for younger audiences. This performance is a part of a one-weekend series hosted by BYU every January, and performs next month at the University of Utah. The Other Mozart is a beautiful piece of art that leaves you wanting to live life remarkably, and never take any of it for granted.
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Off the Map: the BYU International Theatre Festival in collaboration with Little Matchstick Factory presents The Other Mozart, created and written by Sylvia Milo
Pardoe Theater, Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Center, Brigham Young University, 800 E Campus Dr. Provo, Utah 84602
Jan 24-26 8:00 PM, Jan 26 3:30 PM
Additional performances Feb 22-23 7:30 PM and Feb 23 2:00 PM at Dumke Recital Hall at the University of Utah
Tickets: $13-17
Off the Map Facebook Event
BYU Arts Facebook Page
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