Xavier Xavier Xavier… where do we begin? I was almost sure you guys would make a clean sweep of the captions. I LOVE JARAD'S stuff he gave you. Especially the opener and closer. So fresh… so fun and energetic. Who knew a bunch of white catholic kids could move like that? The trio girls in the opener were definitely off during the day, but during finals were perfect. I'll let everyone know now… "Parade" is my favorite musical of all time. Doing two songs from it gets you MAJOR points. haha "Big News" was very interesting. I was NOT digging it in the day. I just didn't really understand why you were even performing it. At night, I was mesmerized. The vocals in it are my favorite in the entire show. The sounds coming out of those resonance chambers blew me away. You all have golden vocal chords. The choreography where the boys are sitting on the ground moving their bodies like deranged puppets was also really effective (I don't know if that is the right analogy… but whatevs) The "Don't Bring Me Bad News" section was equally cool. (Another great musical, BTW) The ballad is kind of a blur for me. I don't remember anything besides thinking "Wow. Pretty." Great blocking too. "The Old Red Hills Of Home" is my favorite show-tune of all time. The only time I ever saw a show choir do it was Davenport North 2003… and I loved that version. Your version was even better. The soloist captured the young soldier PERFECTLY. Fantastic voice. The girls, then singing to the soldier… or your "Leo"… created such a tender moment for all. I was instantly transported to a time when mothers were sending their young children off to a war in in their own country. A war that split families in half and pitted brothers against each other. The rest of the song was good… but not GREAT. The vocals were excellent… but I wanted everyone to unleash more! I wanted bigger dynamic contrasts. I wanted a "Let It Be" moment of just complete vocal power… and it just didn't reach that for me. Mt. Pleasant maybe? Work on a wall of sound for me? Ok? Ok. The closer was the weakest song vocally for me… but I think its because the choreography is so intense. I know I'm probably not the first to say it, but Jimmy Deignan is a beast of a performer… my favorite performer I saw at Waukee. Props to you Jimmy… Spencer, step it up. :-p Just kidding. Overall- Your show is wonderful. I love that Mr. Last has picked a repertoire of songs that most directors don't even think about doing. Something that challenges you all as performers and that gets you to time travel and become different people. Yay Xavier.
While I would agree that Xavier sounded great, it is certainly easier to do that when their ballad is followed by two more songs with essentially little to no choreography - 3 songs in a row in the middle of ths show. One more comment - the jump from the civil war to disco was a bit jarring for me. The overall design of the show seems a bit odd to me.
And Adam, I think this is why I love reading your critiques so much. Everything you said could possibly need work are things all of xhil agrees need work. Also, all your comments on other show choirs were spot on. This was such an awesome competition I still can't get over it! Everyone was really good and I can't wait to see some of these shows later in the season.
ps I dont think people have talked about the jazz choir enough, it seriously blew me away. I want one at our school!
Xavier Xavier Xavier… where do we begin? I was almost sure you guys would make a clean sweep of the captions. I LOVE JARAD'S stuff he gave you. Especially the opener and closer. So fresh… so fun and energetic. Who knew a bunch of white catholic kids could move like that? The trio girls in the opener were definitely off during the day, but during finals were perfect. I'll let everyone know now… "Parade" is my favorite musical of all time. Doing two songs from it gets you MAJOR points. haha "Big News" was very interesting. I was NOT digging it in the day. I just didn't really understand why you were even performing it. At night, I was mesmerized. The vocals in it are my favorite in the entire show. The sounds coming out of those resonance chambers blew me away. You all have golden vocal chords. The choreography where the boys are sitting on the ground moving their bodies like deranged puppets was also really effective (I don't know if that is the right analogy… but whatevs) The "Don't Bring Me Bad News" section was equally cool. (Another great musical, BTW) The ballad is kind of a blur for me. I don't remember anything besides thinking "Wow. Pretty." Great blocking too. "The Old Red Hills Of Home" is my favorite show-tune of all time. The only time I ever saw a show choir do it was Davenport North 2003… and I loved that version. Your version was even better. The soloist captured the young soldier PERFECTLY. Fantastic voice. The girls, then singing to the soldier… or your "Leo"… created such a tender moment for all. I was instantly transported to a time when mothers were sending their young children off to a war in in their own country. A war that split families in half and pitted brothers against each other. The rest of the song was good… but not GREAT. The vocals were excellent… but I wanted everyone to unleash more! I wanted bigger dynamic contrasts. I wanted a "Let It Be" moment of just complete vocal power… and it just didn't reach that for me. Mt. Pleasant maybe? Work on a wall of sound for me? Ok? Ok. The closer was the weakest song vocally for me… but I think its because the choreography is so intense. I know I'm probably not the first to say it, but Jimmy Deignan is a beast of a performer… my favorite performer I saw at Waukee. Props to you Jimmy… Spencer, step it up. :-p Just kidding. Overall- Your show is wonderful. I love that Mr. Last has picked a repertoire of songs that most directors don't even think about doing. Something that challenges you all as performers and that gets you to time travel and become different people. Yay Xavier.
Xavier Xavier Xavier… where do we begin? I was almost sure you guys would make a clean sweep of the captions. I LOVE JARAD'S stuff he gave you. Especially the opener and closer. So fresh… so fun and energetic. Who knew a bunch of white catholic kids could move like that? The trio girls in the opener were definitely off during the day, but during finals were perfect. I'll let everyone know now… "Parade" is my favorite musical of all time. Doing two songs from it gets you MAJOR points. haha "Big News" was very interesting. I was NOT digging it in the day. I just didn't really understand why you were even performing it. At night, I was mesmerized. The vocals in it are my favorite in the entire show. The sounds coming out of those resonance chambers blew me away. You all have golden vocal chords. The choreography where the boys are sitting on the ground moving their bodies like deranged puppets was also really effective (I don't know if that is the right analogy… but whatevs) The "Don't Bring Me Bad News" section was equally cool. (Another great musical, BTW) The ballad is kind of a blur for me. I don't remember anything besides thinking "Wow. Pretty." Great blocking too. "The Old Red Hills Of Home" is my favorite show-tune of all time. The only time I ever saw a show choir do it was Davenport North 2003… and I loved that version. Your version was even better. The soloist captured the young soldier PERFECTLY. Fantastic voice. The girls, then singing to the soldier… or your "Leo"… created such a tender moment for all. I was instantly transported to a time when mothers were sending their young children off to a war in in their own country. A war that split families in half and pitted brothers against each other. The rest of the song was good… but not GREAT. The vocals were excellent… but I wanted everyone to unleash more! I wanted bigger dynamic contrasts. I wanted a "Let It Be" moment of just complete vocal power… and it just didn't reach that for me. Mt. Pleasant maybe? Work on a wall of sound for me? Ok? Ok. The closer was the weakest song vocally for me… but I think its because the choreography is so intense. I know I'm probably not the first to say it, but Jimmy Deignan is a beast of a performer… my favorite performer I saw at Waukee. Props to you Jimmy… Spencer, step it up. :-p Just kidding. Overall- Your show is wonderful. I love that Mr. Last has picked a repertoire of songs that most directors don't even think about doing. Something that challenges you all as performers and that gets you to time travel and become different people. Yay Xavier.
thanks for the compliments adam... and adam flores, im working on it im sorry.. sometimes its just hard to live up to the expectations of the man that makes up xhilanation and the Superfan all on his own...
I will agree with you on that. They will be working on that a lot over the season. Mike Weaver always has unique angles that makes it difficult to clean. That was our problem a couple years ago too.
Oh, for sure. I can't wait to see the show later in the season.
Waukee's performance was pretty messy choreographically.... but boy do they have immense potential. If they can get their choreography down pat... they'll be unstoppable. They have such a fun show!
I will agree with you on that. They will be working on that a lot over the season. Mike Weaver always has unique angles that makes it difficult to clean. That was our problem a couple years ago too.
I know I'm probably not the first to say it, but Jimmy Deignan is a beast of a performer… my favorite performer I saw at Waukee. Props to you Jimmy… Spencer, step it up. :-p
I have no chance!.. I can only hope that I look more like a soldier during Sons of Dixie because I'm not burdened with an afro.
The first live show choir that I saw of 2010 besides both of Muscatine's show choirs was Xavier "Xuberance". Wowza. I sat in complete awe of this amazing prep group. Their opener, "I'm Alive" was something like I have never seen. Cris Crisler did a fantastic job with the choreography... it was so original and intriguing. The only down part about it was, "I'm Alive" was the only song that I felt was vocally lacking... every song after was sung with great intensity and I could hear perfectly. The male's especially had some issues in the opener. None the less, "I'm Alive" was my FAVORITE song I saw of the ENTIRE day at Waukee. It is really weird for me to like a prep group as much as I did Xuberance. I rarely give prep groups the time of day... but I'm super pumped for y'all to attend our competition in a few days. "Never Neverland" was gorgeous. Such mature singing for youngins'. Kudos to your director and to the performers.
Iowa City West has been said to have been "robbed" from finals. I agreed when I was at the competition... but thinking back to their show, they've got some definite work to do. Let me be honest... I felt Iowa City West had the best vocals of the day round. That being said, I also felt that they had one of the most 1-dimensional shows I saw all day. Their choreography was pretty clean in the first few songs... but lacked in the last half. The show just was not exciting at all. "Move" was the clear downfall. Had that song not been in the show, or been performed better, they might have had a shot at finals. I was really digging "Remember When It Rained"... it was beautiful, but it went no where. It just fizzled out. I felt like the performers were singing to a bucket of dirty mop water... no connection to the text at all. It didn't make me think "Wow... this was better than Urbandale's version AND Hastings version." This group WILL turn things around though... they always do. By Great River... they are going to be giving Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Wheaton Warrenville a run for their money vocally. I can't wait to see it then.
I didn't catch Davenport Central's prelims performance... but I did catch the finals performance. The opener is typical Andy Haines. (Jay rejoices) Not much to say... good vocals, clean and quick choreo. The Facebook song was fantastic. I am a HUGE fan of novelties... and this one rates right up there with some of the best and my personal favorites. I was sitting with someone who exclaimed "God, get a new formula!" at the very first notes of the novelty… by the end, they were laughing their butts off saying it was brilliant. It was. Everything else was kind of a blur for me. It was good… sang well and danced well, just at this time in the season, its not memorable or exciting. Everyone was just kind of going through the motions. Choreography in the guys and girls songs was a bit messy. I'm not a big fan of Andy choreography… but I know I can say that I enjoy this years stuff more than previous years. After seeing you, I'm expecting more out of your next showing. Make me love your show CSI. You guys make me proud to be from Davenport though… more than any of the other schools. Keep up the great work!
Moving on to West Des Moines Valley (its weird… I just typed that, and a girl from WDM just came on my TIVOed American Idol). I caught their finals performance only. I know this is a transition year… but, I thought the show would be a little bit more solid on the performers part. The ballad was gorgeous. But everything else was… "Huh?". Is your closer a novelty? Or is it supposed to be a true party-esque rave type of thing? Its not clear. The choreography throughout the entire show could be so energetic… but its not. I just don't feel a groove in anything you do… and almost ALL your songs should have that feeling. I'm REALLY looking forward to Urbandale (I think I'm going there instead of Dekalb) and seeing the improvement made. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer. But you are in excellent hands… I know by Wheaton Warrenville… you're going to be top notch.
Dowling Catholic's show just isn't my cup of tea. The songs have all been done before… and there really is no new twist to any of them. The ballad, "Orphans Of God" was promising until the ending. The arrangement turns this powerful gospelly song into this "candy canes and unicorns" ending. I wanted it to end more raw and with an edgy drive to it… not for it to melt into this sort of sugar and sweet kind of thing. Thats definitely just my personal preference… the singing in the ballad was the best singing in the entire show (especially in prelims). Congrats on finals!
Xavier Xavier Xavier… where do we begin? I was almost sure you guys would make a clean sweep of the captions. I LOVE JARAD'S stuff he gave you. Especially the opener and closer. So fresh… so fun and energetic. Who knew a bunch of white catholic kids could move like that? The trio girls in the opener were definitely off during the day, but during finals were perfect. I'll let everyone know now… "Parade" is my favorite musical of all time. Doing two songs from it gets you MAJOR points. haha "Big News" was very interesting. I was NOT digging it in the day. I just didn't really understand why you were even performing it. At night, I was mesmerized. The vocals in it are my favorite in the entire show. The sounds coming out of those resonance chambers blew me away. You all have golden vocal chords. The choreography where the boys are sitting on the ground moving their bodies like deranged puppets was also really effective (I don't know if that is the right analogy… but whatevs) The "Don't Bring Me Bad News" section was equally cool. (Another great musical, BTW) The ballad is kind of a blur for me. I don't remember anything besides thinking "Wow. Pretty." Great blocking too. "The Old Red Hills Of Home" is my favorite show-tune of all time. The only time I ever saw a show choir do it was Davenport North 2003… and I loved that version. Your version was even better. The soloist captured the young soldier PERFECTLY. Fantastic voice. The girls, then singing to the soldier… or your "Leo"… created such a tender moment for all. I was instantly transported to a time when mothers were sending their young children off to a war in in their own country. A war that split families in half and pitted brothers against each other. The rest of the song was good… but not GREAT. The vocals were excellent… but I wanted everyone to unleash more! I wanted bigger dynamic contrasts. I wanted a "Let It Be" moment of just complete vocal power… and it just didn't reach that for me. Mt. Pleasant maybe? Work on a wall of sound for me? Ok? Ok. The closer was the weakest song vocally for me… but I think its because the choreography is so intense. I know I'm probably not the first to say it, but Jimmy Deignan is a beast of a performer… my favorite performer I saw at Waukee. Props to you Jimmy… Spencer, step it up. :-p Just kidding. Overall- Your show is wonderful. I love that Mr. Last has picked a repertoire of songs that most directors don't even think about doing. Something that challenges you all as performers and that gets you to time travel and become different people. Yay Xavier.
Waukee's performance was pretty messy choreographically.... but boy do they have immense potential. If they can get their choreography down pat... they'll be unstoppable. They have such a fun show!
Waukee Starstruck 2010
sometimes its just hard to live up to the expectations of the man that makes up xhilanation and the Superfan all on his own...
