Night Concert Report

The concert that I attended on November 4th was the Music of the Night, a musical theatre gala performance, which was performed by the faculty of the Department of Music from the University of Arkansas. They performed thirteen songs that were all performed by piano and their voices. Each song was unique from one another ranging from funny, happy, upbeat rhythms to songs that made you feel sad emotions. Of the thirteen songs that were performed the two that stood out to me were Whatever Happened to My Part and You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun.
The song Whatever Happened to My Part was created by Eric Idle from Spamalot a musical comedy that was created in 2004. As said before the piece was performed only with vocals and a piano, the singer also acted out the song which made the piece funnier and my favorite of the ones performed. The song started soft and slow before it crescendos to a more vibrant and loud sound with the help of the acting. Throughout the piece there were multiple crescendos and had a tempo that increased in speed as the song went on. The only repeated parts of the song was the chorus where she repeats
the title of the song. These elements caused the song to be one of the more upbeat pieces and had a fun, humorous tone. The most striking part of the piece was the humor which was largely thanks to the singer as her vocals accompanied by her acting and the piano’s sound caused the most reaction of the audience the entire performance.
The other piece that stood out to me was You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun that was composed by Irving Berlin from the 1946 musical Annie Get Your Gun.
The piece was again performed only with a piano and vocals and is very similar to Whatever Happened to My part in having a funny tone and an upbeat rhythm. The beat and rhythm is very catchy and easy to follow along with making it easier for the song to be more cheerful. The piece starts slow but the piano quickly crescendos and became loud to follow along with the vocals. The tempo of the song varies as the voice sings lyrics that are short and fast but during the chorus where she uses repetition she slows down to sing and elongates the pronunciation of the lyrics. The tempo, rhythm and lyrics of the song were able to have the audience experience a more positive emotions and laugh at the song’s
lyrics.
Overall the musical theatre was phenomenal, I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed each of the performances given that the genre of music I never listen to and I haven’t heard of the songs before this theatre. Therefore, I am glad for this experience that I was able to enjoy something different and explore music outside of what I usually listen to.