Thursday, March 8, 2012

ALT Correction (the best kind): SIX Austin Area Artist Listed as Falstaff Award Nominees by PlayShakespeare.com


Falstaff awards PlayShakespeare.comIn addition to the five Austin area artists mentioned in ALT's report of the 2011 Falstaff awards and nominations released this week by www.PlayShakespeare.com, Christopher Fordinal of Texas State University is recognized for the music done for Texas State University's production of As You Like It in April of last year. ALT commented in its review:


Director Chuck Ney chose to situate this production in the present day. That interpretation opens opportunities, particularly musical ones. Among exiled Duke Senior's men are a number of nimble-fingered strolling guitarists. Wry Jacques, the philosopher of the exiled band, is a sinewy aged African American [Eugene Lee] who elicits a rhythmic blues riff from the Duke's acoustic guitarist for his "ducdame" satire of "Under the greenwood tree." The celebration of the deer hunt in IV, 2 is a haunting a capella rendition in the twilight of "What shall he have that kill'd the deer," much in the style of Seattle's Fleet Foxes. Members of the wandering band do "a lover and his lass" with guitar and improvised percussion like street busking music, and Sean McGibbon performs break dancing with the energy and assurance of competition-level gymnastics. The final celebratory dance is a memorable cross between a contra dance and a hoedown.

Congratulations to Christopher Fordinal and to director Chuck Ney. ALT apologizes for overlooking him in the first scrutiny of the list.

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