Word: backdrop
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...call antisocial behavior in their respective communities. Before last August's cease-fire that ended the bombings and shootings in Northern Ireland, the I.R.A. and the Loyalist hard men meted out their punishments by shooting their victims through the knees or ankles. Those grisly crimes blended into the general backdrop of violence, causing only muted outrage. But the 100-plus punishment beatings administered since the cease-fire have become a major focus of attention. They raise doubts about the sincerity of the vow taken by both the I.R.A. and the Protestant paramilitaries to give up their violent ways. "This...
West Side Story opened on Broadway in September 1957 to a somewhat baffled critical reception. What to make of a musical that was a tragedy, though with harshly comic moments; that told its tale largely through dance; that featured a backdrop of fire escapes instead of a stairway to paradise? Audiences had no such confusion, and the show has been running-in one place or another-practically ever since. The movie came out in 1961, and in 1989 most of the dances were gathered into Jerome Robbins' Broadway, where they were the strongest and least dated element in the show...
...grim facts surrounding Oklahoma City, perhaps the grimmest is the one nobody talks about: against the backdrop of everyday American tragedy, 167 deaths is not many. Even if the darker fears now circulating were realized and this new form of murder began striking once or twice a year, the overall picture of violent death in America would barely change. In a typical year, guns kill 38,000 Americans and about that many die on our roads. These numbers routinely go up or down 2% or 3%-half a dozen Oklahoma bombings -- without making the front page...
...music changes, the monks strip off their black robe--along with their ascetic--vows and the piece becomes more gender-conscious, an examination of revelry, love and, as the program notes, "the ever-changing fate of man." The backdrop is lit at the start and end of the piece with a medeival drawing of the Wheel of Fate; the images change throughout the piece, as does the lighting, music and mood...
Only once in this production is video used in a thought-provoking manner. In one dream sequence, a filmstrip of a surreal childhood canoe trip is projected on the backdrop while the scene is played out on the stage. This creates the disturbingly effective visual juxtaposition which Valdina strives for throughout the play but rarely achieves...