Word: vocalizer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Shah's problems are magnified by the fact that the opposition does not arise from a single political sector, like the communists, or a single cultural group, like the religious conservatives, who remain his most vocal and articulate foes. The dissent cuts across class, religious and political divisions, ranging from Marxist students on the extreme left to Western-educated intellectuals, professionals and businessmen in the center to religious zealots on the far right. The mullahs, for all their abhorrence of the decadent excesses of modernism, have traditionally been political progressives and nationalists in their outlook...
...Iranian students seem to have had more impact abroad than at home. This year 100,000 Iranians are studying in other countries?more than 37,000 in the U.S. alone?because there is no room for them at their own universities. Angered and articulate, they have formed a vocal vanguard against the Shah in almost every major city in the world, airing their opposition with slogans in the London subway or demonstrations in Los Angeles, Washington or New York City. Many wear masks when they demonstrate for fear that agents of SAVAK, the heavyhanded Iranian secret police, or authorities...
McCowen sketches in these characterizations with a few gestures-flinging up his arms, walking a few steps, sitting, taking a well-judged pause for a sip of water. But mostly this is acting, as the saying goes, from the neck up. It rests on vocal virtuosity, powerfully abetted by the matchless pith and vigor of the King James version...
Oliver's racing dissonances are as fitting to the bloody drama as Debussy's dreamy impressionism is to Pelléas et Mélisande. But as opera, the music is flawed: the vocal lines are so dense and undramatic that the voices of the mostly young cast get lost. The production is often riveting. In one of the most bizarre scenes, Ferdinand, superbly sung and acted by British Tenor David Hillman, passionately kisses his strangled sister, then rips the red satin lining from her coffin and rushes from the stage...
Raene Rau as Clarisse just doesn't have the vocal power necessary for her crucial outburst against Teddy, but in general she tries very hard to make her character believable and sympathetic. Marilyn Chan as Cheryl is simply lost in the shadow of Grumbach, managing to look attractice and little else. Bruce Rodgers as Clark looks like a preppie who walked into a Wild West show by mistake...