A day in broad' DOUAI
On 2 December 2015, Euro classes went to Douai by bus with Mrs Norris and Fronia. Pupils arrived at school early because they had to leave Verberie at 8 o'clock. And even if Mr Moulin was late, we arrived in Douai on time for the concert. We walked to Victor Gallois music academy in Douai where we attended a show in the Henri Dutilleux concert hall in the morning. The Douai orchestra played a medley of different famous Broadway and West End musicals.
They performed extracts from Cats, the Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, West side story, Fiddler on the roof, No no Nanette and other musicals. They were accompanied by Irène Candelier and Thomas Huertas who are singers. And the orchestra was directed by Bruno Membrey.
In class, pupils learnt about musical theater. They discovered that it is a very popular and important form of art in New York and London. The theater district in NewYork is called Broadway and in London it is called The West End.
Broadway is nicknamed « the great white way » because it was the first street to be lit by electric light bulbs whereas London West End is nicknamed « Theaterland » because of the numerous theaters located there.
In class, pupils discovered some of the most important musicals in musical theater history.
They learnt about the Olivier Awards in London and the Tony Awards in New York where best performances are awarded in different categories every year. The British ceremony is named after the famous Lawrence Olivier and the American ceremony is named after Antoinette Perry. Mrs Perry and Mr Olivier were major actors.
In class, Mrs Norris and her pupils studied extracts from The American masterpiece West Side Story whereas Mrs Fronia and her pupils worked on the longest running musical ever : The Phantom of the Opera.
West Side story was written by Leonard Bernstein for the music & Stephen Sondheim for the lyrics. The book is based on Shakespeare's tragedy: Romeo & Juliet. It was first performed on 26 September 1957 in Broadway at the Winter Garden theater. This musical tells the love story of Tony & Maria. Tony is a member of the Jets, a gang of the Upper West Side of New York and Maria is Bernardo's sister. Bernardo is the Sharks' leader, a gang of Puerto Rican immigrants. In the story both gangs fight to reign over a district of New York.
The Phantom of the Opera is the musical of all records. It is based on a book written by a French author : Gaston Leroux. But the musical was created by Andrew Lloyd Weber, a famous figure in musical theater who also wrote Cats and Jesus Christ superstar. The lyrics were written by Charles Hart. It was first performed at Her Majesty's Theater in London in September 1986. It tells the story of a mysterious character, Erik, haunting the Paris Opera house and revolves around his strange relation to a young and beautiful soprano : Christine Daaé .
In Douai, pupils listened to « Tonight » from West side Story and « the music of the Night ». It was cool to hear the songs on stage performed by a real orchetra and real artists.
Extracted from different texts and articles written by 4A & 4C