2011_09_15 - Saint Thomas Aquinas High School

Entertainment September 15, 2011Aida: Aquinas’ Next SuccessThe school musical, Aida, ispredicted to be suspenseful,and filled with Elton Johnmusic that makes you wantto dance.Mike EstesReporterEvery year Aquinasperforms both a musical anda play that are different andexciting in their own ways.Auditions have ended and thecast members have been selectedfor the musical. The music,written by Elton John, appearedon Broadway in 2000 and wasthe 34 th longest running musical.Aida has been performed in 20different countries and been ontwo national tours. Perhaps theperson most excited for Aida isjunior Catherine Kluempers, whoplays a leading role, Amneris.“There are twist amd turns,the songs are modern ,there are fun dances, andthe costumes are exciting.”- Catherine KluempersAmneris in Aida“It is super intense andexciting,” Kluempers said. “Thereare twists and turns, the songsare modern, there are fun dances,and the costumes are exciting.”Aida has won four TonyAwards and was nominated fornine National Broadway Theatreawards and follows a “love story”theme. An Egyptian captain anda Princess, whom he hastaken as his slave, mustendure the pain and agonyof hiding their true feelingsfor each other. Or, theymay choose to followtheir feelings and pay theconsequences.“It is going to bevery deep,” junior SarahGabriel said.Aida will premierein the Aquinas theater onNovember 3. gTaylor Swift’s “SpeakNow” tour “enchants”crowdsTaylor Swift, one of countrymusic’s biggest performers,sure knows how to put ona concert. Well, make thatmore of a play.Cara OldenhuisEditor- in -ChiefSwift’s “Speak Now”tour, featuring music from hernew album, was more like awhimsical theater productionthan an average concert. Theelaborateproductionthatincludeddancers,fireworks,sparklyprops, aswell asa stagecompletewith redvelvetcurtains and gold ropes kickedoff the North American leg ofthe tour in Omaha, Nebraska onMay 28.Opening in front of17,000 screaming fans, Swiftbegan the concert emergingfrom the ground, dressed in herusual sparkly dress to belt outher single, “Sparks Fly”. Thecrowd went wild for not only thetheatricality of the first song, butalso Taylor’s singing. And theysure had reason to. After pastcriticisms of Swift’s ability toperform live, she showed Omahaexactly what kind of performershe is. Swift’s singing was farabove her previous experienceswhich was perfect for the bubblyattitude of the concert. Swifttruly stood out as one of music’sbest stars.5Songs such as “ Mine”,“Our Song” and “ The Story ofUs” provided the crowd withthe high-energy numbers, while“Dear John”, “Last Kiss” and“Back to December” allowedthe audience to tap into Swift’sown emotional personality.The show was full of intimatemoments between Swift and theaudience, especially when shemoved from her front stage tothe back of the arena and playedher more mellow selectionsincluding “Fearless” performedon the ukulele. Calm rendition of“Fifteen” by joining Swift whenshe was sitting in the middle ofthe stage singing. Other thanthat, the backup singers anddancers, some of those moments,however, were ruined by Swift’sTaylor Swift iscoming to KansasCity on Sept. 24at Arrowhead Stadiumbackupsingers whooften seemedunnecessary.The backupsingersespeciallyruined avery private,complimentedSwift verywell.In perhaps the mostdramatic number of the entireshow, Swift provided a chillingperformance of “Haunted”.Complete with bell ringingand dark fog, the performancehad a completely different feelfrom all the previous songs. Theperformance itself, however,allowed the audience to see thedarker side of the perpetuallybubbly Swift.Overall, the “SpeakNow” tour was near flawless.The enormous set, multiplecostume changes, and wellperformedsongs made for oneof the summer’s best shows. Forthose seeing Taylor when shevisits Kansas City Sept. 24 atArrowhead Stadium, you are setfor one enchanting night. g