Held on March 1, Princeton Playhouse Ensemble’s spring concert “Foibles and Fables: Songs of Magic and Memory” in Berlind Theatre was a night of intertwined exploration between memory and nature.
In the overture, singers dressed in black and red creeped onto the stage, their backs to the audience. Their hands rose, fell, and swirled as they shimmied into three groups, hypnotically chanting “join us” repeatedly. The beginning set the stage for reflection and sentimentality.
Floating between a nostalgic and dreamlike atmosphere through a collection of cavernous sounds, each piece invited personal reflection and an exploration of the audience’s memory.
To begin, Director Solon Snider asked the crowd, “What [do] we make of our memories?” before briefly discussing the theme of change present in pieces like the arrangement done by Matt Cline ’27 of Steven Sondheim’s “I Remember.” In Cline’s arrangement, I appreciated how the serenity of the lyric “I remember skies” contrasted the perkiness of “soft as feathers” and “sharp as thumbtacks,” engaging the audience.
The next song, “In the Wind,” was the first piece produced by the Playhouse Ensemble as a group, led by guest resident composer Kenyon Duncan. The piece sings, “The way is changing. The air on all my sides is willing to learn my name,” capturing the loss of childhood and the transition into a new period of life. Within the piece, I especially enjoyed the poetic lines that anchored the song: “Have you ever thrown a kite before? … run with the wind you would be weightless, willfully guided by nothing but a gentle breeze.” Accompanied by members swaying their bodies and a lyrical dance solo reminiscent of a falling leaf, the wind imagery in this piece was truly brought to life.
One of my favorite pieces, “The Smallest World,” was composed uniquely for Playhouse. The piece uniquely incorporated white “memory balls” as props that performers played with in childlike manners. As the story progressed, the members’ experiences lit the balls up in several vivid colors. The piece was inspired by journal entries and other written materials shared by Playhouse members.
After, Grammy-winning violinist and composer Nathan Schramm and Broadway performer and songwriter Becca Stevens were invited to perform pieces from Stevens’ new album “Maple to Paper.”
“As composers, this opportunity to write for this big of a group is huge … It’s so hard to organize a bunch of students to do this for you … the fact that there is a framework for you to do it, it’s so underrated,” Cline said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
Upon the concert’s end, family and friends showered performers with flower bouquets and streamed out of the theater. Jenna Mullin ’27 told the ‘Prince’ that the performance “was magical.”
“It was going from all in Woolworth music building to being on stage and being able to hear the full orchestra … It gave me chills, hearing it for the first time,” she continued.
Along with the ensemble’s wealth of musical talent, the tight-knit Playhouse community drives a chemistry and connection that results in meaningful music.
“I hope it manifests into something so much greater and so much bigger,” Angela Kwon ’26 told the ‘Prince.’
The incredibly alluring and sentimental experience reminded me of the fading memories of childhood and growing older.
Irene Kim is a contributing writer for The Prospect and a member of the Class of 2028. She can be reached at ik7641[at]princeton.edu.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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