its been quite a few days since the last time i posted and ive had a couple of different things ive wanted to discuss, ranging from thesis readings, to advance album reviews, and the whole likes.  thats not to say that i couldnt have written multiple postings, however it gets kind of tedious to write those postings the way i do.  thus, i blew it off.  however, i said that i would still maintain routine postings, and such as i am.

my parents came down to visit almost two weeks ago, and i had the pleasure of accompanying them to see the drowsy chaperone at the marquis theatre.  im always a little skeptical about broadway musicals, however my parents wanted to see it and i figured it couldn’t be as corny as something like tarzan or even the producers.  the end result was that i happened to enjoy it more than i had anticipated.  there were three key things that led to my enjoyment of the play.

1) the music – all too often, broadway musicals follow the rogers & hammerstein formula for introducing music into the plot of a story.  in addition, the music is obviously written for a pit orchestra, making the songs of “camelot” seem out of place.  in chaperone however, the setting of the play within the play puts all the relevant musical numbers in a 1920s context, which naturally evokes a ’20s big band sound, befitting of a pit orchestra.  the end result is that the musical numbers not only relate to the period, but they make for good songs.

2) the man in the chair – bob martin, one of the original writers of the play, casts himself as the “narrator” character.  the premise of the play revolves around this character frequently breaking down the “fourth wall.”  by doing this, he allows himself to set the pace of the show, as well as set the concept of the play within a play.  while this concept could have been pursued easily, and in a cliched manner, martin adds a completely innovative and creative concept, key to the show’s success.

3) the use of the record as the plot vehicle – this plot device goes hand-in-hand with the usage of the man in the chair.  by conceiving the play within the play as an old recorded show, martin allows for his own interpretations on the play and is able to speed through all the musical numbers of a typical broadway play.  as the actors are playing out on stage what is happening on the record, it also makes for some interesting acting challenges, such as a skipping record, the wrong side of the record is played, etc.

like i said, i wasnt sure what i was going to make of it going in, but had a rather good time.

as for myself, the first half of the semester is winding down and i am leaving tomorrow afternoon to go back to CT until the 7th.  on the 9th, there is the big east career fair, where i am hoping to hand out more resumes and some cover letters in hopes to get myself into an internship position for the summer.  originally, i wasnt sure how international business/marketing was going to fit in a market for finance/accounting majors, however in a discussion with a friend today, i found out that even some of those companies have sustainability reporting divisions.  not only would working at them become crucial to my thesis understandings (of which i am making good progress and even developed my 8-part outline), but would benefit me careerwise as well in the field of csr.

whilst i am home, i hope to get done some thesis reading (perhaps a blog post or two), as well as make some minor edits to my resume, and possibly work on a few cover letters to prospective employers.  though i havent actually commenced actual writing of the thesis, i’m pleased with how my readings/research have been going and now that i have a working outline (my advisor was right, it came the form of a some spontaneous breakthrough as i reading a book on management and labour in europe), it will be even easier to piece together just what information becomes relevant to developing the logical inductive reasoning of my argument.

that said, it’s time for class.  keep reading…