Halloween at Mission Theater
Nosferatu (1922)
with original score by
Mood Area 52
Luminessah
- Mission Theater |
- Saturday, October 29
- 8 p.m. doors; 9 p.m. show |
- $10 at the door |
- 21 and over
Mood Area 52 performs a live score to F.W. Murnau's "Nosferatu" on October 29 at the Mission Theater in Portland. This seasoned score blends electric guitar, cello, accordion, bass, horns, toy piano, and a variety of percussion instruments.
"Nosferatu" was directed by F.W. Murnau and is considered one of the classics of German expressionist style. It was loosely based on the novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker and was remade in 1979 by Werner Herzog. In 2000 it inspired the film "Shadow of the Vampire," which was a take on the mysteriousness that surrounded the original film's star, Max Schreck.
Mood Area 52 has performed live scores to many other films including "La Jette," "The Triplets of Bellville," "Sunset Boulevard," and numerous Buster Keaton shorts. Roderick, the band's primary composer, said that he chose to score "Nosferatu" because of its graphic beauty and also because it is one of his favorite films. The score has evolved with each performance. The majority of the music is based in the tango tradition, which has a lot of tense overtones and can be pretty spooky. For this score Mood Area 52 has taken that element and explored the possibilities of exaggerating those qualities.
Roderick said that the score utilizes a degree of jazz improvisational theory as well as fixed themes for each character and certain plot elements.
During the opening performances Mood Area 52 will perform with Luminessah, an improvisational middle eastern dance troupe that has costumed and choreographed a seasonally dark performance for the evenings.
From The Willamette Week (Amy McCullough, 2007):
"As ghouls and mice, starlets and beatniks filed into the hall, Michael Roderick's Eugene-based, klezmer-tinged neo-tango ensemble, Mood Area 52 in the evening. Roderick, seated on a tiny stool and donning a sort of mad circus ringleader getup (tailored suit, dark-circled eyes, tall hat, unruly beard), teetered on the edge of the stage, roiling accordion in hand. Later, he took to shouting chanty verses at the crowd, channeling the gruff spirit of Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse's "March Into the Sea." When Nosferatu finally began, the band melted skillfully into the background; it was so subtle I could have sworn actual sound effects, like creaking-door and wind noises, were part of the film, even though I knew better. But Mood Area 52-which has also lent its sound (a melding of tango with everything from electronic beats and surf guitar to Roderick's masterfully played cornet) to British sci-fi flick La Jetée and several Buster Keaton shorts-also swelled and shattered at all the right moments."
About Halloween at Mission Theater
Come in costume to celebrate the spookiest of holidays... Some of our spots are said to be haunted, with guests claiming to have experienced paranormal activity. Or perhaps it's just the Hammerhead talking. You be the judge.
- Check out photos from last year's Halloween festivities!:
- http://flic.kr/s/aHsjssdsQ4
About Nosferatu (1922)
Count Orlok's move to Wisburg and brings the plague, this reveals his connection to the Realtor Thomas Hutter, and the Count's obsession with Hutter's wife, Ellen - the only one with the power to end the evil.
About Mood Area 52
Michael Roderick founded Mood Area 52 in 1998 as a Piazzola inspired neo-tango ensemble. Since then the group has incorporated Golden Age Tango material, lounge, electronica, Eastern European influences, polyglot vocal material, Waitsian cabaret tunes, chanson and original compositions about love, loss, genetic mutations, daring women in petticoats and the ill-hatched crimes of ambitious charlatans. The band performs acoustically as a duo, trio, etc., and expands into a sextet, combining the talents of accordionist and vocalist Michael Roderick, cellist Amy Danziger, vocalist Marietta Bonaventure, guitarist Billy Barnett, bassist Sylvain Duplant, and drummer James West. Mood Area 52 also features various Oregon musicians including Dustin Lanker, Mckenzie Stubbert, Dan Schmidt, Dylan DeRobertis, Anthony Dyer, Derek Trost, Kee Zublin, Cosmos Corbin, Kelly Leguizamon, and Richard Johnson, adding horns, strings, drums, and additional vocals.
Mood Area 52 has performed with Naim Amor, Chuck Palhnuik, The Damo Suzuki Network, Rasputina, The Tin Hat Trio, Slowpoke, Amy Denio, Devotchka, David Lindley, Vagabond Opera, Heroes and Villains, and many other national acts. They perform in venues ranging from clubs to festival stages to old folks homes, accompanying burlesque troops, producing themed multimedia shows, and providing original soundtracks to golden age films.
Mood Area 52 has written and performed original soundtracks to F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, Marks' dystopian sci-fi classic La Jete, Sunset Boulevard, numerous Buster Keaton shorts, and several independent films. Mood Area 52's composition "Furniture Migration" will be used in an upcoming animated short by acclaimed Spanish animated film director Ricard Gras, and Music from their most recent album "Guevara's Ghost" will be used in an upcoming documentary on the life of Che Guevara called "Imagen del Hombre Nuevo."
Mood Area 52 has connections with the Eugene, Portland and San Francisco tango community. Their music and interviews have been featured on Argentine Public Radio and on the Buenos Aires station Dos por Quatro. Roderick and Cosmos' collaboration, "Guevara's Ghost," a fusion of tango, lounge and glitchy trip-hop beats, is now available through Rocketboy Arts along with their previous releases "Mood Area 52" and "Nine Fancy Tangos." The group is currently working on a new album featuring original vocal compositions.
- website:
- http://www.moodarea52.com/
About Luminessah
Luminessah is a world interpretive dance troupe founded in 2005 in Eugene, Oregon. They fuse movements from such regions as India, Turkey, Egypt, and North Africa, throw in some hip hop and vaudeville stylings, and tie it all together through an Improvisational Tribal Style of belly dance. Their performances are unique artistic creations that through ritual, theatre, and improvisation transport the viewer.
They regularly perform throughout the West Coast at festivals, restaurants, and other dance events, and have performed with musicians such as Raquy and the Cavemen, Manooghi Hi, Telesma, Mood Area 52, Gypsy Moon, The Conjugal Visitors, Americanistan, and more. Their workshops are in demand around the state and their regular class sessions in Eugene have resulted in the formation of a student troupe as well.
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