A.D. Drumm Images, LLC – Landscape, Portrait, and Fine Art Photography in Rochester MN Photography

I remember attending the movie Charly as a kid. When I’ve heard the basic plot line of Flowers for Algernon, I thought it was very similar to what I remembered of the movie. Indeed, I found, the movie was based on the same story.

I was pleased to see the Rochester Civic Theatre production of the story. Denise’s set design was interesting, covered everywhere by the lines and angles of a maze. In shades of grey, it made the colors of the costumes stand out.

The set of mazes is rather busy as a backdrop for photos. That’s something our brains handle better in person than in the 2D photographic images. Staying tight and using depth-of-field helps.

We can also use angles to our advantage and allow the lines of the set form leading lines for a composition.

Lynne played a role, too, by using her sewing talents to create Algernon, the lab mouse named in the title. The little guy looked pretty realistic on stage and respectable even in the photos.

The story of Charlie, being thrust from his happy, but intelligence-challenged life into that of a genius whose intelligence left his emotional and social side far behind, is a thought-provoking one.  To me, it parallels the state of humankind in this great scientific and technical age, where we have learned so much yet cannot let go of war and greed.

Our human brains are truly incredible, allowing us to produce great art – visual, musical, performance – and understand much of the universe around us. Yet, we still maintain our animal past. Perhaps the former will win over the latter. We can hope.

Meanwhile, we think and study and consider our being. An evening attending a play written many years ago but still containing very current themes, is a pretty good way to help us along our journey.

Last night, Rochester Civic Theatre held their annual fundraiser, Encore, at the theatre. Seemed like a good turn-out to me. There was good food – really good food – and a cash bar to begin the evening. This being a theatre, you know there’s going to be entertainment, mainly provided by the cast of the current show, The Marvelous Wonderettes.

They were awesome, just like on opening night the evening before. I had my trusty camera with me and grabbed some shots during dinner and during other parts of the program, including our mayor coming on stage wearing a Harley Davidson leather jacket!

But I thought I’d show off some of the shots of the Wonderettes cast here – sort of a preview of the show photos.

Probably the most noticeable feature is the bright colors. Of course, the girls have the requisite hair colors, blond, red, and two shades of brunette. But the dresses are what grab your eyes.

The songs are late fifties and sixties, mainly of the style employing a lead singer and a group of back-ups. So, we had some strong spot lights with a bit more subdued lighting behind.

This sometimes adds a lot of contrast to the shots, but it actually works fine since the focus is really on the gal up front, and the lighting draws you there. That’s the intention of the lighting, of course, for the actual live performance.

For a fundraiser like this, consider that the actors, the band, the two folks running the spots, and the woman running the mic levels are all volunteers. So are the group of young actors who manned the red carpet in front of the theatre as the paparazzi. I’m sure there were others. This is something very special about the arts, and particularly the performing arts. This theatre is a place they need to be there for them.

It was a fun evening. Lynne and I were there until they were literally rolling up the carpet. Hanging with friends, enjoying their company, and glad we have a civic theatre of this caliber here in Rochester.