I miss my moviegoing. The last time I watched a big screen movie was this February. I’d say this is the longest movie dry spell in my recollection. But I’m not alone. Tens of thousands of artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, dancers, and professionals in the broadest sense of the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector are in the same struggle during the covid months. As the battle of the public health crisis is turning from a sprint to a marathon, we, the creative bunch, are stretching our brains in all directions. How can we present live performances at a safe distance?
This summer I was invited to a 6-year-old virtual birthday party. Out of curiosity, I accepted the invitation from the host. My linguistic sensors were drawn to some of the typical expressions in the invitation. The host wrote:
“We hope you can join us for a virtual 6th birthday party for Maya from 10:30-11:00 on Saturday morning, June 20, 2020! No gifts necessary. During the Zoom call (link below), we will make a small volcano with playdoh, baking soda (1/4 cup) and white vinegar (1/4 cup), all in a safe basin or safe space. We invite you to make one, too. AFTER our call, from 11:30am-12noon, you are invited to a safe-distance, birthday parade past our house. Come by car, bike, scooter or on foot.”
I was definitely a bench player but on observer status. But I enjoyed watching kids pouring white vinegar nonstop into the mouth of their playdoh volcanoes. Out came bubbling white lava. That was one of the safest volcano eruptions I’ve ever experienced. With a safe distance in mind, we may be inspired to attend more virtual concerts, live performances and even watch new release movies in a 2020-à-la-mode style.
We are not alone. It’s in our DNA to create, enlighten and entertain. Covid is somewhat an inspiration for creative professionals. Check out the music video of Living In A Ghost Town by the greatest rock band The Rolling Stones. What a fresh perspective to see soulless London through a glass ball! The lyrics are brilliantly current and resonant with all the lonely souls on the planet.
How about a crossover? In creative writing, cross-genres allow fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting and many other forms of writing to come together in ensembles. In musicology, there’re studies about cross-cultural music adaptation from instruments to composition. In fine arts, modern/contemporary art is a testament to an eclectic mix of crossover ideas ranging from classic conventional methods to avant-garde mass media interpretation. In stage performance, that’s a wide, wild terrain. An actor is no longer limited to the stage. With the popularity of streaming entertainment, versatile actors can perform anywhere for musicals, movies, TV dramas and plays. A fundraising video produced by The Royal Ballet in the UK sends a heartwarming message to performing art lovers. You are not alone. We are all suffering the dry spell of entertainment.
Long time ago, I learned from a Maestro’s speech to an audience that there are three key elements of a good performance—the piece of music itself, the presentation, and the audience. He said, and I paraphrase his words, that we can’t change the piece of music as it was composed the way it was in its original form. But we can change how we present it. And the remaining third of a good performance comes from the audience. He said, eyeing the full house of audience, “Your response, whether you clap your hands, nod your head or stomp your feet, will contribute to a good performance.” I can’t agree more with the Maestro’s wisdom. As a writer, I cherish a reader’s response as much as a musician cherishes his audience’s response. Perhaps the “Zoom bomb” live performance of the Hamilton cast on John Krasinski’s SGN show can temporarily quench our thirst for live performance. It’s just fun to watch the facial expressions of the performers and the audience.
This July, we would have watched the 2020 Summer Olympics on TV if the pandemic had not forced a cancellation. A Fourth of July celebration without mass gatherings under the same sky of fireworks was an unforgettable memory of 2020. Adding to the memory of our 2020 are college graduates without proms and cap-throwing photography. We are indeed having a once-in-a-lifetime experience in 2020. If you are having a relatively quieter summer in the park, by the beach or in the woods, feel free to tell someone by verbal or nonverbal language at a safe distance that as much as it sounds like a cliché, we’re all in this together and you are not alone.