Manginah sings with humor, gusto
by Shelly Shore
Staff Writer
Arts | 3/31/09
Posted online at 12:48 AM EST on 3/31/09
|
Playing off the infamous mispronunciation "man-JY-nah," Manginah's spring theme was the "Manginah Monologues," which began with an opening monologue by Louis Polisson '12. "We were worried about Manginah," he told the audience, and then the group proceeded to explain the different names of manginahs around Brandeis campus-jingling Jews, harmonizing chasids and even "coochie snorchers."
The show kicked off with "Kama Od Efshar," with soloist and musical director Harrison Bannett '11 promising "I love you/Even if you don't deserve it." Living up to his tenor part, he hit some serious high notes as he managed both to stay in key and to win over the audience.
From there, Jaclyn Frankel '11 took over with "Yonatan Shapira," a song about a girl finding the perfect boy in Jonathan Shapira despite her mother's advice. Staying with the Jewish parent theme, Harrison Kessler '09 and Becky Fisher '10 took over with "Uf Gozal," describing the experience of watching their chicks fly away from the nest and causing the parents in the audience to sniffle.
While the mothers and fathers dried their eyes, Manginah slowed things down with "Erev Shel Shoshanim," a slow love song about a walk through a rose garden, before Adam Lapetina '12 and Hanna Rosenthal-Fuller '09 sped things up again with "Come Back," a song about being called back to Jerusalem in the east.
Taking a break from the music, the group began another monologue, "if my Manginah could …." Some of the categories included "If my Manginah could give musical advice" ("It's a little sharp!" "Hold that note!"), "if my Manginah could sing" ("Harder, better, faster, stronger!" "I kissed a girl and I liked it!"), and, of course, "if my Manginah was a Brandeis donor" ("Carl J. Shapiro!" "Um…").
With the audience still laughing, Bennett took the stage again with "Through Heaven's Eyes" from the soundtrack of the popular Dreamworks movie The Prince of Egypt. Following that, Max Fischlowitz-Roberts '10 performed "Beit Café," complete with choreography by the rest of the group. In the last song before the intermission, Fisher, Akiva Fishman '09 and Liz Imber '09 slowed down again with "Latet," which included a short rap breakdown by Fishman and some seriously high notes by Imber.
Spring Break






Be the first to comment on this story