Like many of you, last night the staff of the Blue and White attended the 115th Annual Varsity Show, "The Gates of Wrath."

The Varsity Show should not be, as most people say, about collectively making fun of ourselves and our school. It's about collectively doing something—anything—together. And last night, at the premiere of the 115th Annual Varsity Show, we spent three hours doing just that. From 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., the hundreds who gathered in Roone for last night's sold-out performance met a cast of familiar Columbia stereotypes (a dishonest but well-intentioned i-banker, tragically underutilized SCEG types, etc.) as well as those who aren't such perennial Morningside fixtures (a marriage-crazed debutante, a would-be Broadway star cursed with a gift for physics.) In the past, unrealistic characters have been created with great success in Varsity Shows—recall the ritzy GS character in the 2006 show and the creepy old man who lived in Carman in the 2007 show—but this year, it just happens that they weren't funny imaginary characters (except for Patrick Blute's spirited and charismatic portrayal of a megalomaniacal Dean Quigley, who bears little resemblance to the real thing). Enjoyable moments came mostly from minor characters and small quips tossed in, but these moments of hilarity were largely independent from the plot and the characters.

NOTE: Since publishing, it has come to Bwog's attention that this review only covered the first half of the play. Bwog sincerely regrets the error.

Bwog's Shakespeare Under the Stars Expert Julia Mix Barrington turned out last night for King's Crown Theatre Troupe's production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and returns this report. Caesar's final performance is tonight at 8 PM.

If you’re facing the dilemma of whether or not to show up at Low Steps for KCST’s production of Julius Caesar, the answer is clear: go. The show's deftly-executed concept creates a more-than-memorable experience and makes up for bombastic acting from all sides—for an hour or so, at least.

Until the play begins to flag, it’s truly glorious. The director, Dan Blank, has a genius for mise en scène; first the milling crowd finds itself mildly captivated by the show’s Plebeian ensemble—a marketplace—milling and seething in front to Low only to be taken by surprise as Caesar, his entire retinue, some witches, and a small marching band stride in from behind to shouts of “make way!” Blank writes that he “wanted the audience to realize the relevance for themselves,” but I’d argue that what’s actually effected is a time-machine-perfect transformation of the audience of 150-odd Columbians into a true and volatile turba worthy of any of the Seven Hills of Rome.

Want to go to the Venice Biennale this year, you eager little Art History major you? Uh, YES. Well, the Columbia Alumni Association can take you!

Kinda, sorta, ish. They can take you to all sorts of cool events once you're already there. In order to get to Venice, they recommend that you... spend your (parents'?) money at their favorite travel agency.

Yeah, it's probably the richer end of the alum spectrum that would go to an event like this, surely expected to purchase their own tickets. But it seems that, fortunately or unfortunately, this email went out to all CC and SEAS students as well. Bwog thinks we should pool our resources for a sailboat.

Full email (with pretty picture of Venice) after the jump.

World theatrical premiere correspondent Julia Mix Barrington brings Bwog this review of Three Spoons, a new play from NOMADS performing tonight at 8 and tomorrow at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Samantha Carlin’s play Three Spoons may rely on some well-trodden storylines, but, to a certain extent, all clichés are clichés because people like them. That’s why, for all its lack of innovation, Three Spoons is definitely an enjoyable show, with a tight and engaging plot and the three lead actresses who truly inhabit their roles as sisters.

Bwog's Postmodern correspondent James Rathmell, who is really a synthesis of previous Bwog art correspondents, spent a few hours with the loveable Teuton Thomas Demand. He brings us this report.

Though a lecture with the pretentiously alliterative title “Fiction, Fact & Fabrication” sounds like something better suited for an art school than Avery’s Wood Auditorium, Thursday night’s visit from Thomas Demand was insightful and approachable. Hell, at times, it was even very entertaining. Demand was introduced as a paragon of Architecture School-ness: “A minority figure, a person who doesn’t know what a building is. Schools of Architecture are asylums,” the speaker said, “places for those crazy people who are strangers in their own world.”

Though not apparent at first, Demand fits this description perfectly. He speaks fluent English, though tinged with a German accent. He wears black glasses and has a receding hairline, and a patterned shirt stuck out from beneath his sweater for the entire lecture. He was incredibly nondescript by all measures. Yet his art shows a view of the world in which he is a complete stranger. It is postmodern in the best sense of the word: a representation of a representation.

Unfortunately you won't be able to see him walking a tightrope up in the sky today, but if you're interested you will have a chance to meet stuntster and artist Philippe Petit tonight at St. John the Divine.

Petit is most famous for his tightrope walks between the towering tips of skyscrapers in the city. His multiple walks on a rope stretched between the tops of the World Trade Center towers in 1974 earned him international fame, and became the subject of a documentary called Man on Wire.

St. John will be showing the documentary tonight at 7 p.m. before opening a question and answer period with Petit himself. It is a benefit screening, so it's not quite clear whether you have to pay $20, or whether that's a suggested donation a la Met. But Petit might just be worth the money. Aside from what he calls "artistic crimes" like the tightrope walking, St. John reports that his activities as an Artist in Residence there have included "writing, drawing, close-up magic and street juggling, and the study of lock-picking, French wine, and 18th century timber framing." He was once also seen bullfighting in Peru - the indisputable mark of a true Renaissance man.

If you can't scrape together the money, you can find the documentary and Petit's book of the same title online, or you can wait for what could be a truly once in a lifetime opportunity to see Petit again later this year. Gothamist reports that Petit is planning yet another tightrope walk for sometime this fall. Infinitely better than the movie, and free!

Photo via TheTallisScholars.co.uk

The Miller Theatre concluded its Early Music series on Thursday, April 2 with “Music for Double Choir” at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin on 46th St. The program was presented by the UK-based Tallis Scholars, one of the world’s most prestigious professional choral groups. The ensemble of 10, led by renowned conductor Peter Phillips, sang music from the 16th and 17th centuries.

- Thurman, on right, with Moravec (photo by Lucien Marc Smith)

At least one senior already has a solid paragraph for the alumni notes: yesterday, the Times's "The Moment" blog briefly profiled soon-to-be-graduate Kyle Thurman. Thurman and recent New School grad Matthew Moravec are five days into their first art show, running until March 29th at the Art Production Fund (229 West Houston Street). Their show's name? "The New Deal." Somewhere, Alan Brinkley approves.

Moravec and Thurman (whose girlfriend, Mirabelle Marden, as in daughter of Brice, was one of the co-founders of the influential Rivington Arms gallery) are not the only "young'uns" making up the show: the eleven artists' ages range from 19 to 26. As for the next step, Moravec told Interview magazine, "We're young. We're all in the same situation: finished school, finishing school. Trying to figure it all out." At least they've got something to fall back on.

Image courtesy of Florida State University

Bwog's Official Cinephile Mark Hay uses the silver screen for some Spring Break pointers.

This week's movie list could be about anything--intrigue, crisis, existential inertia, curb stomping. But, just like you, the only thing Bwog can concentrate on right now is the imminent salvation of spring break, and these films reflect our monomania. O Valhalla of rest, O promise of change, save us! O save us from the ruts into which we have fallen and from these God-damned midterms from which escape seems inconceivable!

Proudly (and slightly prematurely) we present the answer to your prayers (if what you prayed for was a list of three movies relating to your spring break): there's one about what you wish you could do, one about what you should do, and one what you inevitably will do if (when!) you return home.

Image courtesy of Chowdah

Bwog Comic Curmudgeon Jon Hill caught Chowdah's fifth anniversary last night in Lerner.

If you're reading this now and haven't seen Chowdah's fifth anniversary show, you're unfortunately too late. The show closed Saturday, so given the time constraints, this review won't be able to convince you whether to buy a ticket.

Rather than call the whole thing off, though, perhaps instead this space can best be used to figure out where to go from here. Chowdah's show this weekend was by no means perfect, but the "best of" collection of 14 sketches did offer three valuable lessons on how to execute a successful comedy show. Other performance troupes on campus would do well to follow Chowdah's lead.

Keep Scenes Short: Chowdah was smart to limit its sketches to lengths of fewer than 10 minutes. This way, even if the concept behind the sketch isn't resonating with audience, at least they won't be long suffering. Timing is crucial to short-form comedy, and though an editor's blue pencil might have been useful in tidying up a few of the sketches, the vast majority of the vignettes felt cozily concise. The emphasis should be on "felt," too -- no matter what the actual run-time is, if the audience perceives a sketch is dragging, the sketch is dragging. Sitting among the sold-out Black Box crowd, though, one never got the sense of a jaded audience. Chowdah's snappy pace kept everyone fresh.

Photo via Wikipedia

Tickets are $15, but that comes out to a mere $1.58 per hour. And all that benefits music education programs in New York City.

The famed quartet will be making their appearance around 8:00 PM, but there'll be plenty of great music (and a few Powerpoints, we daresay) until then.

Columbia's premier electrofunk group is taking a break from intramural collaborations and filling the Bowery Ballroom to provide a public service announcement to junior hipsters on the popular Nickelodeon show Yo Gabba Gabba! The topic? Personal hygiene, of course.

Stereogum has a video of the band performing their catchy anthem, "Everybody Wash Your Hands (Lather Up)" in a giant sink while Mayan pyramids float in the background and blobby creatures dance for joy. Oh, childhood.

Photo via Book of Face

A capella groups are to college as semi-nude, older gentlemen are to Dodge on the weekends; they're unavoidable, ostentatious, and often unwelcome.

Among the multitudinous a capella groups on campus, many are better known for their provocative recruitment posters than their performances. Every once in a while, however, a group makes us proud.

Nonsequitur's website lists them as being known for, among other things, "looking generally attractive." Their hard work and natural charm paid off this weekend at Wellesley, where they took first place in the Northeast division quarterfinal in the International Championships of Collegiate A Capella (ICCA, and yes, that's a real organization). Not only that, but they earned the highest score of all twenty-four groups in the quarterfinals.

Benjamin Velez, CC '10, won something extra special for his "outstanding arrangement" of a song for the group. In a month's time, they'll be visiting Boston again, but to meet our technically-enabled, differently-abled friends at MIT for the Northeast Semifinal, Capitalized for Importance.

A tip of the hat to you, and good luck!

The cast of the 115th Varsity Show entered to raucous applause from the crowd of 100 packed into the back room of the West End (as it will forever remain, at least for V-Show purposes). Our host for the evening was this year's narrative patriarch, retiring Dean Austin Quigley, caught up in reading his own interview in Columbia College Today.

After announcing that he would still be teaching, as well as being "Supreme Chancellor to the Committee on Tree Lightings" ("I can light a Yule log like nobody else") Dean Quigley (a delightfully posh Adam May Patrick Blute) took us to the first scene -- a SEAS sophomore (sophomore Nina Pedrad) in Butler on a Friday being annoyed by fellow "studiers." After getting snappy, she received the first Barnard joke of the night: "Do you need a hug? At Barnard, we hug." In Preview form, it wouldn't be the last.

Fed up, the SEAS student returned to her dorm, only to have her floormates, expelled from broken-up parties, make her the subject of an exorcism. This not only led to the truest line of the night ("But we don't know how to have an exorcism." "We're Columbia students; we can bullshit anything!"), but also the most complex choreography, including a SEAS student being raised up Jesus Christ Superstar-style, and all the performers "doing the devil."