Student Blog: Music and Fun Spans the Holiday Season - Frosty's World #18

There are so many "take a break from studying for final exams" activities around the Baldwin Wallace University campus that it is a challenge to study for final exams. Students with an interest in the arts are never left out. Active Minds, the campus student organization that aims to create an open environment for the discussion of mental health, brought together our campus Film Society and Student Government to sponsor their movie night; a chocolate bar, snacks and holiday goodie bags ensured that plenty of students watched Perks of Being a Wallflower. More goodies were piled on at our Ernsthausen Residence Hall Holiday Party with a screening of Polar Express. Baldwin Wallace University SALSA, the campus Spanish and Latino Student Association, put on their dance party, Noche De Fiesta, featuring local legend DJ Chevi Red and Latin dance instructor Bri Feliciano. Those years of Zumba cardio helped me grab the third-place prize in the dance competition!

Events on Front Street, a mini downtown adjacent to campus, display the talents of the University's music and performing arts students. My favorite hangout is Front St Social, the local bar/restaurant that hosts live entertainment events. The open mic nights are a blast; students are welcomed to participate. Last visit, I watched classmates perform jazz and classical music, country music, rap and standup comedy. Talk about variety!

The semester classes wrapped up and were highlighted by a presentation from local music legend Jack Boessneck, a three-decade veteran of Cleveland's Eighth Day Sound. He was a featured speaker in our Music Industry course, reviewing his long career in the entertainment field. His company handles sound engineering for an amazing array of the world's top grossing world tours, festivals, and theaters. It was great to hear it first-hand from a professional that has worked with the biggest names in entertainment. Boessneck also serves as Board President of Cleveland Rocks Past Present Future, an organization that supports live music in our city and administers a musicians' relief fund that has provided critical support during the pandemic.

The pandemic has once again derailed plans to attend musical theater shows over the winter break. Just like Broadway, our local theaters have been hammered by COVID outbreaks among performers, casts, and crew teams. Cleveland Playhouse Square was selling out performances of Wicked until it was forced to cancel two performances. Cleveland Playhouse and the Cleveland Orchestra performances have met a similar fate. Despite strict commitments to health and safety for their audiences, show dates are constantly vulnerable.

In response, my musical theater fandom has been directed back to streaming, television and movie events. The NBC performance of Annie Live! was awesome. I was one of 5.2 million viewers that tuned in. Did you appreciate the unique staging, using a 360-degree format? Musical movies have filled the gap; West Side Story, Diana The Musical, Come from Away and Encanto. The Pentatonix Evergreen Concert was a holiday hit, and there is still The Beatles: Get Back in case I have several idle hours to satisfy my Beatles obsession. Streaming events seem to be back in vogue; I've become a fan of Australian comedian John Robertson. His humor spans the ocean via Twitch. Sofa So Funny is back in action with stand-up comedy live on Zoom. My favorites, Ribs Norman and James Burey, led the international comedy revue during a Christmas and anniversary streaming spectacular.

I need some "take a break from streaming" activities! All that merriment leads to some mindfulness pursuits, and Andrea Koehler's Coloring Broadway always fills the gap. Musicals are magic, and this month, lyrics from Moulin Rouge! The Musical were my therapeutic focus!