As soon as the lights turn off in Wright Hall, the audience is already in anticipation for the exciting and lively music of The Who’s Tommy.

The department of Theatre and Dance production features brilliant singing and acting, however, the lack of dialogue makes the plot hard to follow.

Originally a Broadway show, The Who’s Tommy was adapted for the UC Davis stage by Granada Artist-in-Resident Mindy Cooper. We hear the story mostly though the music and lyrics arranged by The Who’s Pete Townshend.

The play starts with a video that introduces the context of the story. The story begins in the 1940s at the brink of World War II. The husband, Captain Walker, goes to war and leaves a pregnant Mrs. Walker at home. She receives false information that he has died and has moved on to another man.

However, when Captain Walker returns, he sees Mrs. Walker and her new man together and shoots the man. Four-year-old Tommy witnesses this and goes deaf and blind. Tommy seems to become a lost cause but eventually they discover he is a pinball wizard. And from there the story takes an upswing and Tommy achieves fame and success.

The set is cleverly designed like a pinball machine to symbolize Tommy’s skill at the game. This helps tie the different acts together and emphasize the main points of the play. Additionally, the set transitions between scenes are very smooth and flow easily.

The smooth flow of the play is also achieved by the music and acting in the play. The energetic acting keeps the audience engaged in what is going on. In particular, the two children who play Tommy as a young boy are excellent. Matthew Dunivan, who plays the adult Tommy, is outstanding to watch. His singing and acting are very passionate.

There is also a fair amount of humor in the play, particularly from Uncle Ernie and Cousin Kevin. In a particular scene that stands out, Uncle Ernie is left alone to take care of Tommy. There is no way the audience can keep from laughing at his seemingly drunken antics. The scenes where the teenagers take Tommy to play pinball is also hilarious. The teenagers’ zany behavior is a sight to see, and the ensemble acts and sings well.

The chemistry between all the actors is strong. One example is between Captain Walker and Mrs. Walker; their chemistry helps the audience see how well they both act their roles.

It is the music that makes the show unique. The live band on stage that performed the songs is almost flawless and keeps the show energized for the entire two hours.

The singing is phenomenal and the energy that all the performers have draws the audience in. At the end of the play, the cast members come out into the audience and sing their last song, and it’s truly a treat. We almost feel like we are in an actual Broadway show.

Although the play was very energetic and fun to watch, the plot was very hard to follow. It is easy to get lost in what is going on. We almost question if there is a specific plot or not because of the lack of dialogue, as the story is told through the song lyrics. Therefore we are often left confused at key points in the story.

Despite this, audiences can grasp the main theme of the play, which is to be grateful for what you have and to be yourself. The play ends on a touching note with Tommy realizing the importance of family, which is questioned several times throughout the play.

Although there are many moments when the play can feel very confusing, the energy of the music, singing and acting makes this show worth seeing. The audience can’t help being drawn into the show and rooting for Tommy.

The show will play again tonight, Friday, Saturday at 8 p.m. and will have its final show on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased online or at the Main Theatre box office.

PAAYAL ZAVERI can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Landscape Architecture students spend their entire last year designing a site or researching a subject they have an interest in before publicly presenting it the day before their graduation. All the students develop their own projects and incorporate their interests, making each presentation distinctive and exceptional. Here is a sneak peek of some of the projects that will be presented by the 2011 graduating class.

Matthew Frank

Matthew Frank designed and built a 3,000 square-foot garden in his own backyard. The garden has over 30 different varieties of vegetation and is an example of urban agriculture, the practice of growing food in an urban area.

For the entire month of May, Frank has been living off the numerous produce he has grown in his garden. His diet for May includes mostly vegetables such as potatoes, lettuce, kale and kohlrabi, which is a type of cabbage that will grow almost anywhere. Frank is also raising chickens in his backyard garden and will gather eggs from them.

Frank got his inspiration for his project from a book he read.

“The author was squatting off land in Oakland and she lived off it for an entire month,” Frank said.

Frank credits LDA for teaching him how to make a garden that not only looks picturesque but also provides many functions.

“It’s hard to make something that looks good and works,” he said.

Tyler Christopher Eash

Tyler Christopher Eash sees dancing and landscape architecture as an example of how different art forms can inspire all kinds of professional fields.

“Sections [of the project] include movement mapping to create form, the body as a landscape, chance and improvisation, the personification of place [and] designing for experience,” Eash said.

Eash was inspired by the deceased Landscape Architecture pioneer Lawrence Halprin and his wife, Anna, who was an innovator in the field of dance. Eash has even danced with Anna Halprin and discussed her late husband’s work with her.

In addition, Eash has choreographed a dance show relating to his thesis and he is already planning a dance work with a textile and design professor who deals with landscape for the upcoming fall.

“In the art realm, artists are held to a higher obligation to create work with meaning, but are also permitted many freedoms. My thesis portrays the landscape architect as an artist, and later defines relevant creative pathways,” Eash said.

His dance show, which will be free to the general public, will take place on June 10 at 8 p.m. in Wright Hall’s Main Stage.

Inna Nosenko

Inspired by flower gardens, floral print dresses are a very popular piece of clothing. Inna Nosenko’s project focuses on something similar to that. It examines how the design of a landscape garden can be represented through fabric manipulation.

“My goal is to make a stunning piece of artwork,” Nosenko said.

It was Nosenko’s love and fascination of clothing as well as the fact that she liked creating things with her hands that instigated the idea of developing a project in which she will look at clothing through the eyes of a landscape architect.

“I am essentially translating what I see in the gardens I have chosen to work with onto the human body. I am modeling on the human body from inspiration of these parks and gardens,” Nosenko said.

Kevin Ohle

The students of Mount Gleason Middle School in Sunland, Calif., will have a new vegetable garden, designed by Kevin Ohle.

“I’m giving them a design package so that the project can work from season to season and from start to finish,” Ohle said.

Ohle is very keen about educating children about urban agriculture and environmental sustainability from a younger age. With the garden he is developing, lessons can be interactive and hands-on, making it more fun for the students to learn. Ohle’s vegetable farm is environmentally-friendly, using vine stands handmade from recycled bottles and more.

Ohle believes that having partnerships inside the school and outside in the community will ensure that the garden receives adequate funding. Volunteer hours will contribute to its upkeep.

“I think in order to learn and make process, people need to have fun while working on it,” Ohle said.

Rodrigo Ormachea

Rodrigo Ormachea’s intrigue with the less-thought-of park users, such as the homeless, day laborers and vendors, gave him the idea for his research project on temporary uses of public space. He researches how individuals use public space for their own need, how they take small public spaces and make it their own.

“My project is trying to, as a designer, accommodate all kinds of people for public space. It’s kind of experimental and it’s an exploration of these types of users,” Ormachea said.

During his research, Ormachea was interested by graffiti artists who were able to use public space and turn it into their own space to satisfy their own desires; that is to be able to create installation work in large public spaces. Although Ormachea knows it’s illegal to just spray paint anywhere, Ormachea sees that as an example of how there are many different ways that design can be used and seen.

“It’s constantly changing. You discover things when you’re trying different things. Change is encouraged,” Ormachea said.

Elliot Arthur

If there is one thing Elliot Arthur dislikes, it is how there is a huge dependence on technology when doing design projects and how some students don’t have a firm enough grasp on design basics.

“I’m demoting the occurrence of pretty graphics covering bad design,” Arthur said.

It is Arthur’s love of design, especially the process of design, which is the propelling idea behind his thesis. Arthur is working on a commentary about the effects of technology on societal and cultural tendencies in America and how it affects the work produced by undergrad LDA students.

“I feel if students lose the ability to comprehend the design process, then they lose the ability to create engaging spaces. The design process is of utmost importance to me,” Arthur said.

Arthur hopes that with his thesis he can shed some light on how technology can sometimes negatively impact the design process and offer ways to create a solution. Arthur emphasizes that interpersonal communication of all kinds is extremely valuable.

“Talking to people face to face is better than talking to them through a computer,” he said.

John Gainey

When John Gainey discovered that the 200-year-old Valley Oak from the Arboretum, which had been dying for quite some time, was going to be removed, his heart broke a little.

It was from his heartbreak that Gainey was inspired to create something celebrating the magnificent Oak.

“Rather than chip it up and make it into firewood, I wanted to celebrate it,” Gainey said.

His project involves the reuse of the Valley Oak’s site to create a specific environmental installation within the UC Davis Shields Oak Grove which will draw attention to the Oak Gove and use the tree to educate visitors about important ecological processes, as well as promote the care and preservation of California Oaks. Gainey is working with the arboretum on his project and his installation, which will include educational signs, will be up at possibly at the end of the month or in mid-June.

Group Projects

Although many students worked on their own individual projects, several of them came together to create group projects. Groups submit designs and if they are approved, they can then build their own designs. The group designs are currently in the backyard of the LDA department, Hunt Hall.

Metamorphis

It was the shape and design of the cocoon that was a major concept of this group project by Rodrigo Ormachea, Kevin Ohle, Gabino Marquez and Michael Clarke. A cocoon shape, which is small on one end and eventually expands to a larger opening on the other side.

Although the group designed the project, numerous people helped them set up the creation, which is made entire from wood. They first made mounds in the dirt and shaped it. They then laid rebars, which is similar to laying out the grid. Rebars are steel rods used in construction for re-enforcement for concrete. Instead of concrete, they tied on wood and laid more wood inside to form benches and added plants and lights as the final touch.

Presently, LDA students love to take a break from studio inside the cocoon.

Relocated Ranch

Designed by John Gainey and Elliot Arthur, it is aptly named “Relocated Ranch,” for the pair actually went to a cattle ranch in Denair, Calif., to collect all the raw materials for creation. “Relocated Ranch” looks like a group of benches surrounding a large egg shaped couch, which has a pillow inside it for relaxation.

It was made in four phases: the seat, the cantilever table, bench seating, and ground planks and planting. It is an example of innovative design using discarded materials, for the chair is a hayrack that was cut in half and made into a chair.

“Relocated Ranch” is a model of repurposing and how manipulation of materials can make them into something else that can be enjoyable as well.

MICHELLE RUAN can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

There’s no denying that Los Angeles is the one of the most significant birthplaces of the West Coast hip-hop music scene. And better yet, L.A. native Dom Kennedy is quickly becoming one of those names to emerge from the West Coast feel and sound.

With five albums released and one entitled From the Westside with Love II that is scheduled to drop in June, Dom has established a large fan base despite not having a major industry co-sign or record label. Dom’s most recent mix-tape release, The Original Dom Kennedy, features 10 tracks that reflect Dom’s lyrical originality and authentic West Coast feel.

This past Saturday, Dom joined UC Davis’ 41st annual Black Family Day to perform a show on the East Quad. Entertainment Council put on the show, while Black Family Day is organized by the Cross Cultural Center. Just over an hour before his show, MUSE had the opportunity to sit down with Dom. Here’s what he had to say.

MUSE: Coming from Los Angeles, how has that environment affected you artistically in the hip-hop music scene?

Kennedy: I feel like it’s more of a background or setting where my story takes place, where music is based around my life, friends and family. Every good story has to happen somewhere. That’s it. That’s all I know and it’s not something that I set out to do. People ask me this question and I realize that it’s in my music a lot. But what else will I talk about? It’s the thing I know the most; it’s what I love and know best.

What kinds of events, people or feelings inspire you lyrically, specifically for your latest mixtape, The Original Dom Kennedy?

I just try to enjoy the moment and just travel. Ever since I put out From the Westside with Love last year, I’ve been traveling a lot. I’ve met a lot of people and seen a lot of things that helped me just, you know, talk about life outside of L.A. and understand that the things I talk about from an L.A. perspective can reach out and affect kids in my community and my city. As for my mixtape, I wanted to make music that was paying homage to the music I loved growing up – L.A. music in general. I wanted my music to reflect the feel of why I do what I do. So, that’s what the project of The Original Dom Kennedy was: it was a sound that allowed me to grow and create what I wanted to.

People are associating you with bringing the “West Coast hip-hop” back – do you agree? And what does that mean to you?

I don’t really know what they mean when they say that. But, I think they are talking in terms of L.A. artists on the verge of going mainstream. There was a time in music, especially rap more specifically, where L.A. was the place to be. And eventually, people think music will go back to that time again; but that’s what we gotta find out.

If you could collaborate with any musician or producer, dead or alive, who would that person be?

Man, a lot of people really. Yeah, I’d like to work with someone like Stevie Wonder; like arranging melodies would be cool. I think, of all time, The Isley Brothers, too. Just things like that. I’m really into soul music and I think it’d be dope if I can rap to them. Melodies are something that people across the world can understand. Some people don’t understand rap or aren’t into it but basically anybody can enjoy a good melody.

Are you currently working on any new projects?

I’m currently working on From the Westside with Love II and it’ll be out on June 28 on iTunes. For the last month, I’ve been really in the zone and making some really good material. Over the next three or four weeks, I’ll be recording new songs and basically continuing the journey until I feel like I have a complete story and project to tell.

UYEN CAO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

As my tenure as Aggie editor and columnist winds down, I find myself struck by something that strikes many arts writers at the end of the year: the urge to think back on everything that happened over the last 12 months and judge it mercilessly.

Let’s dive right in, shall we?

This was a fairly eventful year for music at UC Davis. Here in Cow-town, we welcomed some pretty impressive artists: Snoop Dogg, Thirty Seconds to Mars, RJD2, Daphne Loves Derby and even Steve Martin at the Mondavi Center. Not that every show went smoothly – RJD2 postponed his show at the last minute, blink and you missed the chance to nab some Steve Martin tickets before they sold out and Social Distortion was cancelled.

Still, for a college town just about as different from a major metropolitan city as you can possibly imagine, Davis held its own. I give major props to the Entertainment Council and the Mondavi Center for wrangling the artists they did.

However, my favorite performance of the year was not musical in nature. Comedienne Sarah Silverman delivered two of the most entertaining hours that the Mondavi Center probably saw all year, and her performance will certainly go down in my book as one of the highlights of my entire experience at UC Davis. Fun, relaxed and completely free of political correctness, Silverman was exactly the kind of edgy, young artist UC Davis students want to see. Keep ’em coming, Mondavi Center.

Moving on to movies. 2010-11 will forever be known as the year we came thisclose to winning the worldwide premiere of a major Hollywood movie, the medieval comedy Your Highness. After a truly commendable effort and a ferocious Facebook campaign, UC Davis came in 10th place, only two spots shy of winning a free advanced screening.

Yes, it was annoying to lose to UC Santa Barbara (and where the hell did Santa Clara come from at the last minute?!) but we Aggies showed we’ve got pluck. There’s no shame in 10th place out of hundreds – as long as we win next time.

The theater geeks among us were treated to a few outstanding plays and musicals, though any assessment of the year’s theater will be highly subjective. The year got off to a strong start with a classic, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, but most of the plays that followed were highly experimental and a bit more polarizing than more traditional fare. If you liked that kind of avant-garde theater, you had a lot to love about the year’s offerings. Those that prefer shows they can recognize were probably left scratching their heads.

My pick for the best theatrical production of the year is student theater group Studio 301’s electrifying and ambitious imagining of Spring Awakening. From start to finish, it was an impressive display of the talent UC Davis really has to offer. Well done.

Well, there you have it. Twelve months of entertainment summed up in 15 column inches. Some highs, some lows, but all around a year to be proud of, and I applaud the performers of UC Davis and the people who bring them to us. I wouldn’t have had a job without you.

How would you grade the year’s entertainment? E-mail ROBIN MIGDOL at arts@theaggie.org.

MUSIC

Shinkoskey Noon Concert

Today, noon, free

Music Building, Room 115

The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble promises a great afternoon of great classical music. Most importantly, this event is free and offers students the opportunity to experience Kurt Rohde’s Concertino for Violin and Small Ensemble.

Larry & His Flask

Tonight, 8 p.m., $5

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen

Get ready for a night filled with good fun, drinks and music. Larry & His Flask will bring their part of multiple vocal and guitar harmonies. The six-member-all-brothers band seems to be preserving the magical touch of Oregon’s indie music scene. The night’s line-up also includes musical guests My Life in Black & White and Carly DuHain.

Or, The Whale

Friday, 8:30 p.m., $5

Sophia’s Thai Kitchen

The charming low-lit feel of Sophia’s Thai Kitchen never fails at providing the perfect venue for great music. On Friday, San Francisco-based Or, The Whale brings Americana and country-rock back to the Davis music scene. Be sure to expect a lot of sweet melodies on steel guitar and keyboards.

AT THE MOVIES

UC Davis Film Festival

Today, 8:30 p.m., $7

Davis Varsity Theatre, 616 Second St.

The Technocultural Studies, Film Studies and Art Studio departments joined forces to create a night that will certainly make you laugh, cry and gasp in awe with a variety of film categories. Audiences will get the opportunity to review and provide feedback for which short films they enjoyed best.

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Friday, 8 p.m., free

Memorial Union, quad

It’s a tradition that has been passed-on for countless years. It’s about dressing up and having a good time with strangers and friends alike. The Entertainment Council presents the Rocky Horror Picture Show on the quad. The event features Shadow Cast, a group of performers who will be performing during the movie to encourage crowd participation. One thing’s for sure: you will be thoroughly entertained!

THEATER/MONDAVI

The Who’s Tommy

Today to Sunday, 8 p.m., $15

Main Theatre, Wright Hall

If you haven’t yet, this is the last weekend to jam out to America’s rock Opera, The Who’s Tommy. Directed by Mindy Cooper and presented by UCD’s department of theatre and dance, The Who’s Tommy packs an unstoppable force of talent. The show features a singing, acting and dancing ensemble; what more can you ask for?

UC Davis Concert Band: “Earth Songs”

Wednesday, 7 p.m., $8

Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall

Experience nature and the environment through an entire different perspective: through music. Directed by Pete Nowlen, the program and repertoire is inspired by the flora and fauna aspects of the Earth. Other works for the night include Jayce John Ogren’s Symphonies of Gaia and Dan Welcher’s Zion.

ANTIGONE by Jean Anouilh

Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., $15

California Stage, 2509 R St., Sacramento

Sacramento’s theater company, KOLT Run Creations, presents the production of Antigone by Jean Anouilh. The play features a haunting and poetic script about revolutionary themes such as the divine law versus the human law.

ART/GALLERY

MFA Design Showcase

Wednesday, 4 p.m., free

Wright Hall, Main Stage

Usually, simple sketches on scraps of paper or pieces of fabric inspire the bigger scheme of a production. In a design showcase, graduate students will be able to display preliminary sketches, models, paintings and photos that have inspired their overall work through the years.

UYEN CAO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

The film Lost in Africa saw its U.S. premiere in Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at UC Davis’ Mondavi Center last Saturday evening. The Mondavi Center event was organized in conjunction with the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. Actress Connie Nielsen was in attendance to provide a Q&A prior to the screening as well as taking part in a panel discussion after the film.

Lost in Africa is a Danish film (Kidnappet) produced by Vibeke Windelov and Karoline Leth under the production of SF Film Production ApS.

The film is about Simon, an 11-year-old boy who visits his birthplace in Nairobi, Kenya during a trip with his mother Susanne (played by Nielsen). Simon naively finds his way to the giant slum of Kibera and gets lost in the complex network of torn down shacks and polluted streets. Despite being born in Kenya, Simon is automatically deemed “foreign” through his language and outward demeanor. As Simon tries to find his way out of the slums, he finds himself being hunted down for reward money.

Although the event was free to the public, tickets for the screening of Lost in Africa were reserved at an extremely high demand. Nielsen is most noted for her role as Princess Lucilla in the Academy-Award nominated film Gladiator and has appeared in several episodes of “Law and Order: Special Victim’s Unit.”

However, the event was not meant to glorify the Hollywood culture but to bring deeper issues of poverty, race, political corruption and environmental sustainability to the forefront.

Lost in Africa reveals the discrepancies between culture, language and values that are compromised during circumstances of poverty and desperation. Although the narrative story of Simon and the characters in the film sends an overall uplifting message, images of pollution and detrimental living conditions spark an undeniable emotional response. It’s the realization that a Kibera really exists.

After the showing of the film, President and CEO of the Bay Area Council, Jim Wunderman, said the film touched him emotionally.

“I think the film was gripping. It was definitely hard to moderate a panel after that,” Wunderman said. “After it was over, it was just so emotional and powerful, really. I would hope that students here at Davis would pay attention to this film and films like it that explore areas that may not be on the front burner of American culture.”

During the post-screening panel discussion, Nielsen spoke to audiences about her personal experiences in Kibera and how it inspired her to start the Human Needs Project. The project aims to provide the residents of Kibera access to clean water and educational programs to help them improve their lives on a long-term basis. Nielsen hopes that the program will inspire the younger generation to take a stand.

“I think awareness and knowing who you are is truly important,” Nielsen said. “It is the deep truth about what is moving inside of you and how you can engage yourself and the world with what they believe is best. It’s very important; that is the biggest challenge for any young person. Nothing is hopeless. I believe that there is no moment that there is no hope.”

For more information on the film, visit http://www.dfi.dk/ and http://www.humanneedsproject.org for more information about The Human Needs Project.

UYEN CAO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.