Open Class 2023 Productions Thread

[bigtrombone]

It's hard to believe, but the 2023 DCI season is just around the corner. As the drum corps season draws nearer, more shows are likely to be announced. Since we have a thread for this in the World Class section, I think it's fair to give Open Class some love here. Any and all Open Class production announcements will go here. To Start Off:

Guardians: "i know the end"

- Sound and Color - The Alabama Shakes
- X. Adjuah (I Own the Night) - Christian Scott aka Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah
- Everything In Its Right Place - Radiohead
- Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
- Original Music by Ben Hylton, Matt Penland, & Tyler Sammons

[ilikeguard]

Love this repertoire, but it seems to be missing "I Know The End" by Phoebe Bridgers, which has a beautiful instrumental bit that would be absolutely perfect for a hornline. I wonder if a similar motif will appear in the original arrangement...or if it's being kept secret for later 🤔 

[cinnamonpromenade]

Apr 11, 2023 13:59:35 GMT -6 ilikeguard said:

Love this repertoire, but it seems to be missing "I Know The End" by Phoebe Bridgers, which has a beautiful instrumental bit that would be absolutely perfect for a hornline. I wonder if a similar motif will appear in the original arrangement...or if it's being kept secret for later 🤔 

You're literally SO right......... but I think all the arrangers are (straight) men in their 30s so they've probably never heard of Phoebe 😭😭😭

[ilikeguard]

Apr 11, 2023 14:45:52 GMT -6 cinnamonpromenade said:

Apr 11, 2023 13:59:35 GMT -6 ilikeguard said:

Love this repertoire, but it seems to be missing "I Know The End" by Phoebe Bridgers, which has a beautiful instrumental bit that would be absolutely perfect for a hornline. I wonder if a similar motif will appear in the original arrangement...or if it's being kept secret for later 🤔 

You're literally SO right......... but I think all the arrangers are (straight) men in their 30s so they've probably never heard of Phoebe 😭😭😭

LOL

[bigtrombone]

Apr 11, 2023 13:59:35 GMT -6 ilikeguard said:

Love this repertoire, but it seems to be missing "I Know The End" by Phoebe Bridgers, which has a beautiful instrumental bit that would be absolutely perfect for a hornline. I wonder if a similar motif will appear in the original arrangement...or if it's being kept secret for later 🤔 

Some Guardians members on the drum corps subreddit have hinted that the original music will incorporate themes from this.

[bigtrombone]

I know is the Show Announcement Thread, but from what I've heard, it sounds like the Louisiana Stars are going to be inactive for 2023.

[ilikeguard]

Apr 18, 2023 18:19:10 GMT -6 bigtrombone said:

I know is the Show Announcement Thread, but from what I've heard, it sounds like the Louisiana Stars are going to be inactive for 2023.

I heard the same a while ago. What a shame! They'll be missed. 

[bigtrombone]

Blue Devils C: "BD C-Fari"

- Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N Roses
- Africa - Toto
- Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
- Roar - Katy Perry

BDC & BDB will both be staying in California this summer.

[N.E. Brigand]

May 16, 2023 14:20:58 GMT -6 bigtrombone said:

Blue Devils C: "BD C-Fari"
- Welcome to the Jungle - the Guns N' Roses song
- Africa - the Toto song by David Paich & Jeff Porcaro
- Eye of the Tiger - the Survivor song by Frankie Sullivan & Jim Peterik
- Roar - the Katy Perry song by Perry, Lukasz Gottwald, et al.

Based on the livestream of tonight's SoCal Classic (the first corps performances I've seen this season), I can add that BDC has 52 members: 11 battery (4/2/3/2), 9 pit, 18 brass, 13 guard, 1 dm, and more relevantly for this thread, I can offer the repertoires (but also the sizes) of the other Open Class corps there:

Vessel: "The Dark (K)night"
- original compositions by Randy Dulaney, Fred Smith IV, Bryan Nungary
62 members: 23 battery (10/3/6/4), 18 pit, 18 brass, 2 guard, 1 dm

Impulse: "Maverick"
- You're Where You Belong - from Top Gun: Maverick, by Hans Zimmer, Harold Faltermeyer, et al.
- Danger Zone - the Kenny Loggins song from Top Gun written by Giorgio Moroder & Tom Whitlock
- I Ain't Worried - the OneRepublic song from Top Gun: Maverick written by Ryan Tedder, Brent Kutzle, et al.
- Great Balls of Fire - the Jerry Lee Lewis song by Otis Blackwell & Jack Hammer
- The Man, the Legend - from Top Gun: Maverick, by Hans Zimmer, Harold Faltermeyer, et al.
46 members: 15 battery (7/3/5), 9 pit, 13 brass, 7 guard, 2 dm

Golden Empire: "Serpentine"
- Sensamayá - Silvestre Revuletas
- La Noche de los mayas - Silvestre Revueltas
- Inframundo - Ludwig Emil Tomas Göransson & Santiago Ogarrio
- Unholy - the Sam Smith & Kim Petras song by Smith, Petras, et al.
76 members: 21 battery (7/4/5/5), 14 pit, 18 brass, 20 guard, 3 dm

Gold: "The Hands That Pull the Strings"
- Symphony No. 1 - Johannes Brahms
- Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) - the Journey song by Jonathan Cain & Steve Perry
- Russians - Sting & Sergei Prokofiev (based on the "Romance" movement of the latter's Lieutenant Kijé Suite)
- It's a Sin - the Pet Shop Boys song by Chris Lowe & Neil Tennant
- Un Nouveau Mechant (A New Villain) - ;Frankie Rice
142 members: 24 battery (9/4/6/5), 16 pit, 79 brass, 19 guard, 4 dm

Blue Devils B: "Fathers of Electricity"
- original compositions by John Meehan, Sean Clark & Chavadith Tantavirojn, in four parts:
1. Benjamin Franklin and the Kite and Key Experiment
2. Thomas Edison and the Invention of the Lightbulb
3. Alessandro Volta and the First Battery
4. Nikola Tesla and the Tesla Cell
135 members: 21 battery (9/4/5/3), 13 pit, 67 brass, 30 guard, 4 dm

And while not a DCI competing corps, the evening opened with an exhibition performance by:

Freelancers Alumni: "Living the Legacy"
- Breaking Up is Hard to Do - Neil Sedaka & Howard Greenfield
- Wind Machine - Sammy Nestico
- Bridge Over Troubled Water - Paul Simon
- Macarthur Park - the Richard Harris (and/or Donna Summer) song by Jimmy Webb
25 members: 24 brass, 1 trap set

[N.E. Brigand]

Jul 16, 2023 21:35:06 GMT -6 N.E. Brigand said:

Gold: "The Hands That Pull the Strings"
- Symphony No. 1 - Johannes Brahms
- Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) - the Journey song by Jonathan Cain & Steve Perry
- Russians - Sting & Sergei Prokofiev (based on the "Romance" movement of the latter's Lieutenant Kijé Suite)
- It's a Sin - the Pet Shop Boys song by Chris Lowe & Neil Tennant
- Un Nouveau Mechant (A New Villain) - ;Frankie Rice
142 members: 24 battery (9/4/6/5), 16 pit, 79 brass, 19 guard, 4 dm

Did you know that Sting's "Russians" was a key inspiration to both James Cameron for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer (2023)?

[N.E. Brigand]

Based on their WAMSB performance last week (starts at 3:05:35):

Calgary Stampede Showband: "Sonic Playground"
- Life Is Happiness Indeed - from Candide by Leonard Bernstein
- Sabre Dance - from Gayane by Aram Khachaturian
- Sensemayá - by Silvestre Revueltas
- Swing! - by ​___ (I'm not sure; it sounded like a pastiche of various famous swing pieces such as "Sing, Sing, Sing")
- Once Upon Another Time - by Sara Bareilles
- Overture - from Candide by Leonard Bernstein
139 members: 11 battery (4/3/4*), 14 pit, 49 brass, 40 woodwinds, 20 guard, 4 dm

*Looks like they had a hole in their bass drum line with drill staged for five rather than four.

The "playground" theme was expressed visually by swings, teeter-totters, a slide, and a jungle gym.

Earlier this year, the Showband named a new director: John Meehan, a member of DCI's Hall of Fame who regularly works with the Blue Devils.

[N.E. Brigand]

Amusingly, the repertoire for this year's Open Class champion, Spartans, never got listed in this thread.

I liked their closer, but only tonight did I first hear the original: "Tragic Kingdom" (1995) by No Doubt.