As has become a bit of a family tradition in recent years, we've recently popped up to Wellington to attend the "World of Wearable Art" Awards Show (i.e. "WOW") again this year.
IIRC our first one was in 2015 (???), and again in 2016 and 2019 (with gaps in between due to busy years, with lots of other things / other big trips + travel taking place). Then COVID happened, before we finally started heading back the last few years again. So yeah... we've done this trip "a few" times now...
Overall Impression: This year was a massive improvement on the last few editions, re-centering the show on what made it great in the past (i.e. bringing it back to what it was like the first few times we came, pre-Covid).
Thoroughly enjoyed it, and more importantly, left creatively re-invigorated + inspired to try to do more awesome stuff again in what little free time I get.
The only real quibble I had about this year, is that I personally thought most of my personal faves were robbed / overlooked for prizes, OR even just placings (as at least in the awards presentation, they only had like a winner and a runner-up, instead of like "Top 3" as in previous years IIRC). Then again, a few of the categories had so much awesome stuff, it was hard to really pin down who *should* have won in that category, so it was tough work to be a judge I guess! An interesting problem to have I guess!
Great Parts (NOTE: Some spoilers ahead!):
* Love the re-centering on first and foremost showing off
the competition artworks! Especially all the bits and pieces where they
do a final lap of glory, close up in front of audiences again.
This is especially awesome to see, following last year's absolute train-wreck of a show, which just felt tonally "off" / like the creative team fundamentally misunderstood the DNA of what the WOW experience was trying to be about, instead ending up as an overly confusing muddle of gaudy "circus-y" elements that pretty much threatened to overwhelm and diminish what had made the show so great for years (i.e. Particularly galling was how, in last year's show, all the "extra dancers" on stage all the time in fancy + varied eye-catching costumes, made it very hard to tell what was one of the competition pieces, and which were just supporting background characters! Talk about a massive amount of disrespect being shown!)
So, yeah, re-centering the show to put the focus squarely on the real stars of the show, and making it again an all-encompassing experience where you are really "transported to another world" (*) from the time you step foot in the foyer, and until you exit back out into the courtyard is great to see.
(*) That is forever something that is etched in my memory from our first WOW show: Walking into the venue, seeing all the past prize-winners on display, then walking into the auditorium and seeing these big fluffy clouds floating in mid air, while atmospheric music played, and then all this connecting with how the main character appeared (IIRC, literally flying in from the side, onto the stage), etc... OR that scene honouring Ian Athfield (?) with all the light beams + shadowed patterns + a silhouetted figure wearing a tall hat walking away (or something like that) - Things like this all contributed to making quite a memorable experience that stays with you for a lifetime!
* Neon section was really fun + cool. Loads of fun, and it seems that the whole room thought so too! Easily my favourite section (with "Air" coming close)
* Opera-singing tenor at the finale had an amazing voice! Wow!
* The sweeper clown character acting as the audience guide was a good unifying thing to bring the performance together.
This character serves this purpose a *LOT* better than just having the singers popping up throughout the show singing different stuff TBH (as previous shows in recent history had been doing). While the singers were still present in most acts this time too, at least there was something else holding things together better than just having them to try to tenuously link it to a theme that didn't quite stick.
* Tui-like dancer costumes + The Big Bloomy White Train dress opening the air section (was this a former winner?) I thought these were really effective bits of pieces
*
Aerial stuff was used in more moderation and with less pointless
repetition, instead bringing back the surprise element that made them
work well (i.e. suddenly aerial acrobats descending above your head type
thing). Esp love that "headlight dance" with the car being suspended,
AND the audience plant sitting in front of us doing the showstopper
headline dance.
* Also, I liked that this year the show didn't seem to get bogged down in a 3rd-quarter "dark tone" weird-zone as in most previous years (e.g. think "Dark Dungeon set, where brooding ox-men with large ribbed ram-horns parade around to the sight of stag-antlers on the walls), when the "Avant Garde" / "Weird Creature" sections would usually happen? TBH, I never quite liked those ones, and dreaded when they would inevitably start dragging on and on, out of place and losing moment, and being rather "bleh"
Minor Quibbles
* It was a bit distracting that so many audience members were somehow finding ways to pop out to the toilet (or even seemingly get escorted help to leave even?!) Especially when you see that quite a few of those had very clearly dressed up in eye-catching ways (*ahem* some rather fancy tight-fitting dresses) to try to get everyone to look at them.
No comments:
Post a Comment