2005 Madison Scouts - 2005 DCI Audio Archive APD

Show: The Carmen Project

• Carmen

The Good: Michael Cesario pointed out during a DCI Field Pass interview that the hornline starts with the trills from Slaughter on 10th Avenue. They do, but backfield. I kind of want my face blown off by those trills. The Scouts, however, make up for that by hitting my square between the eyes with the opening statement of the Fate theme from Carmen. Percussion sounds so much better than in years past. Nice double tounging by the sopranos and mellophones during the opener. This is a very Madison show, thanks in part to the Scott Boerma horn arrangements. The fans go nuts when Carmen appears, which was a pretty effective visual moment from what I saw in Allentown. The whole show is really Variations on Themes from Carmen with some West Side Story and a little Malageuna thrown in for good measure and it works well. It doesn't hurt that there's plenty of screaming sopranos. After all, it wouldn't be a Madison show without them. I just noticed how, as Carmen is carried off the field, the horns are playing the Somewhere chords while the pit is playing the Carmen theme, nice touch.

The Bad: The ending never really did work, no matter what the designers did to make it better, which is too bad because they did try their hardest to put something together to end the show properly. While the ending drill moves are great to watch, it just doesn't fit with the rest of the show. Bringing back the whistles from the drum solo is a little overkill in that particular area.

The Ugly: Carmen's not ugly, she's hot, and so's this show.

Overview: The best Madison show since 1999, both in terms of entertainment and placement, and a great start to the Top 6 of 2005.

Website: http://madisonscouts.org/main.asp?corps=madisonscouts

2006 Auditions: TBA