DVD Spotlight of the Week: 1989 Santa Clara Vanguard

When Phantom Regiment was announced in 2nd place at the 1989 DCI World Championship Finals with a 98.40, the corps had tied the highest score ever awarded to a World Class Champion up to that point. That record score only held for about a minute, when Santa Clara Vanguard was announced with a 98.80, capping a nearly undefeated season only marred by a mid-July loss to the Blue Devils. SCV’s score would remain a record for more than a decade until 2002. 1989 was Drum Corps International’s second year in a row at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, a World Championship that witnessed Crossmen returning to the Finals after a four-year absence and Freelancers making it back in after going inactive in 1986. Some of the most memorable moments included the Cavaliers’ barbarically loud drumheads on hoops, Cadets’ slow-motion “strobe light” drill formation effect and Suncoast Sound’s second take at the all-original “Florida Suite,” with mostly new selections. Santa Clara Vanguard won with a revamped, second-year edition of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera.” For many fans, the production was everything they wanted from drum corps, and for that reason, it has long been a fan-favorite. It was voted the number one finalist performance ever by fans who selected the shows to be presented during DCI’s 2007 Classic Countdown theater event. After a brief and mysterious introduction, the brass section spilling from an upfront block formation during the title track, more than made the ears perk up. The eyes noticed the brass players and percussionists all wearing white masks over half their face, just as the title character did in the Broadway production. Large sets of the same design were propped up across the back and down the sidelines, looking quite ominous. “Angel of Music,” though a ballad, was delivered with a forceful passion that matched the “Phantom of the Opera” selection that bookended it. “Masquerade” was interpreted with large flags of eye masks and large whimsical masquerade ball masks on the members of the front ensemble. As loud as the music was, one can hear the fans erupt in frequent cheers. This was a show that kept on delivering thrilling moments from the beginning through to the end. The masked Phantom appeared at the end of the work, threatening all and running to the back as the corps went into “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again.”