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Oct
23rdGender Blender
I’ll begin by saying that I love the Rocky Horror Picture Show. And, to be fair, I am not a huge fan of remakes. All those facts aside, I have issues with the recent news that Laverne Cox has been tapped to play Frank N’ Furter. As a small tidbit of background, I used to go to Rocky Horror at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. It was a staple of my teens and twenties, and the raucous energy of the 12th Street theatre in New York was intoxicating even on a slow night. I recently got to go to a Rocky Horror viewing party here in Nairobi, where my husband and I were among some of the only people who were actually dressed up. And, bless his heart, I got to fulfill a dream of making up someone as Frank. And it was beautiful. Of course none of the non-Americans in the room had any idea what was going on, and I was literally the only person doing the call backs, but the fact that it’s a film with staying power, that transcends oceans (the host of the party is a huge fan and he’s French), really says something about it. Who would have thought that the cast (mysteriously missing creator Richard O’Brien) would have been on the Today Show forty years later, talking about the anniversary of the film? It’s indicative of how far things have come in society and its embrace of what had previously been considered “fringe” culture. Much to my […]
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May
23rdSnakes on a Cross!
Andrew Lloyd Webber hates musicals. I don’t say this because he’s a hateful man, but he writes impossible musicals. After seeing Jesus Christ Superstar for the first time live last month on Broadway, my thoughts on ALW are only confirmed. This musical has suffered some scathing reviews (New Yorker, New York Times) but I wonder if the complaints about this musical are really not more a reflection of the musical itself, instead of this production? I don’t know who decides to write a musical about Jesus. Let alone the days that lead up to Jesus’ famous demise. Of course not all musicals are full of happiness and singing and dancing… lots of famous musicals have brutal third acts … but as a subject matter, it’s a difficult one. Then factor in the era in which it was made, and that 70’s flash doesn’t really go with Jesustime leprosy and brutalism. So just as a musical CONCEPT it starts off extremely strained. The idea of Disco Jesus Death is ridiculous, so when you’re putting on its musical representation, you might as well go WAY over the top. À la Samuel L Jackson in Snakes on a Plane! If no one thinks you’re taking yourself seriously, they’ll be less judgmental. That must have been the rationale for this production. But does it pay off? From the top, the post-Apocalyptic wardrobes, news ticker informing the audience of the Crucifixion Countdown, and video screen backdrop, the production team lets you know RIGHT AWAY that you are in for a DISCO CRUCIFIXION […]