#595 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday February 28)
Good morning,
As those in my age group age, many of the icons of our past are passing on. Hardly a week goes by without the death of a writer, artist, actor, musician, or other person from the world of the arts.
LOSING PEOPLE EVERY DAY
Different people bring different memories. One that hit me particularly hard was the passing of Burt Bacharach. To me, Bacharach’s music represents a bridge between the popular music of our parents and the pop (and rock) of the 1960s and 70s. More importantly, he seemed to validate that someone in a “nerdy” profession, and a pianist no less, could still exude “cool” (and also marry the likes of Angie Dickenson!). Bacharach and his lyricist partner Hal David gave us quite a songbook of the era. They really had a third “collaborator/muse” in the person of Dionne Warwick. “Walk On By,” “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “What the World Needs Now is Love,” and “That’s What Friends are For” (the Stevie Wonder hit) is quite a catalog!
Then, of course, there was the loss of David Crosby, of whom I’ve written multiple times and shared on Saturday Musings. Maybe a little more coming…
AND THEN THERE IS OUR PARENTS’ GENERATION
I had written on Valentine’s Day of the sweet tart candies with cute little saying stamped on them. In doing so, I noted that a number of phrases have been removed, as they no longer are in common usage. Mark DiMaria noted that losing these phrases is bittersweet:
“[I’m] very disappointed to learn that Hubba Hubba, 23 Skiddoo, and O You Kid are no longer on the candy shelves. They always represented an important link to our recent cultural past -- i.e., the youth of our parents and grandparents! Perhaps like Boss, Groovy, and Bitchin might be regarded today ...”
It is curious how we find the sayings, movies, and songs of our parents’ generation as something of a connection to history and the passage of time.
FINDING VALUE IN THE STRANGEST PLACES
Last year, Andrea and I attended the “new” completely different staging of Oklahoma! with friends. [The exclamation mark is part of the name of the show and not my excitement with this particular production]
The book remained the same but twisted the ending and the message to make it a completely different feel and statement. The play was, in my opinion, a thinly-veiled political statement on the evils and emptiness of the westward expansion and the communities that grew within it. To me, changing the death of Jud from an accident that was met with the community’s failure to understand Jud and his ostracization of society was the failure of the production. Turning it instead into cold-blooded murder, a murder condoned by Jud, followed by the community’s complicity with that murder was a bridge too far. The nuance of the negative undercurrent offered to balance the positive portrayal of the townspeople was what made the original play so great. That was lost when it ceased being nuance and just whacked the audience over the head.
I didn’t like it but I’m glad I saw it. But one of our friends who saw it put the art in perspective—not always for entertainment, not always enjoyable, but thought provoking:
“I was thinking about the play a lot this morning. For me, that’s a sign of art that works.
Like we discussed after the show, it wasn’t ‘entertaining,’ but it was a bold reimagining of a story that is so ingrained in our consciousness, it’s naturally uncomfortable to see it being staged and retold any differently, especially with such a somber backdrop.
And that’s why it was so interesting. ‘Good’ or ‘bad’ don’t do it justice. They stepped way out on a limb, committed to it, and, in that sense, it worked.
When I see something like last night’s play, new music, or some edgy contemporary art in a museum, I refer back to one of my favorite college textbooks in Art History class: Ways of Seeing by John Berger. It’s always guided how I think about art, i.e., it’s an alternate way of seeing the world. We can all use that right now!”
ART TO MAKE US THINK
Art can be great when it entertains, it is that much better if it makes us think. I find the theatre is uniquely able to provide not only new art but interesting reinterpretations of classics. I can visit a great museum to see great works of art, and I am partial to the new. But rarely is a work of art able to reinterpret prior works (with notable exceptions). Theatre, on the other hand, offers a great opportunity to see experience art of the past, both as originally conceived and to see how it’s weathered time and how it can be reinterpreted to reflect the current zeitgeist. While it’s great to see a traditionally presented play by Shakespeare, Shaw, Ibsen or Chekhov, it’s as great to see a modern spin on each. It’s also great to see Miller, Williams, Simon and more modern playwrights’ works presented in new and different ways.
But this is the case even with newer works. While I wasn’t thrilled over this production of Oklahoma!, the adapters should be applauded for taking the risk and raising the stakes. There are others, like the Broadway hit Company, the Sondheim classic from the early 1970s, reimagined with a female lead. And then there is the upcoming 1776, with a multi-racial predominantly female cast of our Founders and the challenges they faced, currently on Broadway.
1776 will be staged downtown at the Ahmanson from April 11 to May 7. It’s a fun sleeper of a play that celebrates the miracle of America but doesn’t shy away from, and confronts quite vividly, the failings of our Founding as well.
SUPPORT LOCAL THEATRE!
Theatre attendance is down. We all need to return and help ensure its vibrancy and availability for today and for generations to come. Go see 1776!
Have a great day,
Glenn
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