 |  |
|
It's opening night folks. Ladies in glorious gowns and gentlemen in standard issue tuxedos. Pony up $200.00 for a seat where you can see the actors eyes, see them sweat. This is Broadway where the acting is real and the props are not. Theater. Smell it, touch it, feel it.
Porgy and Bess You say you haven't seen the stage production? It didn't play in your town? New York may as well be on another planet? All good reasons to miss the thrill of live theater. So why would I write about something that is so elitist that only a relatively few people attend? Simple. The music. Everyone knows at least one tune from the aforementioned list. Maybe you can't place the song exactly, but you know it. The music travels where the cast cannot. The music lives long after the final curtain has fallen. Summertime and the livin' is easy; your daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin'... I just met a girl named Maria... It's a hard knock life... What's the use in staying at home, come hear the music play, come to the cabaret my friend... It's just a noisy hall, where there's a nightly brawl, and All That Jazz... Food, food glourious food ... You'll be swell, you'll be great, gonna have the whole world on a plate... Don't cry for me agrnetina, the truth is I never felt you... One, singular sensation... Ah yes, you do know these songs. And you've never been to Broadway. Maybe it's so elitist after all. But there is another venue. Something we all know well. The movies. Hollywood has mined the rich veins of Broadway time and time again. The crossover is so interwoven that many actors appear in both the movie version as well as the play itself. Songwriters work both coasts without the need to be at either. I am always amused at the folks that will see an adaptation of a Broadway musical at the movies and take it for original. Chicago had a great run at the movies but it had been a Broadway staple for 20 years. And to be fair, it works the other way as well. Re: The Productors and Hairspray. American culture did not invent theater or cinema but nobody puts it all together in such a way as to make that great American musical. The Europeans have opera,created for the edification of the Medici family, which bores most Americans to tears. Sort of like their turgid soccer to our dynanmic NFL. It's ours and we love it and if they don't like it who cares. We owe a tremendous debt to Black culture for the beginnings of the musical. The slaves expressed their anguish and their longing for home into music and dance. Al Jolson was not mocking blacks in his act, he was imitating them. By comparison, there is no emotion in Shapespare's plays, only dialouge. Is what Broadway does entertainment? Is it culture? Is it a reflection of life, albeit highly stylized? Yes, yes, yes. Drama, comedy, music. That's what we live every day of our lives, sometimes before breakfast. To see it acted out, distilled and purified, reminds and defines to us who we are. We are edified, we are angry, we are humbled but never are we bored. It is no wonder than that the memories of the show are something to be kept. Most people will hold on to a playbill, perhaps even the ticket stubs. Some are lucky enough to get an autograph from an actor. Others will go further to preserve the experience. These are the true collectors. A simple web search will lead you to many sites that cater to the Broadway aficionado. Perhaps you would like to bid on Yule Brenner's head razor. Or not. But there are certainly many more items of interest that can be had for the right price. The curtain falls and the theater grows dim. The patron sitting in seat H6 hurries back to retreive her glasses unaware of a lone figure in center row front. He is hunched forward, writing notes in quick spurts of inspiration. A playwright he, sowing the seeds of the next play. Bigger, better. Always, always, always...the show must go on.
|
|
