[NEohioPAL]DELETE NOW: Not a Mike and Ike satirical review of CPT's Discordia
Jeff Holland
profbobo at neo.rr.com
Mon Oct 20 21:46:02 PDT 2003
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
------=_NextPart_000_0004_01C3976C.B40FC3A0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
IKE: Well, that's it. Our reputations are now shot straight ta hell.
MIKE: What are you talking about?
I: This is an honest ta God review. The bar has been set. We gotta go =
legit now.
M: No, we don't.
I: What are you talkin' about?
M: We can kill him like we did Smythe-Smythe.
PAUSE
I: Oh, cool.
----- Original Message -----=20
From: JT Buck=20
To: profbobo at neo.rr.com=20
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 12:11 AM
Subject: J. Claude Comments Upon "Discordia" at CPT
=20
(Warning: Mike and Ike were unavailable to review the following =
production. They are still awaiting callbacks for Aurora Community =
Theatre's youth theatre production of "Bent". Instead they sent Rolling =
Doughnuts associate J. Claude Crumbumple to see and review this show. =
This review isn't funny. Niether is J. Claude. And yet most people =
seem to think Tony and Tina's Wedding is funny. Welcome to Cleveland. )
"Discordia", the world-premier musical by James Levin and Linda =
Eisenstien currently onstage at the Cleveland Pulic Theatre, leaves this =
critic with one important thought in mind: Jerry Herman doesn't need =
grant writers to fund his work. Its actually good. And people have a =
funny way of responding to that. They buy tickets. =20
Then there come musicals like Discordia, a musical only philanthropic =
organizations would fund. =20
The story (and if you don't read the extensive program notes you might =
be unaware there is one) manipulates the tale of Percival and his =
misadventures in quest of the Holy Grail amidst a dizzying world of =
political and personal deception. Rather than turning out new insight =
into the myriad complexities of modern society and showing an honest, =
intelligent search for the much needed alternative paradigm of coping =
with them, this classic tale in CPT's theatrical hands becomes more of =
the pandering, plastic, shallow pop-left wing propoganda that CPT's =
peculiar community of arteests has been perfecting for 20 years. =20
Director Raymond Bobgan says in his program notes that musical theatre =
is for him largely about "nostalgia". The finished production makes me =
nostalgic too, for quality acting, fine singing, genuine characters and =
innovative music. What we get instead is the following laundry list of =
well-intentioned artistic misfires:
The president is an ape. With a mullet. Why? Ok, mullet aside, what =
are we supposed to make of a theatre that claims to advocate compassion =
and then depicts a thinly veiled portrait of the president and his =
administration as a bunch of shallow, sub-human caricatures? Sure, the =
Bush administration may be making some colossally bad decisions for this =
country, but they are still humans. Complicated, real, feeling and =
thinking creatures. Some of them accomplished people, some not. =
Reducing that complexity just so we liberals can feel better about =
ourselves by laughing at them is immature and intellectually lazy. =
Bobgan, Levin and Eisenstien should know better. At least GA Tagett =
performs the role of Aurthur gamely, again proving his versatility and =
range as a true asset to the NE Ohio theatre community.=20
The rest of the cast nearly disappears without a trace, either because =
of the opaque, meandering dialogue or embarassingly overripe =
actor/director choices which scream "look at us, we're edgy", without =
actually justifying any of its peculiar conventions. Imagine a =
performance of Janet Jackson's Rythm Nation, only pretending to be =
deeper that it really is. =20
Inda Blatch-Geib's costumes attempt to make the physical production look =
interesting, but the actors rarely (are allowed?) to work beyond thier =
clothing. Apparently scenic and lighting designer Trad A. Burns does =
take to heart the maxim that musical theatre sets should look like the =
music sounds, and created an appropriately colorless, bulky and bland =
performance space. =20
Perren Hedderson has the right vocal and acting chops for this material, =
and he has many, many.....many upon many opportunities to display his =
wares. Stephen Shwartz composed Pecival's music more winningly in =
"Pippin" and I would gladly line up to see Hedderson play that role. =20
Unfortunately, this performance is undercut by the very choice of him in =
the role. His love interest, a two note figure played earnestly as =
possible by Allison Hernan, is cast to shatter the stereotype of the =
traditional female love interest. Apparently, Discordia is a world =
where gorgeous men fall in love with homely women and that's ok. The =
trouble is that this is just as dishonest as any Disney film. Prince =
charming seldom falls for the Baker's wife. At least the musical =
Hairspray tries to sell us this lie with a healthy serving of fun. =
Discordia takes its social relevence way too seriously to be bothered =
with such things.
If a joke needs to explain itself, it isn't funny. The primary trouble =
with Discordia is that it spends so long explaining the relevance of =
both its jokes and its serious points that it never actually develops =
itself into anything truly important. This is a sad irony considering =
the immense amount of hype, time and energy poured into the piece. As =
an audience member, and dyed in the wool liberal, I didn't feel =
liberated or engaged. I felt by turns ignored, patronized and useless. =
This is the type of fare that has become all to common on CPT's often =
formidable stage. It's easier to talk about creating an aware and =
compassionate community that it is to actually explore what wareness and =
compassion mean. By continually putting on works that treat its =
subjects and audiences as less than the complex and pragmatic creatures =
they are, CPT's journey of good intentions is leading itself and us =
right into theatrical hell. =20
All this having been said, I will continue to be a loyal patron of CPT. =
They may miss more than they hit, but Bobgan, Eisenstien, Rollison and =
the rest of the CPT gang they ARE among the few theatre teams in =
Cleveland even trying. So if thier work is occationally banal, they =
deserve at least an A- for effort. =20
(Please do not address any nasty rebuttals to Jeff Holland. He had =
nothing to do with this review. Thanks - J. Claude)
I: Now we were originally going to see this show ourselves, ,but we =
started thinkin. The name sounded vaguely familiar.
M: We started looking back at our earlier reviews and found--no, it =
wasn't the drugs--we had seen this thing before, in a workshop =
production.
I: Then we remembered the show.
M: And while we did enjoy it
I: It's a message show.
M: And we can't take message shows twice without clawing our eyes out =
with a melonballer.
I: This is a proven fact.
M: So there you go.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-------
Enjoy MSN 8 patented spam control and more with MSN 8 Dial-up Internet =
Service. Try it FREE for one month!
------=_NextPart_000_0004_01C3976C.B40FC3A0
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; =
charset=3Diso-8859-1">
<META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2800.1226" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>IKE: Well, that's it. Our =
reputations=20
are now shot straight ta hell.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>MIKE: What are you talking=20
about?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I: This is an honest ta God =
review. The=20
bar has been set. We gotta go legit now.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>M: No, we don't.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I: What are <EM>you</EM> talkin'=20
about?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>M: We can kill him like we did=20
Smythe-Smythe.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>PAUSE</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I: Oh, cool.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV>
<DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----=20
<DIV style=3D"BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A=20
title=3Ddarnay2 at hotmail.com href=3D"mailto:darnay2 at hotmail.com">JT =
Buck</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=3Dprofbobo at neo.rr.com=20
href=3D"mailto:profbobo at neo.rr.com">profbobo at neo.rr.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, October 21, 2003 12:11 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> J. Claude Comments Upon "Discordia" at =
CPT</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><EM> </EM></DIV>
<DIV><EM></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><EM>(Warning: Mike and Ike were unavailable to review the following =
production. They are still awaiting callbacks for Aurora Community =
Theatre's youth theatre production of "Bent". Instead they sent =
Rolling=20
Doughnuts associate J. Claude Crumbumple to see and review this =
show. This=20
review isn't funny. Niether is J. Claude. And yet most =
people seem=20
to think Tony and Tina's Wedding is funny. Welcome to=20
Cleveland. )</EM></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>"Discordia", the world-premier musical by James Levin and =
Linda=20
Eisenstien currently onstage at the Cleveland Pulic Theatre, leaves this =
critic=20
with one important thought in mind: Jerry Herman doesn't =
need=20
grant writers to fund his work. Its actually good. And people have =
a funny=20
way of responding to that. They buy tickets. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Then there come musicals like Discordia, a musical only =
philanthropic=20
organizations would fund. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>The story (and if you don't read the extensive program notes you =
might be=20
unaware there is one) manipulates the tale of Percival and his =
misadventures in=20
quest of the Holy Grail amidst a dizzying world of political and =
personal=20
deception. Rather than turning out new insight into the myriad =
complexities of=20
modern society and showing an honest, intelligent search for the =
much=20
needed alternative paradigm of coping with them, this classic =
tale in=20
CPT's theatrical hands becomes more of the pandering, plastic, shallow =
pop-left=20
wing propoganda that CPT's peculiar community of arteests has been=20
perfecting for 20 years. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Director Raymond Bobgan says in his program notes that musical =
theatre is=20
for him largely about "nostalgia". The finished production makes =
me=20
nostalgic too, for quality acting, fine singing, genuine characters and=20
innovative music. What we get instead is the following laundry =
list of=20
well-intentioned artistic misfires:</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>The president is an ape. With a mullet. Why? Ok, =
mullet=20
aside, what are we supposed to make of a theatre that claims to advocate =
compassion and then depicts a thinly veiled portrait of the president =
and his=20
administration as a bunch of shallow, sub-human caricatures? Sure, =
the=20
Bush administration may be making some colossally bad decisions for this =
country, but they are still humans. Complicated, real, feeling and =
thinking creatures. Some of them accomplished people, some=20
not. Reducing that complexity just so we liberals can feel =
better=20
about ourselves by laughing at them is immature and intellectually =
lazy. =20
Bobgan, Levin and Eisenstien should know better. At least GA Tagett =
performs the=20
role of Aurthur gamely, again proving his versatility and range as a =
true asset=20
to the NE Ohio theatre community. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>The rest of the cast nearly disappears without a trace, either =
because of=20
the opaque, meandering dialogue or embarassingly overripe actor/director =
choices=20
which scream "look at us, we're edgy", without actually justifying any =
of its=20
peculiar conventions. Imagine a performance of Janet Jackson's =
Rythm=20
Nation, only pretending to be deeper that it really is. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Inda Blatch-Geib's costumes attempt to make the physical production =
look=20
interesting, but the actors rarely (are allowed?) to work beyond =
thier=20
clothing. Apparently scenic and lighting designer Trad A. Burns =
does take=20
to heart the maxim that musical theatre sets should look like the music =
sounds,=20
and created an appropriately colorless, bulky and bland performance =
space. =20
</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Perren Hedderson has the right vocal and acting chops for this =
material, and he has many, many.....many upon many opportunities to =
display=20
his wares. Stephen Shwartz composed Pecival's music more =
winningly in=20
"Pippin" and I would gladly line up to see Hedderson play that =
role. =20
</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Unfortunately, this performance is undercut by the very choice =
of him=20
in the role. His love interest, a two note figure played earnestly =
as=20
possible by Allison Hernan, is cast to shatter the stereotype of the =
traditional=20
female love interest. Apparently, Discordia is a world where =
gorgeous men=20
fall in love with homely women and that's ok. The trouble is that =
this is=20
just as dishonest as any Disney film. Prince charming seldom falls =
for the=20
Baker's wife. At least the musical Hairspray tries to sell us this =
lie=20
with a healthy serving of fun. Discordia takes its social =
relevence way=20
too seriously to be bothered with such things.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>If a joke needs to explain itself, it isn't funny. The =
primary=20
trouble with Discordia is that it spends so long explaining the =
relevance of=20
both its jokes and its serious points that it never actually develops =
itself=20
into anything truly important. This is a sad irony considering the =
immense=20
amount of hype, time and energy poured into the piece. As an =
audience=20
member, and dyed in the wool liberal, I didn't feel liberated or =
engaged. =20
I felt by turns ignored, patronized and useless. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>This is the type of fare that has become all to common on CPT's =
often=20
formidable stage. It's easier to talk about creating an aware and=20
compassionate community that it is to actually explore what wareness and =
compassion mean. By continually putting on works that treat its =
subjects=20
and audiences as less than the complex and pragmatic creatures they =
are,=20
CPT's journey of good intentions is leading itself and us right =
into=20
theatrical hell. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>All this having been said, I will continue to be a loyal patron of=20
CPT. They may miss more than they hit, but Bobgan, Eisenstien, =
Rollison=20
and the rest of the CPT gang they ARE among the few=20
theatre teams in Cleveland even trying. So if thier work =
is=20
occationally banal, they deserve at least an A- for effort. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>(Please do not address any nasty rebuttals to Jeff Holland. =
He had=20
nothing to do with this review. Thanks - J. Claude)</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR clear=3Dall><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I: Now we were =
originally going=20
to see this show ourselves, ,but we started thinkin. The name =
sounded=20
vaguely familiar.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>M: We started looking back at our =
earlier=20
reviews and found--no, it wasn't the drugs--we had seen this thing =
before, in a=20
workshop production.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I: Then we remembered the =
show.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>M: And while we did enjoy =
it</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I: It's a message =
show.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>M: And we can't take message =
shows twice=20
without clawing our eyes out with a melonballer.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I: This is a proven =
fact.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>M: So there you go.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<HR>
</DIV>
<DIV><A href=3D"http://g.msn.com/8HMAENUS/2743??PS=3D">Enjoy MSN 8 =
patented spam=20
control and more with MSN 8 Dial-up Internet Service. Try it FREE for =
one month!=20
</A></DIV></BODY></HTML>
------=_NextPart_000_0004_01C3976C.B40FC3A0--
More information about the NEohioPAL
mailing list