Posted 6:46 AM by Gene

Ben Brantley's DARING admission that the latest MUSICAL OF THE CENTURY may not be so hot (he conveniently saves it for the last paragraph -- how BOLD! how COURAGEOUS!) indicates that perhaps MARKETING CANNOT save the THEA-TAH. Or as he puts it:

Such ventures, which include flesh-and-blood versions of Disney cartoons and jukebox karaoke shows like "Mamma Mia!," reconstruct elements from much-loved cultural phenomena with wide fan bases. Only rarely do these productions match, much less surpass, the appeal of what inspired them. Generally, they simply serve as colorful aides-mémoire for the pop group, television show or movie to which they pay tribute. Within this category, "Spamalot" ranks high, right up there with (try not to wince, Pythonites) the sweetly moronic "Mamma Mia!," which repackages the disco hits of Abba into a comfy singalong frolic.

In other words, you're paying $100 to watch a night of TV. I don't care what the AD BLURBS say, this is another spadeful of dirt on the THEATER. Ever since the musical died in the 1960s it's been one FAD after another -- first the dead man's revues like the now forgotten George M! and Ain't Misbehavin', whose tunefulness almost made people forget good songs had vanished from the stage; then HERR DOKTOR SONDHEIM, whose CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED heirs of gloom and assigns of ennui had not ONE HIT among them; then LORD LLOUD WUBBISH and LORD SCHLOCKINTOSH, manufacturers of highly elaborate mechanical contraptions that ran for years and vanished without a trace; then the aforementioned ROCK CONCERTS, which will spawn in great numbers until the sun turns cinder. Now it's BLAZING SADDLES with MUSIC. When the FOURTH or FIFTH of these HIGH-SCHOOL COMEDIES arrives maybe the COPYWRITERS will FINALLY WISE UP -- and then move onto ANOTHER FAD. (Certainly that sirening blurb machine CLIVE will never wise up -- but he has nothing to wise up FROM.) Most likely this latest happy-gas-fuming internal-combustion engine is critic-proof. One may question, however, if our culture is BAD-proof.

But then, the musical is so dead the corpse has no smell.

P. S.

Another cliché that gets a workout — and uproarious audience approval — is a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song that has Sir Robin proclaiming, “You won’t succeed on Broadway if don’t have any Jews,” a topic mined with greater wit (believe it or not) in “The Producers.”

WHO DARED WRITE THIS?????

P. S. At 5:08 p.m.: This is a rewrite of a post I made this morning (which I partly reposted later in the day -- that one since deleted -- because KADIDDLEBLOG was showing MORE SIGNS OF EXCELLENCE); I incorrectly assumed from the first graf it was another fatuous rave for another mechanical production. (There is something NOT to be said for SPEED SURFING.) Or to paraphrase Ben Brantley, he shows a little discernment -- and that's not saying much.