Heathers the Musical

Inspired by the entertainment value of Rocky the Musical, I got tickets to the off-Broadway production of Heathers the Musical. I figured that no matter what it would have to be fun, even if not great theater. Well, I was wrong. It was a giant mess of schlock. I felt embarrassed for the performers, who seemed competent and talented. They just had to work with a big chaotic ridiculous joke of material. It was frenetic and unfunny. Shrill and flat at the same time. The music and lyrics were cringe-worthy.

It was so bad that we left after intermission!!! I don't think I've ever done that with live entertainment (just movies). I'm glad I didn't punish myself by staying for the whole thing.

Nebraska

A couple of nights ago I watched Alexander Payne's Nebraska starring Bruce Dern. I was really mesmerized by this bleak and beautiful movie.

It tells the story of a cantankerous older man, possibly losing his faculties, who becomes convinced he's won a million dollars from a magazine sweepstakes. Unable to convince him it's a scam, his two sons and wife join him on a journey from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska to collect his winnings. On the way they stop for a couple of days at his family's home where he grew up in small town in Nebraska.

The relationships are all tense and empty. There a large chasms of lost connections. However, the movie slowly takes it's time to illuminate the these connections, and it gradually, tentatively reveals the love, fragile as it may be, between the four central characters.

Filmed in black and white, Nebraska is visually as well as emotionally beautiful, and each frame is stunning.

Rocky The Musical

What an exciting musical! Rocky tells the story of the 1976 movie, which I barely remember, about a down and out local boxer struggling to find respect -- from himself and others. The opportunity to fight the leading champion falls in his lap, and presents him with an opportunity to prove himself.

The narrative is pretty straight-forward. What really made this show dynamic was the production. The sets were dramatic and atmospheric. They made great use of film, particularly during the training montages, and used large screens to project actors playing broadcasters.

However, they brought all the bells and whistles out for the finale. Audience members in the first ten rows were led up to the stage to fill bleachers. The excitement of the fight was enhanced through extra large screens showing close ups of the match. And the ring was extended out into the orchestra so everyone felt close to the action. Totally fun!

I Puritani

I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of incredibly beautiful singing today. I saw the Met production of Bellini's I Puritani. Every principal gave a stunning performance. The music was just wonderful.

The plot however was a little bland -- not much happens -- and also a little murky. It was hard to keep up with some of the allegiances. The set was dull, dark and grim.

As I said all the singers blew me away. I was particularly moved by tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Arturo and Olga Peretyako as Elvira. The two of them delivered several show-stopper arias.

Gentrification of the Mind

Tonight, in one sitting, I read Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination by Sarah Schulman. It was impossible to put down this important and compelling work. Part memoir of the AIDS crisis and ACT UP, part socio-economic history of the last 50 years in New York City, part elegy, part urgent treatise on the need for accountability, Gentrification of the Mind read to me as personal wake up call:

I was eating a $25 piece of fish at the bar of a restaurant in Park Slope when I started reading it on my kindle. This initially and casually struck me as "ironic", but as I read on I was forced to reflect on the complexities of my position. Irony is too often mobilized as a way of dismissing -- not confronting -- uncomfortable realities. And Gentrification of the Mind makes it painfully and poignantly clear how important it is to be uncomfortable and to resist social, political, emotional, intellectual, sexual, and artistic complacency.

The relationships between the AIDS crisis, the transformation of NYC in the 80s and 90s, and the loss of artistically vital communities, are eloquently drawn through details of personal and public tragedy. The lives and deaths of Schulman's friends, and their connection with the larger changes in American culture, such as widespread homogenization of neighborhoods and the professionalization of the arts, are narrated with deep thoughtfulness and sharp intelligent reflection.

This very thought-provoking work literally brought me to tears. Although it concludes optimistically looking toward the future, Gentrification of the Mind affected me in a very personal way, as I looked back at my own trajectory as a queer native New Yorker and former poet throughout these decades. I think the important thing is not to knee-jerk indulge in nostalgia, but to hold myself accountable for the ways in which I've become comfortable with my own internal gentrification.

I Wear the Black Hat

I just finished I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined), Chuck Klosterman's engaging collection of essays.

Examining what makes us think of some people as especially bad -- as "villains", Klosterman analyzes moments in recent cultural history in wonderfully clever ways. From Sandusky to Linda Tripp to OJ Simpson to Perez Hilton -- why do we see these people as particularly villainous? This is not a lesson in morality; it is more subtle than that, and much more interesting.

Because I am out of it pop-culture-wise these days, I was relieved that many of the incidents and people he discussed were prominent in the 90s. But, even if he was discussing sports figures of whom I know nothing, his writing was so enjoyable and his ideas were so presented so eloquently that familiarity with the point of reference was not always necessary. I Wear the Black Hat is both thought-provoking and entertaining. My favorite combo.

I was disappointed that he didn't address the movie Megamind, which chronicles the existential crisis of a super-villain deprived of his arch enemy. I would love to read Klosterman's review of that movie. As it is, I will definitely be reading more of him in the future.

The Brady Bunch Movie

Yesterday I watched The Brady Bunch Movie, which I had seen when it first came out in 1995. Back then it was hilarious and it still holds up. It lacked the pow of freshness it had back then --- the surprise of the brilliant satire, but still is very good.

Amazingly they captured how creepy The Brady Bunch was. Although we watched it over and over and over as kids, we were unaware of how odd and campy it was. The creators and the actors of the movie nailed it, spot on.

I had many favorites, but the things that tickled me the most was Cindy, and the parents' dorky banter.