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Apr. 1st, 2018 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Well okay, this shocked the heck out of me...wandering around on FB today.
Who is Allison Mack, former Smallville Star, as number two in Raniere Sex Cult -- aiding in human sex trafficking
And apparently Kristen Kreuk was also involved. You can go look up the details on your own. It's sickening. But seemingly real -- I checked Snopes, and there's no record one way or the other.
I'm thinking I'm going to spend the rest of the evening off of the internet. I miss the days in which I didn't know all these things.
2. Overcast mainly, but sun came out briefly. Bought flowers for the windowsill.
Also enjoyed church, the UU's sort of view Easter the same way I do, along with the Christ story, which is more metaphorical and less literal based.
Looking forward to Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert tonight. It's my favorite rock musical of all time. I think I've seen it five or six times, and six variations.
Favorite musicals? I'm admittedly more of a rock musical fan than a traditionalist.
* Jesus Christ Superstar - the layers of this musical are amazing. It's a social commentary, a religious commentary, a political commentary, and it has songs that resonate long after you leave the theater.
* West Side Story (which I've never seen performed on stage) - see JCS for why it works. However, unlike JCS, it's dialogue is horribly dated. Too much 1950s slang.
* Spring Awakening - layers upon layers, political commentary, and deeply meaningful story about love, coming of age, and communication
* Rent - some amazing songs, and an interesting commentary on a time period, although, oddly, still resonates today
* Les Miserables - melodramatic, but amazing songs, riveting score, and also a timely commentary on issues of today
* A Chorus Line -- interesting dissection of the theater and audition process, along with societal labeling and the beauty myth
* Cabaret - one of the best adaptations of a play into a musical, and does a great job of critiquing societal prejudices
* My Fair Lady - a fun romp, but also an interesting commentary on classicism and gender politics, although Shaw's interpretation may be slightly better, but I like the songs here more.
* South Pacific - political commentary, offensive in places, and shows the time period accurately, an adaptation of a novel into a musical -- and a rather good one. Also my favorite of the Rodgers and Hammerstein period
* Hamilton (never seen performed, just listened to the cast album)
* Into the Woods - a twisty look at fairy tales and romance and wishes...and how things aren't quite as they seem
* Pippin -- a satiric riff on our society and narcissism that is rather amazing in places.
Least Favorite?
*Next to Normal -- not much there in the music. The songs make no sense outside of the musical. The staging and performances are fantastic. But I've listened to the music a while now, and thinking over it...it's lacking in so many ways
*Company -- a musical about a bunch of narcissistic New Yorkers and their inability to form lasting relationships due to the narcissism.
*Bye Bye Birdie -- a musical that feels a bit sexist, it's about Elvis leaving for the military and the girls fanworshipping him.
* Kiss of the Spiderwoman -- very dark, not many memorable songs, it's good, but...
* Chess -- it should work, but it doesn't. Having seen two stagings of it, I think the story is off. The plot just doesn't quite hang together
* Phantom of the Opera -- too operatic and melodramatic, and doesn't seem to have anything to say, most of Lloyd Webber's musicals do on some level, this one just doesn't
* Hello Dolly - this was also a musical adaptation of a play, but it doesn't have much to say, and outside of the tidal number? Nothing all that memorable. People see it for the star in much the same way they went to Sunset Boulevard for Glenn Close. If it doesn't have a really good lead...it doesn't work.
I've only done the one's that I've actually seen or listened to a full cast album. Don't comment on the one's I haven't.
Who is Allison Mack, former Smallville Star, as number two in Raniere Sex Cult -- aiding in human sex trafficking
And apparently Kristen Kreuk was also involved. You can go look up the details on your own. It's sickening. But seemingly real -- I checked Snopes, and there's no record one way or the other.
I'm thinking I'm going to spend the rest of the evening off of the internet. I miss the days in which I didn't know all these things.
2. Overcast mainly, but sun came out briefly. Bought flowers for the windowsill.
Also enjoyed church, the UU's sort of view Easter the same way I do, along with the Christ story, which is more metaphorical and less literal based.
Looking forward to Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert tonight. It's my favorite rock musical of all time. I think I've seen it five or six times, and six variations.
Favorite musicals? I'm admittedly more of a rock musical fan than a traditionalist.
* Jesus Christ Superstar - the layers of this musical are amazing. It's a social commentary, a religious commentary, a political commentary, and it has songs that resonate long after you leave the theater.
* West Side Story (which I've never seen performed on stage) - see JCS for why it works. However, unlike JCS, it's dialogue is horribly dated. Too much 1950s slang.
* Spring Awakening - layers upon layers, political commentary, and deeply meaningful story about love, coming of age, and communication
* Rent - some amazing songs, and an interesting commentary on a time period, although, oddly, still resonates today
* Les Miserables - melodramatic, but amazing songs, riveting score, and also a timely commentary on issues of today
* A Chorus Line -- interesting dissection of the theater and audition process, along with societal labeling and the beauty myth
* Cabaret - one of the best adaptations of a play into a musical, and does a great job of critiquing societal prejudices
* My Fair Lady - a fun romp, but also an interesting commentary on classicism and gender politics, although Shaw's interpretation may be slightly better, but I like the songs here more.
* South Pacific - political commentary, offensive in places, and shows the time period accurately, an adaptation of a novel into a musical -- and a rather good one. Also my favorite of the Rodgers and Hammerstein period
* Hamilton (never seen performed, just listened to the cast album)
* Into the Woods - a twisty look at fairy tales and romance and wishes...and how things aren't quite as they seem
* Pippin -- a satiric riff on our society and narcissism that is rather amazing in places.
Least Favorite?
*Next to Normal -- not much there in the music. The songs make no sense outside of the musical. The staging and performances are fantastic. But I've listened to the music a while now, and thinking over it...it's lacking in so many ways
*Company -- a musical about a bunch of narcissistic New Yorkers and their inability to form lasting relationships due to the narcissism.
*Bye Bye Birdie -- a musical that feels a bit sexist, it's about Elvis leaving for the military and the girls fanworshipping him.
* Kiss of the Spiderwoman -- very dark, not many memorable songs, it's good, but...
* Chess -- it should work, but it doesn't. Having seen two stagings of it, I think the story is off. The plot just doesn't quite hang together
* Phantom of the Opera -- too operatic and melodramatic, and doesn't seem to have anything to say, most of Lloyd Webber's musicals do on some level, this one just doesn't
* Hello Dolly - this was also a musical adaptation of a play, but it doesn't have much to say, and outside of the tidal number? Nothing all that memorable. People see it for the star in much the same way they went to Sunset Boulevard for Glenn Close. If it doesn't have a really good lead...it doesn't work.
I've only done the one's that I've actually seen or listened to a full cast album. Don't comment on the one's I haven't.
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Date: 2018-04-01 11:07 pm (UTC)And thanks for reminding me to record that tonight. I've never seen the play so I wanted to catch it.
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Date: 2018-04-01 11:23 pm (UTC)And yep, it is bizarre, isn't it? I found it shocking. I liked the actress, she seemed rather ...stable. But the self-help guru bit is catnip to actors. It's a painfully competitive profession in which they are often judged on their sex appeal -- so I can sort of see how she and Kristin Kreuk (who talked her into it apparently) got roped in. Neither has done much since Smallville. Kristin more than Alison. Smallville and Buffy, unlike Dawson's Creek really didn't spin off many successful acting careers.
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Date: 2018-04-01 11:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-04-01 11:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-04-02 02:24 pm (UTC)It seemed like that even back in the mid 1960's when I was exposed to it in English class. Wikipedia seems to say, that like Wheadon's Buffy teenage slang, much of it was just made up. We read the thing with students assigned rolls, listening to the songs on a recording as they came up. (I was given a minor character who did nothing but spout slang/pseudo-slang. The combination of the odd words and my poor delivery usually ended up with the class laughing. Scared me off from ever wanting to act!)
no subject
Date: 2018-04-02 03:10 pm (UTC)It's the musical's one major draw-back, it has Hollywood movie slang -- stuff from Rebel with a Cause, etc. But nothing real. No one said Daddy-O back then. Also why it's hard to do revivals of it. The music is great, some of the songs (which don't include the slang) are amazing. But the slang hurts it. The book needs to be edited and rewritten, and the lyrics updated in places -- then it's great.
Not sure what Sondheim was thinking, except it was his first musical and it was a collaboration with Bernstein.