| Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | MikeR 02:08 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| It's the cover image on their Facebook page (linked below). So... poor taste, or REALLY poor taste? | |
| Link | https://www.facebook.com/ManhattanConcertProductions |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | MikeR 01:36 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - MikeR 02:08 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| Since I didn't articulate my problem with the logo in my original post, I'll do so now. I don't think it matches the tone of the show at all. It's very "in your face," where the show is much subtler. The logo is all about the lynching, where the show is about the relationship between Leo and Lucille, and the tragic circumstances that lead to Leo's lynching. I don't feel that the logo represents the show well, and I still think that hitting you over the head with the image of a noose is not in the best of taste. In the end, of course, it doesn't matter. It's a one night concert that will surely sell out quickly. They could've had a logo that was just the word "Parade" in black Comic Sans text on a plain white background and it wouldn't have kept the ticket-buyers away. | |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | Chromolume 10:37 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - MikeR 01:36 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
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| Since I didn't articulate my problem with the logo in my original post, I'll do so now. I don't think it matches the tone of the show at all. It's very "in your face," where the show is much subtler. The logo is all about the lynching, where the show is about the relationship between Leo and Lucille, and the tragic circumstances that lead to Leo's lynching. I don't feel that the logo represents the show well, and I still think that hitting you over the head with the image of a noose is not in the best of taste. Thank you for articulating what I clearly was not quite able to say. Though, see my post below as well in terms of what I feel the show is "about" - I do agree that the Leo/Lucille relationship has a huge arc that helps the show, though i still tend to feel ultimately the show is about one outsider and his (non) relationship in the community. But your points are certainly valid. Though, I might question your use of the word subtle, lol - I hardly see Parade as a subtle show on any level. ;-) And again, I'm actually surprised, now that I think of it, that no one seems to consider the noose a spoiler. After all, some of us have been taken to task often out here for revealing so-called spoilers of shows/stories that I think are much more familiar. I would think there are plenty of people that don't know the Leo Frank story and how it ends. | |
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| I Think It's Fine | |
| Posted by: | enoch10 11:43 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
| In reply to: | Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - MikeR 02:08 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| seriously. it's what the musical is about. this whole sort of tippy toeing around being afraid of offending somebody is, like this whole idea of trigger warnings, ridiculous. not just in relation to this, of course, i'm not aiming this at you but there seems to be such a desire going on today to avoid even the possibility of stepping on some special little snowflake's toes. i find this counterproductive (if well intentioned) at best. i'll take my art with a healthy dose of irreverence, thank you. again, i've extended the parameters of the discussion far afield of your objections to this specific poster art. i'm not just being contrary. i really do think it's fine. | |
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| re: I Think It's Fine | |
| Posted by: | Ann 10:09 am EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | I Think It's Fine - enoch10 11:43 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
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| I agree that it's fine, though not great, mostly because of the red (I like a Parade logo to reflect the time period - I particularly like the one with the U.S. flag stars and the Confederate flag stars). I also think the hanging is the shadow that is cast over the whole story (and has been a visible shadow in the productions I have seen - if you knew by history the story, it was more than just a tree). He's not just sentenced to hang, but it was more of a lynching and the story follows the details of what led up to that. That said, being this week, it happens to be poor timing, though the public forgets quickly (and I don't think the "special little snowflake" applies here, but it certainly happens). | |
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| re: I Think It's Fine | |
| Posted by: | enoch10 01:08 pm EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: I Think It's Fine - Ann 10:09 am EDT 08/17/14 |
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| no, the special little snowflake was an extension of the conversation as i acknowledged. nor was i really responding to the op. i'm just seeing a real fear or reluctance - a timidity - all well intentioned but, i think, creatively neutering. all this trigger warning crap - again, well intentioned - flies in the face of the outrageous, the irreverent, and the joyously offensive. in other words the kind of art i like. the special little snowflakes need to grow a pair. how's that for a mixed metaphor? it's such an odd way to be old and cranky. the old should be criticizing the young for carrying things too far, not for being too timid. somehow my post managed to conflate all that extrapolating it out of ... pretty much nowhere. | |
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| re: I Think It's Fine | |
| Posted by: | Chromolume 12:11 am EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | I Think It's Fine - enoch10 11:43 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
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| it's what the musical is about. I might debate that. It's certainly how the musical ends - but is it really what the body of the musical is literally about? I'm not trying to play a semantics game - but let's keep in mind that Leo isn't sentenced to die until the end of Act I. (In fact, once could even make a case that for anyone unfamiliar with the Leo Frank case - and I'm sure there are many people to whom that applies - the noose image could even be a spoiler of sorts.) I'm not saying Leo's hanging isn't ultimately a crucial part of the story. But I'm not sure I'd say the show (as a whole, including all of Act I) is "about" that. It's just one element of the plot. | |
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| re: I Think It's Fine | |
| Posted by: | enoch10 12:14 am EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: I Think It's Fine - Chromolume 12:11 am EDT 08/17/14 |
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| >> I'm not trying to play a semantics game - i'll take your word for it. i'm not interested in debating how many percentage points of the play validate "what the play is about". imprecise or not, i stand by what i said. certainly you're welcome to see it differently. | |
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| re: I Think It's Fine | |
| Posted by: | Chromolume 04:17 am EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: I Think It's Fine - enoch10 12:14 am EDT 08/17/14 |
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| I would also say there are of course specific smaller "abouts" (as there are in any story) - the hanging, anti-Semitism (and racism in general), murder and rape, a huge court trial, the mystery of the whole case in general, etc - but to me, I think the overall "about" as it's set up by Brown and Uhry is how a very set, traditional, unyielding society reacts to an outsider. I think songs such as "How Can I Call This Home" set this relationship right from the beginning (with the actual opening "Old Red Hills" sequence setting up the unforgiving world of the post-war South), and it's this feel of the outsider against the community that drives the story for me. Inasmuch as the plot is about the incidents leading to Phagan's death, the trial. and Frank's lynching, to me the more overarching "about" is the community versus the outsider. And yes, we can all see the show in different ways. ;-) | |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | Chromolume 12:05 am EDT 08/16/14 |
| In reply to: | Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - MikeR 02:08 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| I don't know if I mind it in of itself, but given that we are still dealing with the tragedy of a very public entertainment figure having hanged himself, maybe using that symbol at this moment is not in the best judgement? (If the planned Broadway Urinetown logo had pictured people falling off of buildings, in light of the timing with 9/11, I'm sure it would have been changed. Now, William's death of course doesn't equate with 9/11 at all, but I think the comparison is still apt.) | |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | BruceinIthaca 02:26 am EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - Chromolume 12:05 am EDT 08/16/14 |
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| But surely the logo was designed before the Williams tragedy (not saying it could not be changed now)--and I think the history of lynching over centuries of US history might trump concerns over an individual (talented, much beloved, and haunted as he clearly was) and his act. I don't think of Robin Williams when I see the logo--I think of the "Strange Fruit" as sung by Billie Holliday and others--and the original lyricist was a Jewish man, so the connection to the anti-semitism that fueled the Frank case is an interesting, if unintentional subtext. | |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | Chromolume 04:02 am EDT 08/17/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - BruceinIthaca 02:26 am EDT 08/17/14 |
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| But surely the logo was designed before the Williams tragedy (not saying it could not be changed now) Yes on both counts. ;-) And interesting that your mind first goes to "Strange Fruit" etc. I actually think this whole conversation is very interesting, in terms of how we're all seeing the logo differently. | |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | davei2000 11:22 am EDT 08/16/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - Chromolume 12:05 am EDT 08/16/14 |
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| Williams's family, friends, and colleagues are dealing with it, and I imagine there's a family dealing with such a tragedy every week in this country, so it's either always insensitive or it's got nothing to do with them. Besides, I don't believe anyone hangs himself at the end of Parade. | |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | Chromolume 08:50 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - davei2000 11:22 am EDT 08/16/14 |
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| Besides, I don't believe anyone hangs himself at the end of Parade. And to go back to my other example, I assume no one was forcibly pushed out of the trade center towers the way they are in Urinetown. Yet I'm sure no one seeing the show in the months after that missed the (unintentional) parallel. Yes, you're right that people deal with tragedies all the time. But are you really speaking for the family, that you know they are "dealing with it?" Just because they haven't spoken publicly very much doesn't mean they aren't still very much in grief. And I wasn't really targeting Williams' family as much as I was that the news of the death affected many of us and is still fairly fresh in our minds. When a tragedy like this is national/world news, I think it's a slightly different story than "tragedies happen all the time." | |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | davei2000 11:04 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - Chromolume 08:50 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
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| "Dealing with it" means that it's their tragedy, not yours or mine. Sensitivity is owed to them, and I doubt they're looking at this ad campaign. I can't compare the upsetting death of one man to 9/11 and I neither require nor am owed protection from imagery that has no conceivable connection, but is certainly intended to evoke somber thoughts about a historical tragedy. | |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | Chromolume 11:33 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - davei2000 11:04 pm EDT 08/16/14 |
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| Just to clarify - as i said above, personally I'm fine with the logo. I just wonder if, given the news of this past week (and it's not often these days that hanging - either someone being hanged, or in this case, a suicide by hanging - tends to be in the news), some people might see that logo and find the timing unfortunate. I'm not speaking for the family of the deceased, nor you and I. But I do have to think that if I were in charge of marketing the show, I might have wanted to replace that image with something that didn't tie in so specifically with a major news event. (Had this been a production of Assassins, and the logo were solely an image of a gun, based on the events going on in Ferguson as we speak, I might have thought the same of that choice - even though the image is obviously fitting for the show, and shootings happen all the time unfortunately.) I'm really not trying to argue with you. I just feel that maybe the noose at this moment might not have been the most tactful choice. Just my gut feeling. | |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | LegitOnce 07:17 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
| In reply to: | Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - MikeR 02:08 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| "Good Noose!" | |
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| Bravo | |
| Posted by: | CamMacFan 10:33 am EDT 08/16/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - LegitOnce 07:17 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| That made me chuckle | |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | OnceMoreWithFeeling 03:00 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
| In reply to: | Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - MikeR 02:08 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| Most productions feature a noose on the stage or the tree that it will be hung from, from the very beginning through the end of the show. Not seeing the big deal here. | |
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| re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert | |
| Posted by: | Chazwaza 10:02 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - OnceMoreWithFeeling 03:00 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| I've seen two major productions, Broadway and Ashford's production in LA and neither feature the NOOSE for the whole show. The tree is a symbol, one even written into the text of the show, that means more than just the foreshadowing of and eventual hanging. To have the logo be just blood red with the noose as the only image seems in very poor taste, not to mention a bit misleading for the tone of the show. | |
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| For the record, I vote "REALLY poor taste." (nm) | |
| Posted by: | MikeR 02:20 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
| In reply to: | Check out the logo for February's Parade concert - MikeR 02:08 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| . | |
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| re: For the record, I vote "REALLY" kind of brilliant | |
| Posted by: | actor103 11:38 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
| In reply to: | For the record, I vote "REALLY poor taste." (nm) - MikeR 02:20 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| Nm | |
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| re: For the record, I vote "REALLY poor taste." (nm) | |
| Posted by: | theaterbear 07:44 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
| In reply to: | For the record, I vote "REALLY poor taste." (nm) - MikeR 02:20 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| It's better than the original logo. I am so sick of the washed out water colors Lincoln Center uses. | |
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| There used to be a number on variety shows, "I Love A Parade" | |
| Posted by: | PlayWiz 02:43 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
| In reply to: | For the record, I vote "REALLY poor taste." (nm) - MikeR 02:20 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| which was a very up-tempo feel-good number. Perhaps "Parade" is just not the best title for this show, same as "Goldilocks" which has a witty, sparkling score with a book about silent film-making sounds like it is a kiddie show. | |
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| "I Love A Parade" | |
| Posted by: | Manager-561 05:18 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
| In reply to: | There used to be a number on variety shows, "I Love A Parade" - PlayWiz 02:43 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| Actually, "I Love a Parade" was the original title of this musical. Jason Robert Brown used to list the show under the title among his upcoming projects in his bios, as of about 20 years ago. | |
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| re: For the record, I vote "REALLY poor taste." (nm) | |
| Posted by: | Michael_Portantiere 02:24 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
| In reply to: | For the record, I vote "REALLY poor taste." (nm) - MikeR 02:20 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| Well, that IS what the show is ultimately about. And it's not as if they have the figure of a body hanging from the noose! So I don't think it's in poor taste, though it may not be the best way to market the performance. | |
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| re: For the record, I vote "REALLY poor taste." (nm) | |
| Posted by: | Pir8Jenny 02:43 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
| In reply to: | re: For the record, I vote "REALLY poor taste." (nm) - Michael_Portantiere 02:24 pm EDT 08/15/14 |
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| I recall at the time of the original production, people complained that the title (and original art) failed to convey to audiences what the show is actually about. (Which, the argument went, is why the show failed to find an audience.) This is more truth in advertising, although some might say it goes a bit too far the other way. For giggles, I did a google image search of "Parade Musical Logo" which pulled up the results page linked below. This is certainly not the first one to go really dark with it (and at least one other went with a noose). | |
| Link | Parade Logo Google Image Search Results |
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