| GREAT Decision! (but they still look ridiculous). nm | |
| Posted by: | MichaelAS 05:06 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
| In reply to: | Broadway to dim lights in honor of Joan Rivers tonight at 6:45pm - Official_Press_Release 01:28 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
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| nnmm | |
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| Why do they look "ridiculous"? | |
| Posted by: | portenopete 05:46 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
| In reply to: | GREAT Decision! (but they still look ridiculous). nm - MichaelAS 05:06 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
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| Because they changed their minds? Or because they didn't do it in the first place? I liked Joan Rivers a lot. She was one of the great comediennes of her age and she will go down in history as an influential and respected performer. I think it wouldn't have been out of place to consider her for a Kennedy Center Honor or the Mark Twain prize (I had never considered that comedians have been largely ignored by the Kennedy Center unless they had a corresponding film career or, in the case of Carson and Letterman, an eponymous show). But none of that has any bearing on whether Broadway theatres should dim their lights for her. They shouldn't. She appeared in the original casts of two Broadway shows that ran for a collective seven weeks total, plus taking over as the third Kate Jerome in BROADWAY BOUND (the length of her run I am unsure of). This is not a celebrated Broadway career. This is casual, drop-in, drive-by theatre participation. While I know she is on record for having considered herself a serious actress and stated in the 2012 documentary that that's the standard by which she measured herself, the fact of the matter is that she devoted an infinitesimal fraction of her career to the legitimate stage. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Primarily I think the honour should be reserved for people who devoted their lives to the Broadway theatre. People like the Lunts, Helen Hayes, Katherine Cornell and their successors. And equally, people who weren't necessarily great stars or leading players but who gave consistently wonderful performances year in, year out: actors like Tom Aldredge, Barnard Hughes, Rosemary Murphy and Anne Pitoniak. I'd even be okay with film stars who made a significant contribution to Broadway with legendary performances like Katherine Hepburn or Jack Lemmon. But to say that she should be honoured because she was a "friend to Broadway" seems weak. Yes, she went to a lot of theatre and when she discussed it in public, she displayed a surprisingly trenchant and nuanced taste (which really shouldn't have been surprising given her degree in English literature). But she was hardly an advocate the way Rosie O'Donnell and Neil Patrick Harris have been in recent years. I wish she had done more stage work. I heard only great things about her as Kate Jerome and it would have been cool to see her stretch herself in a variety of roles. But she didn't go down that path. From the vantage point of a fan and nothing more, it looked to me like she liked a certain lifestyle of opulence and glamour and it was unlikely the theatre would support that kind of life. Clearly QVC and E! and the myriad projects she worked on did pay very well and I'm glad and amazed that she was able to stay so productive and so energetic until the night before she died! She was amazing. But to suggest that she contributed anything to the theatre is ridiculous. And just because a bunch of online wankers get themselves into a knot over it doesn't seem justification for The League to reverse their decision. Will Mark Sanchez get the dimmed lights because he presented a Tony? Or Bret Michaels? | |
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| Hey! What's it like to be a human pretzel? | |
| Posted by: | sandcastle 06:05 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
| In reply to: | Why do they look "ridiculous"? - portenopete 05:46 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
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| Just asking. | |
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| re: Hey! What's it like to be a human pretzel? | |
| Posted by: | portenopete 08:38 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
| In reply to: | Hey! What's it like to be a human pretzel? - sandcastle 06:05 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
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| I'm not embarrassed about articulating a point. | |
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| re: Why do they look "ridiculous"? | |
| Posted by: | MikeR 06:04 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
| In reply to: | Why do they look "ridiculous"? - portenopete 05:46 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
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| Your categorization of everyone from Audra McDonald, Harvey Fierstein, Laura Benanti, et. al. down to thousands of unknown fans as "online wankers" is bizarre, distasteful, and unnecessary. | |
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| re: Why do they look "ridiculous"? | |
| Posted by: | portenopete 07:06 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Why do they look "ridiculous"? - MikeR 06:04 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
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| Those people you name were her friends: of course they are going to suggest she be honoured. As to internet mobs: I don't think it's bizarre or distasteful to call them "wankers". It's apt. Perhaps not necessary, I'll give you that. | |
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| re: Why do they look "ridiculous"? | |
| Posted by: | MikeR 07:16 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Why do they look "ridiculous"? - portenopete 07:06 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
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| You say it like there's something wrong with internet wanking. | |
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| re: Why do they look "ridiculous"? | |
| Posted by: | portenopete 08:34 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Why do they look "ridiculous"? - MikeR 07:16 pm EDT 09/09/14 |
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| Well played, sir! | |
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