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This, too, shall pass.

Posted by: portenopete 01:34 pm EDT 05/06/15
In reply to: John Simon on FUN HOME and the "Demented Tonys" - bwayjoey 12:10 pm EDT 05/06/15

I think for many people it's a fight not to fall into the "those were the days" mentality. I'm not 50 yet and I sometimes go there. But then I think about my thrill seeing SPRING AWAKENING, IN THE HEIGHTS, GREY GARDENS, NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812, HERE LIES LOVE, AVENUE Q, and most recently HAMILTON and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Simon came out of the womb a p***k and to his credit, he hasn't softened with age. He used to make me laugh with his outrageously nasty comments (easy to do if you've never been on the receiving end, although I know a ton of actors who treasure their John Simon insults like they would an Al Hirschfeld caricature).

He's clinging on to relevance in his 90s and a part of me admires his tenacity. And the stuff he likes is usually really good, it's just that there ain't a whole lot he likes.

I'm kind of amazed that in 2015 we are still stinging from his barbs! His whole generation has gone now: Barnes, Canby, Kroll, Gill.


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re: This, too, shall pass.

Posted by: enoch10 08:28 pm EDT 05/08/15
In reply to: This, too, shall pass. - portenopete 01:34 pm EDT 05/06/15

>> and to his credit,

to his credit? he was a homophobe 35 years ago and he's a homophopbe now and you find this admirable? why?


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re: This, too, shall pass.

Posted by: singleticket 01:44 pm EDT 05/06/15
In reply to: This, too, shall pass. - portenopete 01:34 pm EDT 05/06/15

He made me laugh with the use of the word lesbianism which would sound even better in French, lesbianisme or German, lesbianismus. I enjoy his enjoyment at being a darling old crank but I wouldn't go out of my way to read him.


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re: This, too, shall pass.

Posted by: portenopete 06:06 pm EDT 05/06/15
In reply to: re: This, too, shall pass. - singleticket 01:44 pm EDT 05/06/15

I wouldn't either. In fact, this thread was a revelation in that I didn't realize he had a gig of any kind.

I was sitting at a table next to his at a restaurant in a theater festival town and he must have heard us talking about whatever it was we were seeing. He stopped and started engaging us in conversation and started dropping hints that he was someone we should know. He didn't come right out and say it, but he was being leading and I refused to bite. I felt kind of sorry for him, but then I reflected on the astonishingly mean things he'd said over the years and I felt less guilty :).


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