| Use of "Avenue Q" in HBO's "Big Little Lies" | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 09:57 am EDT 10/05/17 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 09:49 am EDT 10/05/17 | |
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| If an old topic (winter of 2017), apologies. But I've been catching up on serial television, and binge watching "Big Little Lies," which just won a slew of awards. What's intriguing is how much the plot turns on a town's (Monterey, of all places) use of this show in a community theater venue, to create a crucible for domestic drama. We get only small chunks of the show, but the actual show nevertheless, seemingly performed by amateurs. The selection of "Avenue Q" is supposed to create a divide among wealthy members the cognoscenti, predictably about the material's appropriateness. It's not impossible to fathom such a debate, but it seems strange in Northern California, and stranger still that a town council would become agitated enough to hold meetings and require a legal whiz, semi-retired for plot purposes (the beleaguered and abused Kidman) to set everyone straight about rights and artistic freedom. No one in the town seems to have any idea of "Avenue Q's" content until its sets are built, and they are entering tech rehearsals (which we see). The character most objecting, played by Laura Dern, is heard on the phone getting "Hamilton" tickets*, so surely someone with her position and profile might've been connected enough to NYC to know far more about "Avenue Q," a title alone that suggests adult content. If this were in Iowa, maybe it would be more believable. I'm also intrigued that the show licensed pieces of the musical, which out of context of the entire show do not exactly make a persuasive case. It must've been a production challenge to find actors who could do these snippets (is screen time contractual? Limitations to keep too much from being seen? Anyone know?) I've spent a fair amount of time in Monterey, though not in this past decade. It's an old working class fishing village turned pricey tourist mecca. But the idea that "Avenue Q" would rustle the feathers of a conservative town council is still odd. Had they created a fictional town nearby (we see little of the actual town) we might go along more willingly. Carmel and Big Sur are close, and the area -- those filled with Republicans (!) -- is also a place with old hippies and counterculture folk, often working in bars and restaurants. I've met many, corresponded with one. The image of their lip-pursing outrage over a little musical with boinking puppets makes me giggle. Maybe I'm unfair. *a new cliche to suggest 1) hip taste/savvy 2) nouveau riche entitlement 3) maybe both |
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