| re: Sounds like "Mr. Burns" | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 06:38 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
| In reply to: Sounds like "Mr. Burns" - Singapore/Fling 06:02 pm EDT 05/13/18 | |
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| There are some similarities, especially given the way both plays portray the mythologized musical version of the future as revealing social commentary. But MR. BURNS involves artists' attempts to remember a particular cultural work and its evolution as a cultural work itself over years, while SP presents us with a "real" scenario that is then "recreated" with all the errors that come from secondhand memories at a distance combined with a distinct political-cultural mindset, and recast in an appropriated artistc genre not native to that culture. Like I said, this show is sui generis. Some of what Hwang is doing is riffing on THE KING AND I--think of Rodgers and Hammerstein working on a piece set in the previous century and using the writings of an alien in a different culture as their source. But this show has multiple layers. SPOILER BELOW After a dramatic first act finale, the second act opens with a scene in one: it is a tv broadcast of the 50th anniversary of "Soft Power" the musical, and a jovial interviewer is chatting with the son and daughter of the musical's creators, the granddaughter of the TV producer whose pivotal trip to America was the inspiration for the show, and an American professor who keeps getting squashed every time he dares point out inaccuracies or contradictions. As a theatre historian, this scene had me in total hysterics, though I wonder if it will remain in the show. In some ways, it too broadly points out what the real creative team's intentions, as well as not exactly fitting into the framework that allows us to jump from 2016 to the early 22nd century. But I split my sides anyway. Laura |
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