| re: S.F. Chronicle: 'Soft Power' is 'daring' and 'deserves to have a long, rich life' | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 06:15 pm EDT 06/24/18 | |
| In reply to: re: S.F. Chronicle: 'Soft Power' is 'daring' and 'deserves to have a long, rich life' - Jax 01:45 pm EDT 06/24/18 | |
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| De gustibus, Jax. I also saw it in LA, and while I think it needs work, I found it brilliant--the most original show in years. I'm sorry you found the opening twenty minutes boring; to me, though that was slow-paced (as not part of the musical-within-the-musical), it was utterly essential for everything that follows, which built upon it beautifully. It's not just the events in the lives of the producer and the writer (morphed later into the musical), but the way those twenty minutes conveyed the differences in the cultural outlooks and expectations of two very different countries in 2016--at the time of a major political shift for one and potential opportunities for the other. People realize that this is a work of satire (and, yes, George S. Kaufman is in my ear even now), but it's also a work of science fiction. We jump from 2016 to a Chinese musical written 50 years after those events to the 50th anniversary of that musical. That's a lot to ask of a comfortable audience, out for a fun night of theatre. That kind of socio-political projection is generally the province of the best science fiction writers, the ones who make you think about our own world while considering their future scenarios. For my part, nearly two months later, I'm still mulling over Hwang and Tesori's choices. That they did all this within the context of a musical--and a musical riffing magnificently on THE KING AND I (the foreigner in a strange land, encounters with the governing class, an impossible romance, a tear-jerker ending, and especially the misrepresentation of historic facts decades later!!!)--thrills me. And, good lord, Tesori's score! It's pastiche, but one of the most daring imaginable: if a future Chinese songwriting team absorbed various forms of American music of the early 21st century and presented their songs in the manner of a Broadway musical, an effective "vehicle of delivery" for their message. Listening to it, I was thinking of how Rodgers adapted Asian musical themes for THE KING AND I, SOUTH PACIFIC and FLOWER DRUM SONG. Props to SOFT POWER's producers for springing for a huge orchestra so it sounds like a Golden Age musical should. Is it as good as HAMILTON or FUN HOME? Of course not. Is is right for Broadway? I highly doubt it. It demands too much from the audience, the satirical message can be too blunt and repetitive, and the structure--while perfect for the material--is just plain weird for most people. But I'm so glad I was well enough to attend it and delighted that such talents as Hwang and Tesori tackled something so unique. And at next year's Science Fiction World Convention, I intend to nominate it for Best Dramatic Presentation. Laura |
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