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| re: work by any combo of "nonwhite, nonstraight, non cisgender males" IS VALID ALSO | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 05:06 pm EDT 03/17/22 | |
| In reply to: work by any combo of "nonwhite, nonstraight, non cisgender males" is valid also - Chazwaza 04:48 pm EDT 03/17/22 | |
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| Encores! would not be the place for it, but I would very much be interested if someone wanted to bankroll Billy Porter spearheading a new theatre piece, inspired by THE LIFE, about prostitutes and pimps in the Times Square of the late 70's/early 80's. Have him assemble a team and create something entirely new that, ultimately, may or may not bear much resemblance to THE LIFE. Have him acknowledge THE LIFE and its creators in a program note while talking about how he was inspired by them to tell this story in a different way that speaks more and better to him. I came up in a theatre tradition that said that the director and actors were there to serve the writer(s)' vision and serve the play. And I've always felt that, if you don't like the play, do another play that you do like. Or write you own play and say exactly what you want to say in it. This whole idea of "We're going to rewrite the play and make it say what WE want it to say" just strikes me as wrong. If red happens to be your favorite color, would you repaint the Mona Lisa's dress to be red...or might you instead look for another piece of art that already features red? Or paint your own painting and use as much red as you so desire? |
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| re: work by any combo of "nonwhite, nonstraight, non cisgender males" IS VALID ALSO | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 05:20 pm EDT 03/17/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 05:13 pm EDT 03/17/22 | |
| In reply to: re: work by any combo of "nonwhite, nonstraight, non cisgender males" IS VALID ALSO - JereNYC 05:06 pm EDT 03/17/22 | |
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| What you described in your first paragraphs sounds very much like what people who've seen it say he did at Encores this week. I'm not sure why he has to acknowledge THE LIFE at all, or use any part of it. He should absolutely make a new show of some kind that endeavors to tell stories and portray people who were sex workers and in that community in Times Sq in the early 80s. He can even do it as a response to having been asked about doing The Life (a show he has a history with as an actor, he says it was the first show he auditioned for, and was part of the development readings... so surely he's had opinions about it for decades now). It is also a show with some very big roles for lots of poc performers, and won two of them Tonys, and has a score that is quite sensational at least in places... so I can see why any black broadway performer would be aware of this show and have opinions and dreams about what it was or should have been or could possibly be if revised... But also he doesn't need The Life to do a show about this subject. The Life is not some famous musical that is seen as, previous to this reworking, THE historical document or THE piece of theater that gives us that place and time. It is not looked to (or looked at, cause no one produces it) or deferred to in any way in theater world or larger entertainment world... So why even bring it up? If you like the score but hate the show, do a concert of the score... or just do a new show that hopefully CAN be a produceable and authentic expression of that time and those people. And I'm sure several theaters would have given him some space and money to spearhead that, especially given the height of his fame (and therefor his power as a household name artist and someone with a big platform on tv and social media) is from starring in and winning awards in a show that takes place in nyc in the early 80s, and with many sex workers, especially queer poc sex workers. He's having and has been having a big moment, he should seize that to do an original show he'd like to see out there. I'd love to see him do that. |
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