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| re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 01:24 pm EDT 03/19/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:07 pm EDT 03/19/22 | |
| In reply to: re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." - Singapore/Fling 12:31 pm EDT 03/19/22 | |
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| Why are sex workers not allowed to "sound broadway"? You know who also sounds broadway? Slaves in Rome in Forum, sex workers in NYC in the 60s in Sweet Charity, 50s street gangs in West Side Story, among others... I'm not saying I don't get why you want them to sing grittier songs based on your understanding of the lives they lead, but I don't entirely think it's fair to bring that to the show as an expectation. The show has a musical language and sound. I also don't think talking about the show as if it's an animated disney musical or Guys & Dolls in skimpier clothing is fair. They sing about some very adult things all throughout the show, and the score may sound old fashioned by not like 1950s or Disney. Yes, they sing in a more neat and written-for-entertainment broadway musical style that some think doesn't work for them, or feels at odds with the setting and realities but also, that's part of why it worked as a musical for the writer of the musical... Billy didn't have to do that writer's musical (and many would say he did not do it). Also, Cy Coleman's score for The Life isn't only a "broadway" sound, there's plenty of R&B in there among other styles... just not funk or disco, and apparently not the "blackness it aspired to", but you'd really have to talk to Cy about what he aspired to (blackness or not), and assigning a certainly specific kind of blackness to how it should have sounded or aspired to sound is a bit weird. |
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| re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 01:53 pm EDT 03/19/22 | |
| In reply to: re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." - Chazwaza 01:07 pm EDT 03/19/22 | |
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| I think Disney is an apt comparison, as it reflects the sanitized, “scruffy” version of Times Square that was created on the Barrymore stage. You’ve also put your finger quite nicely on the way it was that weird hybrid of skimpy Guys and Dolls that also wanted to be adult and taken seriously. I know it wasn’t your intention, but I appreciate how well you’ve captured what I saw in 1997. | |
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| re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 03:20 pm EDT 03/19/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 03:16 pm EDT 03/19/22 | |
| In reply to: re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." - Singapore/Fling 01:53 pm EDT 03/19/22 | |
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| Again, that wasn't how everyone saw it or received it or assessed it. And to say The Life is an R&B infused but nonetheless traditional broadway musical score would be accurate, to say that the intentions and tone and style it was written in does not reflect the grit and sadness and misery and extremely frank sexuality of the subject is fair. To say it is basically a Disney musical is bonkers, to say that it is Guys & Dolls in skimpy clothing is silly. But obviously we are both aware how sharply we disagree on this show, and I respect your opinion. But also, you know who wasn't and isn't, to my knowledge, ever a "street walker" sex worker or pimp or drug addicted hustler in 1979 NYC ... Cy Coleman, Ire Gasman and David Newman, or Michael Blakemore, or Billy Porter, or me, or you. And nothing you've said has indicated otherwise. I also do not think the authors would tell you they ever intended to write a show that would be taken as an attempt to accurately portray the lives that real people with equivalent scenarios as the fake characters in their musical are living. This is not what you go to Cy Coleman for. |
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| re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 03:45 am EDT 03/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." - Chazwaza 03:16 pm EDT 03/19/22 | |
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| Do you respect his opinion or is it bonkers? I’m lost. | |
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| re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 05:08 am EDT 03/20/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 05:07 am EDT 03/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." - KingSpeed 03:45 am EDT 03/20/22 | |
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| well, since you asked, i respect him... and that he has one. |
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| re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 02:53 pm EDT 03/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." - Chazwaza 05:07 am EDT 03/20/22 | |
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| But you don’t seem to respect his opinion. | |
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| re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 09:04 pm EDT 03/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." - KingSpeed 02:53 pm EDT 03/20/22 | |
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| Let me ask you, since you're so interested in inserting yourself here... based on the same series of posts upon which you draw your conclusion about my feelings on his opinion... do you think he "respects" my opinion on this? |
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| re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 05:20 pm EDT 03/21/22 | |
| In reply to: re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." - Chazwaza 09:04 pm EDT 03/20/22 | |
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| Inserting myself? It’s a public message board. You’re not having a private conversation. And yes, I think he respects your opinion. | |
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| re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 05:35 pm EDT 03/21/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 05:31 pm EDT 03/21/22 | |
| In reply to: re: "The grit, the funk, and the Blackness it aspired to." - KingSpeed 05:20 pm EDT 03/21/22 | |
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| I wrote out a reply to this but it's not worth continuing. I think S/F and I are both passionate and intelligent theater lovers who disagree both about this show and, it seems, the reception of it originally and reasons for it being rarely produced since. I am not interested in continuing to debate it, he and I have both made our thoughts on it very clear. |
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