| re: Goodnight Oscar | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 02:54 pm EDT 03/21/22 | |
| In reply to: Goodnight Oscar - Berrygirl49 02:06 pm EDT 03/21/22 | |
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| I saw this too, over the weekend - perhaps a bit less enthusiastic. Scenery was immense and cost a pretty penny. I learned how well Sean Hayes can play Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue on the piano. I thought Hayes performance was impressive, without in many ways reminding me of Oscar Levant, who I was a fan of. Hayes had learned all of Levant's physical tics - and did them non stop for 90 minutes - something Levant didnt do. Hayes tried to approximate Levant's voice and delivery (sounding like he was doing damage to his voice), Having watched a number of clips of Levant on the Paar show since I returned yesterday to NYC, I was reminded that Levants voice was nothing like what Hayes is doing - and Levant never spoke as fast or as loudly as Hayes does. Or carried himself physically as Hayes does.. Levant ,as we know, was a great friend of Gershwin. Though a composer of some note himself for film, after Gershwins death Levant was always asked to play Gershwins music, and was considered his best interpreter. The play gives Levant an African American minder from the hospital Levant has been staying at, for his Demerol addiction. At the mention of Gershwin, the attendant politely but pointedly makes a speech about how Gershwin stole his music from African Americans = as did virtually all popular 'white' song writers, And we had to sit and listen to this speech although it in no way informed, or related to the play. Gershwin is one of the greatest composers, popular and serious our country has ever produced. Certainly there is a 4 note figure in a piece by William Grant Still which is the same as the four notes of the words 'I got rhythm;' in the hit Gershwin tune - sorry to the woke police, but if Gershwin heard that piece (there is no proof he ever did), and those four notes stuck - well - thats not enough for copyright infringement. That's not stealing or borrowing. He took 4 notes and created a great pop song hit out of it. Rhapsody in Blue has figures from klezmer riffs. And so what? Much oif the nain theme of OVER THE RAINBOW was in an opera intermezzo. The main figure of Bernsteins TONIGHT is in a piece by Kurt Weill. There is a them in Dvorak's NEW WORLD SYMPHONY which has African American roots . An African American composer studied with Dvorak in America. He introduced Dvorak to African American spirituals. 'Swing low sweet chariot' might be quoted in the symphony - its not a sure thing. The spiritual 'Goin' Home' is in the Symphony, but lo and behold, Dvorak wrote the melody, he didnt borrow or steal it. It later had lyrics added and became a spiritual. Written by Gershwin. One can go on and on. As the play does. The very long first scene is all exposition very clunkily written. Ben Rappaport, the actor playing Jack Paar, makes no effort to recreate Paar's very identifiable speech patterns and cadences. Or Paar's general character. And Robert Sarnoff was portrayed as the pushy Jewish TV exec, with only money on his mind - one dimensional if there is such a thing. n 2022 we are telling THAT story again. What the play does well is string together a zillion of Levant's witticisms, in the place of actual dialogue. Personally, I think the show will likely not come in to Broadway. Hayes is no 'must see' actor in NY, and we no longer rush to see this tv star. And the subject matter is very specialized. When Sarnoff is explaining why Levant cant talk about certain topics on the Tonight SHow, Levant defends what he does wittily. Lots of talk back from the audience, in his corner against the mean executive. Bread and circuses. IMHO, not a good play - and I don't know who the target audience is nor whey they | |
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