OK! at 65

Sixty-five years ago tonight, Oklahoma! opened at the St. James on Broadway and musical theatre was never the same again. Eveyone who has ever been connected with theatre in one way or another probably has an Oklahoma! story. Our high school did the show when I was eleven, and I vividly remember watching the cast perform a sneak preview of "The Farmer and the Cowman" and "All 'Er Nuthin'" at a choral concert in a gymnasium. I saw the complete show when it actually went up and can still close my eyes and see the staging of "Kansas City," the dream ballet at the end of the first act," and "It's a Scandal! It's an Outrage!" I remember being disappointed when I saw the movie and the latter wasn't in it.

In 1993, to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary, Agnes de Mille (who died later that year) appeared on the Tony Awards. Gregory Hines - who has also left us - brought her on stage in her wheelchair. She got a standing ovation and then read a speech about the show that has stayed with me ever since. Last year, I got out my tape of the '93 Tonys (which has sadly not weathered the test of time very well) so I could hear that lovely speech again, which I have transcribed below. Enjoy.

Rodgers and Hammerstein gave us their tale of a light and brilliant calibre that has not been surpassed. And yet, Oklahoma!! was not a hit opening night. I was there. I've been present at hits, and this wasn't one. The audience was the regular Theatre Guild opening night: Spotty. Dull. Jaded. [this got an enormous laugh] I had eight front row balcony seats and I couldn't fill them. And the [advance] press wasn't that good, it was - mixed.

Four days later, I found myself in the middle of a volcano. 'What happened?' A New York reporter told me, 'The biggest hit of the twentieth century!' And I believe, taking into consideration all its translations and international companies and recordings, it still is.

But what's its appeal? First, of course, its extraordinary score. But then the subject, which is the love of our native land. Home. Roots. During the war, I remember the triple row of enlisted men standing every night at the back of the theater, pitched and laughing at this pleasant comedy. Standing and watching with their tears streaming down their cheeks. They were going out to die. And this play meant what they were dying for. This was home.

Oklahoma.

New York, Oregon, Utah, Texas, Georgia, Vermont, Oklahoma. Home.

Home. O.K.

Hundreds of Broadway musicals have come and gone in the past 65 years. Some have had an extraordinary impact on the form, but there has never been another Oklahoma!

Yeeow!

Dear Saturday Night's Date,

Everything that happened before you peed in the street was just lovely.

I just came very close to sending this exact message. Because it was. It really was.

More laughs than the entire actual series

Brisk, lively, merry and bright

We spin and we spin and we spin and we spin,
Playing a game no one can win.

I've had a lot on my mind lately. A couple of things in my life may be in for some major changes, and I think that this sense of suspended animation is having a domino effect on my unconscious, stirring up a lot of other neuroses in turn.

I'd like to go into everything that's bothering me. I'd fucking love to go into everything that's bothering me, but part of the problem is that, despite the insomnia, I don't have enough time to do anything. So you're going to have to settle for this incredibly - and increasingly - vague post. In a week, I'll probably re-read it and not know what the hell it is I meant. Or at least I would if I ever re-read any journal entry in any of the various diaries I've kept in my life. But I don't.

Last night, while trying to fall asleep, I found myself rationalizing my love of musical theatre. Or maybe it was this morning on the train. I have no idea. One of the conclusions I came to was the abundance of truths to be found in great lyric-writing. The above is a perfect example of how I've been feeling lately. It's from the title song of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Allegro (1947) (the title of this post comes from same.) The spinning isn't just the chaos of living, but the cycle of life, the spinning of the globe on its axis and around the sun. Calling life "a game no one can win" reveals a cynicism not usually found in the work of Hammerstein.

He revisited this same idea in The Sound of Music (1959). In the show, Max and Baroness Schrader have two songs that were both cut from the film. In "No Way to Stop It," Elsa and Max explain to Georg their laissez-faire philosophy towards life, politics and, um, the Nazis:*

MAX
While somersaulting at a cock-eyed angle,
We make a cock-eyed circle 'round the sun.
And when we circle back to where we've started from,
Another year has done.

And there's no way to stop it.
No, there's no way to stop it,
If the earth wants to roll around the sun.
You're a fool if you worry.
You're a fool if you worry
Over anything but little number one.*

The same world, still spinning, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it. It's the polar opposite of the cock-eyed Nellie Forbush's sang about in South Pacific. Both can exist and should, in the same world and in the same person.

Of course, theory and practice are nodding acquaintances at best.



*The other song, "How Can Love Survive," is a droll number about Georg and Elsa's relationship being doomed from the start because they're both rich and therefore have nothing to overcome. (Elsa: "You're fond of bonds and you own a lot. / I have a plain and a diesel yacht. / Max: Plenty of nothing you haven't got. / Both: How can love survive?) Buy the cast recording.

Annoying Americans for Peace

From the AP, this past Thursday:

War protesters halt traffic, recall dead

Some highlights:

Protesters blocked traffic and government buildings in Washington, acted out a Baghdad street scene in Syracuse, N.Y., and banged drums in a parade through San Francisco on Wednesday to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

In other, more somber observances, organizers set up a 2-mile display of about 4,000 T-shirts in Cincinnati, meant to symbolize the members of the U.S. military killed in Iraq, while in Louisville, Ky., demonstrators lined rows of military boots, sandals and children's tennis shoes on the steps of a courthouse.

At the Internal Revenue Service building in the nation's capital, about 100 protesters led by a marching band gathered at the main entrance. Several jumped barricades and sat down in front of the doors and were immediately detained. The demonstrators said they were focusing on the IRS, among other institutions, because it gathers taxes used to fund the war.

About 20 protesters were arrested about a block from the U.S. Capitol after blocking traffic. In some cases, police had to drag the protesters off the street.

In Syracuse, police arrested 20 protesters who blocked traffic by creating a mock Baghdad street scene. One person dressed in camouflage lay on the ground. Another was covered in a white sheet with red markings and a woman leaned over as if grieving. They were from a group of more than 100 demonstrators who marched downtown in a steady rain over the lunch hour.

In Chicopee, Mass., eight people were arrested when they blocked a gate at Westover Air Reserve Base, police said. Five people were arrested In Hartford, Conn., for blocking the front door of a federal courthouse.

On the West Coast, San Francisco police arrested about 100 protesters by early afternoon for blocking traffic and chaining themselves to buildings, police said.

The rallies, which drew hundreds to the city's busy financial district, were mostly peaceful, though some demonstrators threw glass Christmas ornaments filled with paint at police, said Sgt. Steve Mannina, a San Francisco police spokesman.

Black balloons were tied to trees along San Francisco's main downtown thoroughfare, and protesters at a table offered coffee, oranges and "unhappy birthday cake" to passers-by.

A few hundred protesters banging drums and waving banners that read "Was it worth it" took to the streets for a parade that blocked morning traffic.

In Anchorage, Alaska, vandals dumped a gallon of red paint on a war veterans memorial, police spokesman Lt. Paul Honeman said.

Demonstrators also converged in Ohio, where more than 20 vigils, rallies, marches and other events were planned.

In New York City, women sang songs and counted out the war dead outside the military recruiting station in Times Square, which was recently the target of a bomb.

Half a dozen war protesters in Miami dressed in black placed flowers outside the U.S. Southern Command during rush-hour Wednesday morning.

Outside a military recruitment office in Washington, protesters were met by a handful of counterdemonstrators, one of several shows of support for the war and the troops.

Earlier, about 150 people, mostly with the group Veterans for Peace, marched down Independence Avenue. Many of them carried upside-down American flags, which they said symbolized a nation in distress.

Vandals in Milwaukee damaged the front door of an Army recruiting center and spray-painted anti-war graffiti across its front windows. Milwaukee police said the vandalism occurred Monday night or Tuesday.

Full Story with much more detail here.

Here's the thing, for me anyway. What good does this sort of protesting actually do? I can't find a photo, but it stands to reason that 4,000 t-shirts representing the dead would have a strong visual impact. But unhappy birthday cake is idiotic, vandalizing a veterans' memorial is disgraceful and throwing paint-filled Christmas ornaments at a Police spokesman, while resourceful, doesn't even make much sense. And sitting in front of doors? Temporarily blocking traffic? How is creating a mild inconvenience to people who are just trying to live their lives going to do anything for your cause?

A Haiku:Rugburn

I only feel pain

When something touches my knees.

I grin and bear it

Epilogue: "...and that's why I made The Number 23

from imdb.com/WENN Movie/TV news:

Carrey To Pen Depression Self-Help Book

Actor Jim Carrey is writing a self-help book for sufferers of depression who want to avoid using drugs to beat the condition. The Fun With Dick And Jane star battled with depression for years after his meteoric rise to fame in the 1990s, using Prozac and other medication to try and control his dark thoughts. But the 46-year-old states numbing the pain with medication is not the way to deal with the problem, and hopes his new book will help people focus on where their problems stem from. He says, "I dealt with depression for a while by medicating with Prozac and although it was good for dealing with the problem there and then, I wasn't getting to the bottom of my anger and frustration. I think we have a real problem these days in that everything is treated with a drug. I think there's a whole new way of healing depression that doesn't require drugs, and I'm writing a book about it. Who better than a comedian to talk about depression right?"

"I think there's a whole new way of healing depression that doesn't require drugs..."? I'm not sure which is more annoying: that Jim Carrey wants to invent psychotherapy; or that he's planning to ignore decades of clinical research because he's an actor with a theory.

On the other hand, how many scientists and doctors have back-to-back Golden Globe Awards? Take that biochemistry!!!

PS: You're welcome for the Christmas presents

Next week is Holy Week, the most sacred time of the Christian year and the basis of Jesus Christ Superstar. This came up in conversation last night (Holy Week, not JCS) when I was out with Paul and the Pinko. They both took swipes at Christianity, which the Pinko then confused with Catholicism (we're called Protestants, dumbass, and we exist).

Now, I have many criticisms of organized religion myself, and my spiritual life has been marked by a skepticism that borders on hypocrisy. I understand the logic behind atheism and can see how a person comes to adopt that point of view. A lot of my friends are atheists and that's fine with me. It's their choice, I accept it, and it becomes a jumping off point for banter.

But mocking Lent and Holy Week? What the fuck? Seriously, would you make fun of Jews on Yom Kippur? And is this not a display of the same sort of intolerance we're accused of practicing ourselves (it exists, yes, be we're not all like that)?

I let it go at the time (hence the venting here) with the same eye roll I use on people who think my love of showtunes is an indication of my masculinity. Grow up and get a fucking clue.

Revealing Statements

I find him suspiciously nice.

I'm just sick of everyone else's positive attitude.

I've said both of these things in the past week and I think they say far more about me than I intended. The first was about a guy from a pick-up site gentleman caller. The second about my current job situation. I used to embrace my cynicism, but I'm starting to worry that it's overtaking me and devolving into bitterness. On the other hand, considering what I've been through in the last 18 months, both statements are completely warranted.

The Dina Show

From Reuters:

Lindsay Lohan's mom to star in reality TV show

Dina Lohan took a lot of heat for managing daughter Lindsay Lohan's rise to stardom and U.S. television viewers now can watch as she shepherds 14-year-old daughter Ali into a show business career.

Full story

Last November, Vanity Fair ran a story, "Moms Gone Wild" about Dina Lohan, Lynne Spears and Kathy Hilton. Money quote:

And yet Lohan,...does not appear to have a close personal relationship with reality. "Lindsay's no different than any other 20-year-old girl who's doing some experimenting," Dina says to me during our brief phone conversation, which took place several days before Lindsay, fresh out of rehab, got arrested again, this time for D.U.I. and cocaine possession. "It's just that when we did this kind of thing we didn't have cameras turned on us all the time. What were you doing when you were 20, for goodness' sake?" I didn't have the heart to say, Well, not crashing my Mercedes into a tree! But nor was I beautiful, talented, and surrounded by people who couldn't say no to me.

Any bets on how soon we'll see the words, "edited to make me look bad," in a press release?

Ugh.

Sunday was such a lovely day, I decided to top it off with Chinese for dinner and ended up with food poisoning. So I stayed home yesterday and watched Now, Voyager. I watched Dark Victory on Sunday - part of the aforementioned loveliness. She was one hell of an actress. Granted, these are two of her very best performances, but both were much more detailed and nuanced than I had remembered.