Anyone catch Six by Sondheim on HBO? — Page 6

I'm with you, growl.

I'm not sure I would say I 'liked' it as much as it pulled me in and left me feeling unsettled...in a good way. I'm around Sondheim songs A LOT these days. When I'm asked to perform them, I try to find something new to add to the conversation. I generally fail...but even in failing, I learn a lot. Cocker's I'M STILL HERE wouldn't have worked at all for me if it wasn't for Haynes' directorial choices. Though, if I were being honest, I think the specific choices he made would have worked even better with LADIES WHO LUNCH.

I think it must be a generational divide. We young people liked what Robbie called the "unsettling" aspects of the presentation, while much more traditional older people prefer only unsettling Sondheim songs to be unsettling.

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I'm not sure it's entirely a generational thing. I think it's also how we interact with Sondheim's music. As I've said, I have been very fortunate to be engaging with the master's work often (including this coming Sunday at 54 Below...Sondheim Unplugged...I'll be singing something from Pacific Overtures as well as Assassins...come!), and as a result, I enjoy being jolted out of my preconceptions of this very familiar music. Were I to simply see Cocker perform the song in that fashion in a club, I might be mildly intrigued and mightily annoyed. But as just one part of the short film Haynes made? It was absolutely arresting. I think it lives in the part of the line that finishes 'Then you're camp.' In fact, the performance was camp...ironic and a little mocking. It's how we as gay men (sometimes) view our divas. Forcing us to engage with the women's reactions to this performer and his take on the triumphant diva song really made me deal with the way I objectify some female performers. I thought it was a rather brilliant commentary on how diva worship lives somewhere between empowerment and misogynistic objectification.

At least...that's what I've taken away from it after thinking about it for a week now.

He sang I'm Still Here? It sounded like Ladies Who Lunch from the bathroom.

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My head was in the toilet. It was heard to hear.

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Gosh, Robbie, I wish I could come hear you Sunday night!

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I will be there, cheering you on.

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Gosh darn it! I wish I could go, just to hear SonofRobbieJ's sweet dulcet tones...and of course to see my pal Joey.

Any idea of the panic that ensues when you sing the phrase 'n*gger-lover' five times at the top of your lungs in an apartment on W. 149th Street.

Especially in the middle of The Miller's Son. I mean, even theatre people are going to question that.

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It's a rip in the bustle and a rustle in the hay
And I'll pitch the tent fantastic

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I disagree, I think that RobbieJ gave a very solid defense of this interpretation.

Far be it from me to ignore RobbieJ; he is one of our most articulate posters!

But even HE admits he liked the video better than the vocal interpretation of the song; he even goes so far as to say the whole thing would have made more sense with "Ladies Who Lunch" (a sentiment with which I whole-heartedly agree).

Again, I'm all for a new interpretation--in theory. But giving a young man a late-middle-aged woman's song to sing--and then letting him talk his way through it--accomplished nothing that made any sense to me, dramatically or musically.

For those of you who liked it, fair enough. I'll agree to disagree.

But that’s the discussion at hand – the set piece in the film, including not just the song, but the film, editing, scenery, context, etc. No one’s attempted – or been tempted – to offer a defense of the song as a hypothetical standalone number on an album because that’s not what was in the film.

And saying “agree to disagree” is fine, but you asked for a good defense of the number. If, upon hear a good defense, you move straight to “agree to disagree,” then why ask for the defense in the first place?

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