#51
Posted: 9/12/05 at 1:24am
Again, you ask a difficult question, nom. Can there truly be one correct answer? However, I shall endeavor to share with you my thoughts, such as they are.
It seems to me, that if we force our actors to comply with the public's desire for curling locks by means of artifice, we are cheating both parties. It is unfair to take from an actor the self-expression he receives from his tresses, and, indeed, his performance will suffer accordingly from such a repression. Though the theatergoer may find him more visually appealing, will they be as moved by his message if he is not allowed freedom of self-expression? It would be beyond injustice to allow such tress-style-enforcement to take place. In the same way, it would be nonsensical to remove the more follically gifted from the stage merely because they have been so blessed.
I believe our only hope is in the education of our young. If they can be taught from an early age to value locks both straight and curly, then the original question of, "Do Broadway men need curly hair?" will no longer be an issue. Our audience will be able to look beyond the actor's cranial adornment to see the man that lies beneath. Of course, I know I speak of an unachievable utopia, but if we have even limited success, then hopefully this age-old dilemma of to curl or not to curl will no longer be the question.
Now, my rapier wit is tired, and I must to bed. Fare thee well, noble Broadwayworlders!
It seems to me, that if we force our actors to comply with the public's desire for curling locks by means of artifice, we are cheating both parties. It is unfair to take from an actor the self-expression he receives from his tresses, and, indeed, his performance will suffer accordingly from such a repression. Though the theatergoer may find him more visually appealing, will they be as moved by his message if he is not allowed freedom of self-expression? It would be beyond injustice to allow such tress-style-enforcement to take place. In the same way, it would be nonsensical to remove the more follically gifted from the stage merely because they have been so blessed.
I believe our only hope is in the education of our young. If they can be taught from an early age to value locks both straight and curly, then the original question of, "Do Broadway men need curly hair?" will no longer be an issue. Our audience will be able to look beyond the actor's cranial adornment to see the man that lies beneath. Of course, I know I speak of an unachievable utopia, but if we have even limited success, then hopefully this age-old dilemma of to curl or not to curl will no longer be the question.
Now, my rapier wit is tired, and I must to bed. Fare thee well, noble Broadwayworlders!
"Wilkins, after all these years, are you trying to be funny?"
