Big Hollywood: Obama has wrecked Broadway!!!

[vf]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 3:39am

Hope it's OK to post this, but it's a Broadway discussion!
According to Big Hollywood:
"Since Obama and his crew came to power, the planned assault on the hearts and minds of the theatre-going public has been inescapable. Gone are the lighthearted musicals that were the staples of Broadway; enter the era of pandering to the politics of special interests."

I don't know where Obama found the time to wreck Broadway along with all the other things I'm sure this writer thinks he's wrecked. Article doesn't even make sense. On the one hand he says the golden age of musicals ended about the time Obama was born, nevertheless Obama is responsible for the lack of original feel-good musicals! And does the NEA have something to do with Broadway? Really stupid rant, which he hopes to turn into a book (probably timed for the election)
Big Hollywood: Political Correctness Is Destroying Broadway

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 4:56am

Douglas Miller, writer of the article, is obviously a right wing reactionary, a bigot, and a fool. Stay away from Broadway, Mr. Miller.

[littlegreen2]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 4:57am

HAHAHA. I'm sorry, this article was awful and fantastic at the same time.

So much ignorance!

Also, this - "A turgid rock musical about a mother with worsening bipolar disorder who talks to her dead son (he committed suicide) while ignoring her husband and daughter."

I can't.

Updated On: 7/15/11 at 04:57 AM

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 10:48am

Someone needs to get that man a musical theatre history book. Geez. These right wing nuts love to make crap up without an inch of research or solid proof, don't they?

Updated On: 7/15/11 at 10:48 AM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 11:26am

Has he seen "Book of Mormon?" I don't think there's anything politically correct about that. Or for "The Producers" for that matter.

[Pippin]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 11:35am

"When John Kander was asked about the relevance of his latest musical, The Scottsboro Boys, a minstrel-style retelling of the 1931 trial of nine teenaged blacks accused falsely of rape, he snapped, “Of course it’s relevant. America is still a racist country!” He said this despite the fact that America had just voted in a black president."


......Right, I forgot that racism was obliterated on Election day, 2008. How foolish of all the rest of us who think that racism still exists.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 11:43am

ah, the Bush, Clinton and Bush years:

Filled only with frothy, feel-good shows Les Miz, Miss Saigon, Passion, Parade, Grand Hotel, Falsettos, Blood Brothers, Titanic, Sunset Boulevard, Tommy, Caroline, or Change, The Life, Ragtime, The Dead, two Wild Parties, Jane Eyre, The Color Purple, Spring Awakening

and the Obama years:

A steady uninterrupted diet of dry, serious, foreboding works like Xanadu, Shrek, Rock of Ages, Sister Act, Book of Mormon (no comedy or silliness there, folks!), Priscilla, and revivals of Promises, Promises and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

What. The. F*CK????

[Calvin]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 11:48am

I saw "Billie Elliott" (sic) the night Obama was elected. He's so damn powerful he was ruining Broadway before he was even in office!

BTW, can we please drop the bull stories about "my conservative friend was told his work was brilliant but that it would never get produced in this PC/leftist world." Oh really? What friend? Who told him that? What's the purpose of anonymity if his work isn't getting produced anyway? Updated On: 7/15/11 at 11:48 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 12:20pm

Please, as if conservatives can't get their work seen anymore. Exhibit A: David Mamet, atill, rightfully, a powerful voice in the theater, although his political writings make me want to vomit.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 12:26pm

In a weird way, I think things like that are the beauty of theatre- the absolute plurality of opinions and people in it. Theatre may be arguably a "mostly gay" or "mostly liberal" thing, but it is by no means exclusively. Theatre is an art form and a voice. And everyone's voice is different. The fact that they don't all agree is what makes theatre so interesting to me.

Speaking of politicalization on Broadway, "The Book Of Mormon" might be one of the first libertarian or at least "South Park Republican" musicals ever played on stage. Okay, second- "Urinetown" did it first. Both of them, with their social, moral and (in Urinetown's case) political stance being decidedly middleground and neither explicitly left or right, are hard to classify either way as political or apolitical.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 12:47pm

All of the shows the "writer" sites as examples of their narrow agenda were long in development or even on stage before President Obama even started campaigning. Add to that errors that could have been fixed with a simple google search (saying the Golden Age ended in the early 60's, Billie Elliot, Gabe's death, all of the Mormons in Book are closeted). I have no problem reading opinions that are different than mine as long as they are well thought out and well researched (or in this case, researched at all). The fact that this moron thinks that dark/theme driven musicals are a new thing paired with pure lies, once again paints a scary picture of conservative America. I particularly take offense to him equating President Obama's election with the end of racism in America. Right, buddy. And homophobia ended with the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. In fact, I think racism is stronger than ever. So many of the attacks on Obama feel like veiled racism. And I wouldn't be shock if this is one of them.

Updated On: 7/15/11 at 12:47 PM

[Calvin]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 12:52pm

And his siren analogy makes no sense.

[greensgreens]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 2:26pm

I should check my address again. I can see the Guthrie from my house and I'm pretty sure I have never even been in Indianapolis.

I love how this article just brings bile to my throat. It takes a lot to do that.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 2:48pm

I had to stop reading the comments section. His lies and factual mishaps are coming of as the truth to these people. People will believe anything in their quest to maintain their ignorance and feel superior to the truth.

[Daniel2]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 5:19pm

A stupid, lazy article. "Book of Mormon" is politically correct? Idiocy. "Yank" hasn't opened on Broadway and the name of the show is BILLY Elliott not "Billie". This writer seems to be equating "politically correct" with anything that isn't anti-gay. The sad thing on the comments section as well is that it just gave a lot of people the leeway to post stupid homophobic and racist things.

[seamlessicon]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 5:34pm

Lord, this man is a nincompoop and needs to get his facts straight.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 5:48pm

Don't you just hate people sometimes?

I would guess very few of those people responding have ever been to b'way, or ever planned to see a show on b'way.

Oy.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 6:00pm

I'm just waiting for a certain one of our right-leaning BWW regulars to explain how he's really correct on every point.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 6:09pm

The musicals that he mentioned:

Billy Elliot premiered in London in 2005/2006 (not sure exactly) way before Obama was elected
Hair was written way back in 1969
An early version of Yank was produced in 2007
Memphis had its first productions in 2003/2004
The Scottsboro Boys started in 2002 and would have been staged during the Bush years had Fred Ebb not unfortunately passed away in 2004
The first draft of Next to Normal was written in 1998
Work on The Book of Mormon started in 2006

But, clearly, this is all Obama's fault.

[Daniel2]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 6:11pm

The commenters on this site almost all admit they've never seen any of these shows--but they're willing to judge them based on ignorance.

Posted: 7/15/11 at 6:47pm

Someone in Xenia is ecstatic!

[siny]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 7:45pm

Why is it that the wingnuts are always in the state of hysteria over something or other - be it light-bulbs or death panels and now Broadway shows ? They sure are an emotional bunch.

[choitoy]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 8:02pm

Wait, did I read that article right (after he got so many things wrong? LOL!)

So Broadway is both becoming too PC, yet also is trying to push a political agenda that is leftist (but dumbed down)?

The hell?

And I love that the article started out mentioning two shows that can be taken to exemplify political change in leftist ways (surely "My Fair Lady" is a harbinger of women's rights, and "Oklahoma" by Rodgers & Hammerstein, was the first in a series of works to take a look at social issues of the day and comment upon them.).

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 8:04pm

Because they can't say what's really bothering them: "I need to feel superior to somebody; homos will do"; "If I vote to support big business, somehow I might get some money someday, contrary to all logic"; and "Ewww, there's black people in the White House!"

[rjm516]

Posted: 7/15/11 at 8:34pm

I'm angry that he not only told unassuming audiences that Gabe is dead, but that he KILLED himself. What a jerk this guy is.