Future Show Closings- Page 4

[TomMonster]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 8:34pm

Thanks for bringing that up Yank!

I've been reading this post (or trying to what with all of the horrible spelling errors)and am shocked at how people are posting their emotions and not the financial facts.

And please, Winston et al. Upgrade to Firefox. The spell check really does help...

PS: There is a difference between typos and bad spelling. Bad spelling is just laziness and ignorance.

[george95]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 8:34pm

No I totally get the whole point of Hairspray (its fairly simple isnt it?)
The problem is the way the Seaweed character views his romance with Penny. He sings about how everything (including the girls) in the ghetto is black. Now, he can finally be happy because he has a girl with skin as white as snow to love him. Black men are already taught through rap music to look down on black women, and they are taught by successful athletes and actors that part of success is getting a white woman, and the Seaweed character just cotinues this dangerous line of thinking. I know its supposed to be a dumb lighthearted show and be happy and silly and all that, but the message it sends to young black men is dangerous and damaging.

[Corine2]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 8:56pm

Why talk about this. I hope none of the Broadway shows close.
Go see my favorite show, AVENUE Q.

It will be a sad day when it closes. I adore all the shows you are discussing. Personally, think the plays will go before the musicals.
The Homecoming and August have great reviews but I doubt they will run for very long.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 11:36pm

George, Seaweed's lyrics is: "Who'd have thought I'd love a girl with skin as white as winter snow?"

That doesn't say that he happy because he has a white girl. It says that he is surprised that he has fallen in love with a white girl, considering that he grew up in a black neighborhood and never really had that sort of connection with a white person before. You are completely misconstruing the situation.

And considering that I, myself, am a young black man, I can tell you that the "message" of Seaweed and Penny's relationship is not at all dangerous or damaging... that is, if you actually understand what's going on.


Updated On: 1/5/08 at 11:36 PM

[george95]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 12:04am

Look obviously Seaweed is not gonna come out and say "thank god I have a white girl now I could leave the ghetto" but that underlying message is there. Joshua I'm sure youre not trying to be the spokesman for your race when you say "as a young black man" so rather than trying to subtlely insult me you should look at the stats on interracial marriage, or just google interracial relations and you'll be shocked at what is going on in the black community with black men leaving for precisely the reasons that Seaweed sings about.........its the ultimate way to get out of that world.

[jake6970]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 12:07am

Seaweed isn't leaving the world, and Penny isn't joining his...they're joining the two worlds TOGETHER. Seaweed isn't leaving his black friends in the dust, they all dance with white girls in the finale. Hairspray is about joining the black world and the white world together. Have you missed the entire point?

[balletandbroadway]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 12:15am

Victoria George: I highly doubt Mamma Mia will close with the movie musical coming out this summer with a very well-known cast. I'm quite sure after the movie hype is over, it will close.

[george95]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 12:16am

All right I admit I am sensitive about this whole situation since I educate young black men everyday and I see what this type of media stereotyping does to them. The creators could have portrayed Seaweed's and Penny's attraction in a fresher way. Why does Penny have to say "now I tasted chocolate and I'm never going back?" It hypersexualizes black men much in the hiphop videos do. And again, Seaweed does not see Penny as just a girl who happens to be white....he likes her BECAUSE she is white.
But I think I am done talking about this since TWO DIFFERENT people on this board had to get personal and trashy and insult me rather than have an intelligent conversation.

[jake6970]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 12:35am

You have no idea whether or not he likes her because she's white. How do you know what those two characters felt together, what initial attraction was there? What an ignorant statement to make.

[george95]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 12:54am

Yayyyy my first time being called ignorant on BWW! Jake.....in civilized discourse we should endeavor to not insult, but merely disagree............why dont you try that Jake.

[Gobstopper]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 1:21am

ANYway, back on topic, I think RENT is safe for another year and a half or two years. I wouldn't be surprised though to see another OBC member return this summer. Wilson Jermaine Heredia and/or Jesse L. Martin, perhaps? (If this happens, I hope it's by late June when I'd be there!)
Also, I think Xanadu's days are numbered, because it's almost too much of a "cult" thing to have a really long run. Also, I think Avenue Q will last until this time next year.

[Rotel1026]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 1:52am

Before you go off and make yourself a martyr, I didn't insult you all I said is that it was obvious you missed the entire point of the show. I'm a minority and while not black, I definitely have seen that in my culture, marrying a white person is considered marrying up. But it sounds like you brought your problems with interracial dating into the show and they were coloring your perception of the show. The point of the show is that color shouldn't matter yet that's all that mattered to you.

[george95]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 2:35am

if the point of the show is that color shouldnt matter then they should have done a less stereotypical interracial pairing.....like a black woman and a white man.........something different. I made it clear what my problems were, so u dont need to go there buddy. My only problem were what I see day in and day out with my black male high school students and what they are taught by the media about how to treat black women vs how to treat white women. Hairspray is right up there with hip-hop videos and pro-athletes in sending the wrong message to my kids.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 5:58am

Wow. I'm glad you're not teaching my kids.

How can you look at "Hairspray" and be - and I really mean this - the only person I have ever heard express these opinions? I have African American friends who have kids and certainly do not share your opinion.

It's as if you're seeing a totally different show than the rest of us.

[DaneSaw]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 6:17am

"Hairspray is right up there with hip-hop videos and pro-athletes in sending the wrong message to my kids."


...that black people shouldn't get with white people?

Nowhere in the lyrics is it implied that Seaweed only likes Penny because she's white. In fact, they more imply that he's SHOCKED that he's ended up with a white girl.

You have to keep in mind that these are both characters between the ages of 14 and 17, both of whom have obviously been sheltered all their lives (Seaweed being exposed only to life in the ghetto, and Penny sheltered by her mother). Also remember that this is set in 1950s Baltimore when people spoke and thought like that...this was before racial boundaries were broken and there was still an underlying ignorance among races.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 8:05am

Where's Marc when we need him!?

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 8:21am

Ughh, can you take it outside? They're going to delete the whole thread because of this, can you start your own "Is Hairspray racist" thread instead?

[shesamarshmallow]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 8:33am

"Vanilla can be nice, but if the truth be told- the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice. The darker the chocolate, the richer the taste, now that's where it's at, run and tell that."

Uh-huh, I certainly get a white=good, black=bad vibe from that. Close Hairspray now.

[george95]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 1:03pm

Wow I really am amazed at the number of people on BWW who cannot express an opinion without getting personal. What a world!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 1:04pm

What a shock - not.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 1:06pm

What everyone seems to forget - or, they just can't express - is the fact that HAIRSPRAY is a parody of the turbulent '60s.

PARODY.

[george95]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 1:11pm

Hey Allofmylife, you said you're glad i'm not teaching your kids, which I guess is supposed to imply that I was imposing my view of Hairspray on my students? No actually I'm getting my view on Hairspray from them.....that's what they took away from seeing the show. Now unlike ALLOFMY LIFE, who also suggests that because he knows blacks who dont share my opinion, then no blacks share my opinion, I am aware that I am only getting this view of Seaweed/Hairspray from my black students and their media perceptions. Its anti-intellectual to not at least pursue this thought.
And Danesaw I see where you're coming from with Seaweed being shocked he ended up with Penny, but it is still portrayed as getting a white girl = ticket out of the ghetto, which is the phenomenon that started back then and it is still continuing unabated today. Our young blk men need to be taught that interracial love is of course fine, but not when you view people as objects like Seaweed did.

[george95]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 1:14pm

Hey Yankeefan, I hope that we're all aware that Hairspray is a parody........but whats your point? Parody is not lighthearted fun comedy, parody is biting, usually mean (Family Guy, South Park, etc) so Hairspray being a parody does not in any way mean its not supposed to be taken seriously. The underlying emotion behind satire and parody is anger.......that's where the laughs come from.

[jake6970]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 1:21pm

You could you stop blaming everyone calling out your inconsistincies on "personal" insults, when no one has insulted you at all? Thanks.

[george95]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 1:28pm

Awwwww Jake. Jake, Jake, Jake. Calling out my inconsistencies would be welcomed; almost encouraged. I was just referringn to the three individuals who called me a name other than "George". Thanks Jake! : )