LENNON article -what about May Pang?

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 10:16pm

Most of this article is uninteresting and obviously written by someone who does not like Yoko Ono, but I thought that this section of the article with the perspective by May Pang (who he saw the show with) was worth posting since there has been so much talk about the role of Yoko Ono in the show and the skewing of history:


"The whole experience was bizarre, made more so by the fact that May Pang was my companion for the afternoon.

After all, Pang went to work for the Lennons in 1970 and had a nearly two-year-long affair with John in 1973-74. She was there for the recording of his "Rock & Roll" and "Shaved Fish" albums. She lived with him in Los Angeles during his infamous year-and-half-long "Lost Weekend."

So imagine her reaction when "Lennon" just skips any reference to her. It's like being airbrushed out of a picture.

"I sent John to Los Angeles," Ono — played by talented, attractive Julie Danao-Salkin — declares at that point.

Pang almost did a spit-take at that point.

"No," she informed me, "I took John to Los Angeles."

Though the Lennons are reunited on stage during a romantic song, Pang points out: "Yoko summoned John home. She told him she could cure his smoking through hypnosis."

She rolled her eyes. "When I saw him again, it was as if he was a different person altogether."

Also not mentioned is that Pang — who tried to reunite Lennon with McCartney — continued to have a friendship with Lennon until a year before he died.

But that's the problem with "Lennon." Ono and pals have so rewritten or unwritten history that you have no idea who John Lennon was. You get no sense of his humor, of how he wrote songs or of his actual friendships with the other Beatles.

How could a man who helped compose dozens of catchy melodies with McCartney be rendered on stage as a cipher? Where is the magic of writing "Michelle" or the satisfaction of producing the "Sgt. Pepper" album? It's as if none of it happened.

Imagine, if you will, a McCartney musical that only focused on his participation in Wings."


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163171,00.html

Updated On: 7/21/05 at 10:16 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 10:18pm

nice find

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 11:40pm

Why thank you :0)

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 7/22/05 at 12:14am

I think this show should have been done w/ someone not related to Lennon and someone who didnt know him. That way its an unbiased telling of his actual story. Not the story and skipping stuff.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/22/05 at 12:23am

Yeah, 'cause while of course every show is going to be centered around the point of view of its creators, if nothing else these obvious issues surrounding the portrayal of Yoko and of the general portrayal of the facts seems to be distracting from...oh, I dunno, LENNON.

It'll be interesting to see what the reviews will say...

[Shawk]

Posted: 7/22/05 at 12:28am

Any telling of a personal story is going to have a slant, and I really can't see how including May Pang would have fit into this particular telling. It's not an 8 hour biography.

[justme2]

Posted: 7/22/05 at 1:10am

I agree, it is NOT an A&E Biography of the man, it's a musical on Broadway. An entirely different thing. The creative team is not selling you an investigative report here.

I believe the show Will Rogers Follies got some flack for the same thing...glossing over a lot of Will Rogers life and highlighting only....the...well...HIGHLIGHTS of his life.

You want a biography? Watch A&E.
You want a Musical about someone's life? Go to a show.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/22/05 at 4:11am

What you include, what you don't, and what you change (i.e. the los angeles thing that pang mentioned) are all a choice; but those choices are certainly up for criticism. Do the choices they make best serve their purpose and message? Do they best highlight the things they think they want emphasize about Lennon, or do they detract?

Certainly these are fair questions to ask.

[zoran912]

Posted: 7/22/05 at 5:52am

Whatever this show is supposed to be, it cannot be denied that the show paints Yoko in an unnaturally positive light.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 7/22/05 at 6:32am

Does it feature any of Yoko's songs (shudder)?

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 7/22/05 at 8:19am

This is such a shameful moment in Lennon's life. I can understand not including it. Of course they want to paint the center focus in the best light possible.

You're all missing the most important fact. John Lennon narrates the show. Why WOULDN'T Yoko be painted in a good lght? She was his wife and inspiration.

Updated On: 7/22/05 at 08:19 AM

[justme2]

Posted: 7/22/05 at 12:59pm

Thank you iluvtheatertrash!!

You said what I wanted to say...the show is from Lennon's point of view. LENNON'S! Not the audiences, not the Beatles, not a non partisan narrarator's.

and yes, why wouldn't a BROADWAY MUSICAL paint the center focus in the best light (thanks again trash!)?

I am sure, you LENNON dectractors out there, that if and when you are ever portrayed in a Broadway show, that you will make sure to leave a note in your will to have the creators of the musical include EVERY SINGLE BAD INCIDENT/BEHAVIOR/DECISION or RELATIONSHIP of your life in it! That's how you'd want to be remembered, wouldn't you?

[Shawk]

Posted: 7/22/05 at 3:12pm

Do the choices they make best serve their purpose and message? Do they best highlight the things they think they want emphasize about Lennon, or do they detract?

I can't possibly imagine how it would have added to the message of the show. The audience already has seen John have sex with the woman at the party, which wasn't a very flattering view of his actions there, and what would they have Musical!Lennon say? "It was my lost weekend. It lasted for over a year. And I had an affair with May Pang."

I just can't see how or why they would have worked it in. Scardino clearly chose to focus on John's love for Yoko, and obviously since it's a musical, it's not like each detail is presented exactly as it happened. Perhaps Scardino should have anticipated that people have very strong and not very positive feelings about Yoko Ono, but since she gave permission to use the unpublished songs and whatnot, I can't really see that he would choose to focus on an affair John had with someone else, besides the fact that it just doesn't fit into the framework of the musical.