Parade Performances- Page 5

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 10:23am

People are already complaining about last night's 'Muppet' special not being family-friendly. The complaints are at the bottom of this page.




Lady Gaga & The Muppets' Holiday Spectacular Updated On: 11/29/13 at 10:23 AM

[Marianne2]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 10:53am

It was on at 9:30pm. What more do people want? That's the beauty of The Muppets. Yeah, there are a lot of children friendly stuff they do, but there was also a lot that went over my head as a child. The special was not meant for young children airing at that hour, in my opinion. But, what do I know?

[Tink2]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 11:02am

Back in the 70's, I was doing a regional production of JCSS. We actually got bomb threats because some very conservative people had only heard the title song on the radio and felt that the show had to be sacrilegious and blasphemy. The song, taken out of context of the show, does come across that way. It took awhile, but people finally realized how incorrect that assumption was. Now, everyone on the planet probably knows that JCSS is simply the re-telling of the final seven days of Christ's life, using modern language/costumes.

Unfortunately, the Kinky Boots number hit that conservative portion of the audience the same way. I doubt that they even listened to the words. They probably couldn't get past the visuals of men in drag. Intolerant? Of course. Should people be able to explain this to small children without feeling uncomfortable? Well, in a perfect world. Some day, these things will be done without a second thought. Right now, obviously not.

We still have ratings for movies. You must be a certain age to see certain films. That way, people are not surprised and finding themselves having to explain things to their children that they are uncomfortable doing. That is what happened with the parade performance. Parents were not expecting it. They, and their children, are watching Cinderella, Matilda, Pippin (and they were dressed as circus performers are always dressed- no surprises there) and suddenly, there are men dressed as women wearing "women's shoes." Parent's did not like having to explain this the 5-6 year old kids, who were waiting to see Santa Claus. As liberal as I am, I can actually understand that. They were expecting a G rating for The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and feel they were blindsided. I wish the show had performed "Everybody say yeah' and avoided all of this.

Go ahead and throw tomatoes. I can take it. ; ) Just trying to "walk a mile in their moccasins" (tm willrogers) to understand the backlash.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 1:02pm

Don't know if you saw, but Harvey Fierstein has a BWW exclusive statement (ie. cut-and-pasted from his Facebook) about the whole Kinky on the Parade thing.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 1:16pm

"I wish the show had performed "Everybody say yeah' and avoided all of this."

I am not sure why that would have helped. There are the Kinky Boots "Lola's angels" chorus performing on that number also.

I don't think Macy's or anyone needs to pander to anyone. People being uncomfortable is not necessarily a bad thing. It opens conversations that might be normally not discussed - and if anyone knows kids at all, all types of questions crop up at all types of times, not just when parents feel its a good time.

Sure there were people who didn't like it..just like there were people (as I mentioned earlier) who didn't like the bi-racial couple in the recent Cheerios commercial and went on to post ridiculously hateful posts and made insulting comments...about this being shoved down their throats.

But people can't live in a bubble much as they try.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 1:41pm

'The Lady Gaga: Muppet Special' was a disappointment in ratings. I think maybe 'The Muppet Christmas Carol' would have been a better choice to air last night.


Lady Gaga Muppet special a ratings turkey

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 1:50pm

Did everyone seem to forget that Harvey F. Played Mrs. Santa Claus 10 years ago, in full high drag?!

If anyone had a problem with the Kinky Boots performance, you are a prude and need to stay at home and off the Internet.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 1:51pm

Priscilla’s performance was a little different. No men where in straight drag- Priscilla’s costumes were more over the top. There were no men wearing heels except the Emus and three of three of the ensemble. Kinky’s costumes were more realistic. But of course Tony Sheldon was in full drag (but he passes for a women so maybe families didn’t even notice). I think families probably found the Priscilla costumes more fun, wacky and kid friendly then Kinky’s. either way, it’s soo silly to get bothered by something like this. I really wish they had put Nick and Will in drag for Priscilla's performance. In fact, I wish Priscilla had performed a different number at the parade like Finally, I Love The Nightlife, Go West or Color My World- And had Nick and Will in full drag.

[Tink2]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 2:39pm

"Don't know if you saw, but Harvey Fierstein has a BWW exclusive statement (ie. cut-and-pasted from his Facebook) about the whole Kinky on the Parade thing."

Yes, I saw it and I fully expect the writer of the show to stand behind the performance. I do not disagree with him. Things need to change. However, I've lived long enough to have learned there is a time and place for everything. Harvey wants change, but may not be considering who is included in the entire audience of the parade. The result may be parents not allowing their children to watch that first hour in the future. That wouldn't be good for theater. In the future, all Macy's needs to do is advertise accordingly. Then parents could screen accordingly.

KathyNYC2, I don't think this is about pandering to anyone. Like it or not, television, just like movies, has a ratings system. I actually liked the performance and thought it had a great message, but that is beside the point.

"If anyone had a problem with the Kinky Boots performance, you are a prude and need to stay at home and off the Internet. "

LOLOL! Do you think that line actually works on anyone?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 3:12pm

No one here. That was a general shout out to folks in the mid west, who have nothing better to do than complain.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 10:55pm

The 'Cinderella' performance was wonderful. It brought back great memories of the day I saw it in NYC. I thought Rebecca Luker was good during the parade performance, but I thought Victoria Clark was flawless when I saw the actual show.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 11/30/13 at 6:27am

I resent that, being a proud Midwestern.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 12/2/13 at 10:58pm

yep, Orion's back with the show. He replaces Kenneth Lindemann.