'Ragtime's liberal agenda (at least thats what this guy calls it)

[singtopher]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:15pm

Just got out of "Ragtime" (which was fabulous) and my friend who was with me told me about this op-ed in the Midland (MI) Daily News regarding a local production of "Ragtime" Apparently, the show was a bit "off color."

Tuesday reader's view: A vain attempt
Published: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 11:05 AM EST

To the editor:

â??Ragtime the Musicalâ?? was probably the worst musical I have seen put on by Music Society in the last twenty years. Compared to such ragtime hits as heard in the movie â??The Stingâ?? it was certainly a poor adaptation of that, although it may have been acceptable in the bordellos of St. Louis and New Orleans, the birthplace of ragtime. Although the leads did an outstanding job there was an awful lot of yelling and screaming rather than actual singing. I attend these performances and contribute to both Music Society and Theatre Guild to be entertained by their shows, not to be subjected to a vain attempt to make me feel guilty as a Caucasian about social and racial injustice that occurred 100 years ago.

I see it as a political effort on the part of liberals to silence citizens from expressing criticism of the current administration of our multiracial president, who however for just that reason works hard to ignore his white heritage and the white environment in which he grew up. This musical, if you can call it that, was first produced in Canada in 1996, clearly in an attempt to embarrass this country, because of its opposition to the U.S. going after a mass murderer. Judging by the audience when I attended the show, they did not seem like the people who would contribute to either Music Society or Theatre Guild. I think I will join them

Bill Sandt

Midland

Article

Updated On: 11/11/09 at 05:15 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:19pm

Well, that was easily the most unhinged, poorly written, and bizarre thing I've read all day.

[singtopher]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:20pm

right?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:20pm

I like the part about Obama denying his white heritage.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:39pm

... Wha? It was produced in 1996 so that Canada could make Americans look bad and feel guilty about their president? I couldn't understand what the hell that last paragraph was trying to say...

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:41pm

Judging by the audience when I attended the show, they did not seem like the people who would contribute to either Music Society or Theatre Guild

btw, for those of you not fluent in small-town-community-theatre-patron speak, this translates to: "There sure were lots of black folk in the audience when I was there, but we know they only come see 'their' shows and stay at home when we do 'The King and I' [Calvin's note: with a mostly white cast] for the 26th time."
Updated On: 11/11/09 at 05:41 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:45pm

Ooh, good point, Calvin.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:47pm

Is Glen Beck using a Nom de Plume now?

[musicalsFan]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:47pm

Calvin,

Yep. You got that translation just right. It is so easy to see through these idiots.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:48pm

Small towns, race relations, and musicals just don't mix... My small-town high school put on a production of Carousel with a black Billy and a white Julie my junior year, and people actually walked out when they kissed after If I Loved You.

Updated On: 11/11/09 at 05:48 PM

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:51pm

I'm as politically conservative as they come and I love Ragtime, so whatevs.

[MusicSnob1]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 5:59pm

It's one thing to be politically conservative or socially republican, for that matter. But it's another thing to be a crazy right-wing fanatic.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 6:04pm

Well it is just a letter to the editor, but the part about the show being "first produced in Canada in 1996, clearly in an attempt to embarrass this country."

Canada (Toronto to be specific..Canada is a HUGE country, not the 51st state) doesn't need to produce a musical to embarrass the U.S. They can do that all by themselves, and if we did want to produce a show to embarrass political parties we have our own embarrassment: The Conservative party and our current prime minister.

[Dagobert]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 6:04pm

Well here is one Right Winger's Review of the Kennedy Center Production of this show now about to open on Broadway:


Right Winger Liked this RAGTIME

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 6:12pm

Hey, that was the blogger pissed off at Oscar the Grouch!

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 6:36pm

This musical, if you can call it that
How is it not a musical?

was first produced in Canada in 1996, clearly in an attempt to embarrass this country
The American composer, lyricist, and book writer wanted to embarrass their own country?

because of its opposition to the U.S. going after a mass murderer
Because of an event which would happen 5 years in the future?

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 6:38pm

And he does understand that "The Entertainer" wasn't written for "The Sting," doesn't he?

[AC126748]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 8:18pm

If being against racism, sexism and xenophobia is a liberal agenda, then sign me the hell up.

[MusicSnob1]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 8:26pm

AC, we all have bits & pieces of those three darling attributes - Don't try to deny it.

[Marceline]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 10:08am

How much do you want to bet he wrote that letter in purple crayon?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 11:36am

When I read stuff like this letter it helps me understand why those Teabaggers are so irate. They live in a very different place than I do and it's obviously a scary place and very hard to be a straight white guy there.

[jpbran]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 12:20pm

The Letters to the Editor pages in most papers are packed with letters from bored, angry, scared, ill-informed retired people and whack-jobs who are uncomfortable with anything "different" and laden with too much time on their hands. This is (sadly) so typical.

I just hate that the papers give them a platform. A REAL opinion is one thing; a slightly unbalanced paranoiac with tenuous -- at best -- grasps on facts is another...

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/12/09 at 12:23pm

Good lord, you've got to be kidding me.