Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler- Page 2

[Wilmingtom]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#25

Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:42pm

"Well, Leon is a competent-at-best director."

And certainly more facile with pre-existing, tried and true material than originals.

[FishermanBob]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#26

Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:46pm

"America's been on the wrong side of history lots of times. We were allies with Germany until Charlie Chaplin came out with The Great Dictator and then we were like, 'Holy F*CK' and we switched sides."

Sounds like he is confusing the U.S. and other allies providing aid and helping to rebuild a shattered Germany in the years immediately after WW1 with being allies of Nazi Germany 20 years later. Completely understandable. Many highly respected American historians make this very same error. I just which he would have specified whether he felt it was FDR or Hoover who said "Holy F*CK". There's always been a lot of debate in academic circles about this specific point.

[newintown]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#27

Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:50pm

Either way, Chaplin's movie, although delightful, had no impact on US foreign policy.

[Kad]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#28

Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:54pm

Of all the times America has been on the wrong side of history, perhaps this was not a good example. Especially when talking about your crummy show flopping.

"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."

[givesmevoice]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#29

Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:54pm

Didn't the Bridges of Madison County team also blame audiences for being unable to appreciate the music and story they presented?

When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

[Kad]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#30

Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:55pm

JRB took an uncharacteristically humble tone and did not compare the failure of his show to America allying with Nazi Germany.

"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."

[givesmevoice]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#31

Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:57pm

JRB took an uncharacteristically humble tone and did not compare the failure of his show to America allying with Nazi Germany.

Well he probably figured that was understood and he didn't need to spell it out for us.

When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

[neonlightsxo]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#32

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:01pm

Kelli, on the other hand, did go and whine and complain to press about commercial Broadway and how audiences just don't appreciate the same kind of musicals anymore.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#33

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:04pm

I read that interview. To characterize it as 'whining' is deeply unfair. It was a clear-eyed and honest assessment. You can certainly disagree with her...but her tone was not 'whining.'

[neonlightsxo]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#34

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:07pm

It wasn't one interview I'm referring to, it was several. She said the same things to multiple outlets. We get it, it sucks your show closed. That's whining.

[Jordan Catalano]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#35

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:08pm

She certainly wasn't whining. It might have come off that way with the swastika she tattooed on her forehead symbolizing her show being treated like Jews in WWII Germany were, but it certainly wasn't whining.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#36

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:09pm

Perhaps its because I agree with her 100%, but I still wouldn't call it whining. Hell, I wouldn't have necessarily thought anything negative about Mr. Williams remarks had he just left Hitler out of it.

[Jordan Catalano]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#37

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:10pm

Note to EVERYONE:

Do not compare your problems with those of people who suffered under Hitler. It will not end well.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#38

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:12pm

I think that one black chorus girl over at BULLETS referred to their closing notice as 'The Night of the Long Knives.'

[newintown]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#39

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:15pm

This summer will be remembered as "Broadway's Kristallnacht," when the Anti-theatre brownshirts busted the windows of the Palace, the St. James, and the Winter Garden.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#40

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:25pm

I was gonna go with Kristallnacht, but didn't feel edgy enough today.

[PalJoey]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#41

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:28pm

Many highly respected American historians make this very same error.

Name two.

[JRybka]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#42

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:31pm

I actually would have been interested to see it. Perhaps someone could "Passing Strange" it and record it.

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

[Showface]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#43

Posted: 7/23/14 at 3:53pm

"I am speaking to that American race psyche; that thing that Harry Belafonte said to me after he saw the play, which is, "You took an afrocentric-themed play and placed it on a eurocentric stage. The problems you'll face are larger than you think""

Tell that to Dreamgirls (heck even Lady Day).

"Who are we fooling? More hip-hop musicals are inevitable if Broadway wishes to survive."

Umm..this show closed after a month. And the fact that it was a hip hop musical did not help it. So...umm...I doubt. That hip hop musicals will be Broadways saving grace. Who said Broadway was on the verge death anyway? 

Also on that whole other comment he made about America, Germany, and Chaplin. I have no words.

[tazber]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#44

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:02pm

He needs to google "Godwin's Law".

....but the world goes 'round

[SonofRobbieJ]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#45

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:05pm

I'd actually argue that DREAMGIRLS is pretty Eurocentric. Though the cast is predominantly African-American, the show is really about how one needed to 'whiten' their sound and look to cross over to mainstream.

[Showface]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#46

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:10pm

^I see where you're coming from, but I think that the group had to "whiten" there sound makes it pretty afro-centric. Because it had to deal with the struggles of black singing groups in an era where they had to do stuff like that.

[FishermanBob]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#47

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:20pm

"Many highly respected American historians make this very same error.

Name two."

Well for starters, Doris Kearns Goodwin in her landmark book "Rebuilding Germany after World War 1 and Supporting the Nazis: Same Thing, Right?" And how about no less a WW2 authority than the late Stephen Ambrose in his book "How the U.S. Supported the Nazis Until FDR Said Holy F*CK after watching The Great Dictator".

Seriously, I guess I'm too subtle sometimes with my sarcasm. You can say the U.S. should have recognized the Nazi threat earlier. You can say the U.S. should not have adopted such an isolationist policy of "well they ain't bothering us" as country after country in Europe fell to the Nazis before we finally got involved after Pearl Harbor. You can say the U.S. shouldn't have ignored the reports of mass executions at concentration camps that were starting to come out in 1940. You can say the U.S. was heartless in refusing to let passengers on the MS St. Louis disembark even though it was clear to almost everyone what would happen if the ship was sent back. But to say the U.S. were actually allies of Nazi Germany at any point is about the dumbest comment any human being could make. I wonder if that moron even understands what the word "allies" means.

[Unknown User]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#48

Posted: 7/23/14 at 4:51pm

Oh please. "The Great Dictator" didn't come out until October 1940. Everyone knows the US switched sides much earlier, when the Three Stooges movie "You Nazty Spy!" came out in January 1940.
Moe, Larry and Curly: Premature Anti-Fascists

[Sutton Ross]

Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler#49

Posted: 7/23/14 at 5:46pm

"the fact that audiences prefer stories like Rocky..."

He didn't say that, he said "packaged like Rocky" which makes complete sense to me.
Also, the TKTS people had no right to say that, they are there to sell tickets, not to give personal opinions. A standing ovation doesn't mean much, but it definitely means a lot of the people who went to see the show enjoyed it.

It could have been a good show, it should have been in regional theater. My friend brought 10 of her high school students to the show, they loved it and completely related to some of the characters, they also said it was nice to have people that looked like them on the stage. Saul Williams in an exceptionally gifted musician who lives in Paris. I think he will be just fine.