#1
Posted: 11/21/03 at 5:07pm
In this comic satire of musical theatre genres, one story becomes five musicals, each in a distinctive style of a different master of the form. June, an ingenue, who can't pay the rent, is threatened by her evil landlord. Will the handsome leading man come to her rescue? In an evening of variations on a theme, this basic plot is musicalized in the way Rodgers and Hammerstein's might have envisioned it, taking place in Kansas in August, complete with a dream ballet. The story is then done in the style of Stephen Sondheim, featuring the landlord as a tortured, artistic genius who slashes the throats of his tenants in revenge because they don't appreciate his art. When the story is presented in the style of Jerry Herman, the story becomes a splashy star vehicle, while the Andrew Lloyed Webber version is a rock musical, with borrowed themes from Puccini. The story is retold one last time in the style of Kander and Ebb, set in a speakeasy in Chicago. The tone of this evening of satire is lovely/irreverent "in a sorry grateful kind of way".
This was sent to me through email by the New York Times. Has anyone else ever heard of this? What do we think?
This was sent to me through email by the New York Times. Has anyone else ever heard of this? What do we think?
Updated On: 11/28/03 at 05:07 PM
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