the

dramatic

Updated On: 1/30/16 at 09:10 AM

You know I was just thinking about this very thing when I got up this morning.

I

Updated On: 1/30/16 at 09:35 AM

work

Updated On: 1/30/16 at 09:38 AM

Still working on those grad school apps?

No, but yesterday's speech by Palin endorsing Trump comes pretty close.

I learned long ago not to get in a pissing contest with anyone. I say my peace and the floor is open for discussion. If your skin is so thin you cannot take a little good natured ribbing, I feel sorry for you. If that is the case, I humbly apologize for hurting your feelings.

The original productions of Cabaret, Chicago and Pippin seem to come close in intent if not in result. All three shows, in the original stagings, present and satirize atrocities and inhumanities, then turn this on the audience in their final moments.

Given that the average audience member of that era was an affluent person of roughly middle age, the unspoken accusation at the end of Cabaret in particular must have hit home, as it truly could have been them and their peers who turned a blind eye to human suffering in Hitler's time.

my

Updated On: 1/30/16 at 09:35 AM

delivery

Updated On: 1/30/16 at 09:46 AM

hi. I'M currently studying the different variations and styles and genres of theatre. thanks for starting this thread. what is your post about? is it for a paper or a thesis or something like that

Daniel, even after several readings, I have no idea what you want to say in this thread. (I do hope it was clear that I said your original post was "juvenile", not that you yourself are.)

Yes, many of the German Expressionists were nihilist. So were some of their cousins among the Futurists and Constructivists. They were the Angry Young Men of their era, analogous to punk rockers in the 1970s and having as much and as little influence on the culture at large. Expressionism lasted a little longer because of the dark circumstances imposed on Germany after WWI.

But whether any of these movements achieved any lasting change on individual psyches is highly debatable. (The same may be said of Artaud, despite his grandiose claims.)

And what does any of this have to do with the American musical? Not much, really.

Harold Prince was deeply influenced by a post-WWII trip to Brecht's East Berliner Ensemble (arguably the grandchild of German Expressionism though Brecht would deny it). The influence of Prince's trip is seen not only in CABARET, but in the direction and design elements of shows such as ZORBA, FOLLIES, SWEENEY TODD, EVITA , GRIND and even PHANTOM. But none of Prince's shows are true Expressionism; like all post-modern works, they borrow (often superficially) from early 20th century Modernist works without embracing the philosophical aims of those earlier movements.

This is not to say Prince's shows are superficial. I'm just saying we shouldn't confuse Prince's appropriation of German Expressionist design and directorial elements with German Expressionism itself.

I know less of Fosse's influences (other than his early days dancing in night clubs), but he did much the same in CHICAGO. But the ironic ending of that show ("In 50 years or so, it's gonna change, ya know" would have caused nothing but eye-rolling among true Expressionists. Was CHICAGO's view of the justice system disturbing in pre-O.J. days? Yes, to an extent that probably kept it from a longer run at the time. But not in the "Let's tear everything down and start over" sense of expressionist nihilism.

I don't disagree with darquegk often, but I saw the original PIPPIN and found it about as disturbing as THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Yes, there were some striking moments in the "War" number, but the show as a whole was a glossy version of Medieval theatrical elements that had been staples of protest theater throughout the 1960s. Even more than HAIR, it was a chance for middle-class audiences to take a day trip past a counter-culture that was already waning. Fosse was neither Wedekind nor Artaud, nor did he want to be.