beulahbondo's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pearly teeth, dear Last night was the fi-na-leeee (Heidi Klum pronunciation) of Project Runway. I was out till late, but when I got home I turned on the tv and found the 1 am second or third or fourth repeat of the night of the fi-na-lee. Ten minutes into it, as the fi-na-leeeee-ists were riding in the cab to their runway show, zoop! My electricity went out. So I dialed up to the Internet and got the scoop that way, lit some candles, and went about my nightly business. I was out late on a school night for the black-tie opening and after party of a college production of "Threepenny Opera." I love that show. I love all the music in it; I love especially "Mack the Knife," which sometimes I think is the best song ever, in the world. As for my black-tie apparel, forget about it. I wore a nice new top, but I'm not going to swan around in a cocktail dress in March. So I have a lot of issues with the direction of this play. Call me a bitter, 80s-style, second-wave feminist, because I am. There is just no reason, especially for a female director, to put half the women in the cast in underwear and make them literally stalk around the stage for no reason except display. I do mean underwear. One girl wore a black bra and thin white cotton boxers; the others wore corsets and garters and stockings and something on the bottom. I know they're supposed to be brothel workers, and to represent the pathetic poor and all that, but come on, they were just too pleased with themselves, and they looked way too healthy with the shiny hair and thin bodies and all, and you know they were cast because they could sing and look good in the underwear. Why not have Peachum hook them up with some fake bruises and scabs? And don't give me any crap about Brechtian alienation. I know how that's supposed to work, and it doesn't work like that. There's a fine line between deliberately awkward direction and direction that is so awkward it looks amateurish. That said, there were some fine singers in the cast, and the one who played Jenny, who did not wear just underwear, totally nailed it. I would love to see the New York production with Cindi Lauper in that role. The party had nice sandwiches and beautiful petit fours. I wonder if the electricity went out there too after I left? 9:38 p.m. - 2006-03-09 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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