THE MEDIA WATCH:
We've got a surfeit of books and discs to read and listen to, and DVDs to watch and hear. I'm not even half-way through what we collected in NYC last weekend, and more has arrived since!
The Kritzer CD that Haines recorded is wonderful, and will be in the rotation for some time, of course.
Der Brucer's locating the Oregon State University's Food Resource site isn't helping any. The piece on Tacos, Enchiladas and Refried Beans runs sixteen pages, and the site has so much more!
Add to all of this a couple of articles in the local press on West Rehoboth, which has one of our favorite waitresses in a deserved snit, and which led to us driving through the part of town referred to in the articles last night, to confirm what Violet had reported to us. Talk about a potent mix of property values and racism! Yipes!
There are a couple of good results from last night. For one, Violet's mother has promised us some pate from the restaurant where she works, which she herself makes (yum!). Second, we've found a really good Chinese take-out joint close to where we live (another yum!). Third, I've got a few more leads to report on re the local restaurant scene for eGullet, which means that next Friday night is already booked. (Yums to be confirmed later.)
All of which brings us to the other book of controversy at this here site. No, BK, not yours; I refer to Hausam's anthology The New American Musical. Noel has been asking why the four shows included in the book are the ones featured. I think I've found the answer in Hausam's introduction, titled "Way Back to Paradise: In Search of Today's Great American Musical."
Early in the introduction, Hausam states:
For example, West Side Story begat Stephen Sondheim (the show's lyricist), who begat, through the artistic influence of his work, the composer/lyricists of the four works represented in this volume: Floyd Collins, Rent, Parade, and The Wild Party, all of which premiered in New York City between 1996 and 2000. What all these works and authors share is a need to stretch the form and content of the musical to portray our increasingly difficult and complex world, and with tools more broadly expressive than a 32-bar song, a good joke, a chorus line, a happy ending and a lot of spectacular razzle-dazzle.
Later, Hausam writes:
Hal Prince likes us to remind us of the critical difference between a flop (a showbiz term) and a failure (an evaluation of artistic worth). Floyd Collins, Parade, and The Wild Party were flops, but far from failures. Why weren't they popular? Looking only at the artistic elements, I would have to say that it's as simple as: they were anti-musicals, and the audience and the critics assumed, expected and insted upon musicals.
It is possible that, unintentionally, this book documents the end of the noble tradition begun by Kern and Hammerstein. If that turns out to be the case, I want to have gone on record: this work is truly excellent; it's just out of synch with the dominant values of our times. A fact to pursuade you of the shift in cultural sensibility: not even West Side Story has been seen on Broadway since 1980!
As you all can see, I've got lots of interesting reading to do, along with all the listening and watching going on. That, and great food is on the way! (I've got some chicken thighs soaking in buttermilk, in anticipation of frying this evening, along with the promised pate! Very yum!)
