You Grandiose Motherfuckers Don’t Play The Shit That They Like.

There is a lot of talk right now about the desperate state of the non-musical play in the United States:

“In a sense, the dilemma of nonprofit theater can be simply summarized — supply has outstripped current demand,” Dana Gioia, the chairman of the national endowment, wrote in a preface to the report. “The remarkable growth and professional management of theatrical organizations across the nation has not yet been matched by equally robust growth in audiences.”

Some smart folks are offering up ideas as to how to overcome this issue. First, Alexis Soloski, one of my favorite critics, suggests that the NEA needs to get involved with a big push towards ticket subsidies and/or salary underwriting. Pretty good ideas, but still not getting at the heart of the matter, I believe. George Hunka hits a little bit closer to what I’m thinking, although I don’t necessarily think that it’s all about tragedy. Basically, his argument is summed up in this sentence:

Perhaps the spectators are finding that theatrical experiences as created by most theatre artists do not speak truly to their condition or their lives.

The hip-hop version of that comes from the opening of The Roots Things Fall Apart, which actually takes its cue from Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues (cut and paste job from imdb.com):

Bleek: But the jazz, you know if we had to dep… if we had to depend upon black people to eat, we would starve to death. I mean, you’ve been out there, you’re on the bandstand, you look out into the audience, what do you see? You see Japanese, you see, you see West Germans, you see, you know, Slavolic, anything except our people – it makes no sense. It incenses me that our own people don’t realize our own heritage, our own culture, this is our music, man.
Shadow Henderson: That’s bullshit.
Bleek: Why?
Shadow Henderson: [slurred] It’s all bullsh… Everything, everything you just said is bullshit. Out of all the people in the world, you never gave anybody else, and look, I love you like a step-brother, but you never gave nobody else a chance t- to play their own music, you complain about… That’s right, the people don’t come because you grandiose motherfuckers don’t play shit that they like. If you played the shit that they like, then people would come, simple as that.

I humbly submit the idea that the non-profit theater, in its great drive to promote art for arts sake (or even to pander to what they think is their core audience with the same old chestnuts and/or plays about the same old people doing the same old things), is continuously failing to play the shit that they like.

Grandiose motherfuckers indeed.

RENT. Three.

I saw the film version of Rent in 2005, nine years after the magical experience at New York Theatre Workshop.  I hated it.  Maybe not hated.  Strongly disliked.  The primary problem, I thought, was that too long had passed before the film got made.  The original cast was starting to look a little long in the tooth, and that fact was driven home by the fresh additions of Tracie Thoms (more on her later) and Rosario Dawson (who should be in, if not all movies, then most).

The secondary problem, I thought, was a question of tone and approach: who was this movie for?  The obvious audience was the army of Rentheads (a category within which I think I have to, reluctantly, include myself), but they/we already know the show backwards and forwards.  The film made a number of structural changes to the piece, including cutting a bunch of songs, changing details, and disrupting the overall flow that the had been mastered in the musical.  This wasn’t the same piece of art that folks knew from the stage and the stereo.  At the same time, the film’s changes didn’t really take the piece in exciting new directions; it was hard to imagine someone who wasn’t already a fan of (or at least familiar with) the musical falling in love with the film.

My final problem with the movie was seemingly insignificant but straight to the heart of the matter: they shot lots of it in California.  Some exteriors were shot in NYC, but the overall feel still wasn’t right.  This was a New York show.  This was a show about a very specific place and time–you couldn’t go back to the time, but you could certainly have revisited the place.  New York City should have made this movie happen in New York City.

All that said, there are moments.

Tracie Thoms is kind of perfect as Joanne, both here and onstage (more on that in a few days).  There’s something young and exciting about her–she’s not Fredi Walker, who had a great voice and presence as well, but she’s a great fit.  The great songs still pop, for the most part (start with the following video and follow the trail on youtube; I’m not sure if this version of “Tango: Maureen” is kind of cool or woefully misguided):

All in all, the sad part of the movie is that it’s not what it could have been.  The original film rumors started in 2001 with the idea that Spike Lee was going to be at the helm (”shooting down the street”), and I remember talk that Justin Timberlake was going to star at one point (as Roger, I assume–not exactly a snug fit).  I’m not sure either of these celebs (or any celebs) would have been able to pull it off.  Even by 2001, the moment to make the movie had kind of passed.

Tomorrow…I fall back in love with the show.

PASSING STRANGE Announces Closing.

I just woke up from a little impromptu nap, and I check my e-mail, and I’ve got this message from my buddy and sometimes semi-idol Eisa Davis (links added by me):

so we’re closing with a bang, with the Spike Lee shoot.

thanks for taking this ride with us. if you haven’t caught it, hope you can get here before we close.

as Stew says in the show: is it alright?

and as I say back: yes, it’s alright.

eisa

www.passingstrangeonbroadway.com

This is sad, but not unpredictable news. Passing Strange never found its audience, struggling with a title and some marketing materials that didn’t really represent the show perfectly or highlight its strengths. It was also a tough sell on Broadway, a black rock musical that didn’t have an obvious hook for the suburban moms and tourists who make up your major ticket-purchasing block on the Rialto (look at me, getting my Variety on). The Tony Awards seemed to be the show’s big chance, but timing was a problem there, as In The Heights became sort of destined for Best Musical, and Lin-Manuel’s performance in that show may have split the Best Featured Actor vote with Stew (just a theory), leaving that award to Paulo Szot, not that I think anything other than Best Musical would have made a huge difference anyway. The fact that this show made it from Joe’s Pub to the Public to Broadway, and lasted as long as it did (185 performances including previews) qualifies as a huge success in my mind, even with the certain financial hit the producers have taken.

I was describing the show in an e-mail just now, and I said it was the most interesting “hip” young black show since Noise/Funk, and I was struck by the comparison–both were shows that came out of The Public, yeah, both were somewhat overshadowed and eclipsed by other shows that they were linked with in articles about the new cultural zeitgeist of their given time period (Heights now, Rent, of course, then), and both, from some kind of objective standard at least, were better shows then their counterparts. I say “objective standard” because Rent and Heights are two shows with great personal value to me, although I think both are kind of messy and not as consistently strong as the Public shows. The other thing with that is that both Strange and Noise/Funk are untraditional musicals at heart, turning away from what a regular Broadway show tends to do, and ultimately, that’s the commercial downfall of these pieces. But these aren’t commercial shows–just shows that happened to have some success commercially (and certainly did better critically than commercially, especially Strange).

Screenwriter William Goldman has said that he is amazed that a good movie ever gets made in the Hollywood system, because there is so much that could go wrong at any given moment. I tend to think the same thing about great Broadway shows–the odds are against a production going really well, against a show capturing some kind of great moment or aesthetic or thought and making it all the way to the Great White Way with its integrity and heart still attached. There are just too many places where it could go wrong. Passing Strange got almost everything right; the downfall, sadly, was in the most critical area for keeping the show running: the audience.

But still, I celebrate this show, this cast, this creative team, this man named Stew. If you have a chance, go see this show this week. (If you want to buy your favorite blogger a ticket to the Spike Lee shows or even the closing, I wouldn’t turn them down.) You’ll have to film version of this to remember it by, but you’re going to want to have the actual memory too.

Shameless, Unabashed Free PASSING STRANGE Press.

This is an e-mail I got from my homegirl Eisa Davis, who stars in Passing Strange (far right in the picture below). I’ve mentioned it a million times, but this show needs your support. Spike Lee digs it. So should you (ignore that he also digs the Knicks). Go see this show. Now. In The Heights will be there later.

Spike Lee to film Broadway’s ‘Passing Strange’

Jul 3, 2008, 01:43 PM | by Nicole Sperling

Categories: Theater, TV Biz

Spike Lee is going to Broadway. The Oscar-nominated writer/director will be spending part of his July filming the Tony-winning production Passing Strange. Lee will film the musical by singer/songwriter Stew over the course of a weekend, shooting two shows with audiences and then a third one without. (He did a similar thing with his 2000 concert film The Original Kings of Comedy.) Passing Strange’s producers are financing the production, and while no distribution deal has been set, sources believe it will air on cable television upon completion. The musical centers on a young black musician who sets off on a journey to find “the real” after being raised in a church-going middle-class Los Angeles neighborhood. It was originally developed at the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab.
http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/07/spike-lee.html

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/119228.html

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PASSING STRANGE

So you hate Broadway? You’ll love this show. It’s black and it rocks. Hard. From its punk roots in South Central, to the hash bars of Amsterdam, to the anarcho-socialist-performance artist squats of Berlin, it’s the story that’s never been told on the Great White Way. Yeah, it’s the best reviewed musical in years, and it’s won a Tony and a couple Obies and some other awards. Even though they like it, you NEED to see it. It’s about identity and the masks we wear, about making art and how art makes you. It’s a concert and a play, a riot and a heartbreaker. It’s PASSING STRANGE, and it was made for you.

Already seen it? See it again. And bring your whole crew.

Check a video here.

www.passingstrangeonbroadway.com

The Belasco Theatre, 111 W 44th St between 6th Ave and Broadway

Oh, and the soundtrack is now available too…

USE THIS DISCOUNT CODE THRU AUGUST 3!!!!

PSGNA28

http://www.broadwayoffers.com/go.aspx?MD=2001&MC=PSGNA28 and hit “FIND TICKETS”