Thursday, January 29, 2009

My Male Chauva-list

Ice shows are more boring than opera, but less boring than ballet.

Admittedly, this is based on a small sample set. I just saw Disney on Ice, which may not be particularly representative of the art, but what Ive seen of Winter Olympics doesn't really entice me to find out otherwise. The fairies had the most impressive choreography, but the most insultingly trite, twee, and cliché story (and remember, this is Disney). My ballet experience consists primarily of a mind-numbing performance of the Nutcracker. I'd be willing to give the art another try, but I don't expect it to be much different.

Opera is a bit more complicated; I liked Die Fledermaus, and I've loved everything I've ever seen by Gilbert and Sullivan, but my understanding is that those are all operetta. Conversely, I was bored to sleep by a Christmas-themed opera partially about Good King Wenceslas, the name of which escapes me.

As an addendum, I generally like non-Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals, though I don't care for the Andrew Lloyd Webber stuff I've seen outside of Jesus Christ Superstar. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has the honor of being both a terrible story and a terrible use of the theatrical medium.

1 comment:

LurkerWithout said...

I like Jekyll & Hyde. Provided the production has good voice talent. I saw the Hoff version and it just made me sad. Not because he's bad. He's not. He's just adequate. And that really isn't good enough for that musical...

Also the musical Chess, if only for giving us "One Night In Bangkok"...