Musical as social commentary

This was the last weekend for the theater programs at Wayne State University, with both the Hilberry (graduate level) and Bonstelle (undergraduate) Theatres putting on worthwhile productions.

On Thursday evening I saw the Hilberry production of The 39 Steps, a comic farce based on the Hitchcock thriller of the same name. One actor played the main character Richard Hannay. An actress played three major female roles. Two men were listed in the program as "Clown" and took on a wide collection of roles, sometimes switching with the change of a hat, other times with complete costume changes in an amazing short amount of time. Three more actors were listed as "Stage Hand." The stage held only four large steamer trunks, which these stage hands moved about as needed, they then supplied, or became, the various props. They served as doors, overstuffed chairs, fireplace and mantle, automobile, and lots of other things. Along the way the actors worked the titles of many Hitchcock films into the dialogue and included many British literary references. All in great fun.

I saw the Bonstelle production of Urinetown, the Musical on Saturday. The basic premise is that a prolonged drought meant water must be severely rationed. Water rates have climbed so high that the poor can no longer afford their own facilities yet must pay high rates to pee in public facilities. In the next scene we see the head of the corporation that owns all those public facilities bribing his senator to get the Senate to raise rates once again. So, yeah, we're dealing with issues of privatization of public utilities, corporate greed, widening income inequality, and political corruption. All wrapped up in song and dance. That is complicated by the daughter of the corporate head, freshly graduated from the most expensive university in the world, falling in love with the guy who encourages the poor to revolt over the raised rates. Along the way Officer Lockstock (sidekick: Officer Barrel), who is itching for an excuse to crack a few heads, occasionally explains things to Little Sally, such things as: We don't want to drag down the opening scene of a musical with too much exposition. Save some of it for the next scene. The ending is more realistic than happy (which Lockstock warns us about) in which the solution to corporate terror is not well thought out and causes more problems. Even though the subject may be grim, the jokes, the exuberant dancing, and the sly references to other musicals make the evening a lot of fun.

I do have one small complaint with the plot. The rebel leader works mighty hard to prevent the rebels from committing a particular act of violence. However, he does not quite say that the only way to defeat corporate greed is non-violent resistance and urging corporate leaders into community. The rebels resolve the conflict with an act of violence of their own.



I just checked stats for this blog. During one hour yesterday the blog got 398 page views. I normally see rates of 3-5 views an hour. I'm not sure whether to believe this because the page views by county adds up to only 255.