The problem with Travolta in Hairspray
Jun 2, 2009 Read/heard/seen
(Thanks everyone for your comments on my last post! I’m just going to let myself struggle as I work to find a new normal and I’m going to try to give myself permission to talk about it here, especially knowing that I’m not the only one.)
Last night there were thunderstorms moving in and Daddy was out at a Clippers game. The combination of an unusually missing father and scary lightening had the kids nervous so we came down here to watch stuff on youtube. Madison has been listening to the Hairspray soundtrack (Broadway version, natch) pretty much nonstop so I was pulling up videos of that and also of Mr. Noodle, Mr. Noodle’s brother Mr. Noodle and Mr. Noodle’s sister Ms. Noodle since we were on Broadway stuff already. (Aside — I would LOVE to see Bill Irwin in Waiting for Godot. He’s starring right now with Nathan Lane and I hear tell that it’s amazing!)
Ok so we’re watching You Can’t Stop the Beat and Noah and I get to talking. There’s a whole subtext in the original musical (and in the original movie) that’s missing from the latest version, which has to do with being gay. See, John Travolta plays Edna Turnblad — a role created by two premiere drag queens — perfectly straight. He says so. He said, “The only real difference is I’m actually playing a woman versus drag.” And that’s the problem because Edna Turnblad isn’t a woman — she’s a drag queen. And that’s the subtext missing from this latest version — that it’s not only fabulous to be fat and fabulous to be black but it’s also fabulous to be gay.
There’s a lot of humor in the original movie and in the Broadway version that’s about you (the audience) knowing that Divine and Harvey are men and the rest of the cast playing it like they don’t know and this is gone from the movie. That knowing wink, that sly smile — it’s not there. And there’s a real joy missing, too. When Harvey sings in the finale:
You cant stop my happiness
‘Cause I like the way I am
…
So if you don’t like the way I look
Well, I just don’t give a damn!
He’s singing it as a gay man in drag and it’s moving — it’s really moving. It goes beyond a fat woman accepting herself — because you’ve already got Tracy modeling fat acceptance — and it turns into a song about not letting other people define your gender roles, which is some heavy stuff, right there. And for me? A lesson that’s hugely important within the value system of our family.
Of course there’s a terrible irony at play, too, which is that rumor (and just rumor) has it that John Travolta is gay and closeted. I have no idea if it’s true or not but it colors the role if you know that. Because if he is gay and closeted — and honestly I feel like as prevalent as that rumor is that it’s a big elephant in the room in every interview — then how he plays Edna is even worse and borders on tragic given his distaste for how she’s traditionally played.
“You can dress a guy on stage and do that joke where’s she’s like a refrigerator, but I don’t think that works as well on this level. You have to make it watchable,” says Travolta. To which I say, ummm, Travolta? Screw you. Because Divine and Harvey are plenty freakin’ watchable if you’re not, you know, totally homophobic.
In any case, John Travolta, whatever his sexuality, doesn’t get drag and he doesn’t get how it impacts the role. Says he of his Edna, “I was playing a woman. It’s not that I’m not entertained by drag. But I’m an actor. If I’m going to play a woman, let me play a woman. Don’t let me pretend to be, and wink, wink, I’m a guy under here.”
It’s not “wink, wink, I’m a guy under here,” it’s “wink wink, I’m a GAY guy under here.” Hairspray is supposed to be a great big laughing f*ck you to racism, misogynism and HETEROSEXISM. It’s actually a pretty subversive little show and it’s most subversive when it’s loud, offensive, campy and DRAG. You don’t cast Divine or Harvey Fierstein if you want to play the show straight because it’s not tradition for a man to play Edna — it’s tradition for a drag queen to play Edna and the difference ain’t actually all that subtle.
Anyway, I told Noah all of this and I think he gets it. I told him that they caved to pressure to cast a big star like John Travolta in a role he isn’t really made for and that it’s still a fun movie but it’s not true to the spirit of either of the originals.
I love drag. I love the way drag is a commentary on gender roles and sexuality and frankly, I want my kids to love it, too, or to at least get it. And they aren’t gonna get it if the only Edna Turnblad they know is Travolta’s.
Ok, here’s the original “Welcome to the 60s” (lousy quality because someone’s swiping it from the balcony — four minutes in gets you to Edna’s grand entrance) and here’s the Travolta version. Don’t let the better sound/video fool you.
Also, here’s the original (Tony’s version) — Harvey arrives 1 minute 50 seconds in — of “You Can’t Stop the Beat” and the Travolta version — he comes in at the 6 minutes 10 seconds mark. (Queen Latifah was inspired casting. Really my only quibble is Travolta and I wish the director — who is a gay man — was free to say what he really thought of it. I betcha John Waters thought the whole thing –given the rumors — was hilarious.) And truly — that grand finale? Is so much more exciting/effective when you’ve got the gay subtext.
And also, as an added bonus, the trailer to the original movie, which is hilarious. (For comparison’s sake, the latest trailer, which reminded me of the candlelight vigil screen, which I also didn’t like because it took the movie into a self-conscious seriousness that wasn’t right for the show.)
Edited to add: La Cage Aux Folles solo for another wonderful Broadway drag show with a nice message for all of us, seriously — “I am what I am, I am my own special creation… I am what I am and what I am needs no excuses.”
My night with Patti and Mandy
May 6, 2009 work work work
Today is the second day of the conference and so far it’s been mostly fun and very busy. We’re staying at a ni-i-i-i-ice hotel and the service is wonderful. One of my co-workers has a suite (we got a complimentary suite because we’re hosting a conference here) and it’s very cushy and impressive. It’s pretty fun to see how the other half lives and apparently they live with glassed in showers, separate pedestal tubs and amazing views of the lake. We also all got complementary cheese plates in our rooms but we were stuffing bags and eating take-out Chinese until kinda late so by the time I got back to my room, the cheese plate was mostly just making my room smell funny. The fancy bottled water was nice though.
Ok, so yesterday was the first day of the conference and our local partnering organization set us up with all kinds of lovely volunteers including a couple who have been married fifty-odd years and volunteer at a number of different places as a hobby. The husband was saying that he was going to go see Mandy Patinkin that night and I swooned as I am wont to do when Mandy gets mentioned.
“Oh yeah,” the guy says. “He’s at Playhouse Square tonight with Patti LuPone.”
Patti LuPone! And Mandy Patinkin! Together!!! Singing together!!! I am not lying to you when I said I choked up a little at the very thought of those two on the same stage. So one of the other volunteers told me that here in Cleveland, you can go to the box office on the day of a performance and you can get left-over seats for ten bucks. Ten bucks! And I started thinking that maybe I could go because we had one event last night but that was going to be over at about 7pm and box office opens at 8pm and it’s not too far from the hotel — an easy walk if you’re not running late, which I was by that time but I’ll get to that.
I couldn’t stop babbling on about how awesome this show would be only no one here could appreciate it because they’re a bunch of showtune philistines. I mean, they didn’t even know who Mandy Patinkin IS until I mentioned Princess Bride and yes, Princess Bride is a fabulous movie and Mandy was fabulous in it but really — the man is so much more than Inigo Montoya. So. Much. More.
Our volunteer? The nice guy who was going to be ushering with his wife that night? He hears me waxing on, tears in my eyes and he says to me, “You know what? I’ll get a ticket for you. Comp. It’ll be at will call — just give me your name again.”
So last night I went to a terrific event at the House of Blues Foundation Dining Room (a gorgeous venue with terrific food including a jambalaya to die for) to listen to David Giffels (who was great and funny and smart and made me want to sell our adorable little ranch and buy a rambling mansion with wisteria growing up through the bedroom wall). Then I caught a ride with a generous board member because I was late what with all the friendly chatting and went to pick up my free ticket at the Palace Theater to see Mandy Patinkin reunited with Patti LuPone. My seat was great, the show was amazing and I walked home on a beautiful night in Cleveland, all right in my world.
I called my mom at intermission because Patti ended the first half by singing (hell, no, by belting) “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” and bringing down the house. My mom, she understands the joy. She got a little verklempt herself because the next best thing to seeing it herself was knowing I got to see it (if only she coulda been with me — that’s all the night was missing)!
It really was an amazing show. Two Hammerstein medleys (South Pacific and Carousel) that were incredibly moving, lots of Sondheim and a little dance number with office chairs. They’re both such fine actors — let alone being able to carry a tune — and both so much themselves but also talented enough that you can start believing that she’s a nurse who joined the navy to get away from small town life and that he’s a romantic fugitive wooing her on a South Pacific island no matter that they don’t quite fit the parts.
So far it’s been a pretty good trip but really I don’t see what could go wrong enough to ruin my post-concert glow. As my boss said, “This redeems everything, does it?” Why, yes it does. It really really does.
Tags: Broadway, mandy patinkin, patti lupone, showtunes
Thoughts on Spring Awakening
Feb 8, 2009 Read/heard/seen
Pretty much I cry anytime I see a live musical. I cried when I saw Annie both when I was 12 (because finally! my dream was coming true and I was seeing it!) and again when I was 30 (and took Noah to see it because finally! my dream was coming true and I was sharing Annie with my off-spring!). I cry during obvious musicals like West Side Story but I even cry during lame ones like Cats even though I think the soundtrack sucks (because the cats! They jump so high!) and during Mama Mia (because I grew up listening to Abba and it reminded me of my mom who was sitting right there next to me probably crying, too).
I did not cry during Spring Awakening. And Spring Awakening is sad! You’re supposed to cry! But I didn’t — not even a lump in my throat. I was surprised by this and disappointed seeing as how I like a good cry now and then and have even choked a bit listening to the soundtrack.
Thing is, I like the soundtrack, I do, but I wouldn’t put it anywhere near my top ten showtunes recordings. It’s more of a pop soundtrack even more so than Rent. (I cried buckets watching Rent but not as much as I cried during Lion King.) In ten years, will anyone still be listening to Spring Awakening? I’m not sure.
Things I liked:
- I liked the conceit of the modern music/dancing/slang placed in a late 19th century context more than I expected. I thought it’d get tired but it didn’t really; I thought it worked.
- I liked some of the choreography quite a bit.
- We thought the kid playing Moritz was terrific.
- I like the juxtaposition of the sexual drive of the boys against the emotional drive of the girls (which really is the culturally accepted way for girls to express their sexual drive). The staging/lyrics in “My Junk” were interesting and telling. Really, I’d like to see a musical more about that — about how girls have to hide their sexual drive while boys have to hide their need for emotional connection.
Things I wasn’t so crazy about:
- I thought the plot was pretty one-dimensional and they could have (in Julia’s words) bitched it up some. I know they’re limited by the original material but still — if you can stop the show with a song called “Totally Fucked” you can take some liberties to deepen the story. (Besides which they turned the rape in the story into consensual sex so they were already willing to play around.)
- I really didn’t like that the seduction of the vulnerable gay boy was played for laughs. It wasn’t funny.
- The most interesting characters (to me) were Moritz and Ilse and I wanted more of them. The leads bored the heck out of me.
Also the singers were competent but other than Moritz, none of them felt all that moving to me. I wasn’t sure if it was the sound tech (because some of the songs were supposed to be soft but some of the harder ones were pretty soft, too) or the singers, who were mostly not all that expert. Kinda like Rent (and the Broadway try-out version of West Side Story I saw), I know they mean to cast youngsters but still — teach ‘em how to ACT when they sing, ‘kay? Because I do think the soundtrack I have, which is dead, you know, because it’s a soundtrack from a studio — is more moving to listen to than to watch and I NEVER think that.
(Again Moritz was great. If I were sixteen, I’d have been crushing on him.)
The theme of sexual shame wasn’t all that surprising and the show is preaching to the choir. I mean, Sarah Palin isn’t going to take her kids to that show anyway. I wanted to be challenged more but as it was, it felt like an after-school special for grown-ups. Sexual shame is BAD! Hog-tying our children emotionally is NOT GOOD! Duh. But Brett and I did talk a bunch afterwards and that’s always good.
The lyricist Steven Slater said, “My determination was to touch the troubled hearts of young people around the world.” Oh is THAT all!!! I’m sure the troubled hearts of young people around the world thank you, Steven!
Still, I’d take Noah to see it at a certain age. No, I wouldn’t take him — he’d be too embarrased to watch it with his mother. I’m sure the masturbation scene would pretty much ruin the whole thing for him if I was sitting there next to him — but I’d send him. And I think it would make a great movie — there’s lot of room to make a terrific movie out of it. Just don’t cast a Jonas Brother or something (not that they would do it what with their purity rings and all).
Here are some videos:
- Heavily censored for the 2007 Tony’s (they won for best musical)
- On The View
- Regis & Kelly (this scene Brett and I both found the most moving of the show — we really liked the staging, too)
- David Letterman does “The Bitch of Living”, which is the song that the promoters very intelligently used in the video they posted on YouTube to push the show
I guess that’s enough to give you a taste of what the show is like. (It was nice being out alone with my husband but then we had to leave separately to pick up the kids seeing as how they were being cared for in two different places and the one I picked up was so tired that she cried the whole way home and then fell asleep just as I pulled into the driveway so that kinda killed any romantic feelings I was harboring for Brett.)
Tags: Broadway, Music, musicals, showtunes, spring awakening
