![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight
Nov. 20th, 2011 10:04 amIt is always gratifying to realize that one can apply oneself to the appreciation of culture while still getting a full measure of gratuitous sex and violence.
Friday evening I went off to see Alexx, along with my landlord and various friends and acquaintances perform
Thomas Middleton's "The Revenger's Tragedy."
http://www.tech.org/~cleary/middhome.html
I should mention here that this play is not really a tragedy because to paraphrase local lawyer-actor Michael Anderson in "A Bloody Deed"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4a_r9H5NSs&feature=gv
his performance piece on Shakespeare's "Richard III": in a tragedy, some people die, and you feel sorry for them, while in this play, lots of people die, and you don't feel sorry for *any* of them.
Well, "Revenger's Tragedy" takes the "Richard III" scenario--a protagonist who confesses in the opening scene that he intends on slaying a slew of people who have pissed him off--and then kicks it up a notch, offing characters left and right with the sort of manic glee that I associate with--well, let's justsay that if John Webster was the Quentin Tarantino of his day, Thomas Middleton may have been the Alfred Hitchcock of his age, proving once again that funny murder has always been period.
For those of you didn't get a chance to see my husband and my landlord and the other brilliant maniacs who are my friends in this one-night-only extravaganza at the Elk's Club, I commend to you "Revenger's Tragedy," the 2002 Ren-noir film version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WxwNLaSLXY
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dfw0BUSZus
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2zEdRbnVfk
starring Christopher Eccleston, Derek Jacoby, and Eddie Izzard and directed by Alex Cox of "Repo Man" fame.
Saturday afternoon Alexx and I went off to see "ain't Misbehavin'" performed by the Lyric Stage Company in Copley Square
https://lyricstage.com/main_stage/aint_misbehavin/
a musical based on the songs of Fats Waller. Blues and jazz fans should see this show, and those who are not blues and jazz fans should see it anyway, because the music is so incredible. The frist half of the show is extremely high-energy, while the second half pulls out all the vocal stops, showing off the fantastic range of songs Waller created, from the very funny "The Reefer Song" and "Your Feets Too Big" to the bluesy-sweet "Mean to Me" and the soul-chilling "Black and Blue." Highly recommended.
Friday evening I went off to see Alexx, along with my landlord and various friends and acquaintances perform
Thomas Middleton's "The Revenger's Tragedy."
http://www.tech.org/~cleary/middhome.html
I should mention here that this play is not really a tragedy because to paraphrase local lawyer-actor Michael Anderson in "A Bloody Deed"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4a_r9H5NSs&feature=gv
his performance piece on Shakespeare's "Richard III": in a tragedy, some people die, and you feel sorry for them, while in this play, lots of people die, and you don't feel sorry for *any* of them.
Well, "Revenger's Tragedy" takes the "Richard III" scenario--a protagonist who confesses in the opening scene that he intends on slaying a slew of people who have pissed him off--and then kicks it up a notch, offing characters left and right with the sort of manic glee that I associate with--well, let's justsay that if John Webster was the Quentin Tarantino of his day, Thomas Middleton may have been the Alfred Hitchcock of his age, proving once again that funny murder has always been period.
For those of you didn't get a chance to see my husband and my landlord and the other brilliant maniacs who are my friends in this one-night-only extravaganza at the Elk's Club, I commend to you "Revenger's Tragedy," the 2002 Ren-noir film version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WxwNLaSLXY
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dfw0BUSZus
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2zEdRbnVfk
starring Christopher Eccleston, Derek Jacoby, and Eddie Izzard and directed by Alex Cox of "Repo Man" fame.
Saturday afternoon Alexx and I went off to see "ain't Misbehavin'" performed by the Lyric Stage Company in Copley Square
https://lyricstage.com/main_stage/aint_misbehavin/
a musical based on the songs of Fats Waller. Blues and jazz fans should see this show, and those who are not blues and jazz fans should see it anyway, because the music is so incredible. The frist half of the show is extremely high-energy, while the second half pulls out all the vocal stops, showing off the fantastic range of songs Waller created, from the very funny "The Reefer Song" and "Your Feets Too Big" to the bluesy-sweet "Mean to Me" and the soul-chilling "Black and Blue." Highly recommended.
