February 22, 2008

Prop guns don't kill people. Theater kids pretend to kill people.

Another cross-posting from that blog that is dividing my bloggerly attention:
PUT DOWN THOSE STAGE PROP GUNS! Because you know if you want to avert campus shooting sprees, you want to start with the hard-working theater kids who rehearsed their hearts out to put on a big show. Yes, the show is about presidential assassins, but it's Sondheim. It's high class. The bright side of this is: Because it's high-class musical theater that's getting censored, even the usual prissy anti-gun types should get pissed off.

Via Nick Gillespie, who hates the musical "Assassins" ("godawful in its original conception and execution back in 1990 (and naturally, retardedly well-received in its 2004 Broadway revival)"). I've never seen the show, but I loved Sarah Vowell's description of it in her cool book "Assassination Vacation":
"It's the Stephen Sondheim musical in which a bunch of presidential assassins and would-be assassins sing songs about how much better their lives would be if they could gun down a president."

"Oh," remarks Mr. Connecticut. "How was it?"

"Oh my god," I gush. "Even though the actors were mostly college kids, I thought it was great! The orange-haired guy who played the man who wanted to fly a plane into Nixon was hilarious. And I found myself strangely smitten with John Wilkes Booth; every time he looked in my direction I could feel myself blush." Apparently, talking about going to the Museum of Television and Radio is "too personal," but I seem to have no problem revealing my crush on the man who murdered Lincoln.

11 comments:

Latino said...

Booth probably sends a thrill up Chris Matthews leg too.

George M. Spencer said...

If you see a gun onstage in the first act (or scene), you will see it again at the climax of the play....

The reference to the man who wanted to fly a plane into Nixon, I think refers to a hijacker who threatened to crash a commercial jet into the uranium diffusion plant in Oak Ridge, TN...

Automatic_Wing said...

They'll pry my prop gun out of my cold, dead prop hands.

MadisonMan said...

Administrators do idiotic things. It's a little odd that faculty -- in my experience somewhat outspoken -- aren't commenting.

Bissage said...

What’s with all the hubbub?

I mean, it’s not like they’re staging Ionesco’s “La Leçon,” or anything.

Henry said...

Does the guy get to keep his plane?

* * *

Hopefully no campus mass murderer will use poison, or half of Shakespeare will have to go.

* * *

Not just "Heh", but "THEY TOLD ME THAT IF GEORGE W. BUSH WERE RE-ELECTED, the arts would be censored. And they were right!"

Tibore said...

"It's just one man's opinion, of course, but I dare anyone to listen to, say, the Leon Czolgosz number without wanting to put a bullet in his own head and then exhume the corpse of the Michigan-born killer and re-electrify it."

C'mon, Nick Gillespie, tell us what you really think. ;)

blake said...

The history of the world my sweet is who gets eaten and who gets to eat...

Wait, what? Wrong one?

Never mind.

blake said...

Also, Johnny Depp's on line 2: He wants to play Boothe.

campy said...

If you see a gun onstage in the first act (or scene), you will see it again at the climax of the play....

But if you saw a gun in half before the play starts, all you can do is point and say "bang."

Peter V. Bella said...

Just goes to show that school administrators are nuts!