Sunday, April 04, 2010
Alex Timbers and Les Freres Corbusier Do History as Mash-Up
NYTimes.com: "Mr. Timbers, the 31-year-old artistic director of the New York troupe Les Freres Corbusier, knows he isn’t necessarily breaking new ground. “The idea of mixing comedy and politics has been around as long as mankind has been doing theater,” he said."
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3 comments:
I agree with Timbers in that this idea is far from cheap. In fact, I think it's a molding of two really awesome things...two of my favorite things in fact: American history and rock music, not to mention it's all wrapped up into a musical. Really, you just can't beat.
No, but in all seriousness, I can see how some people would think this is cheesy and unnecessary, but I feel like some of the best comedy stems from anachronisms. Putting a blunt, and straightforward modern score to the face of Andrew Jackson has tremendous potential for good comedy. This doesn't apply to only Andrew Jackson, but almost any person or event from history. I think it's because when we look at certain dated historical events, they appear somewhat humorous because knowing what we know now, the issue, should it have arisen today, would mostly be considered somewhat minimal, or not an issue at all. And interpreting dated things in a modern fashion is just funny in general. In total, I approve, and I hope this is still playing when I fly home in a month.
I think this show benefits a lot off the novelty of an Andrew Jackson rock musical, but Alex Timbers' comparisons of Jackson as a populist president and theatre as a populist event make a lot of sense to me. Yes, this show is spectacle and the ironic juxtaposition of cultural images is whimsical, but there is a basis of dramaturgical thought underneath - and perhaps the jarring flash of the spectacular allows the audience to interpret not only Jackson in a new way, but also the emo rock (independently as a musical genre, and as a metaphor for our society as it compares to that of the early 1800s).
I think that mixing music,comedy, and history is a great idea. People relate a lot more to music than they tend to do with historical figures. I think that taking a look back in history through a rock and roll lens is a good way to spend the night at the theatre. Whether some think its cheesy, others will certainly find it amusing. I hope this show does well.
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