OnStage Blog: “Complicit” was Dictionary.com’s 2017 Word of the Year – and if the 2018-19 musical lineup continues as planned, it may define Broadway’s upcoming season as well. It’s a trifecta of shows featuring so much gaslighting, outdated gender norms, and straight up domestic abuse that it feels like a season straight out of 1960, at best.
3 comments:
This was both an informative and poignant article to read, especially as it is still the beginning of the year. How ironic that this year's "word of the year" is complicit. We have seen this complicity has been greatly highlighted in so many of the actions or non-actions taken by our presidential administration. Last week's school shooting in Florida with a non-response from Trump exemplified this greatly. It is very sad that this ideal has also been reflected in Broadway's latest musical season. Yes, sometimes it is a good thing to see a show that lets you laugh without much thought, and to see a show that lets you leave the "real world" for a little bit of time, but in a time like this when politics, social justice, etc. are at the forefront of everyone's minds, it is so important to see those things reflected in the art that is being produced as well.
The show list for the upcoming broadway season is downright shocking to me, especially in light of the recent abuse allegations that are permeating this industry. Not to mention that these shows are directed by white men, the content of the shows themselves contain incredibly sexist and old-fashioned, 1960s-esque ideals. I was in a production of Kiss Me Kate in high school-- I danced and sang “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” onstage in the role of 1st Man (ironically both gangsters were played by women). As the article states, “It’s a bombastic and utterly thrill-inducing musical, overflowing with phallic puns and impossibly coincidental twists of fate. Cole Porter’s score has etched Kate into musical immortality: “Brush up Your Shakespeare,“Wunderbar,” and “Another Opening, Another Show” are colorful and joyful and old-school Broadway at its silliest.” While this show was admittedly a lot of fun to put on and perform, the question of how we reconcile catchy and colorful dance numbers with the darker, underlying messages of misogyny remains. I think the heart of this article-- the last section entitled, “So What?” attempts to give an answer to this. We as performers, producers, designers, directors, and audience members, need to truly ask ourselves why we are putting on these shows and the specific message we want to tell rather than putting on an old Broadway show simply for flash, flare, and the fun of it.
As someone who doesn’t know a lot about the plot lines of shows from later in musical history, it is very helpful to see why the author things these shows shouldn’t be produced/why they are misogynistic and problematic pieces. The author points out that Kiss Me Kate is very light-hearted and therefore it is easy to miss the sexist humor. I think this a very important point to bring up because I feel like this is why a lot of older out of date musicals survive now as popular. When discussing My Fair Lady, the author talks of a nostalgia that prevents her from seeing the issue until someone else pointed it out to her. Sadly this is probably true of many people. Even one has a connection that makes them excuse the issues of the shows. I was a little concerned that the author talked about how these works can still be produced with a conversation attached to them discussing the problems. I don’t think this is effective because the company is still promoting the ideas of the shows. Having the conversation is good but maybe supporting newer work with better messages is a better solution than just repeating the same offensive materials.
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