I know this may sound weird to some people, but I feel like watching RHPS when people are throwing things and the like would be distracting. For me, the movie is fun and quirky on its own without audience partici…
…
… pation. (Sorry, I had to.)
I really need to see Shock Treatment sometime.
The throwing things got shut down pretty early in these parts. The participation was mainly in the form of shouting.
I finally thought of the analogy I wanted to describe RHPS without the participation: It's like watching Wizard of Oz entirely in black-and-white. It's still the same movie, the storyline is the same, the acting is the same, the music is the same. But it's not the same experience as when Dorothy lands in Oz and suddenly the b&w is replaced by glowing technicolor.
Not a musical as such though there are a lot of songs in it and a fair bit of comedy but the Indian film Dil Se about a suicide bomber springs to mind.
I suppose it's only a matter of time before Trump's Presidency gets its own musical. At least the wigs will be good.
Suggested numbers:
N.A.T.O. - sung to the tune of YMCA
Putin on the Fritz
Jeff's Island in the Sun
Livin' the Mar-a-lago
If I ruled the world (with different lyrics obviously)
One of our Senators is missing (the Mitch McConnell version)
Old Man Grifter
Gimme, gimme, gimme
I suppose it's only a matter of time before Trump's Presidency gets its own musical. At least the wigs will be good.
Suggested numbers:
N.A.T.O. - sung to the tune of YMCA
Putin on the Fritz
Jeff's Island in the Sun
Livin' the Mar-a-lago
If I ruled the world (with different lyrics obviously)
One of our Senators is missing (the Mitch McConnell version)
Old Man Grifter
Gimme, gimme, gimme
I think I'll stop now.
I can recommend someone who is very, very good at doing musical numbers and showtunes about Trump…
We often say that Rocky Horror represents a very British look at B movies and Little Shop of Horrors a very US view.
Would you care to elaborate on this?
There a more wholesome feel to Little Shop, particularly the film. It plays with the tropes yes but it does so in a way that has more pastiche than parody. That feels very US style to me. I could of course be wrong.
The blatant sexuality of Rocky Horror is very British. Dropping the suppressed Brit image for a while.
Of course Little Shop has less freedom to play around with the tropes because it is based in an actual B movie. Rocky Horror is not based on one particular film so allows for a lot of playing.
We often say that Rocky Horror represents a very British look at B movies and Little Shop of Horrors a very US view.
Would you care to elaborate on this?
There a more wholesome feel to Little Shop, particularly the film. It plays with the tropes yes but it does so in a way that has more pastiche than parody. That feels very US style to me. I could of course be wrong.
Thanks.
I will note that TRHPS was not written by the British people as a collective, it was written by one British person, Richard O'Brien, presumably reflecting his own sensibilities. It probably became popular in the UK, but, at least going by @Nick Tamen's outline earlier on this thread, it was pretty quickly domesticated into American culture as well. So I'm not sure if we can read too much into its being originally a British creation.
The blatant sexuality of Rocky Horror is very British. Dropping the suppressed Brit image for a while.
Of course, one is left to wonder how the "suppressed Brit image" ever became a thing, if "blatant sexuality" is so "very British".
On that score, IME, when people in various anglosphere countries start calling each other prudish or, alternately, licentious, it's usually based on somewhat selective comparisons. But that's a likely a topic for it's own thread. You can have the last word here.
Has anyone posted on the Ship about the Easter musicals by the Church of the Rock in Winnipeg, as highlighted by Jenny Nicholson on Youtube? I feel like they are in desperate need of Ship commentary (and also, if anyone knows anything about the church please spill some tea, haha). Particular highlights for me include Iron Man being crucified by Loki while they sing a mash-up duet of It's The End Of The World As We Know It and Tubthumping (I am being deadly serious, yes this is in a church Easter play and yes Tony Stark is representing Jesus), and a sad instrumental version of I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas being used during the crucifixion of the Easter play based on The Princess Bride. Tagging @ChastMastr for Reasons....😇
All of the plays feel like they should be in Drop Dead Gorgeous (one of my favourite movies ever) and I now desperately need a Christopher Guest type movie about a church pageant.....or indeed an American Vandal style mockumentary. Like it's SO weird and SO on the nose that I can't even be offended? But also, I feel like seeing one of these plays at 9am on Easter Sunday morning would make my life flash before my eyes.
Edited to add a warning that the play based on Tombstone features a VERY racist bit apparently based on a comedy routine by a guy named Russell Peters? I would just skip that play entirely (Jenny does critique the racism but also, you aren't missing anything anyway).
Edited to add a warning that the play based on Tombstone features a VERY racist bit apparently based on a comedy routine by a guy named Russell Peters?
FWIW, Russell Peters is a Canadian stand-up comic. His parents immigrated from India and are both Anglo-Indian. Having seen and heard a fair bit of his stand-up routines, I can say he does comment on racial, ethnic and class stereotypes, but not, at least in my experience, in a way that’s racist on his own part. I can easily imagine something gets lost in translation when a church takes a bit and runs with it.
Edited to add a warning that the play based on Tombstone features a VERY racist bit apparently based on a comedy routine by a guy named Russell Peters?
FWIW, Russell Peters is a Canadian stand-up comic. His parents immigrated from India and are both Anglo-Indian. Having seen and heard a fair bit of his stand-up routines, I can say he does comment on racial, ethnic and class stereotypes, but not, at least in my experience, in a way that’s racist on his own part. I can easily imagine something gets lost in translation when a church takes a bit and runs with it.
That's some interesting context - the routine in the church play is just a white man in straight-up yellowface makeup doing a racist "Chinese" accent (in church! on Easter Sunday morning!), so clearly *something* got lost in translation....
Edited to add a warning that the play based on Tombstone features a VERY racist bit apparently based on a comedy routine by a guy named Russell Peters?
FWIW, Russell Peters is a Canadian stand-up comic. His parents immigrated from India and are both Anglo-Indian. Having seen and heard a fair bit of his stand-up routines, I can say he does comment on racial, ethnic and class stereotypes, but not, at least in my experience, in a way that’s racist on his own part. I can easily imagine something gets lost in translation when a church takes a bit and runs with it.
That's some interesting context - the routine in the church play is just a white man in straight-up yellowface makeup doing a racist "Chinese" accent (in church! on Easter Sunday morning!), so clearly *something* got lost in translation....
I’m intrigued, @Pomona! (I assume reasons are comics-related, since I’ve made no secret of my extreme level of geekery…)
(I’ve actually toyed with the idea over the years of thematically reading various comics stories according to the liturgical season, since at this point virtually every Marvel and DC comics character this side of Squirrel Girl (and maybe even her) has died and come back to life. Seriously, I think by now everyone has literally attended each other’s funerals… at this very moment, Steve Rogers (Captain America) is dead for the second time in 20 years, though of course he’ll be back again, Thor is dead and no one on Earth except for Beta Ray Bill (alien Thor sort of character, very long story, first appeared in Thor #337 in the early 1980s) remembers that he was real (but he’s an amnesiac human construction worker trying to find out who he is, I think, dealing with an evil minotaur running an evil corporation responsible for some of this), and of course all will be resolved eventually… I’m not picking up either series but I’m aware of what’s happening. Again, I’m a geek…)
It was more along the lines of "pop culture + church = ??????" - I think it's an interesting thing where my initial exposure to these plays was one of just horror due to the sheer blasphemous implications of, well, most of the contents (not horror at Jenny's video or her commentary, I should say - and I think you would really like her videos generally, lots of fun obscure Disney stuff). But it's almost so bizarre and so unlike any actual Easter narrative from the Gospels that it just becomes some strange camp spectacle that I can't take seriously enough to find blasphemous.
I think I keep having to remind myself that these are being shown on Easter Sunday morning before the whole congregation including children, but even so it just feels like one long episode of The (US) Office where Michael Scott is a pastor. There is also a lot of genuinely interesting commentary in the comments, from both Christians and non-Christians (and also Canadians giving info on Canadian in-jokes). My favourite thing is probably the fact that the congregation's favourite jokes are consistently the Mennonite jokes, like so many plays have dead silence from the congregation until someone mentions Low German....makes me wonder if the US equivalent has Amish jokes (Manitoba being the Ohio of Canada).
Also - this is important for the Toy Story musical if you skip Tombstone - I don't think that the head/senior pastor is the one doing the racist yellowface routine, it's someone a lot younger. This wasn't any kind of malicious accusation in the video, just face blindness (and also makeup making things less clear).
(yes there's a Toy Story musical and actually it's probably my favourite? I feel like it's the least egregious in terms of an Easter narrative adaptation, which may be surprising lol)
Also - this is important for the Toy Story musical if you skip Tombstone - I don't think that the head/senior pastor is the one doing the racist yellowface routine, it's someone a lot younger. This wasn't any kind of malicious accusation in the video, just face blindness (and also makeup making things less clear).
(yes there's a Toy Story musical and actually it's probably my favourite? I feel like it's the least egregious in terms of an Easter narrative adaptation, which may be surprising lol)
I've not encountered a Toy Story musical, but Toymaker's Dream was good from what I recall... let me see if it's on YouTube...
Is it bad to say that these Easter musicals sound a lot like the way our church's Nativity plays turn out? Maybe better or worse depending on your opinion* but they have been musicals based on Les Miserables and Barbie recently. Herod was AI in our last one too.
*Definitely not including any racist gaffs like the one mentioned
Comments
Would you care to elaborate on this?
The throwing things got shut down pretty early in these parts. The participation was mainly in the form of shouting.
I finally thought of the analogy I wanted to describe RHPS without the participation: It's like watching Wizard of Oz entirely in black-and-white. It's still the same movie, the storyline is the same, the acting is the same, the music is the same. But it's not the same experience as when Dorothy lands in Oz and suddenly the b&w is replaced by glowing technicolor.
Suggested numbers:
N.A.T.O. - sung to the tune of YMCA
Putin on the Fritz
Jeff's Island in the Sun
Livin' the Mar-a-lago
If I ruled the world (with different lyrics obviously)
One of our Senators is missing (the Mitch McConnell version)
Old Man Grifter
Gimme, gimme, gimme
I think I'll stop now.
I can recommend someone who is very, very good at doing musical numbers and showtunes about Trump…
Randy Rainbow!
https://youtube.com/@randyrainbowofficial?si=1V6vmBPC1SvVjSCs
The blatant sexuality of Rocky Horror is very British. Dropping the suppressed Brit image for a while.
Of course Little Shop has less freedom to play around with the tropes because it is based in an actual B movie. Rocky Horror is not based on one particular film so allows for a lot of playing.
Thanks.
I will note that TRHPS was not written by the British people as a collective, it was written by one British person, Richard O'Brien, presumably reflecting his own sensibilities. It probably became popular in the UK, but, at least going by @Nick Tamen's outline earlier on this thread, it was pretty quickly domesticated into American culture as well. So I'm not sure if we can read too much into its being originally a British creation.
Of course, one is left to wonder how the "suppressed Brit image" ever became a thing, if "blatant sexuality" is so "very British".
On that score, IME, when people in various anglosphere countries start calling each other prudish or, alternately, licentious, it's usually based on somewhat selective comparisons. But that's a likely a topic for it's own thread. You can have the last word here.
All of the plays feel like they should be in Drop Dead Gorgeous (one of my favourite movies ever) and I now desperately need a Christopher Guest type movie about a church pageant.....or indeed an American Vandal style mockumentary. Like it's SO weird and SO on the nose that I can't even be offended? But also, I feel like seeing one of these plays at 9am on Easter Sunday morning would make my life flash before my eyes.
Edited to add a warning that the play based on Tombstone features a VERY racist bit apparently based on a comedy routine by a guy named Russell Peters? I would just skip that play entirely (Jenny does critique the racism but also, you aren't missing anything anyway).
FWIW, Russell Peters is a Canadian stand-up comic. His parents immigrated from India and are both Anglo-Indian. Having seen and heard a fair bit of his stand-up routines, I can say he does comment on racial, ethnic and class stereotypes, but not, at least in my experience, in a way that’s racist on his own part. I can easily imagine something gets lost in translation when a church takes a bit and runs with it.
That's some interesting context - the routine in the church play is just a white man in straight-up yellowface makeup doing a racist "Chinese" accent (in church! on Easter Sunday morning!), so clearly *something* got lost in translation....
(I’ve actually toyed with the idea over the years of thematically reading various comics stories according to the liturgical season, since at this point virtually every Marvel and DC comics character this side of Squirrel Girl (and maybe even her) has died and come back to life. Seriously, I think by now everyone has literally attended each other’s funerals… at this very moment, Steve Rogers (Captain America) is dead for the second time in 20 years, though of course he’ll be back again, Thor is dead and no one on Earth except for Beta Ray Bill (alien Thor sort of character, very long story, first appeared in Thor #337 in the early 1980s) remembers that he was real (but he’s an amnesiac human construction worker trying to find out who he is, I think, dealing with an evil minotaur running an evil corporation responsible for some of this), and of course all will be resolved eventually… I’m not picking up either series but I’m aware of what’s happening. Again, I’m a geek…)
I think I keep having to remind myself that these are being shown on Easter Sunday morning before the whole congregation including children, but even so it just feels like one long episode of The (US) Office where Michael Scott is a pastor. There is also a lot of genuinely interesting commentary in the comments, from both Christians and non-Christians (and also Canadians giving info on Canadian in-jokes). My favourite thing is probably the fact that the congregation's favourite jokes are consistently the Mennonite jokes, like so many plays have dead silence from the congregation until someone mentions Low German....makes me wonder if the US equivalent has Amish jokes (Manitoba being the Ohio of Canada).
(yes there's a Toy Story musical and actually it's probably my favourite? I feel like it's the least egregious in terms of an Easter narrative adaptation, which may be surprising lol)
I've not encountered a Toy Story musical, but Toymaker's Dream was good from what I recall... let me see if it's on YouTube...
Found it! Wow, 1987... that was some time back!
https://youtu.be/IzQ_GkLXUGY?si=oIO2GHLuhhPGDbpw
Wait, literally? :O Good heavens.
Literally! It's actually not too bad.
*Definitely not including any racist gaffs like the one mentioned