Fraters Libertas

My Dream - Broadway Bound (and Gagged)

Last Sunday’s New York Times included a preview, written by Ben Brantley, of the upcoming Broadway season. Below are the highlights. As you’ll see, I think it’s safe to say most of the folks involved in these productions will be voting for John Kerry. It also appears that for NYC, or at least Broadway, the legacy of 9/11 is officially over, if it ever existed at all.

Before the United States invaded Iraq, even before the planes had hit the twin towers, the eerily prescient Tony Kushner ("Angels in America," "Caroline, or Change") had written a play called "Homebody/Kabul" ... it opens at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on May 11... in the liberal tradition of E. M. Forster, it continues to probe the West's failure to connect with cultures different from its own.

Note the characterization of the US intervention in and rebuilding of Iraq as an “invasion” while the 9/11 act of 19 Arab Islamo-fascist terrorists blowing up buildings and killing thousands is characterized passively as “when the planes hit the twin towers.” Now THAT’S accommodating a culture different from our own. Regarding Brantley’s assertion that the West has a continuing failure to connect with other cultures, the definitive response is found in the listing of the national origins of those killed on 9/11. Seems to be a bit of an American connection- with every culture different from our own.

Assassins .... a mordant, insightful musical from 1990 about men and women throughout American history whose greatest aspiration was to kill a president. Originally scheduled to open in the fall of 2001 (and postponed for obvious reasons) ... the show offers an alternative vision of American dreamers — or, as one song title puts it, "Another National Anthem" — in this time of furious flag-waving.

Immediately after 9/11 it was thought untoward to present presidential assassins as just an alternative vision of the American dreamer. Now it’s OK. Actually its more than OK, it’s needed “in this time of furious flag waving.” Not sure what that means, but it feels a little like they’re questioning my patriotism. As if there’s something wrong with waving your country's flag (during a time of war). Or is it just the “furious” part they’re concerned about? Perhaps a little limp wristed intermittent flourish would be acceptable?

The filmmaker and dramatist Neil LaBute has never shrunk from poking at the American underbelly .... His latest exploration of red, white and blue amorality is "The Distance From Here," which implicitly compares the life of one suburban family to that of the monkey house in a zoo.

The lives of suburban Americans compared to monkeys in a zoo in an exploration of American amorality. I have just one question for Detroit, Michigan native Neil Labute and supporters of this production. Is it OK for me to question your patriotism?