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Post by partytentdown on Mar 10, 2020 21:30:30 GMT
I was listening to a cast recording of a relatively recent musical and heard a line that me think 'well that hasn't aged well'.
So, what line/song/character/plot from a play or musical really hasn't aged well?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2020 22:09:16 GMT
The original Annie Get Your Gun. Songs have been cut (I'm an Indian Too) and now the story have been revised so that Annie doesn't just do everything for a man. There is a lot of stuff in the older musicals that you wouldn't necessarily get away with today.
But I feel that not everything should be tampered with to make it more palatable for a modern audience. Why can't they just be presented for the period pieces that they are?
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528 posts
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Post by vabbian on Mar 10, 2020 23:14:40 GMT
Gigi - Thank Heaven for Little Girls
My Fair Lady - An Ordinary Man
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Post by marob on Mar 10, 2020 23:37:33 GMT
When You've Got It Flaunt It from The Producers - was met with a really awkward silence when I saw it at the Royal Exchange.
The "jokey" domestic violence in Little Shop of Horrors.
I'm amazed Russell Tovey got away with the Babatunde scene in The Pass, and even more amazed that that scene made it into the film adaptation.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Mar 11, 2020 8:02:50 GMT
When You've Got It Flaunt It from The Producers - was met with a really awkward silence when I saw it at the Royal Exchange.The "jokey" domestic violence in Little Shop of Horrors. I'm amazed Russell Tovey got away with the Babatunde scene in The Pass, and even more amazed that that scene made it into the film adaptation. But all the nazi stuff went down ok? Hmmm. That wasn’t my experience of the audience reaction to that number on the 3 occasions that I saw The Producers.
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Post by Dave25 on Mar 11, 2020 9:15:22 GMT
Generally, forced "jokey" lines about race.
For example in "I can't sing" there is this line that Cynthia Erivo's character sings: "I can't sing, it's too bad, I move worse than a white boys dad......"
It's not like society or black people for that matter take the race subject lightly at the moment or are able to laugh about it in general. Maybe in 100 years, when there is no victim role anymore, and people are truly woke, so black girls in Disneyland can dress up as Snow White again if they like to, and white girls can dress and paint themselves as their favorite princess Tiana if they like to, without the current still asleep (but calling themselves woke) people screaming "blackface" at them, in other words, when there is true equality, and we start seeing human instead of race, then we can start making these jokes again.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2020 9:45:47 GMT
Generally, forced "jokey" lines about race. For example in "I can't sing" there is this line that Cynthia Erivo's character sings: "I can't sing, it's too bad, I move worse than a white boys dad......" It's not like society or black people for that matter take the race subject lightly at the moment or are able to laugh about it in general. Maybe in 100 years, when there is no victim role anymore, and people are truly woke, so black girls in Disneyland can dress up as Snow White again if they like to, and white girls can dress and paint themselves as their favorite princess Tiana if they like to, without the current still asleep (but calling themselves woke) people screaming "blackface" at them, in other words, when there is true equality, and we start seeing human instead of race, then we can start making these jokes again. Wowsers! do the black girls have to paint their faces white to be Snow White?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2020 10:20:56 GMT
Generally, forced "jokey" lines about race. For example in "I can't sing" there is this line that Cynthia Erivo's character sings: "I can't sing, it's too bad, I move worse than a white boys dad......" It's not like society or black people for that matter take the race subject lightly at the moment or are able to laugh about it in general. Maybe in 100 years, when there is no victim role anymore, and people are truly woke, so black girls in Disneyland can dress up as Snow White again if they like to, and white girls can dress and paint themselves as their favorite princess Tiana if they like to, without the current still asleep (but calling themselves woke) people screaming "blackface" at them, in other words, when there is true equality, and we start seeing human instead of race, then we can start making these jokes again. Black girls can dress as Snow White if they want to and girls can dress as Princess Tiana without having to paint themselves.
"I can't sing, it's too bad, I move worse than a white boys dad......" is still funny. If people find that offensive, then maybe they are a little too woke....
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Post by ahaz on Mar 11, 2020 10:25:01 GMT
The first one that came to mind was Heathers - I know after Broadway they changed 'Blue' as they were concerned it would polarise date rape, so it was replaced with 'You're welcome' for future productions
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Post by Dave25 on Mar 11, 2020 11:25:01 GMT
Betty and tbfl,
Thanks for your replies.
The subject of little girls dressing up as their favorite princess came to mind after the following; I was in Disneyland last year and a cute 4 year old black girl was wearing a little snow white dress (yellow skirt and blue sleeves and red ribbon) and yes, there were actually American people standing there and I heard them speak negatively about it and they used the term "whitewashing". Adults like that are poison to the mind of a child.
A few weeks ago I had a discussion with an American mom at Starbucks when I ordered a certain flavour of coffee, and she said "Oh my god, that's such a white girl sorority drink". I did not understand her and said I just like the flavour and that I'm a man and that she should keep her race remark to herself and that Starbucks is for everyone. She felt attacked by my response and called herself woke and then I asked her what she would think if I made a remark about a certain type of food saying "OMG that's such a black girl certain layer of society taste". And then she said: Well, you're just not woke yet, there is no equality so I am allowed to make these remarks and jokes and you are not. And then I said; Well, out of the 2 of us, I am the one treating people as equals and you are the one making separations based on race. Then I said, how would you feel about a black girl dressing up as snow white and a white girl dressing up as Tiana, and she actually called that last example blackface. Then I called her "asleep" and said I hope that in 100 years society will be truly woke, and that there will be real equality, without double standards in remarks, dressing up and jokes.
I can actually laugh about all kinds of jokes, also if they are about minorities or sensitive things that I am part of. But I would like to ask the both of you if you would laugh just as hard about a lyric like "I look worse than a black girl's mom", or "I am heavier than a black boy's mom" or "I ski worse than a black girl's dad". Or whatever you want to make of it. Is the race part really that funny in this context?
Also, when I was a kid I went to the carnaval dressed up and painted my face as an Indian. It was all happy and celebration. I was a blonde boy. I will also teach my nephews that that is a celebration of inclusion. That is the right path. They went to the carnaval this year as a lion and a cowboy.
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Post by vdcni on Mar 11, 2020 12:10:01 GMT
You know I've never heard anyone say woke in real life before or experienced prejudice against me for being white yet it seems to be a common problem in your life Dave.
It's odd isn't it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2020 13:21:22 GMT
I can actually laugh about all kinds of jokes, also if they are about minorities or sensitive things that I am part of. But I would like to ask the both of you if you would laugh just as hard about a lyric like "I look worse than a black girl's mom", or "I am heavier than a black boy's mom" or "I ski worse than a black girl's dad". Or whatever you want to make of it. Is the race part really that funny in this context? If something referes to a sterotype, then i can find it funny, regardless of what or who it refers to, as long as it isnt meant maliciously. The intent behind words is what's important for me.
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Post by intoanewlife on Mar 11, 2020 13:22:36 GMT
Madonna x
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Post by woobl on Mar 11, 2020 13:29:21 GMT
I thought Bring It On had some fairly questionable messages when I saw it a couple of years ago.
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Post by avenueqresident on Mar 11, 2020 14:13:50 GMT
I suppose Avenue Q’s “George Bush!” in ‘For Now’ but this has at least been regularly updated over the years, Boris Johnson being used in the tour last year.
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Post by Dave25 on Mar 11, 2020 14:30:37 GMT
You know I've never heard anyone say woke in real life before or experienced prejudice against me for being white yet it seems to be a common problem in your life Dave. It's odd isn't it. It's not odd. Obviously people only start to use the word when they are confronted with the truth. As long as you don't do that it's not odd that you don't experience it. And this (white middle aged) woman in Starbucks did not have prejudice against me for being white, just for me calling her out on her race remarks. The people complaining about the girl's dress in Disneyland didn't have prejudice against me either, but I bet they would if I had called them out too.
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Post by dip on Mar 11, 2020 17:43:57 GMT
All the social media jokes in 'We Will Rock You' felt really dated, as did the Killer Queens line/reaction to different genders
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2020 18:46:16 GMT
All the social media jokes in 'We Will Rock You' felt really dated It always seems to me that anything that pointedly references something on the Internet to show how modern it is feels dated almost as soon as it comes out, but that's not really the sort of thing that makes me think "that hasn't aged well". It's more like "you tried too hard". For me, when people talk about things that don't age well it's more along the lines of targets of scorn where the audience is clearly expected to be on board with the derogatory comments because society as a whole felt those targets were intrinsically scornworthy, so the writers were playing up to the bigotry of the time. And if you think we're above that now consider that "don't drop the soap" jokes about prison still haven't fallen out of fashion.
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Post by profquatermass on Mar 11, 2020 19:14:12 GMT
Gigi - Thank Heaven for Little Girls Only if you don't bother to listen to the rest of the song
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5,707 posts
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Post by lynette on Mar 12, 2020 12:48:36 GMT
Some lyrics in 42nd Street really haven’t aged well. “Keep young and beautiful, it’s your duty to be beautiful, keep young and beautiful if you wanna be loved”. “What’s cute about a little cutie, it’s her beauty not brains” “If you're wise exercise all the fat off” And a few inappropriate jokes. The songs are pretty catchy though. Always thought it was a rubbish show. Only the tap dancing keeps it alive.
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Post by Dawnstar on Mar 12, 2020 20:12:13 GMT
Some lyrics in 42nd Street really haven’t aged well. “Keep young and beautiful, it’s your duty to be beautiful, keep young and beautiful if you wanna be loved”. That song did hack me off each of the 4 times I saw the show. It's impossible to keep beautiful if, like me, you were born plain. Youth is also gradually disappearing. And yes, I am permanently single.
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Post by Mr Snow on Mar 14, 2020 11:02:18 GMT
Bet there will be no references to "Mice" in the upcoming revival of Pal Joey. He'll still be shown as a heel, but I'm sure the sexism will be turned down a notch or two. It's very dated and one reason why we don't see it more often. It was fully intended to be one of the first musicals to show dark characters and even if smart heels don't use such language today they are still about. As someone above said there's a case to put on things exactly as they were written, but just now to present this verbatim would have many folk in the audience shaking their heads in amazement that this was acceptable as 'old fashioned' on the west end only 40 years ago. The original productions was considered truly shocking, not because of the sexism, but because it showed a darker side of life - its sexism was a given. It occasioned one of the most famous reviews of all time "Although it is expertly done, how can you draw sweet water from a foul well?" Brooks Atkinson.
Hopefully the 'cougar' part restores her original lyric.
I couldn't sleep And wouldn't sleep Until I could sleep where I shouldn't sleep
not as Hollywood and Frank, Ella etc have it.
Couldn't sleep and wouldn't sleep When love came and told me I shouldn't sleep
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Post by properjob on Mar 14, 2020 19:06:39 GMT
I suppose Avenue Q’s “George Bush!” in ‘For Now’ but this has at least been regularly updated over the years, Boris Johnson being used in the tour last year. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Avenue Q but the "take her home, she's wasted, yay" makes me cringe.
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Post by harrietcraig on Mar 15, 2020 14:02:41 GMT
“As Long As He Needs Me”, from Oliver!: a woman explains her decision to stay with her abusive boyfriend (who later kills her) by saying he needs her too much for her to consider leaving him.
“Something Wonderful”, from The King and I: “You’ll always go along/Defend him when he’s wrong” because “A man who needs your love can be wonderful”.
Neither of these women seems a bit concerned with what she needs, only with what he needs.
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