Cancelling ‘outdated’ shows

I think the difference between Carousel and Little Shop is that in Carousel, it is the abuser that finds redemption (albeit, whilst having died, he still is taken to his heavenly reward) whereas in Little Shop it is the abused who finds it (albeit briefly, before being eaten by a plant that takes over the world).

Interesting take.
In the song ‘it’s just the gas’ sing by the dentist just before he dies I can’t find any self awareness that what he did was wrong? He is fed to the plant afterwards opportunistically by Seymour who chickened out on killing him for his awful deeds. Even in death poor Audrey can’t escape him
In Carousel I’ve seen many productions of the years.
Billy knifed
Billy possibly taken his own life
Billy happy that Julie and Louise are ok without him but there’s still been that scene where he hits Louise
I didn’t think he was in ‘heaven’ as such I thought it was between where there was a real possibility he could go up or down if he didn’t put things right?

The world is an imperfect place.

Saw Carousel at the Open Air and the domestic abuse made me uncomfortable as it should, I don’t believe it normalises the issue but gives a platform to show it is not acceptable behaviour and maybe if done correctly give the strength of someone in that position to make a difference in their life.

The difficult play on domestic abuse is Taming of the Shrew and it’s intent is difficult to pin down, is Shakespeare glorifying or holding up a mirror to the guilty in the crowd.

Theatre should accommodate difficult subjects with the caveat that the behaviour is not shown in a positive way, Greek Tragedies are extremely troublesome if taken on face value and therefore should have been cancelled centuries ago if we go down this route.

Inadvertently I booked back to back to see Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, the tour of Waitress and The REP/National Theatre’s production of East is East, I never connected the dots but all 3 contain heinous scenes of domestic violence, I had to take pause. However it was the story Tina wanted to tell about her abhorrent and abusive childhood no sugarcoating here. In Waitress Jessie Nelson created Earl the most despicable character in theatre, he had no redeemable features, but the story wouldn’t work without the douchebag, so it is good he gets hoisted by his own petard at the end. Ajub Khan-Din masterpiece East is East is a snapshot of live in Pakistani family life, where men were unfortunately patriarchal and women have little rights, where forced marriages are unfortunately common, this is also very brutal (I’m not saying this happened in every family) but there is a reason why Ajub Khan-Din wrote it.

All 3 although took my breathe away and I have seen all 3 before, I don’t like domestic violence and see it as egregious, but it is a necessary story that these playwright wanted to tell.

Hopefully it will be told intact in the future and we can say how great times have changed, but I fear not. So no it shouldn’t be cancelled, but serve as a barometer how times have moved on.

She’d probably tell you to ask Bob Dylan, since he wrote it. 😉

Why are you picking on Adele and not any of the other 458 artists who have covered it?

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/bob-dylan-make-you-feel-my-love-covers-903941/amp/

Today, aren't folk more body obessesed than ever with the so called body beautiful? What happens in the song isn't how I want society to be but I can't deny it exists.

Audrey in LSOH is one of the most wonderful characters in any musical for me. OK, I'm not sure the handcuffs joke holds up all that well these days, but I find Somewhere That's Green (and Suddenly Seymour) is so beautiful and affecting precisely because of all that she has endured during her life.