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Troy
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 1163
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 12:22 pm: | 
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Earlier in the week I saw the Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. This production has a star studded all Black cast (is there anyone reading this who did not know that); which includes Terrance Howard, Phylicia Rashad, Anika "Hubba, Hubba" Noni Rose, Giancarlo Esposito and Lou Myers.
I was once again throughly impressed with Phylicia Rashad. Honestly, I did not know Phylicia could act until I saw her in the role Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun. She actually became the first African-American to win a Tony Award as a Leading Actress in a Broadway Play. In my mind her performance in Cat was superior to that of Raisin.
This was the best Drama I've even seen on Broadway.
I got an email from someone who saw Cat yesterday. He said; "The only issue I had was that folks laughed at places they likely shouldn't have"
That comment really struck me too. Because people where laughing when they really should have been empathetic, fightened, saddened -- anything but brought to laughter...
It actually threw off the play a little. People are laughing during what should been dramtic moments and it adversely impact the experience.
I was thinking about why people would react this why. The only conclusion I could come up with is that folks are just dumb.
At first I though maybe I'm just getting old, but there were defintely more people in the audience older than me than younger (it was a wednesday afternoon matinee).
I still feel like I'm being harsh or elitest, but I honestly can't come up with a reasonable answer to explain the phenomena.
I also noticed people laughing at in appropriate monents during A Raisin in the Sun a few years back.
This seems like a recent thing -- at least I don't recall noticing this prior to a few years ago. Could it be that we, as a culture, are collectively regressing?
I don't know but this can't be a good thing -- or am I overreacting like some old guy?
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 6918
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 12:36 pm: |
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People usually have a few drinks and/or smoke a little weed before they head out on the weekends. I'm not surprised at all, especially when you're talking about a darkened theater. Hell, that's a BYOB event.
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Cac
Newbie Poster
Username: Cac
Post Number: 5
Registered: 01-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 12:43 pm: |
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I guess I can try to be diplomatic and say I wasn't disappointed by Debbie Allen's vision...but it was Debbie Allen's vision. Circular comment? Not in the subtext hahahaha. In other words, she's to "blame" for some of that. But yeah, some is cultural, right or wrong. The loud cackling, gasps, mewls, coos--that's just how many black folk cheer regardless of age (fyi most folk at the performance we saw were over 35 I'd say so I guess we can pin this on younger people). Lest I sound too siddity and you rouse Ron Kavanaugh, when Shakespeare's plays debuted at Stratford, lots of folks were in the front cheering, jeering, gasping, tossing rotten eggs--and that was during the serious tragedies and histories, not the bawdy-ass comedies! Perhaps we just aren't used to "serious" drama on stage, as opposed to old "Mama the Lord wants me to Sing" plays or Tyler Perry stuff. Who knows? |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11972
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 12:50 pm: |
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Isn't James Earl Jones also in this play, cast as the "Big Daddy" character??
This play and movie originally came out in the 1950s. It's possible that because homosexuality was so taboo back then that the current reincarnation of this play seems a tad dated to some people. Also maybe to some people its theme didn't ring true with a black cast, since it was about originally about white southerners from playwright Tennessee Williams' era. Maybe. |
Troy
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 1165
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 01:05 pm: |
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Yes Cynique, James Earl Jones was there too! He turning in an excellent performance as well.
The play did not come across as dated to me. I'm on-line now joining netflick so that I can rent the movie (which I never saw but hear is great too).
Hey Tonya, it was a Wednesday afternoon matinee, bus loads of retirees -- no one was drunk or high. It was a three hour perfromance I'm sure most of those folks would have falled a alseep.
Someone a few seats from me was snoring during the performance. Fortunately it was not very long (the snoring).
CAC, seems like this was an August Wilson rather than a Tyler Perry type of crowd. Which is why I was surprised by the reaction.
Perhaps when Boris Kudjoe replaces Terrance Howard, some of the Perry crowd will show up and no one will be there to notice the odd reactions...
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Enchanted
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 1233
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 04:24 pm: |
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Troy
Steven Spielberg complain of similar thing when "Schindler's List" was shown to Jewish teenagers in special screening at SCARSDALE.
so imagine these are 'rich' Jewish kids.
They laughed when the naked jew women in concentration camps got their heads shaven.
They reacted so disrespectful to the film
that Spielberg stood and cursed them before
walking out.
When the newspaper wrote a story on the
screening the kids saw themselves as the victim
of Speilburg they said they loved the movie
but wanted to "lighten it up" a bit and
suggested Spielburg just "get over it".
one disgreement I have with you an Cac--I
hav seen plenty of white people an latino
people act just as stupid at dramatic plays
or filsm. Hav you ever watched "Thelma an Louise"
or "Color PUple" in a theatre thats 90% white?
Your first thought--that people r 'stupid'--is
more on target then you think. A good many of
them have no "critical thinking skills" Troy,
they live stricten by what they wer told to think.
an they cant process new ideas
on another level you have some people who are
so intelligent--they r laughing becaus of the
human imperfection that Tennessee Williams reveals in the play. if you think about it
--it IS ridiculous that society accepts "Brick" as the "norm"
so you have scholars laughing at that fact.
you hav scholars laughing at "southern culture"
overall (the roles of Big Papa an Big Mama)
though we lov these people becaus they exist
in every culture everywhere--they are still
greatly flawed an T.Williams play can incite
"giggles" from our embarrassment at what
The fact htat "Maggie the Cat" is THAT OLD
an wants so little for herslf (she thinks
material possesions mark 'victory'n life) is indeed qutie sad.
and just think...if Brick hadnt been "injured"
he wouldnt hav had to listen to his wife an
there would be no play.
if you think very deeply abou this dysfunctional
family on stage in relation to your own---then more than a few of us might hav to LAUGH to keep from CRYING.
So its "stupid people" an "scholars" who
were getting on your nerves.
I loved the movie with Elizabeth Taylor
but Anika Noni Rose was better.
I didnt think Terence Howard was very
good in the role
--theres been so many good "Bricks" an
Howards too ego-driven to tap the "boyish" part
of Brick, its a 5 dimensional charater with
lots of Nuances they shoul hav gotten
________________
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11979
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 05:30 pm: |
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Genuine poignancy doesn't invoke laughter. A playwright, a director, and actors all have to try and keep scenes from degenerating into trite "melodrama", - from making the crossover from "pathos" to "bathos". IMO.
I recently saw "Jersey Boys" and no attempt was made to play on the emotions of the audience in this great musical. But there was a lot of spontaneous reaction because the characters were based on real people doing real things. |
Troy
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 1167
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 09:01 pm: |
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Enchanted, I did not mean to imply that this was a solely a Black thing. I'm sure it is a American cultural dysfunction; as your Schindlers list example illustrates.
However as Cynique said "Genuine poignancy doesn't invoke laughter".
If I rape your mother in front of you -- that should not illicit laughter -- no matter how smart you are...
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Enchanted
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 1237
Registered: 11-2005
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 10:40 pm: |
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Troy:
If I rape your mother in front of you -- that should not illicit laughter -- no matter how smart you are...
____
i never said any such thing 
I guss you didnt read my whole post
so what.ever
But as many psychologissts hav pointed
out peeple laugh from embarrasment
when they see somethng negativ that
they recognise in themselvs
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Troy
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 1169
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 08:27 am: |
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Enchanted I knew what you meant. I admit my example was extreme.
The only point I'm making is that a large portion of the audience was laughing as if Rashad and Howard were telling jokes like Katt Williams.
It was not an appropriate reaction to embarassment bysomething was said during a stage play. Worse case, the person would at least try to stifle their laughter during the performance.
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Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 6531
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 01:12 pm: |
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The loud cackling, gasps, mewls, coos--that's just how many black folk cheer regardless of age (fyi most folk at the performance we saw were over 35 I'd say so I guess we can pin this on younger people). Lest I sound too siddity and you rouse Ron Kavanaugh, when Shakespeare's plays debuted at Stratford, lots of folks were in the front cheering, jeering, gasping, tossing rotten eggs--and that was during the serious tragedies and histories, not the bawdy-ass comedies! Perhaps we just aren't used to "serious" drama on stage, as opposed to old "Mama the Lord wants me to Sing" plays or Tyler Perry stuff. Who knows?
(Cac, I couldn't say it better.
We sometimes forget Troy is not used to being around black people. Live ones, that is) |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 6532
Registered: 03-2004
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 01:15 pm: |
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Enchanted, I did not mean to imply that this was a solely a Black thing. I'm sure it is a American cultural dysfunction; as your Schindlers list example illustrates.
However as Cynique said "Genuine poignancy doesn't invoke laughter".
If I rape your mother in front of you -- that should not illicit laughter -- no matter how smart you are...
(Troy, you are getting old and hanging out on the internet too much.
Case in point. Sunday I was in the Julia Davis Branch library. There was a bunch of middle school kids in there--yakking, making noise, spooning, all that dumb crap I did as a middle schooler.
I'll just go up there when they ain't there.
Real people are noisy, dirty, smelly, et al. They laugh and talk in the movie--which is why I don't go.
This is almost as bad as your post on the drummers.) |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11982
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 02:30 pm: |
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As usual, you hold yourself up as a paragon, chrishayden. Puleeze. A Broadway theater is not a St. Louis library. How can you anticipate what the caliber of the audience will be when you buy a ticket to a play that is appearing in the Big Apple?
Regular theater goers are sophisticated enough not to talk and titter at inappropiate times You can draw your own conclusions about those who engage in this ignorant behavior. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 6535
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 02:33 pm: |
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Regular theater goers are sophisticated enough not to talk and titter at inappropiate times You can draw your own conclusions about those who engage in this ignorant beha
(You live in a town where they just installed indoor plumbing and electricity.
Until a couple of years ago you were walking on all fours and eating with your hands.
End of story. |
Enchanted
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 1238
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 02:36 pm: |
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Troy is right (as I said in my oringal post).
We do hav a high number of "stupid" peeple in our
group I woul even say more than half.
I oftne am amazed at conversations I hva with
blak peeple about all kinds of stuff
there is a lack of "critical thinking skills" |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11985
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 02:40 pm: |
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As usual, charishayden, you resort to lies and distortion to obscure your stupidity.
I live minutes away from Chicago. You, on the other hand, have no choice but to remain in St. Louis because you are indigenous to its squalor.
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Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 6537
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 02:48 pm: |
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Troy is right (as I said in my oringal post).
We do hav a high number of "stupid" peeple in our
group I woul even say more than half.
(Troy is wrong. Troy is spending too much time online. He is suffering from nothing a few weeks in a Marine boot camp wouldn't cure.
You just have a problem with dealing with real people. Just stay at home, surf the net, drink your decafinated tea and eat your tofu.
I live minutes away from Chicago.
(So what? Last time I was IN Chicago I saw more bums sleeping on the streets and on the islands down the middle of the road than we got people.
YOU are proof that proximity to Chicago don't mean squat. You could be living in Khazakstan or someplace, squatting in a yurt and drinking Yak's milk for all YOU know) |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11987
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 03:02 pm: |
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The last time you were in Chicago, crasshayden, you gravitated to where you felt comfortable seeing as how, in spite of your delusions about yourself, you are nothing but bedraggled, oafish, wanna-be, who is offended by the truth and who snipes at others in order to draw attention away from your own glaring inadequacies. You are also a bore.  |
Troy
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 1176
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 12:10 am: |
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Chris: "Troy is not used to being around black people." Live ones, that is"
oh contre mon frere! I spend a great deal of time with my Brothers and Sisters. But you may have a point.
A public school teacher I know really well, frequently reminds me that the most people are not like the ones I hang out with...
A common phrase of hers is; "I've seen the masses, and it is not pretty."
However I think her perceptions are skewed the other way. She is basing her opinion of people in general on the parents and students that she encounters in an severely under performing NYC public school.
Surely the average person falls somewhere between the this and the tofu eating intellectual snob Chris accuses me of being.
Cynique,
The last time I was in Chi-town I was somewhere in the hundreds (the "wild hundreds" I believe it was called). Me and my friends had to literarlly run out of a spot as someone was shooting up the place. No one was hit, that I know of. Interestingly enough the gun play did not put a damper on the evening...
I always have a good time in Chicago -- great town.
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Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2804
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 12:00 pm: |
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I was thinking about why people would react this why. The only conclusion I could come up with is that folks are just dumb.
Troy, I think many people really do just hava a hard time dealing with more difficult (...not the right word...) emotions. We are kind of socialized to deal with happiness, humor, and excitement. Anger, to a lesser degree. We generally have no trouble reacting to screen, musical, stage and other depictions meant to generate these.
But calmer emotions--and ones that evoke uncomfortable feelings--are harder for us, IMO. I do not think it is necessarily a matter of smart or dumb.
For example, I like to think of myself as smart. But recently when I saw "No COuntry for Old Men" I was incredibly uncomfortable at the end. I felt kind of cheated that a movie that got such rave reviews would leave me feeling so out of sorts. I have no problem with violent movies per se. But all through the movie I was expecting a certain story arc--one that was familiar and that would involve some kind of...resolution, or something. But the movie did not "resolve" in a traditional way. Instead, it kind of ambled along then ended almost arbitrarily.
Kind of like real life!
But instead of going with that and reflecting calmly about it, I was ticked off. Ready to throw a brick through the window of my local Blockbuster! LOL
I think had I been better prepared for something more "art-house-y" instead of looking for "Die Hard 9" or something, I may not have reacted that way.
So, maybe audiences in the modern day could be prepared better for a wider range of emotions in our entertainment. I do not know how, but maybe it is possible. This is important, because it will obviously affect what entertainment and creative products are made. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11994
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 12:45 pm: |
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True. BTW, when I referred to show-goers who titter and talk during inappropriate times, as being "ignorant", I didn't mean they were necessarily "dumb". They just don't understand that discretion is called for during these moments as a courtesy to the rest of the audience. I'd be the first to say that some scenes can be maudlin to the point of being funny but it's another thing to become audibly rude. IMO. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11999
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 01:51 pm: |
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Yes, Troy, like the song says, Chicago is a "toddling town". Anything you're lookin for, you can find in the "windy city". And of course, it's a showcase for some of the most innovative architecture in the world.
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Troy
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 1178
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 04:10 pm: |
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Yvettep, that is a useful perspective. Before I went to see No Country for Old Men someone who has seen a ton of movies told me which one he enjoyed the most. No Country the recommendation. I usually manage my expectations with movies because I'm often diappointed. I rarely see films for this reason. So when I do go I want to see something good. Based upon my man's reccomendation I was really anxious to see No Country
Yvette my reaction to just like yours at the end I was like what the "F" just happened. My mind begain racing for some missing dialog to explain the BS ending. It wrecked the movie for me.
Now given the Academy awards and how much everyone else liked it -- I just chalked up my displeasure to a lack of sophistication for these types of movies (my own dumbness).
But then I thought maybe this No Country phenominom was one of these emperor new clothes kind of effects where a few "deep" people rave about something and then everyone else jumps on board to appear just as "deep".
Regarding the inability to express emotions -- maybe you are onto something. Our culture restricts men from expressing a range of emotions as wide as a woman's. Their were some moments in the play where weeping would have been approriate. So while I did not expect the average guy to break out the Kleenex I also don't expect him to be laughing out loud during the tear jerking scenes.
There was a scene when James Earl Jones was just dissing his wife essentially telling her he never loved her; while she had only demonstrated love and sacrifice in their relationship. When James finsihed his triade people burst out laughing?!
I was flabbergasted. I guess people would have been in the aisles if he added a backhand.
Perhaps we have become so desensitied to demaning each other that when it is done we just find if funny.
Funny. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 6544
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 02:38 pm: |
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Troy--I ain't ranking on you.
I remember one time I was in a theater watching a Robert Redford movie. I was the only black. Two young girls were gushing so much over Robert Redford the usher had to come over and tell them to shut up.
Same thing happened when I went to see Tommy.
I don't go to movies no more unless they are Art movies or there's only a couple of people in the theater because people are talking to each other, the screen, etc and I want to watch in peace and quiet.
One reason I may appear to have a high tolerance for people making noise in theaters is because growing up, it was not uncommon for fights to break out in our neighborhood theater. I remember the security there was a big, 400 lb brother who wore two pistols. His method of dealing with obstreperous patrons was to pound them to a jelly and drag their limp bodies out.
Take my advice. If inappropriate noise bothers you get DVDs and stay home. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 12002
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 04:32 pm: |
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So, who asked for your advice?? |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2807
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 - 06:51 pm: |
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Chris: "Tommy"?
One of my all-time favorite movies!!!!! |
Libralind2
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Libralind2
Post Number: 1035
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2008 - 09:48 pm: |
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Troy...Im with you...some people are just dumb
LiLi |
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