The cheap seats
Bookworm on Dec 20 2008 at 6:57 pm | Filed under: Uncategorized
We went to see PDQ Bach today (aka Peter Schickele). We sat in the cheap seats. My reaction upon leaving was, “Thank God we only paid for the cheap seats, because it wasn’t a very good show.” On the other hand, considering all the visual jokes that flew right by me in the nosebleed section, had we paid for the good seats, I might have experienced it as a better show. As it was, even though Schickele gave it his all, one gets the feeling that his all isn’t really enough anymore. The audience wanted to laugh — they were with him all the way — but they had to work hard to find openings. It may also be that styles in humor have changed. Shtick that was uproariously funny in the 1960s or 1970s may no longer resonate with a modern audience, even when that audience is composed of quite a few oldsters.
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4 Responses to “The cheap seats”
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You brought the kids too?
Yeah, I agree. But I will say this for the man. When I tried to explain the necessity of a conductor to my husband, it went in one ear and out the other. I even played symphonies directed by different conductors i.e. Szell vs. Mehta just to demonstrate the importance of the conductor for setting the tone for the way a piece of music was played by the group. To no avail. Then, one morning, we listened to Peter Schickele give HIS explanation for the origin of the conductor, and by golly, the man got it! That was one of Schickele’s funniest episodes.
I am a musical dunce, so forgive me for how I describe this.
I heard a Schickele piece once where he was toodling along on the piano and you could tell he was getting near the end. He tried to bring it in, but couldn’t quite figure out what notes to play to come to a finale, so he pulled back and tried it again.
Actually, he tried to bring it home seven times and by the fourth the audience was helplessly in stitches. I, a total musical ignoramus, was too.
Schickele ended the piece at last and the audience was clapping, screaming and laughing in glee. Me, too.
Jewel, I agree that the man really knew how to make a lasting musical point.
Council speak 12/15/2008…
The council has spoken. The winning entry this week was JoshuaPundit’s The message of Mumbai about the need for India to confront its potential internal threat. The runners up were Bookworm Room’s Ayers’ life was just a joyous, misunderstood frolic …