The cheap seats
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.
