Re: Lemmon the musical: Yoko Ono as the ultimate puppet master with the many Johns she controlled

On 19 Aug 2005 02:18:14 -0700, "whosoever" <somebody@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>
>roman wrote:
>
>>
>> She uses time to her advantage because she figures folks who knew her
>> during the late sixties/seventies are no longer around to tell the true
>> story of her and John
>
>Stupid idiot statement as long as I breathe.
>
>> > Blake,
>> >
>> > You wrote "Wouldn't YOU agree that even the critics are concluding
>> > that Yoko doesn't know squat about staging a proper Brodway show, and
>> > that they are not making value judgements on the flaws you find so
>> > abhorrent?"
>> >
>>
>
>Gathering together negative reviews of New York Rock isn't very hard.
>NYR was an off-Broadway show some seven years ago that utilized Yoko's
>own songs. She has never done anything in the medium to indicate she
>expects to become as popular as, say, "The Lion King." I own the CD and
>I like some of Y's songs, especially "Goodbye Sadness" sung by a real
>off-Broadway soprano. It holds up!
>
>Did you see that show? Didn't think so.
>
>Lennon the Musical: This show has been open for only five days. Once
>again, Ian posts fragments of a bunch of disgruntled Beatle
>fans/critics... it's the same old story. He is the Perpetual Cold
>Water-thrower who never sees the shows, hence he has no opinion of his
>own. It's really bull***.

Where do I do that?

>New Yorkers (and Beatle fans/tourists) have a habit of seeing a show
>fror their own reasons, and word-of-mouth on the streets carries a lot
>more weight than the bleatings of a pile of stage critics. In other
>words, rmb's "resident Beatle scholar" is so full of *himself* he is
>incapable of enjoying Yoko's POV for any reason whatsoever.
>
>He says they are "his memories" and "his opinions" but who cares, aside
>from Socky and a few stragglers-McCartney freaks who will defend the
>UniBeatle ten years after *he* dies!!
>
>Fuckem if they can't take a joke, and Ian, please shut up... go back to
>your stalking of prepubescent girls, or catching vermin who eat thru
>your roof down there. Better yet, see the show and decide for yourself
>if the show stinks... no, you wouldn't think of that, never ever.
>
>Pardon me while I burp.
>
>Francie (survivor, eyewitness to the Breakup, which had nothing to do
>with Yoko, and friend of Marek Girsch and John Weber NO MATTER WHAT IAN
>OR CHARLIE OR ANYONE ELSE SAYS)


Pardon me while I kiss the sky: the reviews I've posted links to were
the ones I found which seemed relatively positive:

http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=4372
Don't even think of calling Lennon a jukebox musical and lumping it
in a pile with various ill-conceived attempts to squeeze a
score-load of popular hits never intended to be sung on stage into
some inane story and stick it on Broadway in hopes that everyone
will be so enthralled with the songs that they'll forget the idiocy
of the book. No, this is an entirely different, and far more
satisfying, creation.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4150222.stm
What has emerged is more than a "jukebox musical" in the vein of
Mamma Mia (Abba) but something that aims to illuminate the "spirit
and meaning" of John Lennon's epic life.

Beyond that my only comment was to the effect that no-one should
expect an artist like Ono to serve your usual cheesy Broadway fare:

Ono was never going toe put out a stock-standard Broadway music. Of
course she was going to put her approach to art on to the venture
and sink or swim with it. That's what she's always done.

Beyond that I've been blissfully silent on the matter.

.

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