Aristophanes is alive and well and living in New York City

[sovay]

Well, actually, I would be very surprised if he was. I'm not even sure what Sondheim's The Frogs is doing these days. But I took a day trip with my family into New York to see the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and it was fantastic—and rather reminded me of Aristophanes. Complicated plot, bawdy humor, sophisticated humor, literary and theatrical allusion, casual metatheater, much weirdness and hilarity, and the bit near the end where the characters ask for applause. Also, good music. Quite seriously, I think it was the best new piece of theater I've seen since The Producers (which I was lucky enough to see before it won the Tonys, so that we could actually get tickets that didn't cost several body parts and a firstborn child). John Lithgow, Joe Cassidy substituting very well indeed for Norbert Leo Butz, Gregory Jbara, Joanna Gleeson, and Sherie Rene Scott. Despite some very funny set-pieces and dialogue, it took a little while for the first act to cohere; but once the plot took off, wow. The very last scene was truly marvelous. And I shall stop praising the musical now, because otherwise I'll start talking about plot and character and spoilers will occur, and start longing for the original cast recording. (John Lithgow has even less of a singing voice than Rex Harrison, mind you. But he performs so well, you don't even notice.) There's con artistry, and reversal, and falling in love, and massive amounts of larceny. That's all you need to know. It was good.

Latest silly quiz obtained from upstart_crow. (Cut for mild surprise at the results.)


You are the Magician card. Magic is the use of the
will to effect change in reality. The will is
the ability to direct knowledge and experience
towards an end goal. The Magician is capable of
manipulating his environment because he knows
it so well. He effects the thoughts and
emotions of those around him. Therefore, the
Magician is often thought of as an artist,
writing or speaking in a way that strongly
influences others. The Magician understands how
to bring concepts into form and how to express
metaphysical concepts in a physical way. He is
seen with the symbols of each suit: a disk, a
cup, a sword and a wand. These symbols are each
a physical expression of a concept. They are
The Magician's tools. Following after The Fool,
The Magician acts as a messenger. His planet is
Mercury, who is Messenger of the Gods. He
brings The Fool into the new world that The
Fool seeks. The Magician represents the act of
creation. Because he can use his knowledge to
form something new, he seems to be able to make
a thing appear out of a void. Image from: L. S.
Irish.
http://www.muttart.com/originals/magician.htm


Which Tarot Card Are You?
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Given that I checked off "reading and writing" and "studying and teaching folklore and history" as two of my options, I can't quite figure out why I didn't get The Hierophant or The Hermit or someone a little more text-oriented. On the other hand, a quiz result that links me with The Fool, masks, and Mercury can't be all bad . . .

Comments

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

Hehe.

Depending on one question, upon which I was undecided, I either got the Hierophant or The Lovers. woah.

[kraada.livejournal.com]

And I come out as Justice. Clearly the quiz isn't all that good . . . if you're going to appeal to that side of me, at least come out as Chariot . . . sheesh.

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

You are the Star card. The Star is the light of
hope. Shining in the night, sending light into
darkness, the stars provide direction to
sailors and are a field on which to dream.
Humanity used to look up at the sky and desire
to be there, to find out what it all meant, and
now we have been a distance into space and have
elementary ideas of the makeup of all the
different stars. This kind of achievement adds
further fuel to our hopes. The eternal,
slow-moving stars that will be long shining
past the end of our own existence provide hope
of immortality, and the vast space they suggest
and the very mystery they hold provide us with
excitement and knowledge yet to be discovered.
Image from: Danielle Sylvie Taylor
http://members.limitless.org/~morpheum/gallery.html


Which Tarot Card Are You?
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[diony.livejournal.com]

I know Sondheim's Frogs was in New York last summer, I think, but maybe you knew that.

But I'm jealous! Joanna Gleeson!

And apparently I'm the Fool. Wow.