Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Springtime For Terrorists, In Washington…
Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Springtime For Terrorists, In Washington…
Playbill is announcing a revival of the musical “Ragtime” this Spring at the Kennedy Center. I love “Ragtime.” It’s a great piece of theatre. And it’s a completely, totally and entirely a left-wing wacko propaganda piece.
Brian Stokes Mitchell and the original cast of "Ragtime"
“Ragtime” is based on E. L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel of the same name which examines the cultural shifts in America at the turn of the last century. It cleverly uses real-life historical figures and intertwines their stories with a fictional family in New Rochelle, NY. The tensions between the influx of Jewish immigrants and the growing black population with the conservative white upper-class frame the plot and serve as representative of the integration of the culture in the 20th century. If you’d like a taste of Doctorow’s opinion of America circa 1907, you should read this speech he gave reflecting on America of 2007. It will be enlightening, if you can get through it.
But the central story line is that of Ragtime piano player Coalhouse Walker Jr., brilliantly played by Brian Stokes Mitchell in the original Broadway production. Coalhouse spends the first part of the show trying to win back the love of a young girl with whom he has had a baby out of wedlock. They eventually reunite and just as they are ready to start their life together some Irish, racist firemen harass him and vandalize his brand new Model T. After a tragedy leaves his new wife dead, Coalhouse has an epiphany and seeks deadly revenge on the firemen. He recruits a band of young, black followers and goes on a rampage killing firemen, burning down firehouses and, eventually taking hostages and threatening to blow-up a major New York landmark.
Basically, he’s a terrorist. And, of course, he’s the hero of the piece.
His final song, an anthem for civil rights struggles yet-to-come rationalizes and justifies his actions better than any Al Qaeda YouTube video could:
GO OUT AND TELL THE STORY.
LET IT ECHO FAR AND WIDE.
MAKE THEM HEAR YOU.
HOW THAT JUSTICE WAS OUR BATTLE AND HOW JUSTICE WAS DENIED.
MAKE THEM HEAR YOU.
AND SAY TO THOSE WHO BLAME US
FOR THE WAY WE CHOSE TO FIGHT
THAT SOMETIMES THERE ARE BATTLES
WHICH ARE MORE THAN BLACK OR WHITE.
AND I COULD NOT PUT DOWN MY SWORD
WHEN JUSTICE WAS MY RIGHT.
MAKE THEM HEAR YOU.
The next verse actually suggests that only God can judge whether his actions are right or wrong, but thankfully, there is no mention of 72 virgins.
So the question is: In this post-racial, Obama-happy, post-9/11 world, are we really ready for a musical that glorifies a terrorist who kills first responders and plans to blow up a major building in New York? And, is Obama’s Washington DC really the best place to premiere this revival?
Stage Right is on Facebook.
Playbill is announcing a revival of the musical “Ragtime” this Spring at the Kennedy Center. I love “Ragtime.” It’s a great piece of theatre. And it’s a completely, totally and entirely a left-wing wacko propaganda piece.
Brian Stokes Mitchell and the original cast of "Ragtime"
“Ragtime” is based on E. L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel of the same name which examines the cultural shifts in America at the turn of the last century. It cleverly uses real-life historical figures and intertwines their stories with a fictional family in New Rochelle, NY. The tensions between the influx of Jewish immigrants and the growing black population with the conservative white upper-class frame the plot and serve as representative of the integration of the culture in the 20th century. If you’d like a taste of Doctorow’s opinion of America circa 1907, you should read this speech he gave reflecting on America of 2007. It will be enlightening, if you can get through it.
But the central story line is that of Ragtime piano player Coalhouse Walker Jr., brilliantly played by Brian Stokes Mitchell in the original Broadway production. Coalhouse spends the first part of the show trying to win back the love of a young girl with whom he has had a baby out of wedlock. They eventually reunite and just as they are ready to start their life together some Irish, racist firemen harass him and vandalize his brand new Model T. After a tragedy leaves his new wife dead, Coalhouse has an epiphany and seeks deadly revenge on the firemen. He recruits a band of young, black followers and goes on a rampage killing firemen, burning down firehouses and, eventually taking hostages and threatening to blow-up a major New York landmark.
Basically, he’s a terrorist. And, of course, he’s the hero of the piece.
His final song, an anthem for civil rights struggles yet-to-come rationalizes and justifies his actions better than any Al Qaeda YouTube video could:
GO OUT AND TELL THE STORY.
LET IT ECHO FAR AND WIDE.
MAKE THEM HEAR YOU.
HOW THAT JUSTICE WAS OUR BATTLE AND HOW JUSTICE WAS DENIED.
MAKE THEM HEAR YOU.
AND SAY TO THOSE WHO BLAME US
FOR THE WAY WE CHOSE TO FIGHT
THAT SOMETIMES THERE ARE BATTLES
WHICH ARE MORE THAN BLACK OR WHITE.
AND I COULD NOT PUT DOWN MY SWORD
WHEN JUSTICE WAS MY RIGHT.
MAKE THEM HEAR YOU.
The next verse actually suggests that only God can judge whether his actions are right or wrong, but thankfully, there is no mention of 72 virgins.
So the question is: In this post-racial, Obama-happy, post-9/11 world, are we really ready for a musical that glorifies a terrorist who kills first responders and plans to blow up a major building in New York? And, is Obama’s Washington DC really the best place to premiere this revival?
Stage Right is on Facebook.
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