Another Round Tuit Day
Feb. 15th, 2011 11:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdHad some intense dreams last night in which I was a teenager and my parents were being parents. The details all fled when Domino hopped up on my chest and told me she was ready for her close-up.
My project to rip all my show tunes CDs into iTunes was interrupted a few weeks ago, I'm taking advantage of the free time to catch up. Jesus Christ Superstar just done, skipped Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat because it doesn't have any music I want to ever hear again, and am now wasting time playing a few of my favorite tracks from Jekyll & Hyde, because the asshats at PA Players would not video or audio record any of our performances, claiming copyright laws which they misinterpreted (a performance is a separate copyright, and performers have a legitimate claim to own a copy of their work).
Next up, The King & I.
Which brings me to some philosophical dilemmas about some of my favorite musicals. I've been asked a lot if, as an atheist raised in a non-Christian world, I would be interested in playing parts in Xtian musicals. The answer is "It depends on the message". I won't touch Godspell with a 10-foot Eastern European. JC Superstar, on the other hand, is as much a satire as anything, the music is superb, and I would gladly play Herod and almost as gladly, Caiaphas. Joseph is an Old Testament work, I have no religious objections but it's childish and way lame in the music department.
And then there's The King & I. It is banned in Thailand for many good reasons, not least amongst them is the story is total bullshit. Having served in the Peace Corps in Thailand, I'm more sensitive to this than most folks. I love the music, but have turned down audition invitations at least three times. Some of the problems I have with the plot include:
King Mongkhut had a full head of hair, was a scholar fluent in several languages including English, did not run around shirtless (just the opposite, he was usually seen in heavy brocade jackets) and was also a world-renowned astronomer who was known as "The Father of Science and Technology" in Siam. Because he did not want to become a victim of royal politics, he became a monk, ascending to head abbot of a Bangkok temple. Perhaps the shaved head Yul Brenner popularized came from portraits from that era. He did not become king until age 47.
Mongkhut also improved women's rights in Siam. He released a large number of royal concubines to find their own husbands, in contrast to the pure crap dramatized in the musical. He banned forced marriages of all kinds and the selling of one's wife to pay off a debt.
His eldest son, Chulalongkorn, continued the modernization of Siam due to his father's influence, not Anna's. Anna was not an important part of of the court, she was just one more English teacher out of dozens who served Mongkhut during his reign. On display at the National Museum in Bangkok is the letter the king sent to a merchant shipper asking him to please bring some more of his favorite cough drops next time, and by the way, we could use an English teacher.
So, I'll sing the songs, but I won't be in the play.
Now I'm up to La Cage. Thank goodness for a nice, non-controversial musical.
Just got a call from the recruiter confirming they have not heard from the hiring manager yet. Sigh.
This morning I sent off an application to a company![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
localinactivist suggested, and email to someone gil_liant referred me to. Thanks to you both. Looking at the daily job agents from Dice, there was nothing for me. I suppose I should activate the ones on Monster.
My project to rip all my show tunes CDs into iTunes was interrupted a few weeks ago, I'm taking advantage of the free time to catch up. Jesus Christ Superstar just done, skipped Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat because it doesn't have any music I want to ever hear again, and am now wasting time playing a few of my favorite tracks from Jekyll & Hyde, because the asshats at PA Players would not video or audio record any of our performances, claiming copyright laws which they misinterpreted (a performance is a separate copyright, and performers have a legitimate claim to own a copy of their work).
Next up, The King & I.
Which brings me to some philosophical dilemmas about some of my favorite musicals. I've been asked a lot if, as an atheist raised in a non-Christian world, I would be interested in playing parts in Xtian musicals. The answer is "It depends on the message". I won't touch Godspell with a 10-foot Eastern European. JC Superstar, on the other hand, is as much a satire as anything, the music is superb, and I would gladly play Herod and almost as gladly, Caiaphas. Joseph is an Old Testament work, I have no religious objections but it's childish and way lame in the music department.
And then there's The King & I. It is banned in Thailand for many good reasons, not least amongst them is the story is total bullshit. Having served in the Peace Corps in Thailand, I'm more sensitive to this than most folks. I love the music, but have turned down audition invitations at least three times. Some of the problems I have with the plot include:
King Mongkhut had a full head of hair, was a scholar fluent in several languages including English, did not run around shirtless (just the opposite, he was usually seen in heavy brocade jackets) and was also a world-renowned astronomer who was known as "The Father of Science and Technology" in Siam. Because he did not want to become a victim of royal politics, he became a monk, ascending to head abbot of a Bangkok temple. Perhaps the shaved head Yul Brenner popularized came from portraits from that era. He did not become king until age 47.
Mongkhut also improved women's rights in Siam. He released a large number of royal concubines to find their own husbands, in contrast to the pure crap dramatized in the musical. He banned forced marriages of all kinds and the selling of one's wife to pay off a debt.
His eldest son, Chulalongkorn, continued the modernization of Siam due to his father's influence, not Anna's. Anna was not an important part of of the court, she was just one more English teacher out of dozens who served Mongkhut during his reign. On display at the National Museum in Bangkok is the letter the king sent to a merchant shipper asking him to please bring some more of his favorite cough drops next time, and by the way, we could use an English teacher.
So, I'll sing the songs, but I won't be in the play.
Now I'm up to La Cage. Thank goodness for a nice, non-controversial musical.
Just got a call from the recruiter confirming they have not heard from the hiring manager yet. Sigh.
This morning I sent off an application to a company
localinactivist suggested, and email to someone gil_liant referred me to. Thanks to you both. Looking at the daily job agents from Dice, there was nothing for me. I suppose I should activate the ones on Monster.
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