sjrozan

Saw the new production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF tonight. It's terrific, full of first-class performances, and seems -- but this may just be me -- to be harder-edged than the first Broadway production, or the movie. (Though at its core it's irreducibly schmaltzy; if you're looking for a picture of those days without schmaltz, try Nancy Richler's YOUR MOUTH IS LOVELY, a book I'm crazy about.) Couldn't help but notice, though, that the audience was almost totally white, and it would be no stretch to guess it was heavily Jewish. Up the block, the new production of A RAISIN IN THE SUN is playing. The crowd waiting to get in there was almost totally black. After FIDDLER ended, I wanted to tell the entire audience it should get up and go down the block and see RAISIN, and their whole audience should come over here. It occurs to me that if the producers of these shows want to improve race relations, they should be offering half price tickets to the other show to anyone who buys tickets to their show. Not that I have any hope anymore for this brotherhood business; after what's come out of Iraq in the last week, I'm throwing in the towel on hope.

sjrozan I'm a writer, at work on my 11th book. This blog is a record of random and less-random thoughts. If you want to know more about me, check my website, linked here. I also had a blog going from spring through late fall 2004 about the publishing process for my 9th book, ABSENT FRIENDS. That blog's called "Progress" and you can find the link here. I won't make any more entries but I'm leaving it up in case anyone's interested; the process is more or less the same from book to book.
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Previous Entry :: Next Entry Read/Post Comments (2)		2004-05-08 11:54 PM Fiddler on the Roof, Raisin in the Sun Saw the new production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF tonight. It's terrific, full of first-class performances, and seems -- but this may just be me -- to be harder-edged than the first Broadway production, or the movie. (Though at its core it's irreducibly schmaltzy; if you're looking for a picture of those days without schmaltz, try Nancy Richler's YOUR MOUTH IS LOVELY, a book I'm crazy about.) Couldn't help but notice, though, that the audience was almost totally white, and it would be no stretch to guess it was heavily Jewish. Up the block, the new production of A RAISIN IN THE SUN is playing. The crowd waiting to get in there was almost totally black. After FIDDLER ended, I wanted to tell the entire audience it should get up and go down the block and see RAISIN, and their whole audience should come over here. It occurs to me that if the producers of these shows want to improve race relations, they should be offering half price tickets to the other show to anyone who buys tickets to their show. Not that I have any hope anymore for this brotherhood business; after what's come out of Iraq in the last week, I'm throwing in the towel on hope. Read/Post Comments (2) Previous Entry :: Next Entry Back to Top