A Letter to Harvey Milk

"May 22 was Harvey Milk's birthday."
"Who was Harvey Milk?" a friend asked.
I gave the short version. "He was a gay rights activist in the 70's. He became a San Francisco city supervisor. The first openly gay politician. He was assassinated in City Hall along with the mayor by a colleague they'd fired. He'd been getting death threats and had already recorded his will. One of his more famous quotes was 'If a bullet should ever enter my brain, let that bullet shatter every closet door.'"
For a longer version have a look here.

Harvey Milk's life has been recounted by a musical, two operas, a documentary and an Oscar winning film. The 2016 musical, A Letter to Harvey Milk, is less about the man than his legacy. Two strangers, a Jewish widower and a lesbian teacher, meet in a writing class and discuss the way Harvey influenced their lives.

Some detractors are upset by the homophobic comments the teacher must endure. I'm of the mindset that a show set in the early 80's would be more offensive if it ignored the homophobia that our community has had to overcome. There's room for the Love, Simon fantasias in 2018 but we must never forget our history.

A Letter to Harvey Milk is currently running Off-Broadway at the Acorn Theatre.

Royal Wedding

I've seen this movie but I can't remember the love interests at all. They don't get much to do. The Astaire/Powell duets are delightful but the fact that they are playing siblings is... distracting. What exactly happens every night at seven?

The movie's not great, but Astaire gets to dance on the ceiling. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times put it best when he said "Mr. Astaire has fared better in his lifetime-and he has also fared much worse."

Rise

Stop me if you've heard this before. Inspirational teacher puts a hot jock and some minorities in a show where they learn to live and love and... oh you have? Well how about we give half the kids abusive families... and make the teacher a monster? No, not a funny monster. Just extremely unpleasant. Unpleasant enough to inspire hostile reviews and scare audiences away.

Ted Sutherland brings charm to his coming out storyline, though it gets about 5 minutes of screen time per episode. Stephanie Block brings gravitas to the potentially campy role of his loving conservative mother.

The choice of Spring Awakening was an interesting one. It's still considered edgy. Will age give it the same respect that West Side Story, Grease and even Rent have gained from most school boards? Skip to episode 9 and 10 if you want to see the talent young cast performing the songs. Hopefully there will be better shows in their futures.

The Band's Visit

The 2018 Tony nominees for best musical are adaptations. Three are aimed at children and teens. The Band's Visit is aimed at adults. Thus critics loved it and grosses have been modest. The story takes place over the course of a night where nothing happens and everything changes. The following morning the stranded band will leave and the villagers will be left with fading memories. Will the Tony's spark summer sales and regional productions? Will leading lady Katrina Lenk star in more musicals or move to film and television? Or will the whole thing fade into memory as an assembly line of commercial properties queues up for the coming Broadway season?

Four Year Anniversary

Tomorrow is the 4th year anniversary of Three Panel Musicals! Thanks to all who've stuck with it and welcome to those who've just discovered it.

My favorite comics from 2017 include:

Caroline, or Change
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (season one)
Ragtime
Smash
They're Playing Our Song


The 2018 Tony nominees have been announced so there'll be lots to discuss in the coming weeks.