London Olympic Ceremony: A Tad Wacky And A Lot Of Fun

Ceremony designer, Danny Boyle, and friends in London

The British producer/director, Danny Boyle, cooked up a quirky, high-volume, colorful, and fast-paced Olympic Opening Ceremony in London on Friday. It bore the imprint of a man with many interests forcing a national identity through a 120 minute window of audience experience. Some things simply had to go. And so we were left with a flock of sheep and some ragged cottage types to mark the time from English origins to the eve of the Industrial Revolution. OTR didn't mind the satanic mills as William Blake is one of his favorite anarchists, not to mention writers and illustrators. Nor did he object to the hundreds of dirty miners as the Welsh blood from Grandmother Jones gave him his Celtic heritage. Frankly, there were few objections on the part of this writer as Boyle's creation washed across the stadium. All politics aside, it was great fun, much like enjoying tapas or the sushi bar - so many choices.

If OTR could raise one issue with the evening it would be this: the production virtually ignored the rich literary and scientific history that is Great Britain from 1700 to 1900. For  OTR it would have been pleasing to see some reference to Gilbert and Sullivan and their wonderful, humorous self-examination of Britain at the high point of empire. Though their stage was much smaller compared to Boyle's, they captured so well the eccentricities that infused Friday's celebration. Here is a sample of what we missed:

Gilbert and Sullivan - still going strong around the world after a century and a half.

Lessons In Politics

It's election season and OTR thinks it's about time for a history lesson from the popular culture archives. While we're listening to the candidates and mulling over the state of the union - the address is coming up shortly - we need to be reminded of the social and political realities driving the nation. The American writer and cartoonist, Al Capp, defined these realities quite well in his satirical syndicated strip, Li'l Abner. It ran from 1934 to 1977 and enriched the culture on several fronts.

In 1959, Paramount Pictures released film musical based on the strip and a 1956 stage production. It was a moderately successful film in its day and, after fifty years, an even more significant object lesson in American politics. With music by Gene De Paul and lyrics by Johnny Mercer, the stage version of Li'l Abner remains a popular production for high schools as well as local and regional theater groups. OTR thinks it should be required viewing for voters, first, to get them smiling, and second, to instruct them in the principles of political reality.  Here is your first lesson:

Gilbert and Sullivan came to same conclusion in England by 1880.

West Side Story: A Film At Fifty

Hard to believe, my friends, that this film has reached the milestone of fifty years since its release in late October 1961. West Side Story followed the Broadway production by about four years and possessed all the groundbreaking elements in story, sound, and dance that would make it an enduring work.  It won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Here's a trailer to enjoy:

What would Will Shakespeare think!

Frank Loesser, Songwriter

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great American songwriter, Frank Loesser. In his Powerline post, Scott Johnson adds his perceptive commentary on this event, as one would expect when he ventures into the world of music. Johnson's entry includes several media links as well as a tribute from Mark Steyn, who in another life is a first-rate authority on musical theater and the Great American Songbook. Enjoy.

For more information on Loesser's life, legacy, and more, go here.

I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major Generalist

If there is one writer who can wrap popular culture, contemporary politics, and historical perspective into an entertaining and superbly written piece, that writer is Mark Steyn. I think he outdoes himself in this NRO post where he discusses the growing feeling that Barack Obama is perhaps quite detached from much of his surroundings. Here's a sample:

No doubt my observations about Obama’s remoteness from the rhythms of American life will be seen by his dwindling band of beleaguered cheerleaders as just another racist, right-wing attempt to whip up the backwoods knuckle-dragging swamp-dwellers of America by playing on their fears of “the other” — the sophisticated, worldly cosmopolitan for whom France is more than a reliable punchline. But in fact my complaint is exactly the opposite: Obama’s postmodern detachment is feeble and parochial. It’s true that he hadn’t seen much of America until he ran for president, but he hadn’t seen much of anywhere else, either. Like most multiculturalists, he’s passed his entire adulthood in a very narrow unicultural environment where your ideological worldview doesn’t depend on anything so tedious as actually viewing the world.

And here's the visual that is a perfect capture of Stein's point, one driven home oh so well in his title.



May Gilbert and Sullivan live forever.