RE: Quad comedy & Schrade in VT

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

> >Still, they were fiftish year old men
> >acting out parts written for teens.  The element of parody was planned, 
>and it arms them for any critics who want to point this out.
>
>Perhaps, but don't you think Rog could have pulled off sarcasm as well, if 
>this was the intent?

I guess so, but it's not what you expect from Roger.  He's the one who 
believes in it, and when he doesn't, then it's not going to fly.


>How does having a non-TED sing, make it any less a production of The Who, 
>and thus arm them against critics?  Couldn't a majority of their songs be 
>seen in this same way?

It's not the non-TED singers that arms them, it's the elements of parody (or 
satire).  And yes, Pete built this into many of his songs, expecially the 
early ones where he wasn't so sure of what he was doing.  He's got the type 
of verbal ability that makes it easy for him to suggest two or three 
different meanings, and generally one of them is humorous, one cynical and 
one serious.  The first two protect him against criticism on the last one.


>I would hope that TED don't pander to critics in this way.
>The inclusion of GG, and the manner in which he sang, is the only thing 
>that provided humor.  But, were you laughing at the parody, or at GG 
>himself?  I was shaking my head, and thinking "get this idiot off the 
>stage".  I felt like Rog was thinking the same thing.
>Billy Idol, on the other hand, was a realistic/believable character that 
>added a Broadway (as you mentioned) type of feel.  It worked, but still 
>wasn't *needed* to make this production "fly".

I don't think you could separate Glitter from the parody--that teased hair 
and the big belly hanging out from under his leather jacket was just too 
much the picture of the swaggering, greasy rocker.  I thought Idol was 
over-the-top, too, what with all that arrogant posturing and snarling and so 
on--a good match for Glitter.  Both these images just empahsized how stupid 
the gang wars were.  Like I said, I don't know anything about Glitter, but 
this did seem very natural for him--and the same for Idol.  I think they 
might have been chosen somewhat for their personalities.


>BUT, Quad is a serious look into the psyche of youth.  Until this
>production, rather inclusion of GG, I didn't see anything funny about Quad. 
>I still don't.  It's deadly serious.
>
> >In a way it is, or
> >course, but then in another way, they're dead serious about it.
>
>Awww shit, we're saying the same thing.
>So you're saying they were making fun of past dress styles and behavior? If 
>so it's not needed, and detracts from the seriousness of the work.

They were setting up the characters so you can see how stupid the whole gang 
war thing is.  Ace Face is exposed as the BellBoy, but you had to have 
somebody visual (GG) to show how worthless the Godfather is.  This same 
style wouldn't have worked for the movie, but for a stage presentation, I 
thought it was terrific.  Dramatic comedy is the number one, best winner as 
far as ratings go, and I think they achieved it very well.  Because Roger 
sang his part straight, none of the humor detracted.


> >I rather thought the other characters were entertaining.
>
>Agreed, but I would always rather see Rog sing than some overweight goof. 
>From my vantage point, it always looked like Rog was annoyed by Billy and 
>Gary.  Maybe it was my own impression, but I kept reading it like "get the 
>hell off my stage already."

I'll bet RD and Billy Idol got into it.  I think Idol really is arrogant and 
Roger would set him off right away.  There were a couple of comments 
afterward, too.  I don't know that RD was annoyed with the way they handled 
the show, though.  He did say that GG never did get the music right, but the 
parody handles that problem, too.


>They were interesting
>and different, but by no means was the show or production dependant on 
>those two characters, especially GG.

I'll agree with that.


keets

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