Base10 Theater Review
Base10 does not frequent the theater, but on the occasion of Base10's wedding anniversary, he made the foray into the world of the Broadway musical production. The show in question was "Mamma Mia!" and Base10 does admit he enjoyed himself just a little bit.

In the most bizarre event of the evening, just as the show was starting, two Japanese women, perhaps mid-twenties but it's so hard to tell, were seated next to us. Not so unusual in midtown, you say? But they were dressed up in full traditional Japanese attire. Kimonos, tabi socks, sandals, that big bow-like thing in the back, the whole nine yards. During intermission they took innumerable pictures of each other with some very high tech looking digital cameras. What's going on here? Geisha convention? Who are these people? I guess this is one of New York's little mysteries.

Getting back to the evening's extravaganza, the thing that is most amazing about this show is the concept. It is a story based on the songs of 70's girl band ABBA. I won't even go into the plot, but this is a staggering concept. The producers actually managed to derive a coherent narrative storyline from the insipid lyrics of ABBA. Now Base10 is not getting up on some high intellectual horse (at least not yet), after all, everyone of my age and aspect knows all the lyrics. We grew up on this music. I must admit that it was even clever how they incorporated some of the songs in the context of the show. I particularly liked the way they used the song "Chiquitita" (admit it, you know the song, you might even have it as an MP3). I have to say the story was moderately interesting in spite of the fact that ABBA songs sound pretty much identical to one another.

I'm not complaining. Theater is about entertainment, and if the blue haired tourist crowd that is spending money like mad in our fair city finds this entertaining, I'll belt out a tune myself. I am the first to admit that the show was entertaining, but in much the same way that Bob Hope was entertaining. Nothing controversial. Weighty issues handled in a trivial manner. And always a happy ending. It's sort of like the Budweiser beer of theater. It's flavor is designed to offend the fewest possible people.

I'm not singling out "Mamma Mia!" either. This is just the way things are. As I thumb through the Playbill, most of the successful shows share this approach: Hairspray, 42nd Street, Chicago, The Lion King, etc. But Base10 knows there is drama out there somewhere.

Base10 remembers as a teenager going to see "Equus" on Broadway. The play was shocking (it still is). This is at least theater. What would Bertolt Brecht, one of the seminal theater intellectuals, say about "Mamma Mia!"? Brecht's description of theater was filled with concepts like the "alienation effect" where the audience is to disengage themselves from the play's action. Brecht also championed the idea of theater as a forum for examining weighty social issues. Read his play "The Caucasian Chalk Circle." It was in many ways groundbreaking. For example, it uses the play-within-a-play concept, but never goes back to the original context. This is the television equivalent of going into a squiggly-line dream sequence and never leaving it.

One does not leave a theater of today's Broadway in a state of healthy intellectual confusion. One leaves with a vaguely gooey, happy sensation. Maybe followed up by a visit to T.G.I. Friday's.
- posted by Base10 @ 11:10 AM