THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN? A BUST SO FAR

    My favorite op-ed page columnist, Richard Cohen, in his piece in today's Washington Post ("Running on Empty") is critical of both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama and says, "If the presidential campaign were a TV program, it
would have been canceled by now.  Viewers have clicked off, stupefied by a campaign that has one overriding issue, the economy."
    Cohen asks, "Why is this happening?" and answers his own question.  "Some of it no doubt is due to the traditional American antipathy towards politicians, government and anything that lacks a goal post.  We consider it
a triumph of Jeffersonian democracy when 60 percent of us vote, but usually the figure is lower -- 57.1 percent for president in 2008 and 37.8 percent in the last Congressional elections."
    Cohen adds that there are other factors in the mix this year.  "First and
foremost is the paucity of really gripping issues.  There is only one, the economy, and it will do what it wants.  If it improves, Barack Obama will win; if it worsens, Mitt Romney will win."
    Cohen calls it the "nowhere economy -- neither boom nor bust nor much good to anyone."
    "Romney," he says, "is content not to make waves.  He steers clear of the arch-conservative positions he was forced to make in the primaries, revealing as little of himself as possible...he emphasizes his bogus credentials as a jobs creator when what he was, of course, was a profit creator.  He has vast expertise in the private sector, bo so did Herbert Hoover and so didn't among many others, Eisenhower, Johnson, Kennedy,
Clinton, both Roosevelts and -- icon or not -- Reagan.  Giving speeches does not create jobs."
    Cohen is just as critical of Obama suggesting that he is a paradox:  an exciting story, an unexciting man.  His charisma, so evident on the stump,
has a brief half-life.  He somehow covers it, like the snuffer over a candle,
and it casts no glow."
    And so it goes.  Romney drones on about creating jobs, but doesn't say how he's going to accomplish this major goal and Obama remains prisoner to the Republican controlled Congress.  As Cohen writes, "it (the White House) can nudge and it can tug, but the economy goes its own way.  A jobs program would help, but Congress won't pass it.  More deficit spending would help, but Congress won't allow it.  The government is tied up in knots.  It, too, waits for November."
    "It's as if it (the campaign) is being conducted by men who will not --
or cannot -- control events but are waiting for events to control them.  They campaign dutifully but dully, going through the motions until Election Day.
Maybe then they'll get the audience back.  In the meantime, America has gone for a beer."
    Another brilliant column by Cohen and I urge you to read the entire
piece in today's (6/26) Washington Post.

REMEMBERING ALAN TURING DURING GAY PRIDE MONTH

    June is the month that most cities hold Gay Pride Weekend celebrations, so it is fitting that while we do so, we also take the time to acknowledge the contributions of our gay brothers and sisters thru the ages.
    This past weekend the New York Times in a brief editorial acknowledged the 100th birthday
anniversary of Alan Turing (June 23). 
    Turing was a mathematician/scientist who studied machines, their intelligence and limitations.
During WWII, he helped to develop the machines and algorithms that cracked the Enigma code used by the Germans.  That work, according to the Times editorial, changed the outcome of the war because it gave the Allies an ear into German planning.
    Turing's name appears in many science fiction novels set in the future.  Determining the nature of machine intelligence and how it differs from human intelligence has been a common theme in many books and films and was the object of Turing's research and work during his lifetime.
    Turing was gay and lived in an age when homosexual acts were considered a crime both in
England, his homeland, and in America.  In 1952 he was convicted and given a choice between prison or treatment with female hormones, a form of chemical castration.  He chose the latter.
He also lost his security clearance, in effect, ending his professional career.  So much for his genius and scientific contributions.
    Tragically, Turing committed suicide at the age of 41.
    We have made significant strides in the struggle to gain acceptance in mainstream society and achieve deserved civil rights.  It is fitting that we celebrate those achievements during Gay Pride
Weekends across the country.  Be joyous and have a fabulous time doing so.  But also pause to remember those who lived in darkness and and endured intolerance and were often treated as lepers.
Accordingly, let us salute Alan Turing and his contributions to mankind

BROADWAY MUSICALS AND THE TONYS

I watched the Tonys last night on TV and I found the telecast mostly lame, not very entertaining and even depressing. Sure, Neil Patrick Harris was terrific hosting the ceremonies held in the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Harris is both talented and funny and his opening number was fun but not half as much fun as the number he performed to open last year's telecast of the Tonys. I won't devote any of my time here to the non-musical shows that were up for awards last night. First off, I've only seen one of the plays nominated - Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz which was excellent - and everything I've read about this past season's efforts suggest that it was a very strong year for drama, comedy and (non-musical) revivals. In the latter category is Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, directed by Mike Nichols, which opened a few months ago to rave reviews. I have no issue with these plays. War Horse, last year's winner for best play, is still on Broadway and still strong at the box office. I do take issue with what Broadway has to offer these days in musical theatre, especially musical revivals. Granted, 2 of this past season's revivals warranted another look. Stephen Sondheim's FOLLIES, staged last year at the Kennedy Center and then brought to New York, is a good musical if not a great one (not one of my Sondheim favorites) and everything I read about this production tells me it was done quite well and worthy of a large audience. Then there is The Gershwin's PORGY AND BESS. By the time this adaptation reached Broadway this past season, most if not all of the controversial elements of it had been eliminated. Again, not one of my favorite musicals, but it is one, all the same, that warrants a revival. Then there are the rest. Did we really need a revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's EVITA and JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR? Especially lame ones? This EVITA features Ricky Marvin in the role originated by Mandy Patinkin. I know Mandy Patinkin (his stage work that is) and Ricky Martin is no Mandy Patinkin. He proved that in the number that he and other cast members performed last night at the Tonys. God awful. We've had several revivals of EVITA. The movie with Madonna. Did we really need another EVITA production so soon? Nope. And as for JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, this is a musical best left to the efforts of community theatres and hip churches and maybe even a regional theatre or two; but otherwise please spare us from this wretched show. Last,but certainly least of all, is the revival of GODSPELL. Why? When I open the Sunday NY Times Arts&Leisure section to see what musical theatre is playing or will soon be opening, I am always disappointed at what's offered. Musical adaptations of lame films like GHOST, LEAP OF FAITH (that closed mercifully after a brief run) and (sorry) ONCE have been mounted. ONCE took the Tony last night for best musical (winning over NEWSIES, Broadway's other big hit, which was adapted from a piece of dreck movie) but I dozed thru the film version and you couldn't give me a free tix to sit thru it, not after hearing the overrated song that is the centerpiece of the story and was performed last night). A look at some of the long running shows still playing on Broadway suggests that musical tastes of theatre goers (mostly tourists) has reached an all-time low. ANYTHING GOES is yet another revival of a musical from way back when (hello, Ethel Merman) that has been done to death. Last season we had HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (a so-so musical to begin with), a revival that opened to mixed reviews but was a box office hit thanks to the presence of Daniel Radcliff. Another new musical this season is NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, more Gershwin songs and big production numbers (I am a sucker for big tap dance numbers), but I have the feeling it's another 'been there, done that' theatre experience. Still playing after all these years are PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, JERSEY BOYS (I and the friend who saw it with me are the only 2 people on the planet who didn't love it), MEMPHIS (hated the production I saw on PBS recently), CHICAGO (overrated) and MOMMA MIA (ok, I'm an ABBA groupie and saw it 4 times). Also MARY POPPINS (I took my 12 year old niece and 10 year old nephew to see it and they were bored shitless)and THE LION KING which will run forever I guess. In the works and opening in August is CHAPLIN THE MUSICAL (I can hardly wait!). I was relieved when the Tonys telecast ended last night. If I had heard one more winner exclaim that "I am a member of the most incredible community," I was prepared to throw my cell phone at my tv. I'm sure that most people associated with theatre in New York are certainly talented and pleasant (and mostly gay, bless their hearts), but all of them INCREDIBLE. The only thing incredible about Broadway is the cost of a ticket to see a musical there. On average about $125 for a decent seat way back in the orchestra or in the first balcony. How many of us can afford the luxury of seeing a musical in NYC these days what with the economy and unemployment?