The art of good theater and literature in general has gone downhill, and things seem to be going to pieces. ![]() The Greek god Dionysus decides that he won't stand for this nonsense, and sets off with his Deadpan Snarker slave Xanthias to bring George Bernard Shaw back from Hades to set things back on track. What follows is a hilarious journey as the pair try to break into the Underworld, are beset by singing frogs in Hades (the creatures hate change and want things to stay the way they are), and finally must decide if Shaw really is the best playwright to bring back to life.Īn adaptation of a play by Aristophanes, this musical was created for a college performance at Yale in 1974. Written by Burt Shevelove with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, it was based on an adaptation that Shevelove had written and directed during his own senior year at Yale in 1941. It was staged in the college gymnasium, with the scenes involving the River Styx and the frogs being performed in the pool, with the Yale swimming team (hence lines in the original opening song, begging the audience not to swim during the performance). Hijacked by Jesus: Subverted in general, as the musical remains faithful to Aristophanes's play, however there are a few instances where the characters (including Hades himself) refers to the Underworld as "hell".A Hell of a Time: The Underworld turns out to be a pretty nice place, all things considered.This expanded version played on Broadway with Lane and Roger Bart as the leads.Īnd you get to live in Hades/Where it's always 2 A.M.!/ Where you party 'till you drop/ And it never stops/ 'Cause there's nothing we condemn! In 2004, Nathan Lane expanded the show into a full-length musical, writing the new book himself (Shevelove having passed away in 1982) with Sondheim contributing seven new songs. Self-Deprecation: In the "Instructions to the Audience", one of the instructions is that "if by a sudden miracle / A tune should appear that's lyrical, / Don't hum along".Promoted Fanboy: In-Universe, Dionysus, a massive fan of Shaw's work, squees at being able to meet his idol.The Greek Chorus follows up by singing for Dionysus to relax because " It's only a play!" Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Dionysus goes to Pluto and begs him to allow George Bernard Shaw to come back to Earth, Pluto and the Greek Chorus point out that it's very naive (if optimistic) to think that one playwright's works would be all it would take to change the world.In some cases it's clearly a case of the character not understanding the Underworld, and the place is shown to be quite pleasant. When Dionysus tries on Hercules's lion skin and asks Xanthias, "How do I look?", Xanthias replies, " Like the Circle of Life has stopped.".The last line of the title song (spoken by Xanthias after seeing his master attacked by a giant frog) is "I think we're gonna need a bigger boat.".Setting Update: A Classical Greek play updated to, well, some time after Shaw's death.May also double as Take That, Critics!, considering how Sondheim's songs once were criticized for being too complex to hum along to. ![]() Ditlo is an innovative stock photography company that collaborates with photographers and up-and-coming celebrities to create content that they then license to commercial and editorial clients. It may be too soon to say whether this is a viable business model, but I admire them for trying it. Ditlo (which stands for Day In The Life Of) is the brain child of Bruce Kramer of Kramer Creative Group, which owns Artmix Creative, Artmix Beauty, Glue, as well as Ditlo. The way it works is that Ditlo finds interesting people who are trending in the news (whether they’re athletes, actors, musicians or chefs) who are willing to do a photo shoot specifically for stock. Ditlo matches up the celebrity with a photographer. Ditlo fronts a portion of the production costs and they provide art direction for the shoot. When the pictures sell, Ditlo pays a royalty to the subject (that’s the innovative part), they pay any other out-of-pocket costs, then they split the remainder 50/50 with the photographer. My first impression was that it was a little weird that we’re now paying B-List celebrities to give them publicity. ![]() After all, the pictures will either be used editorially or commercially. If they get used commercially, the subject is going to get paid for use of their likeness anyway. And if they’re used editorially, isn’t that that something they normally pay a publicist to get for them? I guess it’s possible that when I wasn’t looking, the balance of power in our celebrity-crazed culture has changed the rules on me. Alrighty then, maybe this is just the new normal.īut if you’re going to go down this road (or any other), you’ll want to understand the agreements you’ll be signing. Here’s the Ditlo contract (in italics) and my comments: Kramer is an honorable man, but he’s a businessman none the less.
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