Stephen Quint and the ZOMBIE MIKADO

Caesar Fabray Beethoven

IMPORTANT NEWS

It's a Holy Night! The Sacred Birth of Mr. Steve is celebrated today, though no one knows exactly when he was really born.

Eat something brown and think of Him.

January 2008 NYGASP reviews

The first half of NYGASP’s G&S FEST 2008 is complete, to be continued in June. The Pirates of Penzance (accent definitely, once and for all, on the second syllable) managed not to fall all over itself. Princess Ida happened without anyone completely brain-farting and stopping dead over the frequently awful Gilbert dialogue. The single performance of Mikado went just fine without me. Trial by Jury is always automatically fun and G&S a la Carte went better than anyone dared hope it would. Gay Night has come and gone. Audiences laughed and cheered. Sometimes they also stood up (occasionally while continuing to clap).

The reviews are presumably all in and they are overwhelmingly nondescript. Click on the colored bits below for links to them. The most perceptive of them was probably the NY Times review of Princess Ida. I can add nothing or offer any defense for what this guy has to say, except to note that all the gigantic gesturing and unmotivated motion he mentions did not come directly from Al, though there’s no reason he shouldn’t take the blame. The only reviews other than the Times are online sources, so temper your gullibility accordingly. I mean, really – online critics. Who are these people? Isn’t everyone a critic online? Do they have any more credibility than someone who does a rant on Craigslist?
This one is from “Broadway World,” for both Pirates and Ida, overall favorable, as are they all, but with qualms you will note recurring in most of the reviews.
Here’s a surprisingly uninformative "Ida" review from Backstage, the actor’s weekly newspaper. I don’t know if it actually appeared in the paper or just online.
Backstage also reviewed "PIRATES .” I have no idea who the singer is in the photo or even what non-NYGASP production it’s from! The clever business he mentions in “Sighing Softly” was worked out in less than 5 minutes by David Macaluso and me in front of a mirror.
This "Pirates" review from Theater Mania is easier reading than most, if that’s what you’re looking for.
Here’s another fluffy review from “Broadway World,” for Trial by Jury and G&S a la Carte, our review program with Keith Jurosko as Gilbert and me as Sullivan. I think we look pretty convincing. Click for bigness. Photo by Kimilee Bryant, our excellent Princess Ida.

I recommend you have a look at this TIMES review for "Pirates." It seems to be favorable but doesn’t really SAY anything. Which is an interesting approach for the critic (Allan Kozinn) to take in that he does mention “unusual textual touches, including score variants in the finale that briefly revisit themes from the first act.” We did this – what, 15 years ago? AND NEVER SINCE. Back then I went to the library and copied out the original Act 2 finale, which reprises "Hail, Poetry" and the Major-General song, and we did it for some performances at Symphony Space. "At length we are provided, with unusual felicity, To change piratic crime for dignified respectability..." ugh, a load of crap. The famous Joseph Papp production also uses this finale. Anyway, this guy Kozinn obviously didn’t stay to the end of the Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 7PM(!!!) performance he claims to have attended and actually referred to the Times files for notes about what he missed! This is the New York Times! And here I am questioning the credibility of online critics! He also takes issue with my tempo for the Major-General song, which is just too absurd to comment on.

I say it just isn't possible to go to a NYGASP production and not have a pretty good time, either appreciating what you like, or considering what, or why, you don't.

See below for my brother’s review of GAY NIGHT. Click on the "photo essay" - Doug and Bryan are the last photo down - the normal, happy-looking guys in matching glasses, no styled, bleached hair or tight shirts. There was reputedly a definite, slightly desperate “pick-up” atmosphere but it sure as heck sounded like everyone had fun, and a lot of the audience returned the next day for “Mikado” AND(!)/or “Ida!”

Doug sums up: Gay Pirates

I am proud horrified to say that I attended the GAY RECEPTION before last Friday’s Pirates. Yuck! It wasn’t really open to just any old gay; you had to have some sort of special ticket or be on a list. Well, I gayed my way past the door woman and got up to the party. Yeesh!

The large boy running the party was giving everyone a sticker to wear. He asked “What kind of booty would you look for if you were a pirate?” I sort of understood that he was making a joke, but frankly it was so stupid that I couldn’t think of anything to say that was unwitty enough to make sense. He said to Bryan “come on, I don’t have all day” – Bryan, like myself, was too dumbstruck by his request to even reply. He wrote a name tag for me, and I don’t know what he intended to write… it couldn’t have been what he meant. He wrote “Plumd booty.” There was no mistaking the D. Bryan thoughtfully added an apostrophe to make the tag even more dada. “Plum’d booty.” Whatever!

The line for drinks was miserably long, and the drinks strong but lousy. The men? Well, look for yourself. I’m appalled to tell you that we wound up in a photo from the event.

Gayness photo essay

As for the show itself: if you’ve ever seen a NYGASP Pirates, well, I can’t imagine why you’d see it again unless your brother is playing the Major General. There’s some schtick that has been in there since I first saw the production (back in… 85?) but now even more added crap. None of the old “bits” cut out, and lots of new stuff. At this point I feel like I’ve been watching the same Three Stooges routine for twenty solid years. I think that the production should be completely and utterly gutted. Yeah, I know, people were laughing at the idiotic exchange between the Sergeant of Police and the orchestra’s percussionist, but come on. People laugh at FULL HOUSE reruns, too. Years of layered on junk have really screwed up a delightful production. Also, the constant hand gestures drive me even further over the edge. Does Ruth REALLY need to demonstrate “pilot” by steering a wheel EVERY SINGLE TIME SHE SINGS THAT WORD? Gack. We get it.

As for the cast, it was one of the stronger ensembles I’ve ever encountered. I was quite sad that Keith Jurosko wasn’t in- I’d never seen him as the Sergeant and I was looking forward to it. The fellow who did the role was swell. I did have a wistful moment, missing Phil Reilly. I think that the Mabel had a nice instrument but I was surprised that she was leaving out notes to sneak breaths. I guess she needed it, though, cuz she was getting more than a little flat up there. She was a good actress, very enjoyable, and it more than made up for the anomalies in her singing.

Louis was an excellent doufus cop. Michael Galante looked fetching, and audience members were whispering about Alan Hill’s big package.

Steve Quint is a god damned brilliant Major General. The Pirate King was also excellent, but his role, above all others, was hindered by the endless dumb gesticulations he had to wrangle.

Oh! Also- the performance was conducted by someone named Jeffrey. He seemed quite good. The orchestra sounded better than usual- much cleaner ensemble. The stage-to-pit coordination was also excellent. The lady’s chorus needs to be group slapped, though… I don’t think I’ve ever heard the NYGASP women get “How beautifully blue the sky” right ever, and it REALLY stunk on Friday.

That’s enough of that.

Doug speaks

As excited as I am to see my 182nd billionth performance of PIRATES OF PENZANCE this week, I'm even more excited to post the following article. I have cut out a great deal of it, leaving only the most salacious and idiotic bits. Only in Japan! Or the Philippines. Or the Bronx. Or, well, anywhere. It just proves once again that MUSIC IS BAD. The only person more perverted than a musician is a music teacher. STAY AWAY FROM MUSIC.

Anyone that will be at Pirates on Friday, please look for me, and throw things at me... like narcotics! Thank god it's not Pinafore, I'd hang myself from the balcony during the 3rd "Bell Trio" encore.

DOUG

 

Wayward woodwind teacher arrested for showing schoolgirls how to blow

Shukan Post (12/21-28)

Celebrated schoolgirl woodwind orchestra instructor Yoshihito Hagiwara faces a long time behind bars after he allegedly got the girls in his charge to blow an organ that had nothing to do with music, according to Shukan Post (12/21-28).

Hagiwara has entered a guilty plea to charges of breaking the Child Welfare Law and the Law Banning Child Pornography.

During the most recent hearing in his trial late last year, prosecutors told a family court that 33-year-old Hagiwara used his position guiding the woodwind group at a posh private high school to lure young girls into sex by telling them they needed it to improve their musical abilities.

Prosecutors say he maintained sexual relationships with some schoolgirls by telling them sex would allow them to perpetuate the improvements that copulation had brought about to their skills with an instrument.

Only three students at the school have pressed charges against Hagiwara, but prosecutors pointed out that he had been in charge of the musical group at the school for nine years and had lured at least 13 schoolgirls into his clutches.

"A raid on his home netted photos of half-naked schoolgirls who had taken off their uniforms and even many pictures of the girls engaged in sex with him," an officer involved in the police investigation into the case tells Shukan Post. "There were photos of several different students."

Police say Hagiwara had fashioned a tiny shed to act as a storeroom for the music students, where he would take girls for sex.

"Hagiwara realized that he held a powerful control over girls who were worried about their musical abilities. He would mail or telephone or verbally offer the girls a private lesson to get them alone with him. He was having sex simultaneously with several girls at times," the investigation insider says. "There were even times when he would shave all the hair off a girl's body, telling her he was 'exorcizing her demons.'"

Police said nearly all of Hagiwara's victims had been virgins until he got to them.

Those who know the school where Hagiwara worked are not surprised it took until late last year before he was caught.

"Hagiwara was almost like a god to the woodwind group," a source from the school tells Shukan Post. "Some of the students used to refer to themselves as 'Hagi(wara's) Orchestra.'"

Hagiwara was a talented flautist as a child, and completed a musical course at a junior college in Tokyo before returning to his parents' home in Yamanashi Prefecture to help out with the family business. He continued playing his flute, though, making a name for himself by winning contests and putting on outstanding shows.

Hagiwara started helping out at the school in 1998, when he was employed as a special instructor. Even when the school hit budget problems and could no longer continue to pay him, Hagiwara stayed as a volunteer.

When Hagiwara first started instructing, the school was not particularly well-known for its musical achievements. However, growing numbers of his charges began winning musical contests, and demand for his tuition grew to the point that in recent years, he was overseeing 60 third-year students a year. But even as his reputation for excellence grew, he exploited it to seduce his students.

Despite which, however, Hagiwara's parents still can't see their son being entirely in the wrong.

"We always had students coming over to our house. I know the girls who pressed charges against him very well," Hagiwara's mother tells Shukan Post. "I can't help thinking that they might have been trying to monopolize him for themselves."