Angels in T.O.?

[Glen McQuestion]

> > Does success at the box office necessarily indicate that a production
> > is "good"?  It seems to me that successful Broadway shows always
> > bring with them a great deal of hype that makes them much more
> > "marketable" than our native plays.  This is not to say that *Angels
> > in America* is not a show worth seeing - I haven't had a chance to see
> > it yet - but the argument that large sales = quality set off a few
> > alarm bells in my head.
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Glen McQuestion
> > gmcquest at uoguelph.ca
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
>
> And those alarm bells should ring long and loud.  Large sales never
> indicates that a show is "good".  However, it does indicate that most of
> the theatre-going folks in this town are far from offended by Angels.
>
> Jeff


I agree, to a point.  One question I have is how much are most people
offended by anything any more?  And, to what extent do people LIKE to
see things that they think are going to offend them?  I doubt if we
can really answer these questions without some field work, but I have
a feeling that this sort of voyeurism partly accounts for the success
certain shows.  In film this is somewhat apparent: the controversy
that surrounds movies like *Natural Born Killers* and *Crash*
certainly don't hurt sales.

As I mentioned, I haven't seen *Angels in America*, so I don't really
know what it is that could offend people (though, I for one have seen
male nudity on stage before, and it isn't something that offends me).

I'm not trying to be arguementative, Jeff, it's just that you raised
the issue, and I think these questions could make for interesting
conversation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Glen McQuestion
gmcquest at uoguelph.ca
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