Rocky Crashes and Burns

I find it staggering that technology can make enormous strides forward while, at the same time, art can take just as many steps backward.  In the golden age of movie musicals (the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s), songs were lip-synched – in many cases, to a different person’s voice!  And yet, the end result was often not only convincing but award-winning.  This ability seems to be lost – much like the mystery of the pyramids or Pia Zadora‘s career.  FOX, the network that revolutionized live musicals on TV with Grease: Live!, all but killed the genre with a misguided and pointless remake of The Rocky Horror Show.  While there is enough blame to go around, the sound designers and producers should be charged with crimes against humanity at The Hague.  Nobody seems to care about matching the ambient sound in a recording studio to that on a soundstage.  Likewise, the performers don’t realize that a great studio recording is far different than one which is realistic for acting and movement.

But the biggest mistake was the casting of Laverne Cox.  Strike that – the biggest mistake was Laverne Cox accepting the role.  With this one decision, she undid whatever good she’s done for the transgender movement.  She’s playing a role confusingly referred to in the revised script as both “she” and “he” (usually “he” is used).  And, when the character sings “I’m not much of a man”, we’re seeing these ginormous titties bursting out.  After Rocky has sex with Frank-N-Furter, why is he so intrigued by Janet?  In the original, it’s because he’s never touched breasts.  Maybe in this case, it’s because her breasts were so small…and less tanned!  Cox never seemed to have a clear grasp on who this character was.  And, what was that accent?  It was like a cross between Tim Curry and Dame Joan Collins.  In fact, it was as if Dame Joan were doing a Curry impersonation!  For someone who has fought hard to be accepted as a woman, Cox gave a performance which seemed like an audition for RuPaul’s Drag Race.  So much for progress.  BTW, I am not alone in my opinion – the bulk of the reviews were middle-of-the-road to abysmal.  As to ratings, half the number of people who tuned in for Grease: Live even bothered to check this out.

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