November 25, 2002

Tonight I saw two shows of the musical theater variety.

One had songs that were heartbreakingly funny and full of holiness, music that was melodic and fresh, and lyrics like this:

So much has torn,
So much is broken,
So much has fragmented and failed
Since first the “let there be” was spoken.
Is it tragic?
Or a kind of magic
That lets us in
And helps us start the healing
By revealing
So much life?

The other was full of unfunny jokes, many of them offensively homophobic, and lyrics like this:

Garlic, garlic,
It’s the secret to staying young.
Garlic, garlic,
It’s why we’re so well hung.
Our songs are strong
And our schlongs are long.

So which one do you think had the multi-million-dollar Broadway production and which one is, for the moment at least, languishing in obscurity?

Not that I needed further proof that there is no justice in the world.