In these here United States, productions of The Laramie Project count as protest-worthy. But in northern Paris, Bathouse, The Musical follows the story of a young man visiting the baths looking for love, and finding, uh, something else entirely. If Westboro Baptist’s travel budget accommodated international flights, well, I’m sure they’d be first in line at the box office. Or maybe they already were? The show debuted in 2006 at the Orlando Fringe Festival, and blossomed from a 60-minute escapade into a 90-minute production that toured the U.S. in 2008, and then London in 2009 before hitting Paris this year as Sauna, le Musical. [via]
on stage
Rob Moore
The audience seemed quite complimentary. I was impressed at around the 40 second mark that the men were dancing in towels without them falling off. I could never get that to work back in the days of yore.
Steve
I expect the Westboro Bigots church to show up and protest very soon after they get the news of this new hit show.
Rev. Phelps uses anti-gay hatred to raise funds. He takes his road show to various vacation destinations. At each vacation venue, he stages a couple hours of “protest”, to raise funds for the next trip. As long as the fund-raising stays ahead of his travel expenses and salary draw, I’m sure he will keep doing it.
It’s really a very smart scam — he gets a salary and paid travel to his choice of destinations, for working a couple hours a week. Good thing the scam isn’t easily scalable, or we would see a lot more of it.
Just think of the funds he could raise by protesting a musical about a gay bath house. They might have to explain what a bath house is to their contributors, but I’m sure Phelps can find a way of phrasing that explanation to his financial benefit. Compare to that opportunity, a handful of first-class tickets to Paris is a mere pittance.
This is just my opinion, of course. Rev Phelps may have even more lucrative plans already. 😉
chicagotist
You’re forgetting about the successful NYC production called “Naked Boys Singing.” It is still running, I just saw it in November, and it was hilarious and fun to watch 😉
B
No. 1 · Rob Moore wrote, “I was impressed at around the 40 second mark that the men were dancing in towels without them falling off. I could never get that to work back in the days of yore.”
It wouldn’t surprise me if they had some white Velcro sewed onto the towels so they could fasten them securely. The audience probably wouldn’t notice due to the distance to the stage. After all, the director wouldn’t want a “wardrobe malfunction” to screw up the performance.
No. 2 · Steve wrote, “I expect the Westboro Bigots church to show up and protest very soon after they get the news of this new hit show.”
Phelps knows better than to try that. Here’s a picture of a protest against a French anti-burqa law (it is really funny):
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/10/15/2010-10-15_sexy_paris_protest_critizes_unconstitutional_french_antiburqa_law.html .
Pygar
Looks utterly ridiculous. But, that said, I look back fondly on my experiences in bath houses…a rainy evening in Austin…a hot, Brazilian jujitsu trainer, a trip around the world in a tiny room…ahh….