Prog Digest – An Xperience Column – by Klyde Kadiddlehumper.
Before we begin in earnest – a nod.
Those in music locally will know that a dear friend lost her best friend, Coda, over the last few weeks. Constant Companion and I send our respects – IYKYK.
Now, the heart of the matter … and the continuation of a long strange trip (with a nod to Bobby Weir). The trip hit one of the highlights of that bizarre journey. And what a ride.
For the holidays, CC gifted old Klyde with tickets to, as I put it, “Bill and Ted Do Beckett.”
Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” is an absurdist masterpiece. At over 70 years old, the play is as fresh today as when it was first presented. For the love of Pete, Beckett is, after all, a Nobel Prize winner. That Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter starred is even more absurd.
This production, as with most I’ve found, got mixed reviews.
Reviews be damned. Hell, there were mixed reviews for the Sir Ian McKellen/Sir Patrick Stewart production in 2013.
This was entertaining as hell. Gave a couple little gestures to Bill and Ted, and well, perhaps not the best ever, but who the heck takes this on at all?
The performance by Michael Patrick Thornton as Lucky is most memorable. The character’s entire output is a single, maniacal, RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT Tommy Gun of a speech. That it is brilliantly written goes without saying, but the delivery – holy crap.
As you, dear reader, have gathered over time, Klyde is not the most stable of individuals. Some might say a bit off the mark. Nuts. Pixelated even. (Look it up, people – especially with respect to a certain pooka named Harvey).
The downstairs library (world’s smallest home bathroom) contains a number of interesting volumes. To give a little look into the mind of Klyde – titles include:
“RuPaul: In His Own Words.”
“Zombie Haiku.”
“Quotations from Chairman LBJ.”
“The Official Preppy Handbook” – where KK’s alma mater was recognized with an Honorable Mention for the ability of its undergraduates to mix drinks comfortably in their stomachs.
And classics from undergraduate days:
Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.”
“The Communist Manifesto.”
“Waiting for Godot.”
Some classics. Some absurd. But at all times, with an eye toward a progressive mindset. One need not necessarily agree with a position or set of thoughts. However, trying to understand them is likely more important.
Long before this writer had heard of “Waiting for Godot,” the absurdist train got rolling with the Firesign Theatre, giving us such comedy classics as “I Think We’re All Bozos on This Bus,” “Everything You Know is Wrong,” and “Nick Danger – Third Eye.”
Theater of the Absurd, a tragicomedy in two acts – it’s life in those two acts. To the extreme.
Now, back to our movie – The Osmond Brothers Story starring The Jackson Five.
Until next time.
Klyde