Artisanal Bread And Cirques De Soleil

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

I enjoy live theater. Well, some of it. I go for entertainment, not consciousness-raising (I get enough of that from the newspapers, television, internet, Bar Association, Academy awards . . . I’m inundated with people wanting to raise my consciousness to the point where all I want is a couple of hours of escape).

So what does the Guthrie offer this season? A Winter Sale, buy 4 plays for as little as $80, choose from among:

The Royal Family, a comedic valentine to the theater, loosely based on the Barrymore family.

King Lear, Shakespeare’s epic tragedy

The Bluest Eye, a moving adaptation of Toni Morrison’s novel exploring the destructive power of racist society

Refugia, a relevant and evocative world premiere exploring exile, borders and displacement of people.

Sunday in the Park with George, Sondheim’s artistic masterpiece featuring songs I’ve never heard of.

Native Gardens, a hilarious hot button comedy exposing notions of race, taste and privilege.

So that’s one classic, two musicals that may be okay, and three consciousness-raisers. Leaving aside the fact that $80 gets me a seat in Area 4 (worst seats in the house) on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings (slowest days of the week), I know I’m not willing to pay that kind of money to be harangued about racism, refugees or privilege. So who is?

Behold, the Guthrie’s list of corporate sponsors. And notice who’s number one, giving over $250,000 per year to fund this dreck? That’s right – you, the taxpayer.

Joe Doakes

Some animals are more equal.

Posted

January 20, 2017

The Racket

Mitch Berg

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Comments

19 responses to “Artisanal Bread And Cirques De Soleil”

Emery

January 20, 2017

You can learn a lot from SiTD. For example, today I learned (from JD) that humanity has never created a work of art that was not financed by the state.
The More You Know™
justplainangry

January 20, 2017

eTASS. Please point to a passage, paragraph, sentence or word in JD’s post that supports yet another one of your strawman creations. Comprehension, you have none.
Mitch Berg

January 20, 2017

Emery,

Pretty sure that’s not what Joe said.
bikebubba

January 20, 2017

To get back on track, I’m always SO happy to see Minnesota’s poor and middle class getting to pay for the entertainment of the rich. Almost as happy as when the poor and middle class get to pay for the businesses of the rich, for hybrid and electric cars for the rich, for solar panels for the rich, daycare for the children of the rich, transit to get maids and gardeners to rich peoples’ homes……and all with the full support of the Democratic Party, which for some bizarre reason thinks all this is compatible with their stated purpose of “sanding for the poor.”
Emery

January 20, 2017

Oh, you can still have your “arts”; you just have to pay for them yourself. I know. It’s a tough life.
justplainangry

January 20, 2017

Hmm. No answer. Put up a strawman and refuse to bugg… I mean defend it. And just a week ago eTASS was DEMANDING his questions be answered! Pure braindead libturd modus operandi.
Emery

January 20, 2017

You appear to be the in house SiTD Russian Troll.
Emery

January 20, 2017

JPA: Pravda is reporting Comrade Putin nominated Trump as employee of the year. ;^)
bikebubba

January 20, 2017

Oh, you can still have your “arts”; you just have to pay for them yourself. I know. It’s a tough life.

Agreed. Since we started funding arts through the sales tax, I’ve noticed that it seems to be more politically driven, and if one desires truly good art, one does need to pay for it out of one’s own pocket. I attended one “Prairie Fire Theater” event and ended up walking out. It was really, really bad.

The trouble is that “bad money pushes out good”, which is another way of saying that mediocre theater/etc., is going to reduce the chances for privately funded, good theater to get going.
justplainangry

January 20, 2017

Hmm, still no answer. Just another buggered strawman and more proof that you cannot fix stupid.
Emery

January 20, 2017

BB: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be privatized, while the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities would be eliminated entirely. I’m not so sure that would be a negative.
Alt-Good Swiftee

January 20, 2017

Trump has suggested he will put an end to the national endowment for the arts. Your ticket to the Piss Jesus exhibit just went through the roof SSOLSEmery…but it will still be totally worth the price, I’m sure.
Emery

January 20, 2017

Did I mention I could saw a Johnny Cash tribute band @ the Ironwood Theater in Ironwood, Michigan last week?
bikebubba

January 20, 2017

Emery; and Big Bird would be served for Thanksgiving dinner? Yay!

http://bikebubba.blogspot.com/2008/11/happy-thanksgiving.html

Seriously, lots of good to be done by getting government out of the arts and entertainment.
justplainangry

January 20, 2017

Is it me, or did eTASS just admit to going Jason in Michigan? Not surprised.
Mammuthus Primigenius

January 20, 2017

In the Olden Times, public art was paid for by wealthy patrons, who may or may not have held a public office. About a century ago, when the Progressive wave began to break upon an unsuspecting humanity, a conscious decision was made by the elites to transition to state-financed art.
This had the effect of making public art a closed circle: artists and scholars of art decide what art should be public art. In the Old Days the wealthy art patrons wanted their ‘investment’ in public art to bring them public renown through the ages. The bureaucrats who finance public art today (with taxpayer dollars) hold the taxpayer in contempt. They are concerned only with the regard of their peers, who are very much like themselves.
BlindSquirrel

January 21, 2017

FY 2017 Grantees
Operating Support
Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis (Group 1)
$ 1,053,958
Nuts
Hennepin Theatre Trust, Minneapolis (Group 1)
$ 791,418 = Sesame Street Live! & The Naked Magicians
Emery

January 21, 2017

His first signature was to raise interest rates on first time home buyers.

The saddest part of the election was both parties looking backwards with nostalgia, one to 1968, and one to 1984. We need to stop electing baby-boomers, and for that matter, stop listening to them.
justplainangry

January 24, 2017

Now that we have all availed ourselves of the facts about that ‘interest rate hike”, are you going to retract your “alternative facts” version? No? Did not think so.