For now, let's just discuss this bonus Moron for July 2021. This is Ashley Lee. As the T-shirt says, she is "speaking." The question is whether anybody is listening. Or gives a rat's anus about anything that could possibly be on Ashley Lee's microscopic mind.
Who is she, you ask? Well, I'll let her bio on the Los Angeles Times website illuminate.
Ashley Lee is a staff reporter at the Los Angeles Times,
where she writes about theater, movies, television and the bustling
intersection of the stage and the screen. An alum of the Eugene O’Neill Theater
Center’s National Critics Institute and Poynter’s Power of Diverse Voices, she
leads workshops on arts journalism at the Kennedy Center American College
Theater Festival. She was previously a New York-based editor at the Hollywood
Reporter and has written for the Washington Post, Backstage and American Theatre,
among others. She is currently working remotely alongside her dog, Oliver.
The bio leaves out one important point.
Ashley Lee is as dumb as a door knob.
I must admit that, until last Thursday, I didn't know who the fuck this asshole was. But, as it is, I still inexplicably get morning delivery of the LA Times, a newspaper which is so far left that even Karl Marx would cancel his subscription. Nevertheless, I "read" it every day over breakfast. By "read" it, I mean that I look at the Dodger news, check in to see how Dagwood is feuding with Mr. Dithers, and get my brain stirred by doing the Sudoku puzzle. Rarely does any other "journalistic" prose sneak in.
As I flipped through the entertainment pages so quickly that I barely get any black ink on my fingers, an article headline got my attention.
"Why 'The Music Man' Is Not The Broadway Revival We Need."
I gasp momentarily.
The piece is labelled as a "commentary" by Ashley Lee. So, "commentary" is being used to explain that this is an opinion. Indeed, following that logic, every word printed every day in the birdcage lining-scope of the LA Times should be denoted as "commentary."
But I digress...
I was immediately compelled to read this story. Why? Well, for me, "The Music Man" is my very favorite musical comedy of the 20th Century. Since I was a kid and first exposed to the movie version by my parents, I have been a complete sucker for the story and Meredith Willson music. I've seen countless revivals on stage. I was so looking forward to the latest rendition headed by Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster that was supposed to open last September. COVID has now pushed it back to 2022. I was anxiously awaiting its arrival. In short, "The Music Man" has always provided me with pure, unmitigated joy.
But not Ashley Lee. Because, in her over-educated but equally misguided world, there is no room for a musical or play that salutes American life in the past. In her "commentary," she explains why that "The Music Man" is not the show that should lead Broadway's grand re-opening.
And then she continues with a litany of ridiculousness that could only come from somebody who never got a single ounce of a balanced college education.
First off, she takes issues with the show's main setting. An Iowa small town which is liberal coding for "white supremacy." And the main character is a "scammer" or "con artist" who mesmerizes the small town. This, to me, is liberal coding for "Trump." Indeed, she actually references him by name several paragraphs later as every single story in the LA Times is required to do.
She continues throughout the "commentary" to list the musical's storied history but I waited for the other shoe to drop. I knew she would ultimately call up enough vomit to fill several bar room toilets. And then she finally got there. Here it is verbatim.
The problem arises when this fantasy is mounted as an upbeat, tidy time capsule, allowing audiences to ogle a version of America that never existed. Ultimately, “The Music Man” sets forth a sanitized, insular and very white America — a vision regularly exploited by a recent president (who gained a following with scare tactics and sold a “think system” of his own) to stoke racial fears and pit Americans against one another. It asks audiences to cheer for yet another romanticized fraud.
Frankly, what Ashley Lee knows about musical comedies, American History and...really...anything, could fill a sewing thimble without spilling a drop.
After I finished reviewed this nitwit's sermon from Mount Stupidity, I actually felt a little bad. I actually questioned my affinity for this show. But, that skepticism was fleeting. The musical is a work of art. It has stood the test of time. And what's so bad about small town America in either 1900 or 2021? Indeed, it will be those tiny gothams that will ultimately lead the way so we don't have to listen to the likes of Ashley Lee, who probably sits writing alone at a desk in her apartment while wearing a mask. Even her dog probably has one on.
Because clowns like Ashley Lee, who are supposedly "the wise ones," have no idea on just how un-well-rounded they really are.
Dinner last night: Had a big lunch so just some fruit.
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