Word: hpt
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...single-letter reversal that tries to provoke sexist tonsils into laughter--is tongue-in-cheek only because the tongue, if the image is complete, has no place else to go. But there's a connection between the two, homoeroticism and sexism, a connection that explains the traditions of the HPT. It goes back to an all-male Harvard, when men were cloistered and taught to enter into occupations and positions of power from which women were largely excluded...
There are other traditions in HPT shows too, aside from the singing, music, and dancing--incessant one-liners, salacious humor, satires of manners, silly word-play meant to elicit groans and hisses from the audience--traditions that tend to balance off the offensive stuff. And because director Judith Haskell has worked with writer Mark O'Donnell to excise some of the more offensive sexist jokes, because bits and pieces of the inoffensive material work quite well, and mostly because the music is excellent and some of the dancing is neatly executed, I suppose you should consider going to see Tots...
...curious things about HPT 128 is that plot seems to suffer from the toned-down atmosphere, almost as if the sexism is an integral part of the show, and men just running around in drag and telling silly jokes isn't enough. I've never been to a Pudding show before so I can't tell, but I hear plot has usually been weak; this year it's about as thin as a slide-specimen. Innocent Kitty Kaboodle comes to New York during the Depression with hopes of instant stardom, or at least she says she's marked...
Most people don't have quite this perspective on the thing, which brings up the interesting question of why they go to Pudding Shows. It seems pitiful to spend money to see a show like HPT 126 Keep Your Pantheon, and this year's show, as HPT productions go, is good. But it's good within the tradition, and there is more to that tradition than just dressing up in drag--it also means wooden acting, amiable incompetence in the kicklines, slick p.r. (all that Man-of-the-Year stuff), and a certain alcoholic preppiness. There is also a tradition...
...shaky in the opening scenes, but produces a particularly dazzling kick-line of glittering green "Grizzlies" toward the end of the first act. Beoeulf's costumes and sets produce the usual spectacular effects, but even with the rest of the show's occasional lifts, can't really pull HPT 122 out of the dumps...