Word: over-the-top
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...offhand, the two don’t seem a natural fit. In fact, it is hard to imagine the over-the-top cross-dressing Pudding actors fitting into the fast-talking, rough-and-tumble world of the Old Frontier West. But the cast, crew, and creative team of the Pudding make this unlikely combination work with a kitschy and reliable formula all their own—one of talent, energy, and characteristically Pudding ridiculousness...
...that one expects a Hasty Pudding Theatricals (HPT) show to be over-the-top in every possible way is an understatement—and the production HPT157: Terms of Frontierment does not disappoint those with such expectations. One opening line kindly predicts, “You came here to see a musical.” The song continues, “Well, darling, you’re not in Beacon Hill anymore,” making a reference to both the somewhat alien setting of the show and establishing from the outset the fact that HPT157 is obviously no ordinary...
...audience is never left wanting. But perhaps this weakness of the production is actually an essential part of the HPT magic. After all, it is in the very nature of an over-the-top production to go far beyond satiation. In this case, every joke is carried to its natural end at the time it is made, characters are ridiculed as much as humanly possible when they are first introduced, and the show itself continues long past the conclusion of the actual musical with a lengthy, garish kick-line number...
...Arguments can cloud the learning of course material if not properly structured and prefaced with formal introductions and mini-lectures. And, as Daily Show host Jon Stewart pointed out about CNN’s “Crossfire,” debates between big personas can denigrate into over-the-top theatrical hullabaloos. Some students were turned off by such antics in Social Analysis 78, when at times serious discussion was replaced by ad-hominem attacks and personal jabs. However, such jokes are fairly common shopping period occurrences, and we trust that the class will become more serious, scholarly...
...going on. In the pilot, there is a bona fide miracle (the shadow of Christ appears on a mountainside in Mexico), a Satanist cuts off his own finger without bleeding, and a baby--who may be the Antichrist or Christ reborn--impossibly survives a shipwreck. It's over-the-top stuff, but so is the Book of Revelation itself, and while the dialogue is campy and portentous ("All the signs and symbols set forth in the Bible are currently in place for the end of days!"), it delivers a good old New Testament scare...