Word: protean
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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SINCE HIS ARRIVAL ON THE POST-punk scene 17 years ago, Elvis Costello has shown himself to be one of the most prolific and protean songwriters of his generation. Known for lean, melodious three-minute songs with scathing lyrics about sexual guilt and revenge, he reigned for more than a decade as the acerbic headliner of progressive pop. Then came the '90s. Once a skinny faux nerd, Costello put on weight and grew a beard. His last pop album, 1991's sentimental Mighty like a Rose, was a disappointment. After last year's The Juliet Letters, a sedate song cycle...
...Diva; opinionated crank ("AIDS is a CIA plot"); and First Amendment scourge of Tipper Gore. With his death from prostate cancer, a few days short of his 53rd birthday, it may now be easier to appreciate an often overlooked fact about Francis Vincent Zappa: he was the most protean and adventurous American composer of his generation...
...assistants (Jessie Cohen and Daniela Bleichmar). The scene is a biting and devastatingly hilarious satire of both cooking shows and American attitudes to things south of the border. Cohen and Bleichmar are a pleasure to watch, exhibiting a flair for ribaldry and broad comedy. Cohen has a marvelous protean quality which is ideal for a production like this, where the actors have to play multiple roles. Bleichmar revels in the characters she plays, from Mr. Herbert the gringo philanthropist to Tobias' wife Clotilde, and she can incite giggles just by the way she pronounces the word "rabbits...
...protean figures responsible for the integration of sports in America, Ashe stood in the first rank. Jesse Owens proved that white men do not run faster or jump farther than blacks. Jackie Robinson disproved with a fiery passion that whites have a stronger desire to win. Muhammad Ali demonstrated in the ring that speed and power were only the obvious ways in which a black athlete could be agile and courageous. There have been other pathfinders: decathlete Milt Campbell, golfer Charlie Sifford, and in Ashe's own sport the lithe and graceful Althea Gibson...
...over the coals; old chestnuts (a frenzied Les Miz, a nontraditional Miss Saigon) are freshly roasted. The song titles alone delight (to the tune of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, a mock Mandy Patinkin sings Somewhat Overindulgent; the stars of the Gershwins' Crazy for You croon Replaceable You); the four protean performers are the tops...