Tag Archives: Hillary Clinton

Election the Musical

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Election The Musical

“This is the dangerous thing about musicals. Most of them assume that as soon as you find your voice, you’ll use it to sing to someone else.”  David Levithan

While I was watching the theatrics of both the RNC and the DNC, I found myself thinking of all the Broadway shows I had seen as a kid. It was not unlike the theaters I have sat in for most of my life – the set design, choreography, music, smoke machines, mood and stage lighting, costumes (the heroine wore white), speeches that should have been cut a bit in previews, videos, the grand showstopping finale and of course the critics.

It is months of planning, staging and rehearsal to communicate the message of the parties at the conventions.  In my head, while watching I began putting in the show tunes. Hamilton is too cool for this group, though I did hear it mentioned.  I was thinking more old school show tunes. I wish I could have done this for you but you will have to use your imagination.

Donald Trump was easy. I pictured him as Phineas Taylor Barnum in the musical Barnum singing There is Sucker Born Every Minute. (Cy Coleman, Michael Stewart)

Hillary was a bit harder. I didn’t see her as a leading lady. She was more like the smart or funny best friend. She was Chita Rivera – playing the best friend of Charity Hope Valentine, in Sweet Charity (Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv7omDXLk5k
Ted Cruz was another simple one. I didn’t know any Evangelical musicals so I had to settle for Hello from Book of Mormon (Robert Lopez,Trey Parker, Matt Stone). I think it works especially in this video from the Tony Awards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy5K8ApSzhI

Bernie Sanders is probably not a singer. What about the Bernie supporters as the orphans in Annie (Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin) singing It’s A Hard Knock Life?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uls1p9fYwLw

Bill Cllinton will be perfect as Conrad Birdie performing Honestly Sincere (Charles Strouse and Lee Adams) from Bye Bye Birdie.

I have a few for the Trump offspring but I decided to go with Heart (Richard Adler and Jerry Ross) from Damn Yankees.  It will be a better show that way.

The finale for the Republican National Convention instead of Queen could be Razzle Dazzle from Chicago. (John Kander, Fred Ebb) I prefer the Fosse musical for this one.

I like Lauren Bacall’s Welcome To The Theatre from the musical Applause (Lee Adams, Charles Strouse) for HIllary’s nomination at the DNC.

What’s a voter to do? I feel a bit like I’m listening to Guys and Dolls (Frank Loesser), Fugue For Tinhorns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RthEYvh6aMM

Thanks for reading. That is the fun thing about blogging and the internet. You can share any random thought that comes into your head with total strangers. I never really had any use before for the fact that I know the words to every musical I’ve seen as a kid.

Fly safe,

JAZ

Why I Will Vote In An Election That Nobody Wants

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“Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” Abraham Lincoln

The Republicans seem to feel that if Obama can be elected President than anyone can – even a reality star who has never held any public office. Hillary Clinton who seemed like a viable first woman president is now untrustworthy and very unlikable.

I voted when I turned eighteen and then I didn’t vote for a long time.  I always believed that the lesser of two evils was still an evil.  Political participation felt ineffective and protesting seemed the way to create change. After I had kids, I felt differently. I was responsible for everything including earthquakes, climate change, crime and the economy. It was my responsibility to my children to vote people into office who also felt responsible and would make the world better for them. 

I’ve spent time in countries that are run by dictatorships, the military or have corrupt elections and governments.  Watching the movie An African Election, makes you realize that having a vote is not a given for everyone. I can’t not vote anymore, even though this election is troublesome to me.

The right to vote is mentioned more often in the Constitution than anything else. Perhaps the mentality was that voting was a privilege and it needed to be a right. For a long time it was only the “right people” who could vote. This is something we are so adamant about when we see it in other countries. Our vote may not seem so important to us now  but we would be so much worse without it.

Will my vote this year be who do I hate less? Neither of them have the qualities that  I picture in a leader. When I think of what a leader of a country is supposed to be I think of words like stability, peace, tolerance, fairness, honesty, character, substance, and justice. Didn’t we learn in Elementary School to build bridges not walls and to never tell a lie? The system is clearly broken. It seems that no one good and really qualified  wants to grow up and be President of the United States anymore. Instead it is “clowns to the left of me jokers to the right, Here am stuck in the middle…….”

Who would Jesus vote for?

Fly safe,

JAZ