primeideal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
primeideal) wrote2019-03-13 10:59 pm
primeideal) wrote2019-03-13 10:59 pm
"Rebel Genius" musical
Attended a new musical about the life of Albert Einstein and his first wife. Called ahead for the possibility of rush tickets and was just told to get there 20-30 minutes early; did so, had to wait for standing room, sigh. But made it.
Here is a broad-strokes outline of the plot:
Act One:
-our hero is born, is brilliant, has daddy issues
-goes to college, hangs out with the bros, impresses them immediately
-is too cool for stuffy old profs who just don't understand him
-flirts with ladies
-publishes a bunch of papers in a short time
Act Two:
-seduced by another women who leads him to cheat on his wife
-wife is like "bleep that guy"
-his son is hurt and negatively affected by this and has mental-health issues as a result
-enemies are out to persecute him, not just because they don't understand his genius, but also because he's a member of a stigmatized minority group
-moves to NEW JERSEY and New Yorkers are horrified by this
-despite trying to seek peace, brings about an extremely weaponized and violent situation and is not happy about it
-his legacy? pretty much everything.
So...yeah, stop me if you've heard this one.
A couple other parallels from other plays: Max Planck is the Sir Lancelot of this group, portrayed as "not only am I incredibly smart and talented, but also I am phenomenally sexy and everyone wants to get in my pants!!" And the act one finale is kind of like that of Proof: "wait did a woman do all this math? That would be shocking and inconceivable, since women doing math is such an unusual and noteworthy thing!"
There were a couple cool ideas in the second act. The "general relativity is like a weight in a blanket" insight is "inspired" by his son jumping on the bed, which is so over-the-top that in context it actually works. And the stuff with the development of atomic weapons...I don't know, they seemed to be trying too hard to pull too many things together with "oh no I cheated on my wife who did the math, and now there are nukes, that sucks," but the "explosion" was pretty stunning in context. But yeah, in general, just felt like they were rushing to fit in too many set pieces/stock tropes.
Here is a broad-strokes outline of the plot:
Act One:
-our hero is born, is brilliant, has daddy issues
-goes to college, hangs out with the bros, impresses them immediately
-is too cool for stuffy old profs who just don't understand him
-flirts with ladies
-publishes a bunch of papers in a short time
Act Two:
-seduced by another women who leads him to cheat on his wife
-wife is like "bleep that guy"
-his son is hurt and negatively affected by this and has mental-health issues as a result
-enemies are out to persecute him, not just because they don't understand his genius, but also because he's a member of a stigmatized minority group
-moves to NEW JERSEY and New Yorkers are horrified by this
-despite trying to seek peace, brings about an extremely weaponized and violent situation and is not happy about it
-his legacy? pretty much everything.
So...yeah, stop me if you've heard this one.
A couple other parallels from other plays: Max Planck is the Sir Lancelot of this group, portrayed as "not only am I incredibly smart and talented, but also I am phenomenally sexy and everyone wants to get in my pants!!" And the act one finale is kind of like that of Proof: "wait did a woman do all this math? That would be shocking and inconceivable, since women doing math is such an unusual and noteworthy thing!"
There were a couple cool ideas in the second act. The "general relativity is like a weight in a blanket" insight is "inspired" by his son jumping on the bed, which is so over-the-top that in context it actually works. And the stuff with the development of atomic weapons...I don't know, they seemed to be trying too hard to pull too many things together with "oh no I cheated on my wife who did the math, and now there are nukes, that sucks," but the "explosion" was pretty stunning in context. But yeah, in general, just felt like they were rushing to fit in too many set pieces/stock tropes.
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