What's Love Got To Do With It?

Yesterday I had the real pleasure of going to Sight and Sound's production on the Psalms of David, the most pleasurable aspect though, was not in fact the show, but rather mocking it with Michelle during and after.

At the intermission, she asked what I thought and to begin with, all I could think of was "culture shock". It was consumerist to the core and right from the beginning the desire to profit was evident. The prelude to the performance was a run through on each of the shows, and an invitation to "buy two of everything" at Noah's Ark Store (Click and then go to View Movie to see for yourself).

The first Act was interesting, with some scenes being reasonably enjoyable, a ballet dancer was very talented and there was a flautist who I really enjoyed - the rest though was tacky to the core - right from the Goliath whose arms bobbed on springs (hilarious) to the one particular actress whose exaggerated expressions were almost as nauseating as the scene where the African American slave Ezra talks how he managed through the tough times by reading his bible, or the inconsistency in morality between the ballet dancer wearing pants (not tights) under her skirt whilst in another scene the good Christians of the time preforming the Can Can...

The final straw though was when in a mistaken act of patriotism, the choir wearing blue robes walked reverently towards the cross draped in red and white. There was no mistaking the underscoring view, nor the desire to fleece more pockets on many future occasions, after all we were encouraged "why not make The Miracle of Christmas a family tradition?".

There was the obligatory alter call at the end of the production (for people to see the Ushers if they wished to make a commitment), and I have no doubt that some were truly impacted (the gentleman 2 seats down from us for instance was evidently worshipping in raising his hands on numerous occasions). I however, left the theatre wondering WHY? What was the purpose of this show? Was it to encourage the converted or was it some sort of evangelism? Call me cynical but when we exited out of the parking lot and drove 500 meters down the road to the Millennium Theatre (a 2,000 seating theatre with a 300 foot wrap around stage) which incorporates the largest moving light system on the East Coast of America, all I could see were $ signs.

I don't regret going, but I'm still wondering, "What's Love Got To Do With It?"

For another view please read: Charisma Magazine which interviews the founder of Sight and Sound

And if you're wondering, I'm having a GREAT holiday, just needed to expel the fundamentalist kitsch out of my system... perhaps exaggerated by pranging Ian's car today :(