Bad Taste

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/14/06 at 5:51pm

A new musical trying out

"The Screams Of Kitty Genovese". I will take a pass on this one

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/14/06 at 7:22pm

I find it inconguous that a man who buys his clothes from the St. Vincent de Paul Society should start a thread entitled "Bad Taste".

Sad. Terribly sad.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/14/06 at 7:26pm

At least I do not steal them from Salvation Army Thrift Stores

[Isabella2]

Posted: 9/14/06 at 7:29pm

... and i'm confused.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/14/06 at 7:29pm

Dolly is indeed very confusing

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/14/06 at 8:26pm

The only way I think this musical would be inherently in bad taste were if it were somehow a parody of her murder. But it's not, it's a dramatic musical about the psychology of what happened the night leading up to the murder. It might be fascinating.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/14/06 at 8:47pm

Previous reviews have praised it as a very serious, complex and powerful examination of the incident itself and the psychology of the community of people who heard her screams, but did nothing to help her or even notify the authorities. I can recall having very interesting conversations over the years about what this incident says about human nature and the responsibility (or lack thereof) that each of us has to one another in times of crisis and moments of danger. If this work taps into some of the issues that this horrible murder raises and what it says about our society, it should make for a very potent and provocative evening of theatre -- hardly something that should be labeled "bad taste."

[courtnyj]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 12:35am

I had no idea who Kitty Genovese was so I looked her up on Wikipedia. What a tragic story! I might be able to see this as a serious play examining the bystander effect. But a muscial? No.

Oh, and FYI, according to Wikipedia, her killer is up for parole in 2008.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 8:44am

Bad taste? Nah, not really. A musical version of the story could have the same impact as Floyd Collins.

Interesting side note about the Genovese story: a psychologist did a study a few years ago and determined that the fewer the people who saw something, the more likely one of them was to do something about it. The more people who saw it, the less likely because everyone was under the assumption that someone else had called the police and therefore everything was going to be okay.

Personally, I wonder what happened to the people who saw it happen.

[zbigner]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 9:47am

Back in May/June either Sundance Channel of IFC was running a documentary called The Human Behavior Experiments. The filmakers deal with the Genovese case along with some of the research related to it. It is a quite interesting film.

I don't know if it's still running or available on DVD.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 9/15/06 at 10:01am

I remember hearing about this just a year or so back. It gave me chills. About six months ago, a woman was screaming in the alley because her abusive boyfriend was beating her up (they're our neighbours ) behind my and katygrace's apartment and, although we were both terrified, I called the police. When the cops showed up, we could hear them talking to the the boyfriend and they told him they had gotten over a dozen calls about the incident. That gives me a little more faith in people, although I'm concerned that this may not be the norm.

When I think of what happened to Kitty Genovese, I am disgusted. The woman could still be alive, but while those people didn't actually kill her, they are still partly responsible for her death.

I think a musical on this could be interesting, although I don't know how popular it will be considering the subject.