Earlier today I was listening to the GLEE soundtrack and got to the songs from the Mash-ups episode. It got me thinking, most music mash-ups (the combining of two songs) end up being crap, but some end up giving a whole new meaning or perspective to a song.
So, would mash-ups in the theatre work?
Not kidding…
Imagine some O’neil mixed with Miller or take a bigger leap a little Chekov mixed with Adam Rapp. The combinations are thrilling and endless. Of course random pairings could result in utter disaster, but as with any new endeavor there are a lot of mistakes before some strikes a chord of genius.
Now many will say it is sacrilegious for me (who has always championed the playwright and the place of the playwright in the process) to suggest mutilating someone’s play with a mash-up but I think there are playwrights who could really run with this idea and do something amazing. We have been allowing new translations and rewriting of great works by living writers – so we aren’t exactly far from the idea.
So uber-creative playwrights out there – feel free use this idea to create something innovative (but please don’t totally butcher the original work). Let me know if you come up with something!
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There’s already a master of the theater mashup. His name is Chuck Mee.