My expert escort to the train station was invaluable. After that frigid jaunt, the trip was relatively frostbite free.
But let us consider the concept of greater good and how this idea fits perfectly into musical theatre.
“The greater good” is arguably originates from St. Ignatius de Loyola of Spain. St. Ignatius’s words: Ad Majoreum Dei Gloriam, meaning “for the greater glory of God,” a staple dedication phrase on the seal crest of many Jesuit institutions, emphasizes the ideal nature of human actions. That is, that all action ought to somehow intentionally connect with the divine, for this is a measure of goodness.
For secular and common usage, intentionality and God do not factor insomuch as the whole versus the sum of its parts; the greater good regards the benefit of a group in conflict with the benefit of few.
Though the audience in an off-Broadway theatre such as the one where Altar Boyz (a musical with the central plotline following the trials and successes of a five-person, ultra-homoerotic Christian rock boy band) shows is already of a somewhat echeloned group of people, it still holds potential for some diversity. Audience members will likely span the middle-class tourist - cynical local gamut, of some differences in economic status, though with consideration that everyone there had the money to purchase a ticket for the show.
A representation of a large set of the greater population, this audience is not only a small percentage of the middle and upper classes, but a specific subset of this group who has had the opportunity to choose amongst different forms of entertainment available in this city and decided to spend their time and money on Altar Boyz. This group, then, a chosen and short-lived community of sorts will have a shared experience intent on one outcome: amusement, diversion, recreational stimulation.
It is through this intention that the greater good is accessed. With the assumption that this goal is reached in their impromptu village-like atmosphere, these people will then return to their lives and separate communities with the goodwill of having achieved a goal of sorts, having created new bonds, and maybe even spiritual connections via the show’s Christian imagery.
Myself, I yearn for their coordinated outfits, tight dance combinations, and perfected glares to make me tremble in my seat as Saved (the movie)-meets-N’Sync-meets-Bernadette Peters. It is through this experience that I may find my Bodhi tree, may at last locate something as authentically spiritual as a group of people finding momentary enlightenment through the sometimes cruel yet accessible cynicism of the mainstream entertainment industry.
But let us consider the concept of greater good and how this idea fits perfectly into musical theatre.
“The greater good” is arguably originates from St. Ignatius de Loyola of Spain. St. Ignatius’s words: Ad Majoreum Dei Gloriam, meaning “for the greater glory of God,” a staple dedication phrase on the seal crest of many Jesuit institutions, emphasizes the ideal nature of human actions. That is, that all action ought to somehow intentionally connect with the divine, for this is a measure of goodness.
For secular and common usage, intentionality and God do not factor insomuch as the whole versus the sum of its parts; the greater good regards the benefit of a group in conflict with the benefit of few.
Though the audience in an off-Broadway theatre such as the one where Altar Boyz (a musical with the central plotline following the trials and successes of a five-person, ultra-homoerotic Christian rock boy band) shows is already of a somewhat echeloned group of people, it still holds potential for some diversity. Audience members will likely span the middle-class tourist - cynical local gamut, of some differences in economic status, though with consideration that everyone there had the money to purchase a ticket for the show.
A representation of a large set of the greater population, this audience is not only a small percentage of the middle and upper classes, but a specific subset of this group who has had the opportunity to choose amongst different forms of entertainment available in this city and decided to spend their time and money on Altar Boyz. This group, then, a chosen and short-lived community of sorts will have a shared experience intent on one outcome: amusement, diversion, recreational stimulation.
It is through this intention that the greater good is accessed. With the assumption that this goal is reached in their impromptu village-like atmosphere, these people will then return to their lives and separate communities with the goodwill of having achieved a goal of sorts, having created new bonds, and maybe even spiritual connections via the show’s Christian imagery.
Myself, I yearn for their coordinated outfits, tight dance combinations, and perfected glares to make me tremble in my seat as Saved (the movie)-meets-N’Sync-meets-Bernadette Peters. It is through this experience that I may find my Bodhi tree, may at last locate something as authentically spiritual as a group of people finding momentary enlightenment through the sometimes cruel yet accessible cynicism of the mainstream entertainment industry.
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