My Rant Against [title of show]

Today I could write about the economy, but I'm finding that the more I read about what's going on in the financial world, the less I understand it. This makes me feel stupid, which I don't like. But when NPR spends all of Morning Edition talking about how bad the bailout is for the taxpayer, and then the NYT explodes with how awful the not-bailout is for the taxpayer, I find myself... more than a little confused.

So I've re-adjusted my cash-flow budget so that I might save a little more. You know, 'cause saving is good. (The one thing that really frustrates me about all this financial talk is everyone focusing on keeping "credit available to the American consumer, so they can go about their day-to-day lives." Wasn't it credit that got us into this mess? Where's the focus on building an economy where the American consumer can live within his/her means?)

And I've re-adjusted my rant towards something I can understand, and something which seems to me to represent everything that is wrong with everything, right now.

[title of show].

What is [title of show]? It's a new musical. About writing a musical. It was profiled on NPR, and it's the new hot thing, and the authors used a combination of YouTube and The Secret to get the musical on Broadway.

There have been musicals about writing musicals before, the most notable and comparable example being Merrily We Roll Along. But Merrily was also about what happens after the musical goes to Broadway, and how to balance fame and family and old friends, and what happens after you become un-famous and nobody remembers you.

[title of show] is about a group of people who want to go to Broadway so they can meet Ellen DeGeneres. There's no show-within-a-show; the musical being written is the musical itself. Literally:

A, D, D, D, F sharp, A
Will be the first notes of our show...

And later:

JEFF
Maybe someday we could get a theater
And if not this festival then somewhere out west

HUNTER
TV actors in our show, what could be swee-ater?

JEFF
Thanks. Great.

We could get that woman who was on Empty Nest

HUNTER
Dinah Manoff, she’s awesome!

JEFF
Yeah

HUNTER
She was in Grease

JEFF
Yeah!

BOTH
And Leader of the Pack!

We could
Ask significant questions
We could
Get important points across

Like are we writing for art
And is art a springboard for fame
And will fame get us a sitcom
And a sitcom get us on Ellen

And will Ellen get folks to like us
And if they like us
Will they mike us
Me and You

And it goes on like this.

It's the same thing all over again. Jeopardy becomes Deal Or No Deal. Presidential candidates who are statesmen become "Russia's flight pattern over Alaska makes me qualified to handle foreign policy." And now Broadway's newest star is this musical about writing a musical about... nothing at all.

And the fact that I can't understand exactly what is going on with this Bailout or No Bailout thing makes me feel stupid, which all seems related somehow.