Media Morsels 8.6.10

• Prop 8 Ruled Unconstitutional!
  Great news, friends: Proposition 8, the law banning marriage equality as voted on by duped California voters in 2008, was ruled unconstitutional by the Federal District Court in San Francisco! In the decision, Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker said, “Proposition 8 cannot withstand any level of scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause. Excluding same-sex couples from marriage is simply not rationally related to a legitimate state interest.” Judge Walker went on to say, “Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights…” That’s right! The 14th Amendment says “All persons born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the United States… No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property…nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This amendment was ratified on July 9, 1868 and was part of the three Civil War amendments. It’s fitting, then, that it is being invoked to champion the civil rights cause of my generation. Good job, Federal District Court. SCOTUS, you’re surely up next. Do the right thing.


• Together Again: Yorkey and Kitt Back at Work
  The Tony and Pulitzer Prize duo of Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt are collaborating again for a new musical called In Your Eyes. The show will be presented and workshopped at the 2010 Village Theatre Festival in Issaquah, WA. Once again, Yorkey is writing the book and lyrics while Kitt will be making beautiful music. (For the record: Next to Normal was also presented at the festival during its development process. Expect to see this pop up elsewhere within a year or sooner.)


• The Last Goodbye
  This week, the New York Times ran an article about The Last Goodbye, a new musical adaptation of Romeo + Juliet that weaves the late Jeff Buckley’s songs (who, for his seminal album Grace wrote a song called “The Last Goodbye”) in to the story. After a couple of workshops in New York, The Last Goodbye is currently playing at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. In the Times article, reporter Patrick Healey talks to creator Michael Kimmel about his inspiration and Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert (who is the executor of Buckley’s estate), about allowing her sons beautiful and highly emotional songs to be used in this purpose.


• Beastie Fights Back
  Adam Yauch, a film producer and Beastie Boy, is fighting back against the R rating A Film Unfinished received. A Film Unfinished is a Holocaust documentary produced by Yauch’s movie company, Oscilloscope. The ratings board (which is a bunch of baloney) deemed the graphic images in the film too much for a lower rating. Yauch argues that the documentary is an educational tool but with an R rating it can’t be screened in schools. I haven’t even seen a clip of the film but I agree with Yauch: It’s a documentary. We have to distinguish between gory and frightening images that are real and those that are merely for entertainment, like in the Saw franchise. If we keep watering down children’s education and listening to the Texas board of education when we decide what’s appropriate in the classroom, we’re all doomed to a fate far worse than an 11 year old seeing a graphic image of history.


• Glee Scoop
  Best news of the week: Carol Burnett will guest star on Glee in season two as Sue Sylvester’s (Jane Lynch) mother! Two hilarious and sharp witted ladies playing a mother-daughter duo? Absolutely brilliant. Being too young to have watched Ms. Burnett on her fabulous sketch shows (with unbelievable Bob Mackie costumes) when they originally aired, my first introduction to the multi-talented lady was her portrayal of Miss Hannigan in the 80s movie version of Annie (with little miss Aileen Quinn in the titular role; I met Ms. Quinn at a stage door in Orlando when she was touring with Saturday Night Fever). I am so excited for her guest appearance! Great get, Glee!


• And now, some letters:
• Dear Everyone Who Voted “Nay” on the 9/11 Responders Bill,
  You have failed at life. Turn in your badge, do not collect a swag bag and get the hell out of my House of Representatives.
  
  (This clip is taken from thedailyshow.com. Visit the website for more.)


• Dear LeBron Haters,
  Can you please take your venom for LeBron’s ostentatious “The Decision” special and turn it on to Brett Favre for his prima donna and egotistical “will he or won’t he” act? Brett, grow a pair and make a decision. I don’t care what decision you make but make a decision so I don’t have to hear Ed Werder talk about you anymore.


• Dear Aaron Sorkin,
  Much as I love your writing and seeing you pop up on Entourage, please, Please, please don’t let fiction bleed in to reality and collaborate in any way with Jessica Simpson. She can barely speak English. ‘Twould be cruel to challenge her (and then listen to her butcher) Sorkinese.


• Bloody Bloody News
  The Broadway run of the excellent emo rock musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson will begin previews at the Jacobs theatre one night earlier than originally announced. The show is now scheduled to start performances on Monday, September 20 and will celebrate its official opening on October 13. I wonder if there’ll be a big block of cheese involved!?!
  
  And, if there wasn’t enough, the Bloody Bloody album also has a release date: September 21. You can visit sh-k-boom.com to pre-order your copy and then visit Playbill.com for an exclusive sneak listen of selected songs.


• Great Collaborations
  This weekend while watching "Evidence of Things Not Seen", a beautiful episode in season four of The West Wing, I had a thought: What if there was a show for which Aaron Sorkin wrote the book, Tom Kitt wrote the songs, Matt Warchus (or Michael Mayer) directed and in which Raul Esparza starred? I think I might go into fan-obsession overload. But it would be a wonderful collaboration, I’m sure. So now I turn the question to you, dear readers: What are some of your favorite actual and fantasy collaborations, whether in the arts, in sports or elsewhere? Leave you tantalizing tales of teamwork in the comments section below.