The Spectator imagines Das Kapital: The Musical
At The Spectator, we are anti-Marxist but pro-musical. So it is with mixed feelings that we learned that Chinese producers in Beijing are to turn Das Kapital into a stage show, complete with big dance numbers and catchy songs. The director, He Nian, told Wen Hui Bao newspaper that ‘the particular performance style we choose is not important, but Marxist theories cannot be distorted’.
We disagree. Marx’s theories are wholly discredited, but the style in which musicals are performed is a matter of global importance. Imagine, then, the scene as the two founders of communism perform the duet that will lead to the Russian Revolution and the Cold War.
Friedrich Engels returns from hunting and finds his friend reading yet another volume of Hegel by candlelight. He shakes his head, and tap dances.
Engels: The British Library/ Well, that’s no place to be/ If you want a dialectic/ It’s got to get more hectic
(Marx gets up from his desk: ragtime music plays)
Marx: The proletarian/ Is quite contrarian/ When alienated/ From the fruits of his work./ And the bourgeoisie/ Behave historically/ And assume the proles/ Do nothing but shirk.
Chorus: Hey, Karl!/ Give the moaning a rest, oh/ Doc Marx!/ Give us a manifesto!/ Let’s have the revolution/ That’s must be the solution/ And we’ll all do/ The Communist rag!
The producers of the Chinese show could do worse than raid other musicals. We think especially of Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret. The founder of historical materialism would surely have appreciated the line ‘Money makes the world go round’; and surveying the present global scene, with anti-capitalist wrath and lynch mobs chasing bankers, he might well have hummed Liza Minnelli’s classic: ‘Maybe this Time’.
More articles from: | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
It wasn’t meant to be this way. The Tories used…
David Cameron is a sunny-side-up politician. At his first party…
The year has begun with the British political class obsessing…
Westminster used to think that 2012 would be the year…
Downing Street’s negotiating team returned from Berlin last Friday afternoon…
1 Terry shouldn’t be captain, but that should be Capello’s decision to make - Rod Liddle
2 Snow? What snow? - Rod Liddle
3 JFK: The Nastiest President of the Twentieth Century? - Alex Massie
4 Do we really need to know more about Gary Speed’s death? - Rod Liddle
5 Scottish Labour Embrace the Logic of Independence - Alex Massie
1,700 Unusual Christmas Presents Request Catalogue 01935 815 195 Quote SPEC10 for 10% discount www.presentfinder.co.uk
Pimilco based Florist with online ordering Web: www.olivebranch.net Tel: 020 7630 1868 Fax: 020 7233 8844
62 Shore Road, Warsash, Southampton, SO31 9FT Telephone: 01489 578867 Web site: www.ruffs.co.uk
Apollo Magazine | Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2012 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
Be the first to comment on this article!
Back to top