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President Joe Biden has tried to shift blame for the spike in gasoline prices and he's argued that the hike is a transitory matter and not that serious. But most voters aren’t buying his excuses.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 84% of likely U.S. voters believe the rising price of gasoline, home heating oil and other petroleum products is a serious problem, including 61% who say it’s a very serious problem. Only 15% don’t think rising fuel prices are a serious problem. These findings are virtually unchanged since November. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
And there's more . . . .
Two-thirds of voters think America has become more divided since Joe Biden was elected president.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 66% of likely U.S. voters believe America is now more divided than it was before the 2020 election. That’s slightly higher than when Rasmussen asked the same question last October. Just 12% now think the country has become more united since Biden’s election, while 18% say it has remained about the same. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
BILL T. JONES' EXPANSIVE CHOREOGRAPHY IS ASTOUNDING
IN ITS DENSITY AND GORGEOUS IN APPEARANCE."
CLICK BELOW FOR A SNEAK PEEK
NEW YORK, 1863.
As the Civil War rages on, free Black Americans and Irish immigrants live and love together in the unlikeliest of neighborhoods — the dangerous streets and crumbling tenement houses of Lower Manhattan's notorious Five Points slum. Within this galvanizing story of racial harmony undone by a country at war with itself, we meet the denizens of a local saloon called Paradise Square — all with conflicting notions of what it means to be an American while living through one of the most tumultuous eras in our country's history. With visceral and nuanced staging and choreography that captures the pulsating energy when Black and Irish cultures meet, and set to a contemporary score that reimagines early American song, Paradise Square depicts an overlooked true-life moment when hope and possibility shone bright.
This is just another example of the depravity of Philadelphia and how the city is rotting -- literally rotting away. And it's evident pretty much everywhere -- no matter where you turn. People may say that they're "outraged" at this but far too many people are distracted, detached, indifferent or simply numbed into a sort of benign acceptance). NOTHING shocks them anymore and apparently nothing will jolt them to some type of awakening. Sadly, Philadelphia (and much of the broader society) is morally defunct.
An incredible new film by Dinesh D’Souza exposes massive and determinative ballot harvesting in the 2020 Election. Congratulations to Dinesh, Catherine Englebrecht, and all of the incredible Patriots at True the Vote who worked so hard exposing this great election fraud. Everyone should get your tickets early for the premiere next week. Watch it and spread it everywhere, it (among many other things) proves the 2020 Election was Rigged and Stolen!
It's not often that an epic musical arrives on Broadway, especially these days when production costs are higher than they've ever been.
But Paradise Square is exactly that -- epic! With a cast of 40, an orchestra almost as big, huge production numbers and a story that takes in a breathtaking sweep of history, this show is very ambitious. And, well it should be as it's brought to Broadway by Garth Drabinsky, the same man who gave us Ragtime. There are 24 musical numbers in Paradise Square set amidst a sprawling set that provides plenty of room for some of the most dazzling choreography (by Bill T. Jones) ever seen on Broadway, including lots of Irish step dancing. And the music by Jason Howard (with additional music by Larry Kirwan) is inspired in part by the great American songwriter Stephen Foster who happens to be a character in the show.
Paradise Square is set downtown in New York in the era leading up to and including the Civil War. The action takes place around an intersection know as Five Points and much of it is through the eyes of the story's protagonist, played by Joaquina Kalukango. It purports to tell the story of racial harmony gone caput under the weight of war, strife, social pressures and outright hatred. At the core of the story are two interracial love affairs.
In Paradise Square, as described by the producers themselves, "we meet the denizens of a local saloon: the indomitable Black woman who owns it; her Irish-Catholic sister-in-law and her Black minister husband; a conflicted newly arrived Irish immigrant; a fearless freedom seeker; an anti-abolitionist political boss, and a penniless songwriter trying to capture it all." These people have conflicting notions of what it means to be an American while living through one of the most tumultuous eras in our country’s history.
So much happens in this show that it becomes hard to explain it all and, invariably, hard to keep track of it all. Characters seem to come and go, slip in and out of the story and you almost need a sore card to stay abreast of it. But the voices are all excellent, the acting is compelling (even when it's a bit over the top), the music is often soaring and the stage (even though often dimly or darkly lit) seems to throb with an intensity that befits the subject matter.
Holding it all together is Kalukango who certainly has the most powerful and commanding voice on Broadway today. When she sings Let It Burn (the ultimate 11 o'clock number) it quite literally brings the house down. This is Tony Award stuff! And there's also wonderful choral singing in the show which has moments that are nothing short of thrilling. There's an amalgamation of music and dance forms as cultures are thrown together in what is termed "an accidental society".
This show has been around in one form or another for quite some time. It premiered at the Berkeley Repertoire Theater in 2019 but the musical is based on Hard Times, originally conceived by Kirwan, which was originally presented at the intimate Off-Broadway theatre, Nancy Manocherian’s the cell, in 2012. There's been plenty of time to rework it and tighten it but it would take someone like George Abbott or Michael Bennet or Hal Prince to do that sort of tedious pruning. And none of them are around anymore.
And how do you gain control of a "square" with five points? So, just like this turbulent time in our history that it depicts, Paradise Square is a bit messy. But it's also provocative, captivating, melodic, vibrant, thought-provoking and riveting. And in an era when so many Broadway shows are tiny, tinny and seemingly deaf to melody, this is unquestionably worth seeing!
Let's hope it finds an enthusiastic audience to spread its message far and wide.
