The Proof Is in The Pudding

By SOMAN CHAINANI

and CHRISTINA B. ROSENBERGER

CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

A frothy diversion, some call it. A mindless drag extravaganza, others might say. But for $27, we expect a lot more than just fluffy entertainment from Hasty Pudding Theatricals. We expect-- we demand!--art. Art that transcends the boundaries of time, space and gender. Art that can be discussed at the Advocate without prompting red-faced embarasssment. Art that--gasp--means something.

Burning Question: Did we find what we so desperately sought? Well, it all depends on your definition of art.

So we wholeheartedly dive into the creamy pool of double entendre, sheer pantyhose and hair extensions that is the Hasty Pudding and surface with shiny pearls of wisdom. So it shall be written, so it shall be done.

This means, of course, that we must get the small details out of the way. The 152nd installment of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, The Jewel of Denial, thankfully does not stray from the tried and true Pudding formula--glittery costumes, terrible puns, a theater full of drunk alums to laugh when no one else does. But do we still love it? Of course we do. Who wouldn't? The Pudding transcends theater, transcends critical scrutiny, even transcends the magnifying glass of one Dan Wagner '03 (the HRDC wishes it were as transcendent)...

So to recap: the costumes are grand, the sets are spectacular, the boys are pretty, the show is, well... But the subtext--ah, the subtext! In a series of deductive proofs that deconstruct this subtext, we find nirvana.

Token Plot Summary

Since a Hasty Pudding show must consistently be centered around a punny title, the plot is, to no one's surprise, quite uncentered. Andrew Dudley '00 and Nick Grandly '00 try valiantly to take The Jewel of Denial (do you get it? do you get it?) and spin it into a travelogue of lust, deprivation, and US-Anglo reconciliation; indeed, their ambitions are so lofty that a summary only succeeds in stripping their premise of its undeniable complexity. But we try, nevertheless. A southern belle finds her glittery "jewel of denial" swiped by Jacquelyn Hyde, her schizophrenic, Mary Reilly-cum-dominatrix maid. But no sticky-fingered maid ever works alone, of course, and we soon discover that she is indeed a partner to Colin Izer, who not only aspires to rule a worldwide British empire, but also, ironically enough, resembles Gandhi. Toss into the mix a) a beheaded Egyptian queen and her abusive pharoah husband (technically dead), b) a bisexual peacock and c) a wimpy Scottish detective and a busty, lusty Irish lass. Inevitably, the misfits gather in the Egyptian desert--the men castrated, the women sexually frustrated. Enter cast in glittery miniskirts, giant kickline, bows, hooray!

Birds of a Feather Sleep Together

Objective: To prove that Middlesex, however amusing, is an inaccurate depiction of the _Pavo cristatus_ species.