On December 12th, I had the opportunity to watch my second Broadway musical for only five dollars and it was awesome!  Lysistrata Jones was entertaining and lovable; studentrush.org is still offering tickets for it at five dollars!  As a slight adaptation from Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, Lysistrata Jones is about a high school girl (named Lysistrata Jones, of course) who is tired of her school’s basketball team relentlessly losing and, more specifically, not caring.  So, with the idea planted in her head by a peer, she decides to do as Lysistrata (in Aristophanes’ play) does and “not give it up.”  In other words, she refuses to have sex with her boyfriend until they finally win a game, and she gets some of her other friends to do it (or not do it…) with her.  Some things go wrong, though, and relationships are tested.  At first I was a little critical of the play.  I definitely enjoyed it, but I did not necessarily appreciate the immature plot.  One of my friends, on the other hand, LOVED it.  He explained that in a Broadway play he looks for good choreography, dancing, and singing; and he was right!  All three were phenomenal–especially the choreography.  It was always in sync and kept my attention.

We got into a slight debate about what matters more: plot or the technical aspects of a musical (like choreography and singing).  This reminded me of music: what matters more? the music or the lyrics?  or is it 50/50?  This probably affects your opinion of theater in general.  If you’re especially interested in performance (as opposed to plot) I’d say GO SEE LYSISTRATA JONES!!! And the plot isn’t all that bad – it is entertaining!