On the competition circuit, where hundreds of portly men with beards cook essentially the same terrible food (as a certified judge, believe me, I know), originality is as frightening as a hand reaching up out of a freshly dug grave.
Whenever I see a musical-comedy audience consisting mainly of senior citizens and small chidren, as was the case in Philadelphia last Sunday, I can't help but remember the galvanizing originality of productions like the "Our Town"-flavored "Carousel" that Charles Newell staged at Chicago's Court Theatre in 2007, or Bill Rauch's high-concept "Music Man" at the 2009 Oregon Shakespeare Festival.