A tale of two reactions: Dickens and Palin don't go over well at the Times

Not only Sarah Palin is running against The New York Times. So is a new musical that opened on Broadway last month, A Tale of Two Cities.

The Times sneered at the production based on Charles Dickens' novel, particularly its "blasting ballads that let singers prove that they coulda been contenders on American Idol.' Another reviewer, from Toronto, complained about the reaction of apparently ignorant theater-goers: "The audience stood and cheered . . . some even wept."

That's what happened the night I attended. The singing and staging were excellent, and the colorful Dickensian plot moved along and moved attendees. Afterwards, I wasn't surprised to find that most of the 85 online responses to the Times review gave the musical five stars (out of five) and included comments like "the best of times despite The New York Times."

So why are the Times and its acolytes panning both Palin and this musical? It could be that their taste is more refined than mine and most. Nevertheless, a reviewer from Sarasota, Fla., who followed the production to New York because it had taken its practice swings down south, was puzzled at the "harsh tone" of the negative reviews.

The reviewers' hostility suggests not only a difference in musical taste between critics and audience but vaster differences in attitude: Tale's lyrics, like Palin, display sincerity rather than irony. Ideological differences also may play a part: The musical, following Dickens, shows the plight of poor Parisians but also their brutality once in power. (Obamaist chanters for "change" may not like to be reminded that change can make things worse.)

Or, in-crowd protectiveness may be paramount: Critics called Jill Santoriello, who wrote the new show's book, lyrics, and music, "a novice . . . self-taught . . . unseasoned." Pundits have treated Palin on the national stage the same way. It seems that a person who hasn't spent decades in the Senate and at D.C. dinner parties should not have the effrontery to run for vice president.

Theology also may play a role. The main character in Dickens' novel is reborn as he faces death. Christ's words resonate in his thoughts: "I am the resurrection and the life." The musical does not include that statement but honors the central theme, taken from Christianity, of sacrificing one life to save others. Imagine—a candidate and a musical with a Christian base! Bring on the guillotine.

Here's another great quote from this post's author, Marvin Olasky, that has been on my home page for awhile now:

"Individuals who are family-reliant and God-reliant are rarely government-reliant. Christianity emphasizes both individuality and community. Balancing the two has been a genius of America as well. F. Scott Fitzgerald in the The Great Gatsby almost a century ago nailed selfish folks who ignore the need for balance. He wrote about careless rich people who make messes and leave the cleanup to their servants. Today, rich and especially poor often leave the cleanup to government officials. If we want fewer officials, we need to reduce the number of messes. Social conservatism makes possible fiscal conservatism."

—Marvin Olasky

Marvin Olasky's remarkable and inspiring Wikipedia biography is here. Here's an interesting part of it:

[Olasky's book] The Tragedy of American Compassion argues that private individuals and organizations, particularly the Christian church, have a responsibility to care for the poor, and contends that challenging, personal, and spiritual help, common until the 1930s, was more effective than the government welfare programs of recent decades. Olasky states that government programs are ineffective because they are disconnected from the poor, while private charity has the power to change lives because it allows for a personal connection between the giver and the recipient... The book, with its sequels, became a key work defining "compassionate conservatism" (a term coined by Doug Wead)...as it relates to welfare and social policy.

Olasky should be recognized as a major post-Buckley theorist of and commentator upon American conservatism. Here is a list of Olasky's books:

Corporate Public Relations: A New Historical Perspective (1987)
Turning Point: A Christian Worldview Declaration (1987, with Herbert Schlossberg)
Patterns of Corporate Philanthropy: Public Affairs Giving and the Forbes 100 (1987, foreword by Donald Rumsfeld)
Freedom, Justice and Hope: Toward a Strategy for the Poor and the Oppressed (1988, with Clark Pinnock, Herbert Schlossberg, and Pierre Berthoud)
Prodigal Press: The Anti-Christian Bias of American News Media (1988) The Press and Abortion, 1838–1988 (1988)
Central Ideas in the Development of American Journalism (1991)
Patterns of Corporate Philanthropy: Funding False Compassion (1991, with Daniel T. Oliver and Robert V. Pambianco)
More Than Kindness: A Compassionate Approach to Crisis Childbearing (1992, with Susan Olasky)
The Tragedy of American Compassion (1992, republished in 1995)
Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America (1992)
Patterns of Corporate Philanthropy: The Progressive Deception (1992, with Daniel T. Oliver and Stuart Nolan)
Philanthropically Correct: The Story of the Council on Foundations (1993)
Fighting for Liberty and Virtue: Political and Cultural Wars in Eighteenth-Century America (1995)
Telling the Truth: How to Revitalize Christian Journalism (1996)
Renewing American Compassion: How Compassion for the Needy Can Turn Ordinary Citizens into Heroes (1996)
Whirled Views: Tracking Today's Culture Storms (1997, with Joel Belz)
The American Leadership Tradition: Moral Vision from Washington to Clinton (1999)
Compassionate Conservatism: What it is, What it Does, and How it Can Transform America (2000, introduction by George W. Bush)
The American Leadership Tradition: The Inevitable Impact of a Leader's Faith on a Nation's Destiny (2000)
Standing for Christ in a Modern Babylon (2003)
The Religions Next Door: What We Need To Know About Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, And Islam - and What Reporters Are Missing (2004)
Monkey Business (2005, with John Perry)
Scimitar's Edge (2006)
The Politics of Disaster: Katrina, Big Government, and A New Strategy for Future Crises (2006)

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