If by any chance you just happen to enjoy Broadway musicals, the phrase I love you, you re perfect, now change may recall the name of a 10y running Broadway musical that succeeded in becoming a worldwide hit ( )
Last Sunday Antwerp enjoyed both a car-free day (just imagine) and the opening of the cultural season - an explosive combination resulting in a quite sunny city filled with countless tourists and 1001 streetside stands, showing what will be on offer this fall. The translated version of I love you, you re perfect, now change is one of the shows presented by a tiny local theatre company:
Unlike the US original, the actors decided to promote the show by walking through the local Antwerp streets:
[The actors in front of the Antwerp Hilton, an authentic landmark Paris Hilton never visits, in fear of a culture overdose ;)]
In line with the original, I was asked to have my picture taken with the cast. Married?
the veiled fake bride asked me. No , I replied, I m gay . In the true spirit of a real actor she handed me a one-liner: Great, so am I , she said with a sparkling smile.
That s the way to go 
Please bear with me as I m currently quite busy working on a large project, with a 6th of July deadline.
I will be back with new postings asap. In the meantime, check out this cute statue a German town erected for the musical Hair, and yes, George W. Bush is visiting nearby soon - I was amused reading the press-release below:
In the Baltic Sea town of Greifswald, just 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the town Bush is set to visit, a theater company has built an enormous mock-up of the Statue of Liberty, right arm, as ever, raised high.
There s just one problem: instead of holding a flaming torch, this statuesque dame has lifted her middle finger in a salute known on both sides of the Atlantic as anything but friendly and welcoming.
Exactly the opposite, in fact.
The enormous statue whose breasts can open and close for dramatic purposes is part of the set for an outdoor production of the 1960s anti-war musical Hair, slated to start its run at the Baltic Sea Theater Festival the day before Bush s visit.
Now, the statue and her offensive gesture are causing a minor uproar, pitting politicians and businessmen against artists and activists.
Conservative politicians and populist newspapers have called the statute shocking and tasteless, and are calling for its removal.
For their part, the folks at the Theater Vorpomerania retort that their anti-war play and its intentionally provocative set were planned long before any son of George Bush had agreed to come to their area indeed, before Merkel was even elected chancellor.
They argue that the musical is about the Vietnam-era America of the 1960s, not the America of today. But they admit perhaps a little smugly that they are powerless to stop people from drawing comparisons.
Meanwhile, the conservative General Secretary of Mecklenburg Vorpomerania, Lorenz Caffier, told Germany s Tagesschau news Internet site that the middle finger must go.
The US President should feel at home here, he said, adding that artistic freedom can surely take a backseat to politesse. At least for a day or two.
Commercial interests in the area may also be getting nervous.
Visits by heads of state are often seen as a chance to attract investors.
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