VOA标准英语2011--Who’s Your Baghdaddy: New Musical Poke

Who’s Your Baghdaddy: New Musical Pokes¹ Serious Fun at Iraq War

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Danish prince warns that actors should be well taken care of because, “When you die you were better to have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.”
Producer Charlie Fink and writers Marshall Pailet and A.D. Penedo have staged a new musical that issues the same warning.
“Who’s Your Baghdaddy (or How I Started the Gulf² War)” explores the forces that led to the start of the Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Fink – the head of Washington’s New Musical Foundation – said he wanted to use what he called “the exaggerated magical reality of musical comedy” to illustrate³ that responsibility for the Iraq war lay with ordinary people, not just with U.S. leaders.
Shared guilt⁴
Former President George W. Bush is never seen, but his State of the Union speech is heard. The same is true for former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech to the United Nations in which he quotes Curveball’s flawed information. “Curveball” was the codename the CIA gave to the now notorious Iraqi defector who fed U.S. intelligence officials much of the flawed information that they had collected about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.
Producer Charlie Fink says not portraying⁵ the political figures was a deliberate choice.
“By showing the actions of regular people, you know, we – all of us are guilty in some way of starting the Iraq war,” he said. “It’s true we deferred⁶ to our leaders, but you know that deferral⁷ is an action. And that is what the characters in the show do.”
“Hystorical fiction”
The energetic cast includes three characters known as “the Fundits” who tell their tale through what they call “Hystorical Fiction” - like hysterical⁸, but with an “o” - which is “not facts, but flair⁹; not evidence, but embellishment.”
The Fundits (Emily Levey, Meredith Richard and Cyle Durkee) act as a Greek chorus: they – like the audience – know the ending, but highlight the absurdity¹⁰ anyway. The model director Marshall Pailet based the characters on three high school girls who comment on everyone else, but never turn their insight on themselves.
The main characters include three men who are looking to make their marks – all based on real people. John Dellaporta plays Curveball, whose fabricated tale of Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons program gets passed to German detective Richart (Paul Scanlan). The unverified story makes its way to CIA analyst¹¹ Nelson (Matthew G. Meyers) and eventually to former weapons inspector¹² David Kay, (Harry¹³ A. Winter).
War costs
As the play progresses – from 2001 to 2003 as shown by marquee signs and numbered badges the characters wear - minor¹⁴ decisions lead to the start of the Iraq War.
To date, nearly 5,000 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, along with more than 125,000 Iraqi civilians¹⁵, as put by some estimates. Thousands more people have been injured, and a huge part of the Iraqi population has been displaced. The financial costs have spiraled into hundreds of billions of dollars, even as U.S. troops prepare to leave the country later this year.
In its epilogue, the play shows how one decision by a minor bureaucrat¹⁶ at the CIA could have prevented the war. Writer Marshall Pailet says his goal was to show how seemingly minor players can have a major impact on world events.
“You know this show is about some very real people who are just average, mid¹⁷ to low-level worker bees that really messed things up because they weren’t careful,” he said.
John Dellaporta says he wanted to show how Curveball changed – from a good-timing asylum¹⁸ seeker who raps the hilarious¹⁹ “Who’s Your Baghdaddy” while partying in Germany in the middle of the show - to someone who betrays his friends.
“Everything he’s saying is true to him,” he said. “Of all the fun stuff he’s doing, of all the fun he’s having, the most important thing ultimately is that he is creating a real friendship along the way. Ultimately he feels at the end finally that he has somehow committed a betrayal himself. And that’s part of the tragedy of the character is that he really doesn’t understand what happened,” Dellaporta explained.
Doing penance²⁰
Harry A. Winter, who plays weapons inspector David Kay, says he tried to show the feelings of those who were sure that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons.
“Every evening I try to put myself in the position of the people who got sucked in, in the assurance that there was something there,” the veteran actor said. “And I was one of those, so I am either doing penance for that or trying to explain those peoples’ positions.”
As the characters realize there are no chemical weapons in Iraq, the fantasy in which they put their faith begins to unravel²¹. The ballad²² “Speak to Me Tomorrow” has the cast realize the consequences of their actions – death, destruction, and devastation²³. The Fundits then point to the lesson of the show – we believed what we wanted to believe, facts notwithstanding.
“Who’s Your Baghdaddy” leaves the audience laughing, but – like all good satire²⁴ – thinking as well. In doing so, it accomplishes what producer Charlie Fink wrote in the program – that people would “see and accept our responsibility as citizens for what happened, and what we will do in the future.”

1 pokes   

v.伸出( poke的第三人称单数 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• He pokes his nose into everything. 他这人好管闲事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Only the tip of an iceberg pokes up above water. 只有冰山的尖端突出于水面。 来自辞典例句

2 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

3 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

4 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

5 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

6 deferred   

adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• The department deferred the decision for six months. 这个部门推迟了六个月才作决定。
• a tax-deferred savings plan 延税储蓄计划

7 deferral   

n.延期，缓役

参考例句：

• It also calls for the deferral of a share of bonuses. 协议还要求一部分奖金延期发放。 来自互联网
• Even implementing the interest-deferral scheme for homeowners has proved inconveniently tricky. 甚至是对房主实行的推迟利息的方案，结果证明也是极不方便的。 来自互联网

8 hysterical   

adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的

参考例句：

• He is hysterical at the sight of the photo.他一看到那张照片就异常激动。
• His hysterical laughter made everybody stunned.他那歇斯底里的笑声使所有的人不知所措。

9 flair   

n.天赋，本领，才华；洞察力

参考例句：

• His business skill complements her flair for design.他的经营技巧和她的设计才能相辅相成。
• He had a natural flair for business.他有做生意的天分。

10 absurdity   

n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论

参考例句：

• The proposal borders upon the absurdity.这提议近乎荒谬。
• The absurdity of the situation made everyone laugh.情况的荒谬可笑使每个人都笑了。

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

12 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

13 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

14 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

15 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

16 bureaucrat   

n. 官僚作风的人，官僚，官僚政治论者

参考例句：

• He was just another faceless bureaucrat.他只不过是一个典型呆板的官员。
• The economy is still controlled by bureaucrats.经济依然被官僚们所掌控。

17 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

18 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

19 hilarious   

adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed

参考例句：

• The party got quite hilarious after they brought more wine.在他们又拿来更多的酒之后，派对变得更加热闹起来。
• We stop laughing because the show was so hilarious.我们笑个不停，因为那个节目太搞笑了。

20 penance   

n.（赎罪的）惩罪

参考例句：

• They had confessed their sins and done their penance.他们已经告罪并做了补赎。
• She knelt at her mother's feet in penance.她忏悔地跪在母亲脚下。

21 unravel   

v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开

参考例句：

• He was good with his hands and could unravel a knot or untangle yarn that others wouldn't even attempt.他的手很灵巧，其他人甚至都不敢尝试的一些难解的绳结或缠在一起的纱线，他都能解开。
• This is the attitude that led him to unravel a mystery that long puzzled Chinese historians.正是这种态度使他解决了长期以来使中国历史学家们大惑不解的谜。

22 ballad   

n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲

参考例句：

• This poem has the distinctive flavour of a ballad.这首诗有民歌风味。
• This is a romantic ballad that is pure corn.这是一首极为伤感的浪漫小曲。

23 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。