Servant of Two Mileys
Wednesday, May 7th by scott malia
Miley Cyrus is just about everywhere. If she’s not dominating record sales charts or selling out all of her tour dates, she’s topping the North American box office with her concert film. In short, she’s a teenage megastar, and she’s already managed to land herself in her first major scandal at the young age of fifteen. If you’ve been catatonic or in some other blissful location where Inside Edition can’t reach you, you might not be aware of the Photograph Seen Around the World. In a recent magazine photo shoot, the Achy Breaky spawn posed provocatively in a bedsheet—a move some of criticized in light of her age. The inevitable cycle of spin, apologies and finger-pointing has followed, all of it somehow sadly predictable. Ms. Cyrus, her stardom, and her suspiciously well-timed scandal are very much of the moment (if you don’t believe me, check back in five years when she and Hilary Duff will be on the same VH1 “Where Are They Now?” special). This makes name-dropping her in a classic play all the more curious. Georgia Shakespeare is currently staging the madcap farce The Servant of Two Masters. Since the play is translated, pop-culture references have been strewn throughout, including a shout-out to the sheet-wrapped pop tart. Why? I’m trying to imagine the same kind of adjustments being made to one of The Bard’s plays. Can you imagine if, in the middle of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena said, “Lysander, knowest thou not when to stop? Thou acts as Miley when she lost her top!” For both Midsummer and Servant, there is plenty of humor to be had without pillaging the tabloids.
