Get “Hur”: Ancient Roman Spectacle
Just what the world needs now: a live version of “Ben Hur.” Before we laugh this off as folly, consider what the spectacle, set to play London’s Milennium Dome next September, offers up: a chariot race, massed gladiatorial combat, a sea battle, a heaving bazaar, crucifixion and, something that the 1959 “Ben Hur” movie’s uncredited screenwriter Gore Vidal would no doubt relish: an orgy. The new “Ben” is officially based not on any movie but on the 1880 novel by Lew Wallace that sparked the phenomenon. I’m hoping the show will make it to New York, where it should play the new Yankee Stadium — soon to be the sight of more modern financially inflated follies.
