Amazing that.....

.....their are so few comments here about this movie.

Seems like everyone who had a wacky drama teacher in the 70's or 80's had to do this play. I even did scenes from it as an assignment in a high school drama class!

What is it about this story that is so appealing and appalling at the same time?

Depending on your opinion, Kopit's play is either an absurdist masterpiece OR just another load of psuedo-experimental 60's mumbo-jumbo. The kind of stuff that was being produced off-Bway in the 60's ad nauseum.

The film has all the trappings of your typical 60's sex farce: groovy soundtrack, candy-colored sets, wacky high-fashion costumes, dippy ingenue, subtle (and not so subtle) entendre.

But "Oh Dad" touches on an even darker level. Mother as psycho-sexual avenger of all things male! I think the films true appeal comes from its truly horrible heart. That none of us can find true, adult, sexual maturity until we release the psychological grip of our overbearing mothers and ineffectual fathers. Madame Rosepettle is a maternal octopus. With her tentacles in every corner of Jonathan's fragile, abused, undeveloped id. Meanwhile, Dad is quite literally a non-entity, DEAD! The theme is universal on a very subconscious level.

This deserves a decent DVD transfer and extensive bonus materials including some insight as to how this piece came in being, and how something so absurd garnered such a high budget production.