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re: Musicals we love: Sondheim's Follies

Posted by: EvFoDr 04:19 pm EST 01/20/14
In reply to: re: Musicals we love: Sondheim's Follies - keikekaze 03:15 pm EST 01/20/14

You may be right in a very general sense about character-revealing arias, although I don't think that's specific to R and H, but I know somewhere Sondheim has documented which composers or songs were the inspiration for the pastiche numbers and unless my memory is failing me, R and H are not among them. Losing My mind is modeled after The Man I Love, which is evident not only in that they are both torch songs, but also the loose structure of the melody line. Could I Leave You? and Too Many Mornings are not pastiche songs, they are book songs. I always thought of them as composed in the "modern" style Sondheim was using at the time. I'm Still Here has been hotly debated--is it a character book song or is it Carlotta's Follies number from the past? I personally think it's meant to be an autobiographical character song, but unlike all the other "book" songs in Follies, it is also very clearly a pastiche in style. Maybe the waters got a little muddy here, because I am pretty sure the song it replaced, Can That Boy Foxtrot, WAS meant to be Carlotta recreating an old Follies number.


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re: Musicals we love: Sondheim's Follies

Posted by: keikekaze 06:20 pm EST 01/20/14
In reply to: re: Musicals we love: Sondheim's Follies - EvFoDr 04:19 pm EST 01/20/14

I didn't mean to suggest that Sondheim consciously or unconsciously modeled any of the songs I named on Rodgers and Hammerstein, only that R & H themselves might have come up with rather similar numbers in a similar dramatic situation, as a response to Laura's question about which Follies songs were in the R & H "style."

As to "I'm Still Here," I feel sure it's an autobiographical character song. It certainly can't be Carlotta's old Follies number (though "Can That Boy Foxtrot" might have been). The McCarthy references (among others) would have been out of period, the Thirties "nostalgia" references are too ironic and self-conscious to date from the Thirties themselves, and why would a woman who was young at the time be singing "I'm Still Here"? No, I think it must be a character song for the present-day Carlotta.


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re: Musicals we love: Sondheim's Follies

Posted by: showtunetrivia 06:33 pm EST 01/20/14
In reply to: re: Musicals we love: Sondheim's Follies - keikekaze 06:20 pm EST 01/20/14

The author of the article specifically mentioned R&H in terms of pastiche in FOLLIES, which is what had me scratching my head.

I agree with your take on "I'm Still Here."

Laura


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I'm Still Here

Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 05:35 pm EST 01/20/14
In reply to: re: Musicals we love: Sondheim's Follies - EvFoDr 04:19 pm EST 01/20/14

There's a line in I'm Still Here in which Sondheim seems to be very slyly commenting on De Carlo's career (as well as Carlotta's): "First you're another sloe-eyed vamp" (Salome, Where She Danced and other films)/ "Then someone's mother" (McLintock!)/ "then you're camp" (The Munsters).


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re: I'm Still Here

Posted by: italianguy 08:21 am EST 01/21/14
In reply to: I'm Still Here - BroadwayTonyJ 05:35 pm EST 01/20/14

Interesting observation. De Carlo was a beautiful woman but she was not afraid to play character parts. A wonderful talent.


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re: I'm Still Here

Posted by: pierce 02:30 am EST 01/21/14
In reply to: I'm Still Here - BroadwayTonyJ 05:35 pm EST 01/20/14

It's true - the "I'm Still Here" lyrics bring Yvonne de Carlo's career to mind, even if Sondheim wrote them with Joan Crawford in mind.


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re: I'm Still Here

Posted by: italianguy 08:23 am EST 01/21/14
In reply to: re: I'm Still Here - pierce 02:30 am EST 01/21/14

Joan was always camp and a little bit scary.


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re: I'm Still Here

Posted by: LegitOnce 11:19 pm EST 01/20/14
In reply to: I'm Still Here - BroadwayTonyJ 05:35 pm EST 01/20/14

In fact, De Carlo's role as Lily in The Munsters covers all three bases: a sloe-eyed vamp(ire) who is Eddie Munster's) mother... and, goodness knows, De Carlo's performance was pure camp.


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