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Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler

Posted by: dramedy 02:58 pm EDT 03/16/14
In reply to: THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY - jmill 01:30 pm EDT 03/16/14

After she goes in the drug store, the musical should end. He should have written one final number for the three of them. She questioning if she made the right choice--take care of the kids or travel the world and Naples with the photographer, her husband wondering what happened that weekend but afraid to ask and possibly lose her, the photographer singing he always loved her and no one else and carried her picture with him until he died--looked at before dying. It could have been a very powerful closing song for all three with backup chorus and very satisfying ending. Instead we have a drawn out ending showing us the kids are successful--who cares, her husband growing old and dying--don't need to see it and the photographer retiring and asking about a phone call. Just a very boring ending to what could have been a really fine musical.

Maybe we need a bridges 2.0 like Scarlett pimpernel. They really need to change the ending if the want regional productions. This won't get a national tour and probably not a London production at this point.


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re: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler

Posted by: tpdc 08:22 pm EDT 03/16/14
In reply to: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler - dramedy 02:58 pm EDT 03/16/14

You keep writing this but you completely miss what the show is about with this suggestion. Just from a showbiz perspective it's a bad idea as it would rob the star of her final number and Pasquale of his 11:00 number which got a very strong response from the audience when I saw it. A number like It All Fades Away doesn't ruin the end of the show.


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re: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler

Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 04:47 pm EDT 03/16/14
In reply to: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler - dramedy 02:58 pm EDT 03/16/14

Another advantage of doing it the way you suggest, dramedy, is that the roles of Francesca's children could have been cast with actors who either are or look like teenagers, rather than with actors who really don't look like teenagers because they also have to play those characters as middle-aged. (In the movie, there were two sets of actors for the children when they were young and when they were much older.)


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re: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler

Posted by: Ann 03:20 pm EDT 03/16/14
In reply to: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler - dramedy 02:58 pm EDT 03/16/14

I think the point being made may be that she chose her family over running away, so how the family turned out is important. She was there for all those steps in the lives of her husband and children.

I felt the ending went on a little long, but I didn't find it boring and it does fit with the rest of the show - I can't see how the ending would prohibit regional, touring and other productions.


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re: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler

Posted by: Chromolume 09:07 pm EDT 03/16/14
In reply to: re: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler - Ann 03:20 pm EDT 03/16/14

I can't see how the ending would prohibit regional, touring and other productions.

Agreed. I found that prediction a bit odd too.


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re: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler

Posted by: Kaoru 06:22 pm EDT 03/16/14
In reply to: re: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler - Ann 03:20 pm EDT 03/16/14

I wasn't interested at all how the children turned out. And that's because, as I wrote before, the children don't seem like teenagers so that Kelli looked like their sister, not mother, so I really didn't feel that Francesca's decision to stay was organic or real. If I could have seen the strong bonding between the kids and the mother, I might want to see the current ending.


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re: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler

Posted by: Ann 06:43 pm EDT 03/16/14
In reply to: re: Where rocky is saved by the last 20 minutes, bridges is ruined. Spoiler - Kaoru 06:22 pm EDT 03/16/14

Look like it or not (and I agree they look older, but not contemporaries of O'hara, in my opinion), I knew the characters were teenagers and she was their mother. If you're not willing or able to accept that, I guess none of it would make sense.

I don't know how her decision to stay wasn't real - she stayed. She stayed because of her children and her husband - whether they had a strong bond or not.


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