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re: I Think It's Fine

Posted by: Chromolume 12:11 am EDT 08/17/14
In reply to: I Think It's Fine - enoch10 11:43 pm EDT 08/16/14

it's what the musical is about.

I might debate that. It's certainly how the musical ends - but is it really what the body of the musical is literally about? I'm not trying to play a semantics game - but let's keep in mind that Leo isn't sentenced to die until the end of Act I. (In fact, once could even make a case that for anyone unfamiliar with the Leo Frank case - and I'm sure there are many people to whom that applies - the noose image could even be a spoiler of sorts.)

I'm not saying Leo's hanging isn't ultimately a crucial part of the story. But I'm not sure I'd say the show (as a whole, including all of Act I) is "about" that. It's just one element of the plot.


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re: I Think It's Fine

Posted by: enoch10 12:14 am EDT 08/17/14
In reply to: re: I Think It's Fine - Chromolume 12:11 am EDT 08/17/14

>> I'm not trying to play a semantics game -

i'll take your word for it.

i'm not interested in debating how many percentage points of the play validate "what the play is about". imprecise or not, i stand by what i said. certainly you're welcome to see it differently.


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re: I Think It's Fine

Posted by: Chromolume 04:17 am EDT 08/17/14
In reply to: re: I Think It's Fine - enoch10 12:14 am EDT 08/17/14

I would also say there are of course specific smaller "abouts" (as there are in any story) - the hanging, anti-Semitism (and racism in general), murder and rape, a huge court trial, the mystery of the whole case in general, etc - but to me, I think the overall "about" as it's set up by Brown and Uhry is how a very set, traditional, unyielding society reacts to an outsider. I think songs such as "How Can I Call This Home" set this relationship right from the beginning (with the actual opening "Old Red Hills" sequence setting up the unforgiving world of the post-war South), and it's this feel of the outsider against the community that drives the story for me. Inasmuch as the plot is about the incidents leading to Phagan's death, the trial. and Frank's lynching, to me the more overarching "about" is the community versus the outsider.

And yes, we can all see the show in different ways. ;-)


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