To me, it doesn't so much need a new book as a return to the script of "The Barretts of Wimpole Street." Because I only knew that script, and because the songs seemed to follow it, I always figured the show was a kind of chamber musical. But I got the musical's script recently, and it seems that in the best intentions of opening the musical up to beyond Elizabeth Barrett's bedroom, the script goes too far. But, again, that's only my view.
And what the hell does Elizabeth sing at the end of "Woman and Man?" That's the reason I chased down the script -- I wanted to know, and I think I've asked here before. But what's scripted and what seems to be sung are very different. I'm pretty well fine through the final "Dark is the Night and wild is the weather. Women and man are thought of together. Cynics can laugh and say love is a lie. "But the heart is a thought that a woman will never know?" Is that the last line? Is that the last word? Help appreciated. |
