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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:00 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Delvino 09:13 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| "Damn, but your post says what no one will say: there's something really self-indulgent about a show that presents inconvenience as a dramatic premise. I was laughing out loud at your synopsis because it's spot on. Planes land, people wait. Oh, the humanity. Okay. Meanwhile, back in NYC. Acquiring patience wasn't a first order of business. " All I can say is that you and Chazwaza have a very different perspective on the dramatic situation of COME FROM AWAY than a lot of other people do. Have you actually thought about the state of mind of the people who were stuck on those planes and then stuck in Gander, and how you might have felt if you were one of those people? As for your odd remark "Meanwhile, back in NYC," I don't understand your meaning, since COME FROM AWAY is pointedly not about the stories of people who were at the site of the tragedy. Do you think only those stories are worth telling? Are you uninterested in any play or movie about World War II that's not about soldiers in the midst of battle? I just don't get it. |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: ryhog 12:34 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Michael_Portantiere 11:00 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| There are a million shows, films, books etc about collateral WWII stories. Some are wonderful, some awful and many in between. And naturally, people don't all find the same resonance in them. I think you can apply the same notions to CFA. For me, it was pretty flat-footed on almost every level (book, music, lyric, staging etc) Others found a lot more to enjoy than I did. At its core I thought this was about as deep as a Lifetime movie, and about as well written. Imagine for a moment what Spielberg (someone who has told a lot of small stories on a large canvas) would have done differently here. | |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 08:44 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - ryhog 12:34 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| To that end, one of my favorite WWII movies is "A League of Their Own" (which would make for a great musical, actually). And I have many friends who think of "Die Hard" as a Christmas film (which would actually kind of make for an amazing Ivo Van Hove play, if you sort of picture it the right way). |
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| Christmas stories. | |
| Posted by: Delvino 09:07 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Singapore/Fling 08:44 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| I always watch "Lion in Winter" at Christmas. It is, ultimately, a holiday story. | |
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| I knew I liked you! | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 09:13 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: Christmas stories. - Delvino 09:07 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| A great tradition. No "Wonderful Life" here! Laura |
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| re: I knew I liked you! | |
| Posted by: ryhog 10:12 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: I knew I liked you! - showtunetrivia 09:13 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| "For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground. And tell sad stories of the (almost) death of (almost) kings." | |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: Ann 11:50 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Michael_Portantiere 11:00 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| They aren't the only two people who feel that way. Have you actually thought about the state of mind of the people who were stuck on those planes and then stuck in Gander, and how you might have felt if you were one of those people? I've thought about that - and I don't feel I was really shown the state of mind of the people who were there. I know how I was in the four days after 9/11, even not being in New York or a resident of New York - obsessed with the horror of what happened, wanting to talk about what the attack meant for this country and how the president was going to react, and how the world would change going forward. It's all I thought and talked about. Except for a few instances, I feel what they were feeling was downplayed, and I constantly thought about this while I was watching the show. The play, to me, is about what the people of Gander did that week - and they pulled off an amazing feat in accommodating thousands of sudden visitors - but that wasn't enough for me (and, though that town's details are interesting, I think most people would also do whatever they could to help). They were there for less than four days, well taken care of, and even entertained - yes, I'm sure they wanted to get back to their families, but their hardship must be weighed against that of others that week. I think it's fine to disagree on this (or any, for that matter) show, and the numbers on any one side don't matter. Just putting my two cents on the virtual table. |
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| re: thank you | |
| Posted by: kidmanboy 12:43 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Ann 11:50 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| Thanks for that spot on assessment of how this show made me feel. So many of my own feelings that day were brought up by the show and left completely unexplored. In fact, it seems the characters that had stronger reactions and more emotional stories were pushed to the sidelines (the firefighter's mother and the Muslim chef). And it all makes me wonder how so many are calling this a "feel-good" musical. |
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| re: thank you | |
| Posted by: Delvino 02:02 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: thank you - kidmanboy 12:43 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| "In fact, it seems the characters that had stronger reactions and more emotional stories were pushed to the sidelines (the firefighter's mother and the Muslim chef).." I've heard this from several friends. Full disclosure: all New Yorkers (as am I). |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: Delvino 11:44 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Michael_Portantiere 11:00 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| People adore this show. It's struck deep chords, it moves hundreds eight times a week. It doesn't need my vote. But this is a theater board, and I add my thoughts because I find its narrow focus an odd one. It isn't because I expect one 90 minute musical to make definitive statements about 9/11, or that I expect war stories to be boilerplate. I do not grasp why these grounded planes are the stuff of drama. It's just my reaction. I've even re-framed most of my postings as based on the album and seeing multiple clips. As I've noted, I've been posting on this piece since I started to listen to the complete score. A number of people chimed in with similar reservations. This new weighing in has grown out of a question, "Why didn't this win the Tony?" I didn't open a new thread to denigrate something beloved by so many, merely to respond to a worthwhile query. When I see the show in early September, I will absolutely eat every syllable if I change my opinion. I've done it here before. |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 12:36 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Delvino 11:44 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| Thanks for elucidating. For the record, I like but don't love the show or the score, but regardless, I personally can't relate to your perspective that the content is not the stuff of drama -- and I'm surprised you feel that way, since you make the point that of course you don't expect one musical to make definitive statements about 9/11, etc. If the show had attempted to do such a thing, I think that would have been a huge mistake. So, to me, the narrow focus (if you want to put it that way) is both appropriate and ultimately very effective. But it is interesting to hear other perspectives/opinions even if I don't share them. | |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: ashleylm 01:43 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Michael_Portantiere 12:36 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| I personally can't relate to your perspective that the content is not the stuff of drama I was a plane person--not in Gander, but in Minneapolis--and I can guarantee that while my experience was not nearly as dramatic as losing friends and loved ones in 911, the experience was much more than a passing inconvenience. It was the worst week of my life. I had just left New York, that wonderful place, and this senseless horror was happening, and I couldn't get home, and I couldn't get home, and I couldn't get home ... and it felt like World War Three was about to start ... the borders were closed, the trains were stopped, the flights weren't running, there were no rental cars to be had for love or money (I thought about buying a car just so I could start driving back to Canada!) ... I'm still not over it, and came close to not seeing Come From Away because I was afraid I couldn't handle it--but for the most part, I could. For this, this is definitely the stuff of drama. |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: oddone 06:14 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - ashleylm 01:43 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| I was also stranded on 9/11 - in Juneau, Alaska. So no option other than planes for getting back to NYC. (Juneau is only accessible via boat or plane). I wouldn't say it was the worst week of my life, but it wasn't fun. It felt like being on the moon, watching everything and everyone you care about go through something, and you're isolated all by yourself. And watching all the tourists come through on their cruise ships, and watching the people in town only vaguely pay attention to news about NYC and DC - it was pretty surreal. I HATED Come From Away. It certainly didn't capture what my experience felt like, although then again, there weren't 7000 of us there. But that isn't the biggest reason for why i didn't like the show. I do agree that it lacked drama - it presented the whole experience as a minor inconvenience, and it isn't like there is any question about whether or not they would get to go home. So the dramatic stakes are pretty low. No tension, etc. There was next to no character development. And lots of other problems. Don't get me started on the racist joke with the "Spanish-speaking" gym teacher. But the biggest reason I don't like this show is because it's all ersatz sentimentalism. It's easy feeling that claims to "teach" valuable lessons about living with difference or something, when it fact it does nothing of the sort. |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 03:00 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - ashleylm 01:43 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| Thanks for your post, ashleylm. Over the years, I have spoken with several New Yorkers who became stranded in cities outside of the city during the tragedy, and I've always found there stories and experiences as compelling in their own way as the stories of those who were here (myself included) and/or directly affected. Tragedies affect people in different ways, due to any number of variables. I could be wrong, but I think the issue in this discussion is not that some people find no drama in the situation of the plane people PER SE (though it may have seemed like that's what they were stating), but rather that they don't feel the situation is well dramatized in COME FROM AWAY. |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: Delvino 09:12 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Michael_Portantiere 03:00 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| "I could be wrong, but I think the issue in this discussion is not that some people find no drama in the situation of the plane people PER SE (though it may have seemed like that's what they were stating), but rather that they don't feel the situation is well dramatized in COME FROM AWAY." This was my contribution: choice of characters, and character's issues mined, and the execution of the resulting stakes excavated. For what it's worth, I've found this entire discussion to be a very thoughtful and well argued one. I've learned a lot about both this show, and the universal experience that's greater than what happened in Gander. Which "Come From Away" seeks to illuminate. And, once again, been required to examine how musicals work, and why some work for some audience members and not others. |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 09:14 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Delvino 09:12 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| Well said! Laura |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: Ann 03:06 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Michael_Portantiere 03:00 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| Right - I got a lot more from ashleylm's description than from most of the characters as portrayed in the show. | |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 05:00 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Ann 03:06 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| "Right - I got a lot more from ashleylm's description than from most of the characters as portrayed in the show." Gotcha. I think the creators of COME FROM AWAY purposely avoided anything that might be viewed as emotionally manipulative or too heavy or tear jerking, but they may have gone too far in that direction for some people's tastes, including yours. |
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| re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical | |
| Posted by: kidmanboy 12:58 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Come From Away: The Mountain out of a molehill Musical - Michael_Portantiere 12:36 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| I actually think it does set itself up as a story of that day, which is part of my issue. Isn't delved deeper into the characters in Gander, I wouldn't care that it didn't focus on the totality of the events of the day. But it's factual and chronological storytelling makes me miss the other aspects of the story it is not touching. | |
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