| re: it's one of the few flaws, for me, in Follies | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:24 pm EDT 08/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: it's one of the few flaws, for me, in Follies - babelijucy 12:49 pm EDT 08/06/17 | |
|
|
|
| Still, I still don't think that works. There is a reality set up in this show that includes when people dance, and I don't think the fact that they sing non-diegetically makes it less weird. Believe me, as someone who has taken any opportunity to defend musicals and the idea of characters breaking into song or dance to people who don't get it or assume they won't like it, and as perhaps one of the most ardent living fans of Follies under the age of 65, I have thought about this plenty. And I think that because no one else in Follies breaks into dance, despite it being a musical with the convention of them breaking into non-diegetic song, it just stands out too much. And I think because Follies is in some ways meta, and about the death of the musical, and because the writers and creators and stagers of it are some of the most brilliant people to ever create musical theater, I think it seems pretty clear when watching it that the truth must be what it actually is, which is that they had Gene Nelson and decided to utilize his dance skills. And again, that's amazing, and I'm not even saying I wish they hadn't... I just wish they'd justified it in text. I think it's the only time that the concept and rules of the musical Follies are broken or inconsistent, and I think it is therefor confusing in a way that is unnecessary and distracting. And even in a musical... if dance has not been established so one of the languages of expression used then it will be odd when one character only does it just once. Nowhere else in Follies, that I recall, is there even "light" choreography that isn't the characters recreating their old routines, a ghost, or a fantasy "follies" number. I think these worlds are very clearly conceived and drawn and I think the forego that for 1 dance section in 1 song by 1 actor is strange. However I do think the fact that it is done in private by 1 character does make it much less problematic than it would be if it were done in front of anyone (but weren't an old routine) or done with multiple people somehow knowing the choreography. |
|
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | re: it's one of the few flaws, for me, in Follies - babelijucy 12:49 pm EDT 08/06/17 |
| Next: | re: Prince tonight... - KingSpeed 11:43 pm EDT 08/05/17 |
| Thread: | |
Time to render: 0.007549 seconds.