| re: Problem with the "Story of Lucy and Jessie" | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 04:40 pm EDT 10/05/17 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 04:37 pm EDT 10/05/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Problem with the "Story of Lucy and Jessie" - peter3053 03:41 pm EDT 10/05/17 | |
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| It's a classic metaphor, the younger self and the older wiser one via aliases. It makes perfect sense to create two entirely different names rather than give them one. It's a clean divide. And it's probably the metaphor of the entire show, ultimately. "The Ben I'll never be/who remembers him?" The "him" placing the younger Ben's projection in the third person, is sounded early. The ghosts are the alternative selves, too. "Lucy/Jesse" was the 11 o'clock spot in the original, thanks to Bennett's staging (beautifully analyzed above, by the way -- the focus on the backs) and Smith's showcase (though she danced very little; mostly it's about her upper body). It doesn't stop the show in the same way now, even when it's solidly reverential, as the last edition was (though I liked it better in Washington), through no fault of Jan Maxwell. Does "Ah! But Underneath" do the same? The wordplay is brilliant. But the song doesn't have the same rhythmic build as "Lucy..." and it doesn't actually give the actor playing Phyllis a whole different set of tricks to reveal late in the show. When Alexis Smith appeared in the short dress, her legs exposed for the first time, she truly cut loose. It was a big moment for Phyllis and Smith. That hasn't been as true since, certainly not with "Ah! But..." I saw the original twice, and both times "Lucy and..." was the tied highlight of the show, after "Who's That Woman?" It was also the number depicted on one of the two national magazine covers. It functioned as a peak in the Loveland sequence. Now, with "Losing My Mind" the Sondheim standard, it has that other "it" factor as a known number. |
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| Previous: | re: Problem with the "Story of Lucy and Jessie" - peter3053 03:41 pm EDT 10/05/17 |
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