I think that Dr. Chabot in the movie may be married. I'm not sure, it's been a while since I've seen it.
Daisy and the doctor are together at the end of the show, not necessarily romantically involved but that seems possible, perhaps even likely, in the future. I think the problem is that the audience doesn't necessarily want them to be together at the end. She deserves someone better, someone less dense. He's so well educated and so intelligent, but he seems an idiot for not seeing what is enchanting about Daisy herself. This is arguably a show in which the cleverness of some of the lyrics undercuts our sense of who the characters are supposed to be. Daisy's lyrics in "Hurry! It's Lovely Up Here" give us a verbally clever woman. She's not that way in the dialogue, but if Mark hears her expressing herself that way, how can he not recognize her potential earlier?
I think the show is unfocused. Daisy has ESP, Daisy can make plants grow (is this because of her ESP?), Daisy has lived past lives. We spend time on her past life, but it's not really developed in any especially interesting way. If it were more developed, it might turn into something interesting, but then that dual focus would need to be more central. As is, the past-life scenes end before the end of act one.
Without wanting to sound too 2019, I think that if anything, Daisy should tell Dr. Bruckner that she doesn't need or want him. Through most of the show, she's in thrall to him and to Warren until she rebels from both. Let her discover that she no longer needs to base her life on the approval of some man, that she really is good enough on her own. In fact, she is better than either of them.
I think the time for fixing this show has passed. It would need a lot of rewriting, and I do think it would need new songs. Too many of the songs, however delightful and beautiful they may be, sound all too ready to be sung outside the show. So I think substantial rewriting, not slight tweaks, would be necessary to fix the show.
Anyway, these are just my feelings. |
