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| re: AGREE that Michael John LaChiusa should re-visit MARIE CHRISTINE | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 06:26 pm EDT 04/17/20 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 06:26 pm EDT 04/17/20 | |
| In reply to: AGREE that Michael John LaChiusa should re-visit MARIE CHRISTINE - GrumpyMorningBoy 10:42 am EDT 04/17/20 | |
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| Ha thank you, GMB. I'm not entirely sure I agree that the thing about Dante that needs to be rewritten is that he needs to be more likable. Why does the audience need to root for him? We are trying to root for Marie -- the challenge is how you feel by the end when she's made these awful horrific choices but as a result of a story of betrayal from an ego-maniacal manipulative man. (it's funny that Audra played Sarah in Ragtime who buried her baby alive as a reaction to her man leaving her, and everyone is fine with sympathizing, and then she plays Marie who kills her kids too after a series of worse and knowing betrayals and she's a monster -- I mean, they both are, ha!) The tragedy is not that she lost this love, it's that she lost herself... and as a result loses her mind and life and children. Perhaps he needs to be more charming in act one so we might be more fully on board for how much she gives herself to him by the end of act 1, but act 2 dante is a snake and needs to be. Or perhaps we need to understand more thoroughly why a woman like Marie might fall so readily for Dante and do what she ends up doing to her brother to run away with him. Act 1 was never my issue in this show. And I absolutely adore some of the Dante stuff like "We're Gonna Go to Chicago" and "I Don't Hear the Ocean"... and the more i listen the more i like "Danced with a Girl", but I'm sure it could replaced with something more compelling or charming. But the stuff where we first get to know him like "The Storm" and "Nothing Beats Chicago"... these are notably lacking the ingredients that makes so much of the score, especially the stuff for the women, so incredibly alive and interesting and dynamic. There's also the awkward fumbling "You're Looking at the Man"... ugh. "Your Name" works as it is and where it is but I am curious if a strong song could be written for this moment in the show. I like it but I wonder. I mean it's basically him talking at a gradually increasing speed, with very good percussion under him. "Better and Best" is weird and creepy enough to work for me, and "Good Looking Woman" is very upsetting while also having a nice tune (almost wish the niceness of the tune were hit harder to make it more disturbing as a mix of hateful threatening lyrical beats and an old fashioned nice tune)... it's very effective so that feels right. But it's not just Dante. I think almost all the stuff written for Marie's brothers brings the show down - their musicalized section at the ball, "No Turning Back". The score has such an indelibly unique feels and sound, I don't want that screwed with, but I think 25% of the score could use a re-think or re-jigger. But like I said, even as is... it's a fantastic show that deserves to be produced. There are shows that are far less interesting and more lackluster or poorly written being produced all the time, and I don't just mean mainstream ones I mean smaller lesser known shows. And this is a show for mostly actors of color, so I'm especially surprised it doesn't get more love now. |
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