| re: Finally Watched SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 08:14 am EDT 06/17/20 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 08:12 am EDT 06/17/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Finally Watched SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT - AlanScott 11:58 pm EDT 06/16/20 | |
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| I found this post refreshingly honest, and I say that as a major fan of the show. It's one of my favorites. It's very hard to discuss Sondheim's verbal acuity vis a vis character texture with objectivity -- it's often "he's a master, get over it!" -- but he does sprinkle cleverness around rather (too) easily sometimes. Everyone ends up so smartly expressive and knowing, so I really take to heart your use of arch. I was 21 when "Night Music" opened, and I remember feeling (this is a youthful POV:) that parts of the show were aimed over the heads of the commercial audience. You couldn't fully absorb its cascade of rhymes and voiced wisdom -- hell, the vocabulary of its players -- and I remember noting the sort of formal statis in the staid opening trio of related songs. I had adored the album for a couple of months (saw it in late June of the year it opened) but could feel some impatience in the house. Two friends, now deceased, walked out at intermission, they found it so locked up and "smug," one said. So while I never felt that -- not even close -- I certainly heard it and respected their responses. I've shocked people in saying it strikes me as a difficult show to stage. One thing the dreary film reveals: a lot of the show is mostly constructed on people sitting in rooms and singing to one another. Simplistic, but it is my point about the show's baked in formality. When you see it performed by an opera company, you recognize that presentational component. It doesn't have much dance or even much movement to provide visual variety. That said, I don't love it any less. Still, I hear you. |
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