| I loved your analysis. I would only argue that a major flaw of the book of MERRILY, and maybe even some of the score (at least one song of it, anyway), is that Charley's constant wheedling and condemnation of Frank for "selling out" is laid on way too thick and is sometimes presented in a way that makes Charley seem irrational-- as in that weird moment when he freaks out after hearing that Frank has worked out a deal for a film version of a musical that Charley and Frank wrote together. This sends Charley off the deep end, because work on that film will prevent work on the other, passion-project musical that the team has been planning to complete for years. Yes, I would say it makes some sense for Charley to be upset about the film for that reason, at least to a certain degree, but.....come on! He's still going to get a MOVIE VERSION of a musical that he co-wrote. So I would say his reaction is a bit much, to put it mildly. |
