| re: WSS and Annie | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 11:40 pm EST 12/21/21 | |
| In reply to: re: WSS and Annie - StanS 11:21 pm EST 12/21/21 | |
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| Thanks, Stan. I think it's ok to agree to disagree. :-) In the stage show, I feel that Tony and Maria *experience* "Somewhere" (they're certainly part of the scene as it is sung) - I just objected to the idea that they "own" the song as you put it. For me, being very used to the stage version of the show, I feel it works that they hear it before they sing parts of it later, and the solo voice (in the original, young opera singer Reri Grist in the role of Consuelo) adds a certain universality to the song, so it's not *just* about Tony and Maria, but about anyone looking to escape the darkness of the world. And one of my favorite moments in the stage version is how this dream sequence unfolds, with the couple ultimately unable to escape, as the deaths of Riff and Bernardo are reenacted again. THEN they sing the end of Somewhere to each other, back in the grim reality, in Maria's room. I understand why the films didn't want to use the conceit of the dream ballet, but onstage I think it's a hugely effective moment. This film did keep some of the changes from the last one in terms of who sings what - keeping the men involved in "America" and Riff in "Krupke" (neither happens in the stage show), but they also made Tony the lead figure in "Cool," which was also a very different choice. Again, it's not something that would work in the stage version, but I thought that using the song to introduce the gun into the plot was an interesting twist. I would say that were WSS not a musical, I wonder if Maria would really feel prompted to *sing* anything to Tony as he lay dying. (It's also a fact that Bernstein wanted to musicalize Maria's monologue in that scene - I'm ultimately glad he didn't.) "Somewhere" certainly works in that moment if indeed she does sing, but I felt that her recalling her first sung promise to him also was very poignant in the moment. I'd compare it to something like Mimi in La Boheme recalling how she first met Rodolfo and the things they said to each other, moments before she dies. Interesting also that in this film, Tony doesn't try to join her in song. Perhaps that's also something that ultimately works better in the "suspension of disbelief" onstage than it does in the more naked reality of a movie scene. I'd love to know if they tried it and then realized it was more effective for him not to die singing in this context. |
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