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| re: But Winthrop is a kid | |
| Posted by: andPeggy 12:24 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
| In reply to: re: But Winthrop is a kid - MockingbirdGirl 09:11 am EST 12/29/21 | |
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| I agree that Jackman and Foster play younger, but Marie Mullen (Mrs. Paroo) very much looks her age at 68. For her to have a 10 year old child ... Unless, we believe that Winthrop is the love child of Marian and Old Miser Madison being raised as her brother to avoid scandal. Old Miser Madison leaving all the library books to Marian was his way of securing her future and the future of their child. J/K (kinda) |
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| re: But Winthrop is a kid | |
| Last Edit: Singapore/Fling 02:37 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 02:35 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
| In reply to: re: But Winthrop is a kid - andPeggy 12:24 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
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| Yes, you the nail on the head, in terms of the age Mullen presents as - if they had put Houdyshell in this role, I would more easily suspend disbelief, even though she’s the same age as Mullen. And your backstory might not be what’s happening in Music Man, but it does form the basis for a significant storyline in another musical that references the Golden Age (being a bit vague to avoid spoiling). | |
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| re: But Winthrop is a kid | |
| Posted by: mikem 12:40 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
| In reply to: re: But Winthrop is a kid - andPeggy 12:24 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
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| If Marie Mullen does not appear on stage to be someone who could plausibly be the biologic mother of a 10-year-old (and a 68-year-old in that time period is not plausible), that's interesting casting, especially since Mullen is extremely talented but not a box office draw. To cast her seems to indicate that the audience is not supposed to believe that she is the biologic mother of Winthrop. I have not seen the production and I do not know what the production wants us to believe instead. |
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| re: But Winthrop is a kid | |
| Posted by: Ann 05:37 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
| In reply to: re: But Winthrop is a kid - mikem 12:40 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
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| She had to plausibly be the mother of Winthrop and a woman however old you think Sutton Foster. Or it's all fun and not plausible. |
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| re: But Winthrop is a kid | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 09:06 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
| In reply to: re: But Winthrop is a kid - Ann 05:37 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
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| I've always had trouble keeping in mind that Mrs. Paroo is not Winthrop's grandmother - even when I know that's not the case. It's the same with Annie Get Your Gun - very tough to remember that the kids are Annie's siblings, not her own kids. I wonder if it also may be because Mrs. Paroo is usually played with at least a bit of an Irish accent - making her seem more "old world" than her very American-sounding daughter, and in a cast where no one else really ever seems to have foreign accents. That's fact shouldn't be related to age, but somehow it does always give me the impression that Mrs. Paroo is more grandmotherly. It probably also doesn't help that we tend to make a pair out of Winthrop and Amaryllis much more than we really see Winthrop and Marian being brother and sister. |
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| The Marian-as-birth-mother argument lives on. | |
| Posted by: Delvino 07:09 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
| In reply to: re: But Winthrop is a kid - Ann 05:37 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
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| This counter narrative that Marian is Winthrop's birth mother will never leave us. But it seems unlikely that this production, conceived like the successful Dolly to restore the vestiges of a golden era of musical theater, would be working with an entirely subtextural piece of origin story revision. In other words, seeking an older Mrs. Paroo to tell the audience that Marian had a child with the departed town miser seems a leap. They want us to think "He left all of the books to her," and with child? And this Foster Marian operates with that level of deception? I don't see the Jackman-Zaks collaboration enforcing such a subterranean plot revelation. But this exposes the original sketch of the character. Fun to read anyway. "Marian’s character sketch is seven pages long and gives a ton of backstory; however, it lists her name as Marian Maddy and is very evidently an early draft. Her last name is Maddy here because Old Miser Madison was originally her father, who then left her his books. Despite being an early draft, some details ring true for the final version of the character: “Marian might easily have succumbed to a life of quiet desperation had she not had Melvin Maddy’s legacy of books…These books were Marian’s life and the substance of her dreams.” |
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| Link | WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT MARIAN THE LIBRARIAN |
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| re: The Marian-as-birth-mother argument lives on. | |
| Last Edit: jo 11:07 pm EST 12/30/21 | |
| Posted by: jo 11:05 pm EST 12/30/21 | |
| In reply to: The Marian-as-birth-mother argument lives on. - Delvino 07:09 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
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| Thanks for the link. It also gave the link on the character notes for Harold Hill, especially on Page Six of the Hill notes. Quite a different look - and makes sense as to how some have described Jackman's interpretation of the role. |
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| Link | https://api.historyit.com/iiif/2/5ae8f072695922.51531174/59c288522ab139.34492925.jpg/full/!5000,5000/0/default.jpg |
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| re: The Marian-as-birth-mother argument lives on. | |
| Posted by: Ann 07:31 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
| In reply to: The Marian-as-birth-mother argument lives on. - Delvino 07:09 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
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| "... Marian had a child with the departed town miser seems a leap" Sadder but wiser indeed. |
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| re: The Marian-as-birth-mother argument lives on. | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 01:40 pm EST 12/30/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The Marian-as-birth-mother argument lives on. - Ann 07:31 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
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| Willson had a lot of problems fleshing out Marian's character. Towards the end of rewrites he realized that he had based the character on his mother. Marian as Winthrop's birth mother is an idea of people with too much time on their hands. | |
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| re: The Marian-as-birth-mother argument lives on. | |
| Posted by: Ann 02:22 pm EST 12/30/21 | |
| In reply to: re: The Marian-as-birth-mother argument lives on. - NewtonUK 01:40 pm EST 12/30/21 | |
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| It doesn't take that much time to have the thought. | |
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| re: But Winthrop is a kid | |
| Posted by: Pokernight 01:27 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
| In reply to: re: But Winthrop is a kid - mikem 12:40 pm EST 12/29/21 | |
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| Oh, the shame of it. Could Marian be someone in the Hester Prynne category? | |
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