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| It's all gone backwards | |
| Last Edit: Singapore/Fling 07:50 pm EDT 08/25/22 | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 07:49 pm EDT 08/25/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I think there is a conundrum... the one I laid out. ;) - Chazwaza 06:04 pm EDT 08/25/22 | |
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| I've only had the chance to see the revised version, so I can't really compare that to the original text. And I do agree that the current form is very much a soap opera, which is one of the main reasons why the characters become rather one-dimensional except when they sing. Meeting people at a low point can be interesting, but generally when that happens, we're given a crash course on how they reached that point, and we're also given facets of them that are appealing/redeeming, so that we can understand who they were at their best. In the current "Merrily", we don't really get that - we just get people being mean to each other for 30 minutes. But then, I also don't buy the central tragedy of this current Merrily, which softens my sympathy for all of them. Despite what Mary and Charly believe, Frank was never that deep or compelling of a writer (in this version), nor is his turn to Hollywood such a hollow, shallow betrayal of his abilities ("Rich and Happy" made the case for that when the movie was bad and Frank was high on fame, but "That Frank" tells us the movie is potentially pretty good and Frank has achieved his goals). Frank's a fine writer of popular musicals who has become a fine maker of popular films and also discovered happiness to boot... and his best friends are angry at him? They're bitter because he, what, is enjoying his life? It's a tough pill to swallow, and I don't think Furth's reliance upon easy laughs (What do I do? I *really* drink) provides the gravitas that the show would need to pull me in to their problems. So in that sense, when we finally get to Beth in the new version, she's a sigh of relief, because she is the first adult I've seen on stage who has emotional maturity and an ability to handle her own problems. |
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| re: It's all gone backwards | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 05:43 am EDT 08/26/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 05:42 am EDT 08/26/22 | |
| In reply to: It's all gone backwards - Singapore/Fling 07:49 pm EDT 08/25/22 | |
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| I think that you should seek out the original, which is all I can say on that. For all the issues the book had originally, I think they made the characters less dimensional in the revision. I also think a strength of the original book is that it does *not*, to my memory of my experiencing it, give you a crash course on how they got there... it sets up the question of how and then, you know, spends two hours working backwards to show you through scenes and songs. Opening on the graduation I think helped enormously with how the show and tone and characters get introduced and how the audience is eased into the jolting concept of how the story will be told who the people we are going to spend 2/3 of the play with before the become wonderful and in no way irredeemable personalities. I also think there are aspects to the graduation opening that were changed in or for previews that helped even more. And your example of "That Frank" vs "Rich and Happy" is spot on, not to mention that as a song TF pales in comparison to R&H, and a great microcosm of how shortsighted the rewrites were. And while I am basically in favor of the entire original vs the revisions, there are things I like in the revisions... I do quite like "Growing Up", though I'm not sure that it feels like the same score (even though it's based on the same stuff), which maybe is the point and makes it work even more. But I don't like all the Gussie stuff that comes with it, so it's an imbalance. It's so sad to me that George Furth preferred people see this show with this revised script, if anything I think his work comes off notably worse. Not to mention how much they throw out the window any good will or credit they win with an audience, or just the impact of the youth juxtaposition, when the show is performed, as originally intended, with a young cast and the energy and vibe of that to juxtapose the sourness of the people and circumstances. From the major to the minor of the conceptualization and execution of the rewrites, it's just such a mistake to me, even if there maybe have been 25% of it that were improvements or great additions/edits. But I have to guess that I'd review the versions and say 25% is being generous. |
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| re: It's all gone backwards | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 12:55 pm EDT 08/26/22 | |
| In reply to: re: It's all gone backwards - Chazwaza 05:42 am EDT 08/26/22 | |
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| It's so sad to me that George Furth preferred people see this show with this revised script, if anything I think his work comes off notably worse. I tend to wonder if it was all much more a very complicated ugly emotional reaction to the process and reception of the original show, than a preference for the revision. |
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