| re: Reviewing the situation: Should those 'Oliver!' touches be credited to Onna White? | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 10:04 pm EDT 05/06/23 | |
| In reply to: re: Reviewing the situation: Should those 'Oliver!' touches be credited to Onna White? - WaymanWong 09:38 pm EDT 05/06/23 | |
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| I know that Alan has mentioned here before, and I completely agree, that Act II of Kiss Me Kate is dramatically, a mess, in that after the "Where Is The Life" scene, there seems to be absolutely no "Shrew" show going on onstage. So, indeed, how the gangsters find themselves "trapped" on the empty stage, with no show going on, is never explained, and makes no sense. But, we also know that Porter was used to writing under much "looser" conditions where the plot could easily have taken a backseat to a song like this - simply for the sake of showing off his lyric dexterity. Alan will probably know the quote more readily, but Porter as much as stated that he wasn't sure if he could write "true to his fashion" (lol) now that Rodgers and Hammerstein had set the bar higher with their new integrated shows. But clearly he wasn't all that concerned. There are also some fun quips in the original published script that make it clear that not everything was meant to be in the service of the plot. On the ensemble's song "We Sing Of Love," it says "this number gives us time to change to the next scene." And about "Too Darn Hot," it says "we must assume that it's never too hot to dance." Though, my favorite specific stage direction can be found in the original published score, during the beautifully orchestrated instrumental interlude to Lilli's version of "So In Love" - simply "Lilli moves about the stage." :-) |
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| Previous: | re: Reviewing the situation: Should those 'Oliver!' touches be credited to Onna White? - WaymanWong 09:38 pm EDT 05/06/23 |
| Next: | re: Reviewing the situation: Should those 'Oliver!' touches be credited to Onna White? - PlayWiz 12:08 am EDT 05/07/23 |
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