Last night I went to see a local stage production of Music Man. The choreography was amazing, especially in scenes like the Fourth of July celebration which always seemed to drag a little in the video but suddenly made sense when I saw it on stage. The one thing I did have trouble with was the romance. Marion was perfect in her initial disgust of the professor and in her later love for him, but the change between the two seemed abrupt. I suspect a lot of the abruptness has to do with when the play was written.
The show did get me thinking about how stories translate in different mediums -and the way art speaks different languages. For example, my music major friends actually understand the ending of An American in Paris while I always go "yeah, but if they just skipped that big song and dance number they could show the rival guy releasing the girl from her engagement, and the whole story would make more sense." (Then when I add that if they shortened a few other songs and skipped that one with the piano player it would solve a lot of pacing problems, I get the sad looks reserved for one who has just missed the entire point of the movie.) My music major friends can see the correlation between the music, the dance, and the emotional turmoil. For them the story truly does rise to a climax and resolution.
It's a bit like Gary Chapman's Love Languages. Maybe people have `soul languages' and that's why there are so many different types of art.
I think you may have a point there, Sounds like you agree with a former neighbor's young son when we loaned her "The King and I." He wanted her to fast-forward thru all the songs to find out how it ended. That kind of ignores that musical theater is all about how the music interacts with the story. {Smile}
ReplyDeleteI take it you do better with non-musical plays? If my hearing loss didn't mess up understanding what the characters are saying, I might love that, too. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
I actually really like musicals. I love the way the music and lyrics relate to the characters. What I don't like are climaxes that happen off-stage. They make me feel like I missed something, like maybe the CD skipped a track. It's really frustrating.
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