Form matches content. Salty, earthy Anita knows more than head-in-the-clouds Maria. Maria's melodies are soaring--her words evoke thoughts of suns and moons--whereas Anita has her feet on the ground. Anita's melodic lines are short and choppy. "A boy like that will kill your brother. Forget that boy. Go find another." And: "Anita's gonna get her kicks, tonight...."
-Many stories unfold at once. Something beautiful and ethereal can become coarse or blunt in a new set of hands. "Tonight, tonight" becomes a sex song when Anita gets her paws on it. In my favorite moment, "Maria" takes on multiple meanings. It is lush and gorgeous when Tony sings it. But, at the gym dance, the lushness isn't there; the melody is pizzicato. Those plucked strings make you think of little hairs standing on end--and, maybe, you're actually having chills as this idea gets unveiled. The plucked strings seem to speak of anticipation and excitement and tension. Thrilling!
-I'm certain the writers of "Miss Saigon" borrowed from "West Side Story." How do you write about young lovers? You allude to planets and moons and stars. "Something's coming soon. Catch the moon. One-handed catch!" "What was once a world is a star." "Tonight there will be no morning star." Things are cosmic and rather vague: "There's a place for us....somewhere a place for us....Peace and quiet and open air..." It seems to me "Miss Saigon" does some stealing. "You are sunlight, and I'm moon, joined by the gods of fortune...Midnight and high noon..." WSS ends with "Somewhere," but now the melody seems devastating; we're reminded of how far these lovers *could have* gone. "Miss Saigon" ends with a reprise of "Sun and Moon": "How in the light of one night have we come so far?"
-Bernstein seems to borrow from Aaron Copland. Those long tones and wide intervals, in "Somewhere," make me think of certain dawn-has-arrived portions of "Appalachian Spring."
-For years, the 1 and 9 train, when starting up in any station, would make a certain whistle noise (without intention). The whistle--maybe air getting released from some valve?--would always replicate a famous interval from "Somewhere." "There's uuuuhhhhhhh place......(for us)...." I always liked to imagine that this was NYC's way of tipping a hat to Bernstein. (Though of course that's crazy.) Recently, NYC *did* tip a hat to Aretha Franklin. If you're at the Franklin stop, you'll notice MTA signs that say: "RESPECT."
-As Maria cradles her lover's corpse--a scene that electrified me when I was a lonely closeted boy in high school--there are actually two reprise-d numbers. First, you hear a wordless version of "I Have a Love," and now it seems a little bit murky, slow, insidious. Then: The Ending, a few bars from "Somewhere." The music seems to spell out, in an extraordinary way, Maria's dawning realization: "I'm alone now, and I'm changed." Words alone couldn't do this. Words-with-music might have been less effective than music alone. Bernstein understood this. It's an unbeatable ending.
-Famously, "West Side Story" lost its Tony Award to "The Music Man." It seems important to me that everyone knows this, just as everyone should know the name of the President, and the identities of at least several Supreme Court judges.
-On an unrelated note, Kristin Chenoweth returns to TV soon, in a tribute to "Wicked." Mark your planners. James Joyce says, if you want to write about a certain world, you require "exile, cunning, and silence." Chenoweth is a born artist. Part-Cherokee, adopted, raised by Euro-American parents, she is clearly a bit of an outsider, packaged in a beauty-queen frame. ("Outside the mainstream" -- whatever *that* means.)
Chenoweth is also a supreme weirdo. She pays attention. She sees things about human behavior that the rest of us miss, and then she reports back to us on her findings. When she is in a show, even if it is sacred classic ground, the creative team makes new material just for her. This happened with "Charlie Brown." It happened with "Promises, Promises." It will continue to happen. Long live Kristin Chenoweth!
*P.S. I've often wanted Chenoweth to try drama, not just comedy. I imagine she wants that, too--and has just been pigeon-holed by unimaginative producers. People seem surprised when comedic performers reveal their dramatic chops. Kristen Wiig, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy: They can do dramas, too! But why should this be surprising? Comedy is hard. If you can pull that off, it's likely you also have hidden depths. Here's hoping someone gives Chenoweth a shot--in this department.
-Many stories unfold at once. Something beautiful and ethereal can become coarse or blunt in a new set of hands. "Tonight, tonight" becomes a sex song when Anita gets her paws on it. In my favorite moment, "Maria" takes on multiple meanings. It is lush and gorgeous when Tony sings it. But, at the gym dance, the lushness isn't there; the melody is pizzicato. Those plucked strings make you think of little hairs standing on end--and, maybe, you're actually having chills as this idea gets unveiled. The plucked strings seem to speak of anticipation and excitement and tension. Thrilling!
-I'm certain the writers of "Miss Saigon" borrowed from "West Side Story." How do you write about young lovers? You allude to planets and moons and stars. "Something's coming soon. Catch the moon. One-handed catch!" "What was once a world is a star." "Tonight there will be no morning star." Things are cosmic and rather vague: "There's a place for us....somewhere a place for us....Peace and quiet and open air..." It seems to me "Miss Saigon" does some stealing. "You are sunlight, and I'm moon, joined by the gods of fortune...Midnight and high noon..." WSS ends with "Somewhere," but now the melody seems devastating; we're reminded of how far these lovers *could have* gone. "Miss Saigon" ends with a reprise of "Sun and Moon": "How in the light of one night have we come so far?"
-Bernstein seems to borrow from Aaron Copland. Those long tones and wide intervals, in "Somewhere," make me think of certain dawn-has-arrived portions of "Appalachian Spring."
-For years, the 1 and 9 train, when starting up in any station, would make a certain whistle noise (without intention). The whistle--maybe air getting released from some valve?--would always replicate a famous interval from "Somewhere." "There's uuuuhhhhhhh place......(for us)...." I always liked to imagine that this was NYC's way of tipping a hat to Bernstein. (Though of course that's crazy.) Recently, NYC *did* tip a hat to Aretha Franklin. If you're at the Franklin stop, you'll notice MTA signs that say: "RESPECT."
-As Maria cradles her lover's corpse--a scene that electrified me when I was a lonely closeted boy in high school--there are actually two reprise-d numbers. First, you hear a wordless version of "I Have a Love," and now it seems a little bit murky, slow, insidious. Then: The Ending, a few bars from "Somewhere." The music seems to spell out, in an extraordinary way, Maria's dawning realization: "I'm alone now, and I'm changed." Words alone couldn't do this. Words-with-music might have been less effective than music alone. Bernstein understood this. It's an unbeatable ending.
-Famously, "West Side Story" lost its Tony Award to "The Music Man." It seems important to me that everyone knows this, just as everyone should know the name of the President, and the identities of at least several Supreme Court judges.
-On an unrelated note, Kristin Chenoweth returns to TV soon, in a tribute to "Wicked." Mark your planners. James Joyce says, if you want to write about a certain world, you require "exile, cunning, and silence." Chenoweth is a born artist. Part-Cherokee, adopted, raised by Euro-American parents, she is clearly a bit of an outsider, packaged in a beauty-queen frame. ("Outside the mainstream" -- whatever *that* means.)
Chenoweth is also a supreme weirdo. She pays attention. She sees things about human behavior that the rest of us miss, and then she reports back to us on her findings. When she is in a show, even if it is sacred classic ground, the creative team makes new material just for her. This happened with "Charlie Brown." It happened with "Promises, Promises." It will continue to happen. Long live Kristin Chenoweth!
*P.S. I've often wanted Chenoweth to try drama, not just comedy. I imagine she wants that, too--and has just been pigeon-holed by unimaginative producers. People seem surprised when comedic performers reveal their dramatic chops. Kristen Wiig, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy: They can do dramas, too! But why should this be surprising? Comedy is hard. If you can pull that off, it's likely you also have hidden depths. Here's hoping someone gives Chenoweth a shot--in this department.
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