Skip to main content

Witches on Broadway

Last year, at this time, I wrote about ghosts and the Broadway musical. (Show tunes seem to make a great deal of space for ghosts; see Thuy in "Miss Saigon," Fantine in "Les Miz," Cinderella's Mother in "Into the Woods," the son in "Next to Normal," and so on.)

This Halloween, my thoughts are turning to witches, and to their importance on Broadway. Everyone first thinks of Elphaba, which is fine, but let's also recall Sondheim's Witch (along with his proto-Witches, Rose and Mrs. Lovett), Ursula the Sea Witch, and Morticia Addams.

Also, if we're thinking of a witch as a woman with supernatural powers, how about these nominees:

(4) Fruma Sarah, in "Fiddler" (From beyond the grave: I'll come to her by night....I'll take her by the throat.....)

(3) Papa Ge, in "Once on This Island," played by a woman in the most recent B'way revival (Arrogant fool.....think you can hold back death? This boy is mine....I am his dying breath!)

(2) Celie, in "The Color Purple" (In an unpersuasive Act Two scene, Celie seems to call down a curse on her oppressor, and the curse seems to work.....and, as I recall, there are otherworldly bats!)

(1) The Spider-Woman, Kander and Ebb (And the moon grows dimmer....at the tide's low ebb....and your breath comes faster....and you're aching to move....but you're caught in the web.....)

One main observation I'd like to offer, in closing: All witches should be played by Donna Murphy, all the time.

Happy Halloween.
 
P.S. Yes, oops! I omitted Elsa, from "Frozen" --! 

P.P.S. Marie Christine!

P.P.P.S. Morgan le Fay -- in "Camelot" .......
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel  Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in  Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's  Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When
3 comments
Read more

Dad Diary

 When babies are very tiny, a fair portion of the day is just napping/cuddling. But if your charges are two and four, things become sort of acrobatic. A big influence for me is Roz Chast, who has written extensively about her experience as a parent. She says that her own mother would often report, "I'm not your friend." And this drove her batty, such that she took on a different motto with her own kids: "I'm both your parent and your friend." It's a tricky sentence. You have to commit to one role over the other--at times. It's so wearying to say, "We don't eat a cupcake at 2:30 PM," just knowing your sentence is going to land on deaf ears, and that there will be tears, tears, and more tears. Another source of help for me is the Roz Chast set of "Bad Mom Trading Cards." She has taken her worst parenting moments and turned them into "collectibles." One example: "The day you run out of orange juice, so you offer or
4 comments
Read more

Curb Your Enthusiasm

  The cliche about writing is that you should write for yourself; write the story that you would want to read. But so many writers struggle with this. So much material seems committee-tested, pandering. Then there is Larry David. Here is an extraordinary recent scene from "Curb Your Enthusiasm." A group of friends has opted to dine at a Chinese restaurant. One friend discloses that he is dating a powerful executive at Disney. Now things become surprising--and somehow inevitable. The bawdiest friend discloses that he would like to fuck Tinkerbell. "She's so sexy, she'd bop over...wink at me....I'd put her in my pocket....." (Art gets at the truth--and the Tinkerbell in Disney's "Peter Pan" is bizarrely, inappropriately sexy. How often is this discussed?) As if things can't get stranger, Larry David interrupts this discussion to observe a fish, in a decorative fish tank. The fish is clearly stuck to a filter. But the host doesn't want
Post a Comment
Read more