The Fortress of Solitude- Page 2

[MusicAndPassion]

Posted: 10/18/14 at 9:47am

I thought the sets were excellent. And that the mother's performance was terrible.

I think this show needs to find a motif that works - liner notes could be its best possibility. It needs a clearer connection bringing us to the present day at the start of the second act. The book needs some fine tweeking, and perhaps move away from hinting at a sexual relationship between Mingus and Dylan and state it stronger.

I really enjoyed this show. I think it has major potential.

[Michael Kras]

Posted: 10/18/14 at 7:34pm

I'm a fan of Michael Friedman's music... he's a very catchy melodist.

My question is: Why are all of his songs so short? I don't think I've heard a Friedman song that topped 3 minutes, and most of them sit around 1-2 minutes.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/18/14 at 10:42pm

I agree! I love his music, some of his stuff for "gone Missing" is really great, but his songs are always JUST melody. There is never verse/chorus/verse/bridge, etc. It's just the same melody over and over and over again.

[macnyc]

Posted: 10/19/14 at 12:04pm

I liked the show a lot more than I expected to after reading this thread. I thought the music was catchy and served the story, and some of the performances were top-notch. I enjoyed the staging and choreography too. I haven't read the book, and from what I can gather, the musical doesn't follow the book that closely, particularly at the end. I'm not clear about what happened in the last couple of minutes, and because of that I didn't find the ending satisfying. If anyone could amplify, I sure would appreciate it.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 10/19/14 at 12:36pm

macnyc, the ending of the show is definitely not satisfying. Dylan puts the ring in the commissary envelope (something I'm almost positive could never happen) for Robert who uses it to fly (without ever being told how it works or what it does) and escape prison.

Not sure what else you want explained but I can try to answer any other questions you have.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/19/14 at 1:52pm

Yeah none of that was very clear.

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 10/19/14 at 1:55pm

Every time I read the title of this, I keep thinking I am going to be reading about a play about Superman. In fact, I don't think I will ever be able hear this title without getting utterly confused and thinking it's terribly misnamed.

Of course I haven't seen it but...

[macnyc]

Posted: 10/19/14 at 1:59pm

I remember seeing Robert walk across the stage while holding the ring and looking at it, but I thought he was still in prison. Thank you for the explanation! Even knowing that, you're right, the ending isn't satisfying. I wanted more of a resolution of Gus's story.

Kathy, the fortress of solitude in the title does refer to Superman, at least as far as I can tell.

Updated On: 10/19/14 at 01:59 PM

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 10/19/14 at 2:09pm

You were supposed to surmise that because Dylan and Mingus look up and you see the lights in the ceiling go off to denote flying. I'll agree that the show was probably pretty confusing without having read the book because they don't explicitly state most of the fantastical elements of the story. For instance, they make it seem like Dylan and Mingus can both fly at the same time which wouldn't be possible since you need to be wearing the ring to harness its power.

At least there is a reference to the Fortress of Solitude in one of the songs in the show. As far as I can remember there is no mention of it in the book and nary a mention of Superman.

Updated On: 10/19/14 at 02:09 PM

[macnyc]

Posted: 10/19/14 at 2:13pm

Spoilers!! A bit belated, I know. Sorry!

I do recall a discussion of Kryptonite, somehow in connection with Dylan's mother. Unless I was hallucinating.

The flashing lights were too subtle of a clue for me. Thanks for your help, Clyde!

Updated On: 10/19/14 at 02:13 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/19/14 at 3:12pm

I think that did happen. I think more of that magical realism and a focus on their relationship would have made the show stronger. I don't think we needed all the extraneous characters. And sure the mother's voice was terrible, but she still should have had a song or a bigger moment in the show since she made such an impact on his life. Why give the father a song when we know nothin about him.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 10/19/14 at 3:19pm

Abraham is more of a focus in the book. He spends every waking moment while Rachel is still there hand painting that film. After she leaves he starts drawing the sci-fi book covers to make ends meet even though he hates it. Abraham becomes kind of a big deal in the 90's portion of the book when he is a guest speaker at a convention where he finally screens the film for the first time. They make mention of his new wife Francesca in the play but she is more of a character in the book. I honestly forgot most of what happened in that portion because the book had lost my full attention.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/19/14 at 11:41pm

I saw this today with a friend and we both mostly enjoyed it, though had serious issues. It's messy, and the second act meanders and lacks the charm of the first, but I didn't find it boring. Neither of us had any familiarity with the novel, so perhaps that colored our opinions- particularly regarding the ring.

Both of us, independently of one another, compared the first act to Caroline, or Change, in the sense that it was largely sung period-evoking character piece that relied heavily on short, period-appropriate pastiche. However, I really just wanted a song. A 3 minute song. Not 10 1-minute songs in a musical sequence, or one 3-minute song cut up and served between 10 1-minute songs. And, unlike Caroline or Change, the characters are not well-defined aside from archetype- and most of the exposition is done fairly heavy-handedly by characters stepping out of the action to sing about themselves or others. Dylan's girlfriend in the second act is an egregious example. Her sole duty is to sing about Dylan's refusal to acknowledge the past, his collective tendencies, etc.- let's SEE those character traits she describes about him.

That being said, I quite liked the first act! I thought it did a wonderful job of evoking time and place. I thought the row of doors was wonderful visual shorthand for a neighborhood like Gowanus in the 70s.

The second act falls apart- it spends most of the time catching us up on stuff we basically already know, or stuff we didn't know because the second act takes place over 15 years after the end of the first (judging by the models of the cell phones). There seem to be very little stakes involved for Dylan, and the direction of the material seems to skew more toward half-hearted social commentary (gentrification, he prison system). We know so little about Dylan's mother, so her presence in the second act means very little- nor does his father's reclusive artistic eccentricity.

Now, about that ring: neither of us really thought it was truly magical. Both my friend and I thought it was part of two adolescent boys' fantastical games. I didn't see, considering the most they use it for is tagging stuff and that they both drop its use as they mature, good enough proof that it was anything actually "real." It seemed like fantasy, particularly the end which called back their younger selves reacting to someone "flying" (so vague that, considering they were 12, it could've had any number of mundane explanations).

Judging by the comments here, its magical properties are made explicit in the book. But, in the show, it didn't seem to me anything more than an object of great sentimental value elevated to something more in youthful fantasy.

That being said, why the hell would Dylan give the ring, magical or not, to Robert, an unrepentant bully and criminal?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/20/14 at 12:11am

That's what I'm saying. This would have been better had they boiled it down to one story instead of all this other stuff. Super curious to hear the reviews.

[inception]

Posted: 10/20/14 at 2:38am

"That being said, why the hell would Dylan give the ring, magical or not, to Robert, an unrepentant bully and criminal?"

They don't explain this well in the play and have changed the ending from the novel. To have it make sense the way it does on the book would entail adding more plot, not only about the ring, but also more about Mingus' time in the prison system.

In the book,
SPOILERS


Mingus is trying to get through the last of his prison sentence without any problems. Robert ends up in the same prison, and is pulling all kinds of crap like trying to steal some of the drug mules controlled by more powerful prison gangs . Robert is in solitary for his own protection. Mingus is worried about the repercussions for himself of Robert's actions. So, when Dylan uses the ring to become invisible and break into the prison, thinking he will be doing good for Mingus by bringing him the ring so that he can break out of prison, Mingus refuses because he would rather just complete his sentence. Mingus asks Dylan to take the ring to Robert and help him escape so that Robert will be out of his hair. Dylan takes Robert the ring, and it is suggested that Robert knows of the ring being used for flight in the past, but Dylan does not inform Robert that it has lost that power and instead grants invisibility. Robert dies jumping off a prison wall thinking that he will be able to fly due to Dylan's omission.

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 10/20/14 at 11:15am

I saw yesterday's matinee and was blown away by Michael Friedman's score. Are there a few holes in the story or things I wish were elaborated? Yes, but I wouldn't want the show to be much longer.
However, Michael Friedman's score uses a musical vocabulary in a way nothing has since Caroline or Change. The music is specific to character, always specific to the time as the show moves through the decades, and always joyous to listen to. And in a story about a boy finding solace and purpose in music, it is the score that really rises above the rest of the shows ingredients.
As the lyric in the opening number says "everybody's singing a different song and if they all fit together then they can't be wrong."
I have to say, of all the musical theater composers writing today, Michael Friedman really sneaked up on me with this one. I always found him to be an excellent songwriter, but here he has written a score that is a cohesive whole - that is the real teller of the story. A messy story, yes (isn't life?) but I'll take a mess told to music like this any day.

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 10/20/14 at 11:17am

SPOILER:
I will also mention that I took the magic of the ring to be a complete boyhood fantasy as well. Nothing in the show led me to believe otherwise. In fact, I believe the scene with Mingus's father walking in on the two of them playing in the sheets makes the fantasy of this pretty clear.

[haterobics]

Posted: 11/1/14 at 7:37pm

Caught the matinee today and enjoyed it, despite the flaws. I did intend to read the novel prior to going, but didn't, so I was most confused about the ring, etc., as it enters the show, disappears against for most of it, and then re-appears toward the end of act two again. Thought the cast was superb.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/1/14 at 11:34pm

I have to disagree about the score.

I don't think the girlfriend's song in act 2 is very "Time specific." In fact it sounds a lot like his score for Love's Labour's Lost.

And the rap is pretty terrible.