Barnes on Guettel's Music: In PIAZZA's defense...help!- Page 2

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 10:24am

"Loving You is by far the most bland and unoriginal of Sondheim's songs in the score"

I couldn't disagree more. I think the lyrics perfectly captured the desperation of someone completely obsessed. "This is why I live. You are why I live." It's haunting and poignant. The woman has nothing to lose, so she lays it all right on the line in a 90-second ballad that encapsulates her entire character. I didn't like the song the first time I heard it, but it has become one of my all-time favorites and I have sung it quite often (it's even gotten me some good jobs). At least half of Bounce and The Frogs is far more bland and unoriginal.

And for the record, Giorgio's love for Fosca doesn't come out of nowhere at all. He is slapped in the face by the realization that the one he truly loves will never love him enough to be with him and the one he never loved would gladly die for him even if it only for one night. For the first time, he learns about real love, which is unconditional, which is the love he had for Clara, but was ultimately unrequited. The moment Clara tells him she could never be with him, he can suddenly identify with Fosca and even admire her.

[Plum]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 10:32am

I disagree with Giorgio's reasons for falling in love with Fosca- I think it's love as an act of vanity- but I can see where it comes from. Anyway, I'm seeing Piazza tonight, and I can't wait to really have input in this discussion. :)

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 10:36am

Ick. I just find it icky.
"Oh, I've just been rejected by the woman I pine for, so I'll suddenly fling myself into the arms of the woman who stalks me and arranges events to always be around me."
Obsess much? It's not attractive and it doesn't make me feel for either character.

Now, I will say (back on track about Piazza) that I think it's the best score on Broadway in the past 4 or 5 years. I can't say any more than that without actually sitting down and listening to it and comparing it to scores going farther back. Certainly the last score to catch my attention and keep it with such force was LaChiusa's The Wild Party.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 10:41am

Unique and Artful scores like Piazza's are always going to have their skeptics. The same people who will call the show a masterpiece when it is revived in 20 years.

And back off my Passion Bwaysinger, I'll cut you.

[Plum]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 10:42am

Ah, but "icky" is the point, bwaysinger. Love is a disease, according to this show's way of thinking. Despite all the flowery language and sometimes humor he used to express it, Shakespeare thought the same thing. Passion is an illness as much as it is a blessing. No wonder Fosca, to whom good health is a foreign state, catches it so easily.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:11pm

Auggie yes critics have changed over the years. Look at reviews from the 40's. I never said they liked everything. I can't speak on the world of opera critics, but it's a fact that theatre critics were more interested in following a certain person's career. They were from the theatre and interested in helping support the artform and make it better. THey looked for freshness. Generally they didn't make personal attacks about people's talent and intelligence as people do today.

I think if someone's enlightened they'll be able to not like a particular work and still recognize what they did. I hate Rent and Tick Tick boom, but I acknowledge Larson's contribution. But honestly unless you know how Guettel did it, you can't make that distinction. You can only say this doesn't sound exactly pleasing. It didn't do it for me in the theatre, which is fine. But I think to make a real judgement on whether the score works or not, you should look at it again. I had the same experience with Pacific Overtures and Assassins. I had to look at them more than once and I realize they're amazing. I'm still not of fan of Assassins but you can't deny it's brillance.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:40pm

"...Of the critics, dissention of Piazza's score is a very small minority..."

Oh really? The Times, of which you seem so enamored, also felt the score was "protracted," "irritating," and "out of place" in its review of the show. Others who shared similar sentiments were Michael Feingold of the Villag Voice and Adam Feldman in TONY. And those are the first that come to mind.

It's really quite simple to understand why people like Holden or Teachout in the Wall Street Journal have gone gaga over the tepid PIAZZA: it makes for a great story. What could be better than to have the crown prince of a family dynasty ascend the throne with the blessing of the paper of record and the financial bible? It's practically Shakespearean.

Updated On: 5/1/08 at 02:40 PM

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:53pm

While I can absolutely understand almost all the points made about the difficulties some have with the score, the fact remains that when I saw the show I was incredibly moved - and the music played a major part in that experience. Ultimately, that's why I go to the theatre, to touch my heart, not assuage the analytical aspects of my brain.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 3:49pm

"The Times, of which you seem so enamored..."

Really? "So enamored"? I mentioned the review of the CAST RECORDING and that was it, so that statement is hardly justifiable.

Funny you mention "modern elite" as you come across as quite the elitist yourself. Let's see...what else did Brantley say?

"It helps, of course, that Mr. Guettel has such a commanding musical grasp of this character as well. A song in the first act, 'Dividing Day', in which Mrs. Johnson reflects on the emptiness of her marriage, is a nigh-perfect fusion of a character, an actress and a song. Such moments are rare enough these days to make Mr. Guettel's Florence worth a side trip for hopeful theatergoers still looking for love in a Broadway musical."

Hmmm....nothing negative there.

He also did not say the score was "protracted" (I'd be curious what a protracted score sounded like), nor did he say the score was "irritating", but he was talking about one song:

"Mr. Guettel's evocations of pure and radiant young love, which involve a lot of breathlessly protracted 'ah's' by Fabrizio and Clara, are simply lovely. They also become very irritating."

A little more mixed than the purely negative spin you tried to put on it, but that was one song, not a comment on the score as a whole.

Also, he never says "out of place" in his review at all unless what was published on the NYTimes webpage was edited from the print version. Perhaps you are referring to this passage which you would have misquoted:

"The songs of anxiety and dissonance are more persuasive, as when Clara finds herself lost in the city or when the alluring Ms. Berry delivers a Sondheimesque indictment of marriage. The quintet 'Aiutami,' performed by the Naccarelli family, brims with a tart musical wit that, though appealing, doesn't really fit into the show."

Once again, you simply lift the negative and ignore the positive to suit your own opinion. It is mixed with both positive and negative.

Sorry you don't like the score, but that is your opinion, not an absolute. And thinking any critics who like any score you don't say so simply for a "good story" sounds more egocentric and delusional that the fact that different people have different opinions. A very likely conclusion.

"Emperor's new clothes"??? Did you actually say that simply because someone did not agree with you?