CAROLINE OR CHANGE question

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 6:46pm

I love CAROLINE OR CHANGE, saw it three times on Broadway and play the cast album religiously. However, I've been wondering about one things: It's often mentioned that Rose Stopnick was the best friend of Noah's late mother. Rose is from New York City, while Betty Gellman was presumably a Southern girl. How, in the late 50s and early 60s, would a Southern girl and a NYC girl come to know each other well enough to be "best friends"? Or, is the audience supposed to use suspension of disbelief?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 7:00pm

It's never spelled out, but who's to say that Rose and Betty didn't go to college together? Or perhaps Betty was also from New York and grew up together with Rose and only moved to Louisiana after she got married ? After all, lots of people grow up in one part of the country, have best friends there, but they go to college elsewhere (Kushner himself spent his first 18 years in Louisiana -- and still has good friends and family there -- but has been in New York since he left home to come to NYU).

There are a million plausible scenarios.

[professor]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 7:32pm

I always imagined that Rose and Betty grew up together, and that's the dad (Stuart?) met them both.

Also, didn't Kushner come to New York to attend Columbia? I thought he only did grad work at NYU.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 7:57pm

That's right. Kushner was a Columbia undergrad, but then went to NYU for an MFA in directing.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 9:50pm

I had always assumed that the three of them knew each other from college, and after graduation Betty and Stew moved south and Betty stayed in NYC.
Updated On: 3/26/07 at 09:50 PM

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 9:50pm

opps. Updated On: 3/26/07 at 09:50 PM