I only wish I had a tenth of the power ChiChi seems to think that I (or any of the so-called "longtimers") have. There are no shortage of posters on this board who make it known loud and clear that they cannot stand this show (MusicMan, where are you?).
I first saw Caroline at the third or fourth preview at the Public and my initial post about it (on another board) was not a rave, but a recognition of a show that had the potential to be something very different, but very special. To be fair, that early in previews, the show was hardly finished and Wolfe, Tesori and Kushner were in the process of making major changes to it -- the opening scene was several minutes longer and dragged badly; at the point in Emmie's dream where she speaks of the statue coming to life, it was still being acted out with the actor playing Grandpa Slotnick stiffly roaming the stage in a tattered Confederate uniform like Frankenstein's monster -- a laughable misstep that was cut soon afterwards; and, most importantly, the final version of "Lot's Wife" had literally JUST been finished minutes before that preview and Pinkins was forced to have to perform it almost a capella with only a very spare piano accompaniment which provided the chords and the key changes (the start of the performance was delayed for a half an hour until Tesori, sheet music in hand, came running down Lafayette at 8:30 -- once she had delivered the manila envelope with the music, she came back outside and I overheard her telling friends outside about the reason for the delay).
When I returned to see the show again a few weeks later after opening, it had been streamlined and tightened, the flaws had disappeared and I "got" what Tesori and Kushner were trying to do with this show, which was different from perhaps any show I'd ever seen. The score which had been haunting me since that early preview (I had walked around my house singing "Nothing ever happens undergound in Louisiana, cuz there's no underground in Louisiana......." and "I hate the bus..." and "Salty Teardrops," holding onto the melodies and the lyrics in my head as best I could) completely came together for me as a full, glorious, brilliant score, full of motifs and themes and harmonies that worked together and in counterpoint to each other in ways that simply blew me away. Before the first act was over, I realized that Tesori was probably the most promising composer in the musical theatre.
I then started chatting the show up -- to friends at first, then on the boards. I always prepared people to go in not to expect a typical "MUSICAL" but a very unusual but intelligent, at times challenging, but ultimately powerful, engaging and very entertaining work of theatre. Amazingly, each of the dozen or more friends that I sent to see it (plus my parents and other family members) came back absolutely raving about it and lest you think they were simply being kind (which, trust me, is not how anyone I know operates -- if they don't like something I recommend, believe me, I'll hear about it forever) more than half of them went back to see it again (one went back four times; another two, three times).
I'm sorry, but I don't have the ability to make someone like a show that they hate. If MargoChanning has any power, it's to occasionally get friends and folks that know me to see things they wouldn't normally see, because they know I see "everything," know that I know their tastes, and because of that, know they would enjoy it (and I recommended Caroline only to the people I knew who would be open enough to go along with the sometimes uncomfortable and challenging journey the show takes you on - other friends I told to see Avenue Q or Wicked). Obviously Caroline is not a show for everyone, but for those people I know, they not only responded to it, it was remarkable how deeply they were touched and affected by it. I heard several stories of friends (male and female) still in tears five and ten minutes after the final curtain fell, who were so overwhelmed by it that they couldn't even speak for more than an hour later.
That's why I say that if you don't like the show, it's completely fine and OK with me -- it's not my job to convince you otherwise. But, for those I know who were affected and touched by it, it was one of their most memorable theatrical experiences.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 9/29/04 at 12:50 AM
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