Caroline, or Change: What's the Big Deal? — Page 3

Its just short of 2.5 hours, including the 15 minute intermission.

I'm glad you love it, Slaton.
-d.b.j-

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it's brilliant, that's "the big deal".

I agree that it is one of the best musicals in recent years. Some people might need at least a second viewing to fully appreciate the show--that's ok.

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There is SO much to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel (woot!) in this show, that if one does not have the CD and only has seen the show once...well, it isn't possible to take it ALL IN during one viewing/listening. Repetition is the best medicine. I've listened to the Cast Recording every day since I bought it last month, and I'm still discovering new things about it (new repeating melodies that mean things...etc.) I also saw the show two weeks ago, and it helped me better understand the show and it engulfed me into a world where nothing else matter but Caroline.

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Broadway Child - were you born in 1989? So you would be 15? Of course you wouldn't get Caroline.
your a waste of space. Caroline changed me like nothing I have ever experienced.

And here comes the backlash "don't diss someone for their opinion, Chip!"
I just did, ha. deal.

I think one's enjoyment or appreciation of Caroline, or Change may depend too on awareness of the cycle of social struggles that go on in America, or being a part of a minority that is fighting to make itself heard. Caroline, or Change reflects a pivotal time in American history...the Kennedy Assassination, which is often attributed for the seismic shift in the American Psyche, the "loss of innocence" as it were, and the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. I was not alive during the Kennedy Assassination, but came along soon thereafter, and was fully aware of Vietnam and Watergate, another great time of "change" and upheaval in the country.

I think if one has lived a life of entitlement or privilege, you may be entertained by Caroline, or Change, but not be as moved as many here are. Caroline, or Change moved me because Caroline's frustration at being stuck where she is and doing what she does to provide for her kids, reminds me of the struggles of my grandmother and father arriving in this country from Vienna as immigrants, and working at menial jobs to support themselves (something that Emmie at first disdains but learns to appreciate when she says, "My mother is a maid"). Caroline is not leading the charge for civil rights. That will be accomplished by the next generation, represented by Emmie and that wonderful epilogue she sings at the end of the show. You just know she is going to be on the front line.

Do we ever really appreciate what our parents have gone through to provide a decent life for us? The sacrifices they might have made? The thwarted dreams put aside for practicality? Before she knows it, Caroline is a 39-year-old single mother of four, working as a maid in a hot basement, but each generation makes stides so that the next generation may benefit. As a gay man, I can't help but be reminded in Caroline, or Change of the Stonewall generation or the early pioneers of the AIDS crisis. I was reminded too, of one of the kids in Spellbound (the spelling bee movie, not the Hitchcock movie), the Mexican farm laborer who doesn't speak English, who is so proud of his daughter when she becomes a champion speller.

At this point, I am free associating, but these are some of the things that Caroline, or Change tapped in to for me. You bring your own wealth of experience to any movie, show, book, piece of music, and in the case of something worthy, like Caroline, or Change, the possibilities of what you can get out of it are endless, if you are willing to try.

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Yes, well spoken.

I was 2 years old when "Caroline..." took place. Being black, I could identify with what Caroline and her kids were going through. It lasted through the sixties. And my mother was a maid. I was delivered by the doctor whose home she cleaned. Whenever I hear the lines at the end of the show "I'm the daughter, of a maid..." I can't help but think of my mom. I know that's one of the reasons the show has stuck with me. Outside of that, the music is wonderful.

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