Caroline, or Change: a legendary musical...- Page 3

[Thenardier]

Posted: 7/14/05 at 10:19pm

Do they say Wing on hs titty in Roosevelt Petrucius Coleslaw?

IF so, can someone explain this....

[nystateomind04]

Posted: 7/15/05 at 12:49am

So... judging by your avatar and signature quote, Thenardier, I'm guessing you had a change of heart?

[Thenardier]

Posted: 7/15/05 at 12:50am

First I say Ana is better than Idina.

Now I like C,oC.

One more day of this, and I am going to die.

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 7/15/05 at 12:51am

Yes they do. They're describing one of the 1960's comic books they're reading if I remember the lyrics correctly.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 7/15/05 at 1:01am

thanks sum!

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 7/15/05 at 2:40am

Yup that's Wonder Woman!

"Wonder Woman! Diana! Princess of the Amazons! Magical lariat, golden tiara, bulletproof bracelets, lipstick and mascara! Stronger than anyone, six times as pretty, an eagle brassiere with a WING ON EACH TITTY! Wing on each titty! Wing on each titty! Tittytittytittytittytittytittytittytitty!"

I love that part!

[futurewinnerbud]

Posted: 7/15/05 at 3:07am

My argument wasnt really statistical. It was about the commerical appeal of shows like Sweeney Todd and Follies, and obviously when those shows came out, they werent that appealing. Caroline had the same problem. Tourists dont want to see a show like Caroline or Change, they want to see The Lion King and Wicked. Makes no sense? Well I dunno, it made sense to me. 3 great scores, legendary performances, and shows that should ahve done better. I mean, when you lok at that number for Sweeney todd (550), dont you go "Gee mayeb that should have run longer than some others?" Its the same with Caroline. It definatley feels like it should ahve run for longer. It deserved to be. Maybe Caroline is better compared to Parade and Chicago (original run)

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/15/05 at 3:11am

Well, the original run of Chicago ran for 936 performances. Contrary to popular belief, it was a decent hit, just not as big a hit as A Chorus Line that opened the same season (or the current revival of the show).

[Garland Grrrl]

Posted: 7/15/05 at 10:05am

i enjoyed this show very much and was happy to see a show using music in the service of something really powerful. i loved the imaginative humanization on inanimate objects, etc. i thought all the performances were excellent (i loved seeing alice palyten as the bubbe!) and Tonya was my personal pick for the Tony. Sweeney and Follies both have great, memorable songs that can be pulled out of the context of the show and performed on a concert stage. I don't remember any such numbers in Caroline (The Lots Wife Aria is a bit like Rose's Turn and maybe would be done in that context as a show piece for a diva) and that enhances a show's "legendary" status and makes it live in the minds of the public. Follies still doesn't work for some people to this day--but you can't dispute those songs! I think it was a beautiful and important show, but Tesori is not Sondheim. I do think it will live on and touch people because the relationships ring true. It may become legendary, but in a different way.

[thisdude]

Posted: 7/15/05 at 12:46pm

I agree that Caroline, or Change is a legendary musical...or hopefully will become one. I'm glad it came to SF and I got to see it. I wish more people had watched it when they had the chance. It was amazing. Tonya's voice suffered though. She was very rough by the end of the run, but it added to the character.

It was always an amazing show, all the way around.

OH---and watching it all the way through does make a difference than just watching the Tony performance! There is no way to get the full impact of that very emotional song by just watching it removed from the context of the show, unless you've read the play or seen the show.

[DesperatelySeekingStranger]

Posted: 7/15/05 at 6:52pm

I don't know where people got the idea that HBO filmed the show. As some who was heavily involved in the show, I can tell you no such thing happened. The show was filmed down at The Public and then again for the archives at the O'Neill, but HBO never filmed it. I can guarantee not one single release form was signed by any of the actors nor any of the designers. Trust me, I wish it was so, but its not the case. I'm a huge, HUGE fan of the show and would love to watch it every night on DVD, but that won't happen. Whether you want to believe me or not is fine, but I thought I'd share.

[alphieboy]

Posted: 7/16/05 at 5:03pm

bump

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/16/05 at 6:26pm

Bump.

The technical aspects of the show were excellent as well. Loved the sets and costumes, particularly the set, costume, and lighting during the Moon scenes.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/16/05 at 6:26pm

And can anyone explain the title of this show? I never really understood why it was called Caroline, or Change.

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 7/16/05 at 6:40pm

"Change" is the main theme of the show.

Change is hard to adapt to. Look at all the situations that change people lives in this show!

Noah's mother dies. He gets a step-mother.
JFK Dies
Caroline is constantly having Dottie and Emmy telling her to change her life!

And there are many more!


Of course it also stands for the literal "Change" that noah leaves in his pockets.
Listening to "Lot's Wife" You begin to understand how all this new money starts to change Caroline "Pennies done that!"

And if you look in the libretto there is a part that has been cut! At the begining of "The Bleach Cup" Rose says

"Noah has a problem! A problem with money! A problem with change, loose change in his pockets! He's forever leaving it, leaving it, leaving it."

Then she used to say:

"maybe it's a problem with hanging on to things, maybe an expression, a subconcious expression of losing what is valuable, you know, his mother, maybe its CHANGE, he has learned to hate change! I bet that's it, just call me Sigmund Freud, don't you think I'm right, Carolione? Noah hates change, it's an association, I bet that that's..."

And she continues with:
"Do your kids do things like that? I bet they mind their money!"

I'm glad actually that Tony Kushner omitted that part. I believe in letting the audience take the journey with the characters. Don't just tell us what's going on, let us figure it out. You see Change is a huge theme in this story!

Updated On: 7/16/05 at 06:40 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/16/05 at 6:45pm

Something I posted on the subject a while back:

"Well, everything changes -- that is the natural state of everything in this world. However, those who refuse to change, or, in the case of Caroline, those who simply cannot change because of their situation and circumstances, generally really struggle and suffer. Caroline wishes she could go to college but, as she says, "she can't hardly read" so that's not an option. Maybe she'd like to get involved in civil rights movement that's changing everything around her (at a speed way too fast for her), but with a full time job and three kids at home, when would she find the time? Caroline deeply and sincerely wants a man in her life, but her ex-husband ("the handsome navy man") is apparently gone for good, Nat King Cole is apparently unavailable, and there don't appear to be any other prospects in sight. She's making $30 a week and this crazy white lady she works for thinks it'll be a nice liberal gesture to her to help her out by letting her keep the pocket change of a little boy. She trapped, she's angry, and with the temptation of each quarter going into the bleach cup, she's losing what little self-respect and integrity she has left for herself.

Her only companions are the radio and the washing machine (the dryer is her enemy in that already too hot basement). 16 feet underground, she's not in hell, she's in purgatory (as the dryer says in the first act) -- an underwater no man's land between heaven and hell and depending on how well one behaves, one can either go "up" or "down" and she feels like she's drowning.

After she finally gives into temptation in taking the $20 bill (and then eventually giving it back) she realizes she's totally hit rock bottom. She realizes that she must do the hardest thing any human being can do -- she must change herself. For Caroline, who has no other options than (at least for now) going back to that miserable dead end, soul-sapping reality of the purgatory of that basement and remaining a maid, it means she must find a way to accept her fate.

In "Lot's Wife" she prays to God to "murder" that Caroline who had dreams and wants and desires, so that she can go on with her life without the bitterness that almost cost her the job that she needs to keep for her family's future. Tesori has called the number an "anti-'Rose's Turn'" because Caroline is praying for her own negation -- praying for the strength to be able to go on with her life without ever wanting for anything again.

By the very end, Caroline is able to accept her life. Tesori and Kushner could have called this piece "acceptance, or change" -- in life, if one is to be contented, you either are able to handle, embrace and move forward with the ever-changing world around you or, upon the realization that you cannot move forward, you manage to find the courage to face your reality, make peace with it and accept it. Caroline eventually chooses and accepts the latter, largely upon the understanding that (as the final prologue indicates), her sacrifice will mean that her children will have a very different set of options because of her. Emmie, Larry, Jackie and Joe will never have to work in anyone's basement and, perhaps, will be able to go to college and become anything they want in life, because they had a mother who was willing to give up all of her dreams, so that her children will be able to achieve theirs."

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/16/05 at 6:48pm

EXCELLENT explanations. Thanks.