Confused about "I Am The One (Reprise)"- Page 2

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 6:53pm

Relax.

Are you crying in your room about this? Its a discussion about a f*cking Broadway show not about abortion or the death penalty. No need to get so worked up.

When you can list irrefutable "facts" from the show that show that Dan sees Gabe, then we'll talk.

Until then you need to relax and you have no right to tell me my opinions aren't valid. This topic is up for discussion and if it wasn't, the OP wouldn't have asked a question about it. So even though they're different than yours, my opinions are valid.

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 6:56pm

Dan walks up the stairs, turns left toward the "bathroom" area, sees gabe, stops, turns around and goes to the "bedroom" he sees gabe, and avoids him


eta, yes i'm crying alone in my room, hysterically, while masturbating, and cutting myself with a broken beer bottle and writing death poetry on the wall in my own blood.

Updated On: 4/29/09 at 06:56 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:01pm

Thought so. And that one staging moment in the show reveals this HUGE plotline's existence? Kay.

[Tevye the Dairyman]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:02pm

Well, when i saw the show early in previews J. Robert Spencer definitely took some very deliberate beats in that line to Dr. Madden that seemed to signal to the audience "This is a funny line. Laugh at this." Not a hug deal, just a kinda let down for me, I'd grown so attached to his performance of that character in the last 30-45 minutes and all I wanted from him in the closing was genuine honesty in what he had to say...just my thoughts

[MiracleElixir]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:05pm

It's not a funny line, and I've never seen it really laughed it.

""During the NYMF Days when it was Feeling Electric it was made CLEAR at the end that Dan could see him the whole time and was in fact mentally ill as well."

That would be a great twist... Would have loved it. "

Just stupid. The last thing a show like this needs is a "twist" -- when you start throwing in haphazard s**t to throw the audience off-guard, the emotional truth started seeping out of the piece.

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:08pm

You really don't understand subtlety and set up/payoff do you wickedrocks?

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:09pm

I don't think the beats are "pause for laughter". For someone who has spent his life thinking he was the "ok one" the mere agreement to get numbers of people he can talk with is a big step. And the pause is completely in keeping with Dan's character.

[Tevye the Dairyman]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:15pm

It was just something about the staging of the moment that felt really schmaltzy to me...then again the entire staging of "Light" was quite schmaltzy to me. It just felt like a typical set up, double take, delivery, then directly back into the music while the audience guffawed around me and i was left feeling kinda agitated...no biggie, didn't affect my overall appreciation for the show, it just seemed at that specific performance back in like the first week of previews that the direction was trying to attatch an musical theatery "idea" on that part instead of really explore it. Perhaps I just read it wrong, but it stuck out to me

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:30pm

I thought it was made very clear at the end that Dan saw Gabe the whole time.


You should all really see "A Beautiful Mind" it's uncanny with how much 'next to normal' resembles it.

[NovaNurse7]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:33pm

I'm a little conflicted about this myself. At times it seems as if Dan does in fact see Gabe, but overall I don't think he sees Gabe as much as feels his presence everywhere in the house. In the part Zoneface mentioned, I think Natalie was in her room when Dan went up the stairs, so I interpreted that moment as Dan deciding not to go check on Natalie, not as an avoidance of Gabe because he saw him standing in the hallway. I think Dan is haunted by Gabe's memory and presence, not that he sees him as a hallucination or delusion the way Diana does.

I believe in an earlier incarnation of N2N, either at 2nd Stage or Arena, during the "I Am the One (Reprise)" Dan actually turned and looked at Gabe when he acknowledged him, which makes one think he sees him. In the current version, however, Dan doesn't look at Gabe, he just says his name, leading me to believe that he doesn't see him but is finally recognizing and acknowledging Gabe's memory and presence in the house, which up until that time he had not done.

That's my two cents, anyway.

[heo1128]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:36pm

Oh really? Dan doesn't took Gabe in the eye at the end of the reprise anymore? Interesting......

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:38pm

Dan looks at gabe in the reprise

[NovaNurse7]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:49pm

Hmmm... I could be mistaken. I could have sworn when I saw the show Saturday that Dan just kept looking straight ahead while Gabe embraced him from behind. Of course, by that point my eyes were swimming with tears and I was trying to clear my vision so I could actually see what was happening, so it's possible I missed it. But I really thought he just said his name.

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:52pm

after that he walks around to he side and the "Gabe, gabriel" "hi Dad" is done to each other.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 8:10pm

I remember at Second Stage right before the "hi dad" lines, Brian started to turn towards Aaron but then looked away again and Aaron put his hand on Brian's cheek to turn his head. I'm not sure if they did that all the time, but I thought it was a nice touch. Made me even more emotional.

I like what NovaNurse7 said regarding the part when Dan turns away from Gabe. Very well said, that's my thought exactly.

[Ole Chum]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 8:22pm

I think its fairly clear that Dan does not see Gabe the entire time- he just realizes, at the end, that Gabe (even if hes not alive) is real and needs to be recognized. He can only recognize this once he stops focusing on caring for Diana. It would really pull the rug out from under the shows emotional impact if both Goodmans were having visions of their dead son. At least for me.

Reading any more into it- that Dan is crazy the entire time- seems to miss the entire point of a family trying to deal with a mentally ill family member. I know they originally had the whole thing inside Dan's head, but thankfully, they slowly got rid of all the hokey bull**** and concentrated on the realistic, moving tone that is so wildly successful.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 8:32pm

I think whether or not Dan actually SEEs Gabe is debatable. It's up to one's own interpretation. To me, it's more metaphorical as in Dan is not seeing him (as in having a hallucination or seeing a ghost), but just acknowledging Gabe and that he was his son.


"You should all really see "A Beautiful Mind" it's uncanny with how much 'next to normal' resembles it."

No, Next to Normal is exactly like THE SIXTH SENSE, remember??? LOL.

Updated On: 4/29/09 at 08:32 PM

[heo1128]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 8:40pm

The more I think about it, the more I think it's more metaphorical. I think Dan is trying to suppress Gabe the entire time, but he's not necessarily suppressing visions.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 8:46pm

How about we all agree to have our own opinions.

The end is left for interpretation..?

[JazzSquare55]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 9:23pm

Dan barely glances at Gabe, now.

It isn't the same every single night though... at least at Arena, it wasn't.

With the amount of times I've seen it - it is different every time.

Spencer didn't even flinch one night. And then in another night he turns to look but stops himself halfway.

That's part of the reason why I am so confused about this! I know he is taking creative liberties but don't you think Grief would have told him what he specifically wanted in THAT moment??

[Craww]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 10:00pm

I know he is taking creative liberties but don't you think Grief would have told him what he specifically wanted in THAT moment??

Maybe he specifically wants it to be open to interpretation. The differing subtleties from performance to performance would fall under that direction.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/30/09 at 1:08am

There is no definite answer. People need to stop acting like there is. It is up for you to decide.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/30/09 at 1:32am

"You should all really see "A Beautiful Mind" it's uncanny with how much 'next to normal' resembles it. "

Aside from having the main character with mental illness seeing people who aren't there.... how?

[zerose]

Posted: 4/30/09 at 2:39am

I don't think Dan sees Gabe throughout the show. In the scene leading up to "I'm Alive (Reprise)", Diana sees Gabe across the stage, and Dan says something like, "What? There's nothing there" gesturing in the direction that Diana is looking.

[Craww]

Posted: 4/30/09 at 3:02am

I guess it depends on how literally you take the delusions, overall. With this show I have two ways of viewing it. The way I think it probably is, and the way I prefer it. (I prefer it as effed up and ridiculous as possible, so I take the Gabe delusions pretty literally.)

So I kind of view Dan's delusions of Gabe as peripheral and resolutely ignored.