I Finally Saw "Bridges Of Madison County" — Page 3

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#51

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/20/14 at 7:28pm

I have very strong and negative opinions of cheating and cheaters, but I do find that I give more of a pass to women (or women characters) roughly 4 or more decades ago (or who entered into their marriages 4 or more decades ago, during a time when women's opportunities to financially support themselves in most careers were so limited that getting married was very nearly their only option for finding financial security because they were not welcomed in most workplaces.

I would have a very different opinion of a woman who cheats now (who married within the last, say, 30 years) or of a man cheating during any time in history, since men never really were prevented from financially supporting themselves, so could always wait for love before getting married from a financial security standpoint (maybe not from an arranged marriage standpoint in some cultures, but that is not the cultural context of Bridges so not applicable here).

So bottom line, I don't really react so badly to Francesca's affair, realizing that her only way to get away from Italy was to marry her way out, as she couldn't study to become a scientist or businesswoman or whatever and get a job in the US in order to relocate there. I do feel a bit bad for her husband in that scenario, but he is more a victim of society's oppression of women (as Francesca is in being financially forced to get married in the first place) than of his wife's actions in this particular scenario.

I see it as somewhat analagous to the suffering of straight spouses when gay spouses marry them pretending to be straight - the straight spouse suffers from society's oppression of their spouses more than from targeted cruelty of their spouses (although arguably gay men would not have had to marry women for financial security whereas lesbian women would have had more of a need to do so back in the day (unless they could be financially supported by relatives). Like the problem of women being denied financial security through work, hopefully this issue will continue to wane over time. Certainly it is less of an issue in North America than it used to be, but there is a long way to go in some places in the world.

Updated On: 4/20/14 at 07:28 PM

#52

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/20/14 at 7:38pm

I think it's interesting that the topic of "cheating" has come up because that's precisely what has kept me from embracing the show with much passion. The score is gorgeous, the singing incredible, the direction and design (especially the lighting) really captured my imagination of a place and time... and yet the story, at its heart, celebrates a period of infidelity. Yes, it is romanticized out of all recognizable reality and done so beautifully, but that infidelity hangs like a shadow and sticks in my craw throughout. That he's a veteran, and the father of her children, doesn't help her. These are problems with the source material, I understand, but they are conscious choices: this romance isn't from a wanting or a husband who leaves her uninspired or treats her with disregard or disrespect. This is purely a wandering eye, and no matter how juicy the opportunity nor how rapturous the dalliance is, it rubs me the wrong way.

In this case, it keeps me from wholeheartedly recommending BRIDGES to having generous-but-mixed warmth for it.

Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.

#53

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/20/14 at 8:04pm

jnb, interesting you should say this isn't from "a wanting or a husband who leaves her uninspired". That's exactly what it is. Bud treats Francesca decently but barely pays her any real attention - and admits to this himself in Something Like A Dream when he sings:

"I mean, it's not like she complains at all
It's just, you gotta pay attention
And with all the other crap I'm taking care of
She might feel embarrassed, trying to tell me what she needs"

Francesca sees in Robert's life travelling the world what SHE wants - it's what they really bond over at dinner (as well as the fact that he's sex on legs etc.) She's attracted to the fact that he's been to Naples, and what he promises her in One Second And A Million Miles is not just this ridiculous, epoch-making love but also the chance to travel. He tells her "you were born with a wanderer's soul" - and that's what she sees, the chance to travel and see those "crowds and camels and hillsides to climb".

I understand the discomfort with her cheating - and clearly it's one Francesca feels herself, or else she would simply up and go in Act 2 without a thought for Bud or the kids - and your perception of it, but I don't think it's "just" a wandering eye. Francesca's unhappiness is signposted from the end of Home Before You Know It in the music, as that repeated ostinato in the piano signifies - she doesn't really want Bud to come back very much...

#54

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/20/14 at 8:25pm

This is why I brought up the cheating. I really wanted to get peoples points of view on it because people are just commenting on how beautiful the music is and not really getting into the plot. And I think this is where the book comes in, because Waller describes their relationship SO beautifully (whether you want to call it romanticized or not).

I'm really tempted to write out the full letter that Francesca wrote to her kids about Robert from the book because I think it does such a beautiful and wonderful job explaining her actions. Though I know the musical and book are separate entities.

#55

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/20/14 at 8:37pm

Some people have affairs. You may judge them for their actions, but none-the-less, some people - many people - have affairs. Choosing to not write about such things seems limited to me. Choosing to not watch stories that include such behavior also seems limited. Don't like Francesca or Robert, or better yet, don't like how they choose to express their affection - passion - for each other. I think the characters Francesca and Robert would agree with those who find a moral issue with their choice. They do. That is very much a part of what makes The Bridges of Madison County so interesting. And, emotionally they pay for their actions.

Some people have affairs.

ARTc3 formerly ARTc. Actually been a poster since 2004. My name isn't Art. Drop the "3" and say the signature and you'll understand.

Updated On: 4/20/14 at 08:37 PM

#56

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/20/14 at 8:39pm

Depicting something on a stage, even in sympathetic way, isn't necessarily endorsing it. Sometimes even nice people do have affairs--it happens. But she doesn't leave her children or her husband to run off with someone she's only known for three or four days. From what we can tell, she puts it behind her, never contacts Robert again, and goes on with her life in Iowa. So, in the end, she does the right thing.

Updated On: 4/20/14 at 08:39 PM

#57

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/20/14 at 8:49pm

"jnb, interesting you should say this isn't from "a wanting or a husband who leaves her uninspired". That's exactly what it is. Bud treats Francesca decently but barely pays her any real attention - and admits to this himself in Something Like A Dream when he sings: "

Francesca also comments on that in Look at Me, when she is feeling that Robert is the first person who has ever noticed how she feels about things (the first to really "see" what is inside of her), whereas Bud, as he sings in Something Like A Dream, was mesmerized by her beauty but doesn't really bother to find out who she is inside.

Updated On: 4/20/14 at 08:49 PM

#58

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/20/14 at 9:03pm

I'm curious about the ages of people disturbed by the cheating aspect. In my experience, it's the younger people who are more judgmental about it, and older people, having had so many experiences that could have or maybe did change their relationships or those of friends, who are more understanding.

#59

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/20/14 at 9:07pm

What's troublesome to me about infidelity isn't the act; it's the lifetime of lying afterward, even if by omission. While I adore much of the music and the emotional sweep of BRIDGES, the effect of watching this affair occur (depiction of which can be valuable in any art, many of the great films and novels are about such infidelities) did lead to a romanticization of it. Not necessarily glorification, because no one is arguing that the musical would have all audience members seek torrid affairs with the National Geographic Photographers among us. But romanticization - the incredible beauty of the music, the soaring rhapsodic vocals, and most of all the vast majority of time and energy spent with Robert and Francesca while Bud is not afforded much development and is summarily killed off in the "When I'm Gone" montage-by-blues-song. The musical (and likely the source material, which I have not read) raises very interesting thoughts about infidelity and true love and romantic attraction, but it does not ask enough interesting questions with those thoughts to leave me thinking my discomfort at watching this infidelity was serving a greater purpose.

I can watch and adore a musical like THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, which asks very dangerous questions of its audience, ones I did not enjoy having asked of me personally, but which I very much appreciated having been asked to reckon with. BRIDGES does not go deep enough into the hard questions about the topics it raises for me to make me think of it, on some level, as anything more than a surface-level romance-novel depicted (stunningly beautifully) onstage. I find it interesting to grapple more with what I find lacking in the material than what the material would ask me to grapple with. And that is what gives me pause from full-throated endorsement of a musical whose constituent parts I deeply adore.

#60

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/20/14 at 9:11pm

I was never bothered by the cheating, since it seems like he left her as a romantic partner/equal ages ago. She keeps up the house, is the mother of the kids, and he does the bare minimum of what is expected in that role. She just has a function in that home, not a passion.

She had every reason to leave, without any real option or opportunity, until the photographer showed up and saw inside of her soul into enchanted corners her husband never bothered to, and it probably showed her by comparison how much she had denied herself in her marriage, how long she had been a neutered housekeeper, and how much more life had to offer.

To reduce all of that to "cheating" just seems too easy and unexamined.

#61

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/20/14 at 9:18pm

I just turned 23 and I full heartedly am behind Francesca on this one.

If anyone is interested, I typed out the full letter from the book by Waller in my tumblr page (I have no idea if you can view it if you don't have a tumblr or not). Like I said before, I know book and musical are not one in the same and only some things were taken from it, but I think it does a beautiful job of explaining why Francesca did what she did (even though I don't think she has to explain it to anyone). Here are some excerpts:

"The paradox is this. If it hadn't been for Robert Kincaid, I'm not sure I could have stayed on the farm all these years. In four days, he gave me a lifetime, a universe, and made the separate parts of me into a whole. I have never stopped thinking of him, not for a moment. Even when he was not in my conscious mind, I could feel him somewhere, always he was there.

But it never took away from anything I felt for the two of you or your father. Thinking only of myself for a moment, I'm not sure I made the right decision. But taking the family into account, I'm pretty sure I did."

Tumblr post of letter from book.

#62

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/21/14 at 1:50am

Completely agree with RippedMan that the advertising is all wrong and that the doomed lovers angle - and highlighting the beautiful score - is the way to go. I loved Pasquale's performance as Kincaid and the score. As far as the cheating issue, while I certainly don't condone it - I think they do their best to explain the circumstances under which she married Bud/left Italy and the lack of a real partnership between them beyond the family structure. Camelot and lots of other very successful musicals have dealt with the issue of cheating (even of the the heart) so I don't think that is what is hurting this show.

#63

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/21/14 at 2:13am

"Francesca's unhappiness is signposted from the end of Home Before You Know It in the music, as that repeated ostinato in the piano signifies - she doesn't really want Bud to come back very much... "

Yes one of my favourite parts in the score. But it is also strongly implied from the opening song that she is unhappy in my opinion. "To Build A Home" (another one of my favourite songs) is of course not a happy song - it's about her settling with a boring life on a farm. I don't know if this particular line is intentionally like this but talking about a train that "slices like a scythe through the fields of America" is an interesting image because a scythe is what the Grim Reaper carries.

It is also of course suggested that she never really loved Bud very much in the romantic sense later on ("Almost real").

----------

So stuck in a loveless marriage I don't judge her at all for her actions. You only live once :P. The tension you could feel when she wanted him so badly during the first act was my favourite thing about the show. A great carefully spaced book and direction made them coming together so satisfying.

Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.

Updated On: 4/21/14 at 02:13 AM

#64

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/21/14 at 10:47am

With Sutton's (deserved) raves for VIOLET this morning, it seems more of a long shot for Kelli to get the Tony. Strictly from a performance standpoint, it has been quite a season!

#65

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/21/14 at 12:06pm

"I'm not saying Bridges is flawless, by any means, but there is something special happening inside that theater."
I wholeheartedly agree. I'm personally against any kind of cheating, but you can't help but witness the kind of magic happening at the Schoenfeld every night. I wish I could go back to NY again to see the show again before it closes.

"Mr Sondheim, look: I made a hat, where there never was a hat, it's a Latin hat at that!"

#66

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/21/14 at 12:24pm

"With Sutton's (deserved) raves for VIOLET this morning, it seems more of a long shot for Kelli to get the Tony. Strictly from a performance standpoint, it has been quite a season!"

This will be O'Hara's fifth nom with no wins so far, so I think she still has a very good shot at winning, particularly since Foster and Menzel have both won before. But in this crazy year almost any of the women in this category could win.

#67

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/21/14 at 7:34pm

""I'm not saying Bridges is flawless, by any means, but there is something special happening inside that theater."
I wholeheartedly agree. I'm personally against any kind of cheating, but you can't help but witness the kind of magic happening at the Schoenfeld every night."

I agree there is magic happening in that theater. I think anyone that is on the fence about going to this show should go and I think they will be pleasantly surprised.

I also wholeheartedly agree with this by haterobics
"She had every reason to leave, without any real option or opportunity, until the photographer showed up and saw inside of her soul into enchanted corners her husband never bothered to, and it probably showed her by comparison how much she had denied herself in her marriage, how long she had been a neutered housekeeper, and how much more life had to offer.

To reduce all of that to "cheating" just seems too easy and unexamined."

I think this story is so much more than just about cheating. It's about all the times in your life where you encountered a fork in the road and had to make a choice. About wondering what life would have been like if you made the other choice. It made me wonder about the relationships where it could have been my "match made in heaven" but, not the right time or place. Wondering if there is possibly someone out there from my past that still cares and should have been the one but circumstances prevented it from happening.

Steven and Kelli did such an incredible job with the struggle of "should we, or shouldn't we". Their chemistry was palpable and seemed like so much more than just any other relationship. Their love transcended time and made me wonder if someone could ever love me that much. It opened up so many emotions for me. I fully admit to being a hopeless romantic and this musical touched my soul. To me it was so much more than just a story of infidelity. It wasn't just a roll in the sack for the heck of it. They fell in love. He loved and lost the love of his life and paid the ultimate price by letting her go and dying alone. She honored her commitment to her husband and children and lost out on her one true love. It's tragic, inspiring, and a love story, all in one to me and should be doing so much better at the box office. I hope it catches on. I couldn't wait to see it and loved every minute of it. The music is absolutely beautiful and I haven't stopped listening to it. I'm not a big country music fan so a couple of the songs are a little too country for me but they fit with where the story takes place and I can understand why some songs have a more country vibe.

#68

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/21/14 at 7:37pm

At this point, I think the award is between Jessie Mueller and Kelli O'Hara. The relative newcomer vs. the veteran nominee.

It should be an interesting race.

#69

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/24/14 at 4:07pm

I finally saw Bridges yesterday. I found it difficult to sit through the first act for some reason. I'm not really sure why, but I could have fallen asleep that's how bored and disconnected I felt. However, the second act is what made me fall in love with the show; I think it's because that's where the big decision, of whether or not francesca will stay with her husband or go with robert, takes place. I was sitting in suspense wondering who she would choose (I had never seen the movie, nor did I know anything about the production) and found it so heartbreaking. I really felt for the character of Francesca, not because I've experienced anything like that but because Kelli brought so much to the role. I hope she gets nominated again this year because she's really bringing something special to the character and her voice is phenomenal, it always is. After seeing Beautiful I have no idea who will take this one home because Jessie is also bringing SO much greatness to the stage this season! Anyway, Steven was fantastic, as was Hunter. The score was beautiful and I loved the lighting.

#70

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/24/14 at 7:20pm

"I'm curious about the ages of people disturbed by the cheating aspect. In my experience, it's the younger people who are more judgmental about it, and older people, having had so many experiences that could have or maybe did change their relationships or those of friends, who are more understanding."

I think this is a good point. I am older, now. when I was young I knew right from wrong. Now, I have learned to never, never be judgmental. I never have enough facts from other people's lives and it doesn't get me anywhere. I just listen if called upon and try to help.
when watching this show it is funny that I didn't, at any point, consider right and wrong. all I considered was, "what would I do?" and what a tortured decision to be made.
theatre doesn't always need to "ask questions of you". sometimes it is meant to help us understand other people and situations. the show has caused a pretty good discussion, here.
I saw it twice. the second time with obstructed view. I didn't care. I wanted to hear it again. wonderful.

#71

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/24/14 at 7:42pm

Elena Shaddow is making her Francesca Broadway debut tonight.

#72

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/24/14 at 7:46pm

That's cool, I was wondering if anyone had seen Kelli or Steven's understudy yet. Wow, this has been running for more than three months, and this is her first time going on? Impressive on Kelli's part. If anyone is seeing it tonight, please report back, I am curious on how she differs from Kelli and wasn't able to see her in the role last summer.

#73

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/24/14 at 8:17pm

After yesterday's matinee at the stage door, another cast member mentioned both Kelli & Steven were sick (could have fooled me, they both sounded incredible). When Kelli came out of the stage door, someone mentioned to her they heard she was sick; she joked that she and Steven share everything, including colds. Maybe that's why she's out.

#74

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/24/14 at 9:17pm

I still have my fingers crossed for a Whitney Bashor Tony nomination. I know it would NEVER happen. But to me, her performance of "Another Life" is what performing a song is all about. She gets NO scene, NO real setup, NO interaction with others. Yet you feel everything that is behind the song. (I also think it is a genius song on its own). She tells an entire story in one song. It's the kind of performance that should be studied, in my opinion, of how to act a song.

Anyway - I hope this show gets some push from the noms next week. It deserves it.

#75

I Finally Saw

Posted: 4/24/14 at 10:31pm

Oh I'm so happy for Elena! I hear she was fantastic.

I know it's a long shot, but I would love to hear Whitney interpret Francesca just once. Her legit soprano voice is so resonant and secure, I can only imagine that it would be marvelously soung, despite her youth.

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