"Momma Look Sharp"

[timote316]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 1:37am

In the past few weeks, I've seen a production of 1776, the movie version, and listened to both Broadway cast recordings, but I cannot come up with a reason for "Momma Look Sharp". I understand its context in the show, but I don't get why it is there. Is there a deeper purpose to it being there?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 1:46am

Intermission.

[timote316]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 1:49am

That is the only reasoning I could find for it. And even then, its not exactly a great song for a finale to an act.

Personally, I would have ended Act I with the gorgeous harmony at the end of "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men" or even with Franklin, Adams and Chase leaving to see Washington. Easy 15-20 cut right there.
Updated On: 10/1/06 at 01:49 AM

[Julian2]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 1:55am

Does it not work? Or is it just bothering you that is dosen't have a purpose?

[timote316]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 1:59am

It has no purpose. Instead of furthering the plot, it basically only expands on what the Courier said: his friends were killed.
Updated On: 10/1/06 at 01:59 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 2:02am

Momma Look Sharp was DEVASTATING when I first saw the show. I remember many in the audience sobbing, as the courier sang this song.

It's purpose? Up until that point, we've been watching a bunch of wigged politicians, locked up in a large room, trying to forge the birth of a new country. We laugh along with them, get frustrated with them, marvel at them, and try to empathize with what they went through. But these men are isolated from the real war that's going on.

The courier's song is our chance to hear from the "real people" of that early America. We get to hear about a young boy shot down, and his mother who is desperately trying to find her son and say goodbye to him before he dies on the battle field. It's our chance to BE on the front lines of that war, and see the humanity and the tragedy of it.

BUT... all of that said, there is another very solid and pointed reason for that song...

1776 was on Broadway originally in 1969. And Mama Look Sharp is a very powerful anti-war song. It was very much trying to tell its audiences (who had been watching the Vietnam War night after night on television) that PEOPLE die when wars are fought. Politicians may argue, and bellow, and struggle to make things right. But in the meantime... Mothers lose their young sons, and lives are shattered by the actions of such a war.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 2:06am

I echo everything Best said and want to add that it's a haunting and beautiful song.

[timote316]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 2:11am

It is indeed haunting and beautiful. Thank you for the in-depth explanation!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 2:17am

I saw the show when it opened. There was no intermission. And I remember my father crying.

That song was the war, reaching right into the chamber and grabbing the hearts of the audience.

Of course, the principal actors were not there to witness it. I believe it was an attempt (and a success) by the authors to show that there is a war for those who fight it that involved bloodshed and death and there is a war for those who lead, that involves decisions and paperwork.

Damn it, nothing has changes in 260 years.

[catstagestud]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 12:32pm

Thanks for the explanation Best12! I would love to be the Courrier one of these up-coming years, and the sooner the better because I'll be too old to play him soon. It's haunting and I'd love to have the opportunity to perform it.

Cheers,

Christopher

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 1:33pm

I also have to disagree that it is the perfect song to end act one with because it is so heartbreaking. I left the theatre for intermission in tears and wanting desperately to see the rest of the show. so it definitely serves its purpose.

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 1:55pm

Personaly i think it is one of the best songs in the show. It's just so haunting, it gives me goosebumps.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 2:16pm

First of all, as allofmylife mentioned earlier, there WAS no intermission in the original production, or the First National Tour (which I saw myself). It was put in after the Broadway run and tour, probably to make it "friendlier" to the regional and stock theatres who NEED to sell drinks and "stuff" between acts. The concession business at theatres is BIG MONEY, and having a one-act show is not exactly a "good business move" when booking a show in your (hopefully profitable) theatre.

So the fact that it's "awkward" taking a ciggie and bathroom break and reading your program after such a somber and emotional moment on stage is understandable. It would kinda kill the mood and the impact of what was just on stage.


And I just thought I'd add (to those of you interested) that I had the pleasure of knowing and working with the late Scott Jarvis (the original Broadway "Courier"), at Palsson's Supper Club. Scott was working as a host in the upstairs restaurant for Forbidden Broadway back then (mid-'80s), and I was a waiter/box office guy. Scott was funny and charming, and a very congenial man. I was able to ask him one night (okay I was young and inquisitive) what it felt like to create a role with such IMPACT as the Courier. He just sort of laughed me off, until he realized I was being sincere. He told me it was the thrill of his lifetime. Nothing before or after that had matched it.

I moved out to L.A. a few years later, and heard through our mutual friends that Scott had passed away from AIDS in 1990, at the young age of 46. So very sad...

But, Scott... you made your mark.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 4:04pm

We saw this show many times in NYC when we were kids. My brother and I had a special fondness for "Momma Look Sharp" perhaps because it did seem so contemporary. As we matured, the meaning of the song and its poignancy intensified.

It has long been my brother's "favorite" song from any musical. I remember when he called me upon finding out that Scott Jarvis had died. We both felt very saddened by the loss because he was so young and he made such an indelible impact on us--even though his part in the show was relatively small. (He was also very cute, I might add!)

I think about this song a lot because I have a French poem framed in my house called "Le Dormeur du Val" by Rimbaud. (It was turned into an anti-war song and released in 1955, but I have never heard it.) This poem has always reminded me of "Momma Look Sharp."

Unfortunately, the song is just as relevant today.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 4:28pm

"I also have to disagree that it is the perfect song to end act one with because it is so heartbreaking."

In the original production, there was no intermission in 1776.






Sally Hemmings
Monticello, Virginia

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 5:10pm

I love "1776" and this is my favorite song from the score. I've seen the show done with and without an intermission, and either way this song is always a stand-out.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 5:21pm

Without the intermission - as some of us remember - the show picks right back up, but from that point on, the story has so much more relevance. We, the audience, now know even more than most of the members of Congress what the war is about and what it's doing to the people. We pay much more attention after this scene, because suddenly, we ALL have a stake in the outcome.

And because the show has no intermission, after that gutwhallop of a number, we have no place to go to chill, we are forced to delve right back into the story. It's effective theater.

Coming as it did smack in the middle of the Vietnam War, I have always felt Stone and Udel were subtly pointing out the godaweful effect the war was having on the enlisted men in Nam, as the "cool, considerate men" like Macnamarra, Johnson and Nixon sat thousands of miles away, pulling the strings.

In the movie version, they choreographed the the end of the Cool Considerate number to resemble a Nazi goosestep. I think the stage play got the point across better.

[EganFan2]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 7:59pm

This is such a heartwrenching song. I saw a production of the show a couple of years ago, and people were silent for a few minutes after the curtain and everything.

[James2]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 8:51pm

That song reminds me a lot of the book Johnny Got His Gun. A book which I think could make a one-man play.

[waddledee524]

Posted: 10/1/06 at 9:02pm

I would love to see a decent performance of this song. The one Courier I saw just dragged out the drama... I just wanted intermission to come. But it sounds nice when done well.

[reginamia]

Posted: 10/7/22 at 10:57am

thanks, Best12Bars for both your comments.  the current NY Times review of "1776" tackles the difficult subject of inclusive casting/directing styles.  Your descriptions of this song in particular add so much to the understanding of this subject.  In the comment section a number of people mention Scott Jarvis.  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/theater/1776-review-broadway.html?unlocked_article_code=umd_ozGyN5UGejywCMMByzs9Cv2wv0E9YnW4z2QUAWYKm2_Mx7W1Fpod11DNpc092XteSNsC43cfOQN55fHSz0UNbNY-uu6EqRW4VhmjOOsGmef6noefljE4yunuZawEanvtam-rydo5YeWl-QISHtgR64zr4QUlPZKgV6TU7I0HYLB417vbv_azvShCiYORawtUkiefy0wKUb56yVyse4ANRj6E8Z4rTpi_s2MZobzyqUVPrY7ESCTXi2rifDkNwR1nyUYCOFW4RyVjzp4aLezklfjLk1ieFow9UYvjKddqpfd9TTZs0VVrNSa_xeX2UEc8nCTLadIzGBmHSBs&smid=share-url

 

[pethian]

Posted: 10/7/22 at 5:51pm

Well put, best12bars. I saw the show in '70 when it had an intermission right after MOMMA LOOK SHARP and while Vietnam was raging. I remember feeling gut-punched as the lights came up. Later that year, I was drafted.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/8/22 at 11:38am

I miss best12bars

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/10/22 at 8:31pm

Without it, one might almost think the revolution was bloodless.  
It wasn't.  
Without it, would be like Les Miserables without Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, A Little Fall of Rain and The Death of Gavroche. 
With it, the sacrifice, pain and risk of the people who fought the war is made flesh. 

 

[ManOfLaMuncha]

Posted: 10/10/22 at 10:36pm

best12bars said: "First of all, as allofmylife mentioned earlier, there WAS no intermission in the original production, or the First National Tour (which I saw myself). It was put in after the Broadway run and tour, probably to make it "friendlier" to the regional and stock theatres who NEED to sell drinks and "stuff" between acts. The concession business at theatres is BIG MONEY, and having a one-act show is not exactly a "good business move" when booking a show in your (hopefully profitable) theatre.

So the fact that it's "awkward" taking a ciggie and bathroom break and reading your program after such a somber and emotional moment on stage is understandable. It would kinda kill the mood and the impact of what was just on stage.


And I just thought I'd add (to those of you interested) that I had the pleasure of knowing and working with the late Scott Jarvis (the original Broadway "Courier", at Palsson's Supper Club. Scott was working as a host in the upstairs restaurant for Forbidden Broadway back then (mid-'80s), and I was a waiter/box office guy. Scott was funny and charming, and a very congenial man. I was able to ask him one night (okay I was young and inquisitive) what it felt like to create a role with such IMPACT as the Courier. He just sort of laughed me off, until he realized I was being sincere. He told me it was the thrill of his lifetime. Nothing before or after that had matched it.

I moved out to L.A. a few years later, and heard through our mutual friends that Scott had passed away from AIDS in 1990, at the young age of 46. So very sad...

But, Scott... you made your mark."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBAy7rHkNvg   here is your friend Scott singing his song on the Tony Awards.  Made me cry too.