Musical Theatre Couples fall in love too quickly..- Page 3

[Prisoner 24601]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 8:36am

What, if two characters feel like they love each other you want them to be afraid to act on it till act two? Where's the story of their relationship if there's not even a relationship yet? If you want a story purely about the nature of the formation of love, Passion for example, then that's a case. But not every musical is about HOW people fall in love. Some deal with the consequences of the relationship itself, or a lot of times the relationship isn't even the central focus. Both ways, you can justify characters falling in love at a seemingly alarming rate. A) the love needs to happen before the story can really get going. Anthony and Johanna fall in love at first sight, but not only would Johanna fall in love with the first cute boy she saw, but also, something happens right after to instigate further action, and to delay the meeting/love would halt the story. and B) Maybe the author is trying to tell the audience "this is what happens when you fall in love too quickly/at the wrong time/purely for money etc." It's not like Tony and Maria pulled themselves out of the script and ran off and became infatuated with each other, it's all the author's descision. There's intent.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 8:57am

Haven't you had love at first sight?

Carousel is unique in that list in that she is snapped back to reality by outsiders, but then still plunges back in.

The one I can't understand is "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". The movie made sense, but in the stage show, they were at each others throats in one scene and the next were a couple. There wasn't the scenes where they warmed to each other.

[Steve2]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 9:04am

I posted this in the "Hilarious Comments..." thread.
At South Pacific 3/23: An older woman to her gentleman friend "I don't know why you brought me here, you know I hate musicals. I mean come on, they just met and then they fall in love and want to get married? HELLO."

I remember the first time I saw Phantom (which was also one of my first musicals) and was amazed at how fast Christine and Raul fell in love.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 11:26am

Carousel is so well-done. By the end of "If I Loved You," you really are rooting for them.

I think that in the movie, without "Kiss Me," it just seems like Johanna is using Anthony to get away.

[skb2010]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 11:43am

christine and raul were childhood sweethearts though. thats different then the second you meet them, you decide your getting married tomorrow.

i love how enchanted plays on that

"how long have you two known each other?" Robert

"a day." Gizelle

"you mean it feels like a day since you're so in love." Robert

"no. it's been a day." Gizelle

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 11:56am

The Les Mis novel sort of made fun of it. Marius sees Cosette plenty of times, but just goes "Oh, that girl is ugly" and doesn't fall in love with her "at first sight" until she's turned into a hottie.

[oohshizz146]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 11:57am

Oooh, Giselle! We are to be married in the morning!!!

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 12:04pm

Regarding Romeo/Juliet and Tony/Maria, their love is rooted in passionate sexuality. There are different kinds of love. And the kind that forms its root in passion and sexuality is a kind that definitely happens ridiculously quickly, both in real life and in fiction. But it also very often, once the passion dies down, ends very quickly, too...unless the love has morphed into another, deeper kind of love.

If Romeo had lived, I think he probably would have gotten bored with Juliet sooner rather than later. I mean, at the beginning of the play, he is infatuated with Rosaline. Passionate love is a very fleeting thing, that happens very quickly, but cannot last unless it evolves.

Updated On: 4/13/08 at 12:04 PM

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 1:39pm

Re: Tony & Maria

As has been pointed out, since West Side Story is based on Romeo & Juliet, Tony & Maria have to fall in love at first sight--it's not even from a musical standpoint, but strictly to keep to the story.

But the composition of the music helps the audience to buy their immediate love. The melody of "Maria" is briefly heard in "Cha-Cha," suggesting Maria's name is already singing to Tony before he knows it. and there's great connections between "Something's Coming" and "Maria." The first 3 notes of "Maria" are the inverse of the first 3 notes of "Something's Coming," but, more importantly, "Something's Coming" ends on an unresolved lowered 7th...which doesn't get resolved into the beginning of "Maria," which starts on a lowered seventh, but then resolves it. This shows that indeed, Maria was what Tony was waiting for at the dance, and suggests perhaps a subconscious connection between them. (For the record, the last note of "Something's Coming was changed in the movie, ruining that connection and pissing me off). Additionally, there's melodic similarities between "Something's Coming" and "Maria." The notes of the phrase "whistling down the river" are inversed to become "Say it loud and and there's mu"(sic playing). So all this music should help to make the love at first sight more believable.

And to those who say they hate West Side Story because of how fast Tony & Maria fall in love, I think that's a shame. WSS is one of the best musicals ever to grace the Broadway stage, and there's so much to love in it, not the least of which is its music and choreography. Even if you can't get past that one plot point, if you go away from teh plot and just focus on the music & choreography, I can't imagine anyone "hating" it.

One more note, I have to agree that Rodgers & Hammerstein did an amazing job with "If I Loved You." It's such a hard sequence, taking two people who just met and convincing the audience that they fell in love by the end of the whole scene. Hammerstein's resolve to turn it into the idea of "IF I Loved You" was just brilliant, and I think it makes you get past the fact that they've fallen in love so quickly. And the way the reprise is brought back, if I loved you, turned into indeed the fact that Billy did love Julie. It's such a beautiful melody.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 4:16pm

For the record, the last note of "Something's Coming was changed in the movie, ruining that connection and pissing me off

Even if you can't get past that one note, I can't imagine anyone hating the movie.

[broadwaywriter]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 4:20pm

In Les Miserables, the scene where Marius falls in love with Cosette is not believable at all. They bump into each other and are lost in each other's eyes, in love forever. Seriously. Like what the hell?

[Tkt2Ride]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 4:43pm

It's not too difficult to find something you just love about a person, at least for me? Yet over time, we change and I never felt I loved that person less, just that we needed to go in different directions in our lives? Sometimes you love someone enough to let them go. Something you learn as your children grow up and go on with their own lives.

I agree that in Sweeney Todd, Joanne is mostly looking for a way out. After the way she was treated and the threat she was facing in the future, I'm sure that would make almost any man more attractive to her. Almost any man. Forget about the Beadle! ;p

Romeo and Juliet could go either way? Definitely infatuation but in those days? Under the guise of arranged Marriages? They both seemed a little rebellious. They both enjoyed their pathos together so I understand what draws them together and why they felt so intensely for each other. As mentioned before, who knows if it would last? Most arranged marriages lasted in some form or the other or one of them got killed unexpectedly.

Nothing is more fun than winning the heart of someone you admire. Even if it doesn't last forever, it was fun while it lasted. Some people suffer badly, I understand this fear. This is why I have steered all of my kids towards College. There are things in life you just cannot control and relationships are the most precarious.

I do though know a few couples who fell in love with someone, married quickly and stayed that way until they died. So I can't deny this happens from time to time and it does work out well enough for them.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 4:48pm

"There are things in life you just cannot control and relationships are the most precarious."

So true.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 5:02pm

Oh, I don't hate the movie. It's a great movie, but I don't think it as great as the original production (of course from everything I've heard, not being privileged enough to have seen it), and I'm not thrilled with certain decisions. But like I said, it's still one of the best movie musicals ever made.

[LittlexFallxOfxRain]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 7:40pm

So true, and so necessary.

[suicidalmickeymouse]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 8:11pm

Nobody's mentioned Galinda and Fiyero-- they meet, declare they're perfect and deserve eachother, go on a date dancing, and kiss all in one song.

[Mythus]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 8:19pm

I've skimmed through the thread, and I don't believe anyone's mentioned Seven Brides For Seven Brothers.

"Do you want to leave your entire stable life behind to marry me, some guy you met literally two minutes ago, and live with me in the woods?"
"...Yeah, sure."

ETA: Although, we do get to see how badly their relationship fails, after the initial infatuation is over.
Updated On: 4/13/08 at 08:19 PM

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 8:23pm

Galinda and Fiyero weren't really in love, or at least I didn't think so. They basically were together because he was pretty and she was pretty. There was a basic attraction, but I don't think they were ever in love with each other.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 9:08pm

On the other hand....there is Fosca and Giorgio in PASSION. He spends the entire show trying to escape her (with audiences rooting for him to get as far away from her as possible) only to eventually realize the passion she has awakened in him.

[Mealz1042]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 9:29pm

penny and seaweed...

I mean sometimes it bothers me, Angel and Collins and Mimi and Roger in one night is ridiculous... but rent is still one of my favorite shows.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 9:46pm

Doesn't Sweeney Todd poke fun at the Anthony/Johanna relationship? I thought that was why they fell in love at first sight.

[KrissySim]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 10:36pm

TooDarnHot:
"seriously?
it's music theatre..."

Exactly. Not only falling in love but killing yourself over it, all within a few hours...

In the film Tabor Ukhodit v Nebo it all (falling in love and then death) happens in 90 minutes.

Musical theatre and musical film theatre is fantasy, entertainment & pure art. What else can one say?