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

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.

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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.

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

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

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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.

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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?

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

So true.

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So true, and so necessary.

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

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.

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