henrikegerman said: "If Sally is wearing green, might it perhaps go hand in hand with a different interpretation of "I should have worn green" to - instead of the usual line-reading with a subtext of "I may have gone with the wrong color" - a twist on it with the subtext of "I have to believe I did right by wearing green as I once did?"
In essence, a confirmation by Sally of her choice rather than a regretting of it; a completely opposite but still at least arguably defensible subtext?
After all strictly speaking, "should" doesn't at all necessarily imply an alternative action one didn't take. It often implies a validation of the action of what one did do.
Because if this is how the line is going to be interpreted, it wouldn't suggest that Sally is demented at all (i.e., is so removed from reality she has no idea what color her dress is).
Of course, given the rhythm and scansion of "Too Many Mornings" this interpretation ("I was right to have worn green"
might suggest at best a neurotic and insecure validation.
But what kind of validation would be more appropriate for Sally than a neurotically insecure one?
Actually the more I think about this, the more sense this alternative line-reading seems to make. We know that Sally gave very special attention to what color she would wear to the party: "How I planned what I'd wear tonight."
And then there is the fact that it is in "Too Many Mornings" that Sally actually begins to believe she is doing the right thing and that Ben might actually finally be hers. It's a song of confirmation.
Just because we've always heard that line sung differently, doesn't mean that's the only way to make it work.
I think either scenario would make sense. Sally wanting to recapture the moment at which she wore green the last time. Phyllis (less likely, thinking about it further) wanting to one-up the Ben's memory of last seeing Sally. For it to be believable, we would have to believe that she'd actually remember that Sally wore green, and that it made a lasting impression on Ben.
On another note, the first time I saw reference to Follies, it said incorrectly that Imelda was playing Phyllis; while that didn't make a lot of sense to me -- I will always think of Phyllis as Patrician / glamorous / tall, words that I would never expect to use to describe Taunton. Not a dig, just a fact.
