"Nothing" from A Chorus Line

[LucyThropp]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:01am

I've seen the end of the song performed two different ways. Sometimes the actress smiles and is happy at the end of the song and other times I've seen it performed with the actress getting sad. What is your interpretation of the song's ending?

[riv]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:06am

The character should be happy.

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:16am

I think she should be indifferent
Updated On: 4/15/05 at 11:16 AM

[cathyhyatt]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:18am

adamchris...i agree with you. when i performed the song...i did as if it was more like a realization for the character.

[MTRBOI24]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:21am

The character shouldnt be anything.....she should be whatever she is feeling, thats up to the actual actress

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:24am

I don't think she's sad... She simply realizes, almost matter-of-factly, that this teacher failed to touch her positively in any way, to the extent that when he died she just didn't care. I think it is a realization for the character. Almost like a heavy sigh and then, "Well, what are you gonna do?"

Updated On: 4/15/05 at 11:24 AM

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:25am

I think its more effective if she plays it emotionally detached at the end. She needs to feel comfortable that she is not "feeling" things like everyone else. She shouldn't be 'happy' about it...just reflective.
Updated On: 4/15/05 at 11:25 AM

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:27am

Yes! Well said AC.

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:29am

Chris, i like the "heavy sigh" comment.

Because you're right, What can you do?

[cathyhyatt]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:29am

adamchris

yes. i would def. say well said..

ahh what a GREAT song to perform..

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:31am

I think she should feel Nothing.

[LucyThropp]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:36am

So why does she say she cried when she found out Karp died? Is she crying because she realizes she doesn't feel sad about his death and the tears are more for her lack of emotion than the fact that he is gone? I think that is what people are saying, but I just needed to put it into my own words. Thanks for your comments.
Updated On: 4/15/05 at 11:36 AM

[WOSQ]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:39am

We, the audience, feel sad because Morales feels nothing, and she may or may not have just realized that. At least she has probably has never said it aloud.

[riv]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:43am

MTRBO124 said: "The character shouldnt be anything.....she should be whatever she is feeling, thats up to the actual actress."

No, it's up to the DIRECTOR. Actors are paid to follow orders.

Was it George S. Kaufman who said he dropped in to see his shows so he could remove the actor's "improvements."

Updated On: 4/15/05 at 11:43 AM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:43am

That Diana is one unfeeling woman.

"Can't regret"
"Look my eyes are dry.."

[robbiej]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:43am

You just did put it in your own words. And very well. I think the situation is rare when an actor should make a choice to feel nothing (although it is sometimes warranted). I, personally, don't believe that this is one of those cases. She clearly feels something...and that emotion comes about from the fact that she feels 'nothing' about the death of another human being.

[bjivie2]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:52am

This is a dilemma I've had with this song and is why I think it's a bit flawed. There's no arc to Morales' story. Well, there is, but it's confusing because her change comes at "this man is nothing..." but then the song continues and gives us this fairly random second change in "cause I felt... nothing." It's clever, but I've never understood why it mattered. The show isn't about her teacher. It's about these dancers. It doesn't give me any insight into Morales' character other than she's sad that this guy died and she didn't care. If Carp was a family member or something, THEN it would have a profound effect on her character, but he's just a teacher. I'm directing the show this summer, so I'll have a chance to really disect the song.

riv, your comment, "it's up to the DIRECTOR. Actors are paid to follow orders," is totally assinine. It's completely a collaboration between actor and director. To say actors are paid to follow orders belittles them and is actually quite mean. (and just on another point, why would anyone in a show that's not a villain be happy that they didn't feel anything about someone who died?)

[LucyThropp]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:52am

Thanks robbiej! Thanks to everyone for the insight and explanations.

[wildcat]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 11:59am

Now is the time to listen to that clever piece of material called "Something" from the off-Broadway revue UPSTAIRS AT O'NEAL'S, which tells the Morales story from the point of view of Mr. Carp.

"Six months later
I got real sick and died..."

[riv]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 1:07pm

For bjivie2:

It is not "completely a collaboration between actor and director." You are speaking as if they are equals. They are not. The actor works for the director. There may be circumstances when this is not true, as in the case of a star vehicle, but that is not what we are speaking of here.

Obviously, as a director, you cast a role looking for a certain actor who will most likely give you the interpretation you desire. But the director sets the parameters of how a role is to be played. Otherwise, he's not doing his job.

As to the other point: Why should she feel "happy?" Because: A) Some "teacher" told her she was a nothing at one point in her career. She has survived the vicious remark. B) Opportunity to return the "compliment" and relieved to finally express it. C) Knowing she is honest enough to think of an individual in death the same way she did while they were alive. That she is not a hypocrite, as many would be under the same circumstances. Why be sympathetic to an individual who didn't earn it from her in life? D) That she is truely in touch with what she feels, realizing "feeling nothing" is also a feeling, as legitimate as any other "feeling.".


Updated On: 4/15/05 at 01:07 PM

[ButtonstheClown]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 1:11pm

I always thought of it as happy.

[ChristineDaae]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 1:14pm

I've only heard one version of this song and that is from Susan Egans solo album. It sounds like shes sad at the end.

Posted: 4/15/05 at 1:20pm

Nice discussion. Love the show and everything about it.

I think the song says so much more than simply Morales personal story. First off: It gets to unveil aspects of a dancers life that many might not really grasp. They are not just dancers, stage dressing, or supplemental to a show. They just don't move about the stage without purpose, they show range, emotion, feeling and technique other than simple dance steps or athletics.
Anything that opens up a window into the heart and soul of a dancer works great in this piece.

As far as the emotion of the song: There are many ways to play the ending. She might have cried because she actually was sad about his passing, a teacher has an impact on your life, whether you learn from them something they taught you, or, in this instance, something they didn't, or didn't do well. School is a very emotional time for many, and the nostalgic feelings of her recalling her youth is very emotional. There might be sad resignation of not being able to go back to that time, and maybe changing something. Or sad resignation that life moves forward, you learn from your past and there are things you can never get back.

It's the digging down to the bottom of the soul line that could be a key to the emotion. The beauty of this is there is no real answer, just many avenues for acting choices.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 1:29pm

Sometimes people who are important to us--parents, teachers, lovers, friends--wound us. Suddenly, unexpectedly, irrevocably. Sometimes these wounds are never healed and leave us bitter, hardened, broken. Over time, the bitterness and hardness can soften, the broken part can mend, but that person's hurtful actions leave us forever changed.

When that person dies, we go through a specific kind of grief--not a sweet grief for the loss of a loving presence, but a tough grief for the loss of what was taken away when that person hurt us.

Morales cries when she hears Karp died because the passing of someone who was important is sad. But she feels "nothing" because that was the survival mechanism she learned when he wounded her.

Updated On: 4/15/05 at 01:29 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/15/05 at 1:38pm

I remember talking about this years ago with a colleague. I always chuckled at that last line because I anticipated the repeat of "nothing". My friend said the ending always left her cold. It's an interesting anti-climax to the song.