Parts of A Show That I Never Got- Page 2

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/22/09 at 11:03pm

Harpz- I think Elle is overjoyed but I know some hairstylists who hate the two-in-one so I was more surprised by Paulette's positive reaction. It would have been a little endearing if Emmett tried and failed at getting her the right hair product in order to impress her.
Updated On: 12/23/09 at 11:03 PM

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/22/09 at 11:09pm

Harpz - Elle isn't too thrilled to be receiving a two in one shampoo/conditioner, but she plays it off and thanks him for his thoughtfulness.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/22/09 at 11:17pm

Givesmevoice, I always assumed that bus tickets were cheaper than train tickets, so Madame Rose was finding one last way to bilk the boys out of money before they go.

To expand on what peerrjb and PalJoey said about "Waiting for the Girls," it actually says in the script that the four older characters get caught up in the memory and then seem a little shaken and angry when they come out of it. There's actually an excahnge that was cut in Boston that comes just before the final chorus, after the Young Four have just left.

Buddy (to Phyllis) You see? It ISN'T a million years ago.
Phyllis: It's yesterday. Jesus, Buddy.
Sally (to Ben): You said you'd forgotten.
And then Ben says something that is unintelligble on the recording I have.

Then they sing my favorite lyric that didn't make it final version.

Waiting around for the girls upstairs
Thank you but never again
Though we know now life is immense
Full of wars and marriages and things that make sense
Time was when one of the major events
Was waiting for the girls, etc

Then it just beats the final chord literally twelve times. It's so bizarre. I love it so.

Anyhow, it's really the first time that they realize they're going to have to confront their younger selves literally.

I never thought about it as sticking out in terms of style, but that's an interesting observation. If you look at it in terms of story, at that point, they're all - for the most part - still wearing their game faces. Then they share this collective memory, which is probably more or less a true memory for all of them, and it's the first real crack in the plaster for all of them.

All Things Bright and Beautiful is just... I love the tune, and it just really lends just the right tone to the opening of the show musically, I don't think I'd want it in its full form anywhere else in the show. Clearly, I have my biases, but this is my favorite Sondheim score, and I have very few quibbles with it.

Updated On: 12/23/09 at 11:17 PM

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 12/22/09 at 11:23pm

On the Benny redemption in Rent, I think Angel's death made him more aware of how everybody else was living and he was forgiven when he paid for Angel's funeral. I think if Johnathon Larson had lived, he would probably have made this clearer, but because he died, there were minimal changes in previews.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 12/22/09 at 11:31pm

Sigh.

The full lyric from WICKED is:

Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost
I'd sooner buy
Defying gravity

It's a play on the two definitions of "buy": purchase something for money, and believe, like an excuse ("I'm going to tell the teacher I lost my homework. Think she'll buy it?").

I don't have a problem at all with Schwartz making up words to fit his rhymes, because it fits in with the world of Oz. In case you hadn't noticed, the entire score AND DIALOGUE is littered with made-up words, spoken by all the characters. Schwartz is writing within that world and, in my opinion, it works.

I don't consider WICKED a great score by any means, but I think a lot of people here simply dismiss it and don't give it enough credit for what it is.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 12/22/09 at 11:32pm

Also, Elle's scream at the shampoo/conditioner is definitely a scream of horror, not joy. At least, it was when Laura Bell Bundy did it, and I never saw anyone else.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 12:12am

I saw Becky Gulsvig and her Elle in that scene struck me as happy/surprised.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 12:35am

I *always* think it's a mistake in Gypsy when Rose says "They want their train tickets back? Give them their bus tickets back!" I still don't understand why that's the line, and it always sounds a little awkward to me.

Train travel is much nicer than bus travel. Train travel was too good for them.

As for Elle and the shampoo I always felt that she was thrilled more over his attempt to give her something he thought would be right for her. What does Emmett really know about hair care? If he was really smart he'd have given her only conditioner and left out the detergent...I mean shampoo

Updated On: 12/23/09 at 12:35 AM

[Just_John]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 12:54am

"In Shrek, in "I Know it's Today" when adult Fiona sings "I'm a very gifted bowler". I know it rhymes with "bipolar", but really? She complains about having "only bare essentials", where is all of this room to go bowling? "

Well, she wasn't locked in the tower until she was 7. That seems to be enough time in one's life to find out they're good at bowling, no?

"I *always* think it's a mistake in Gypsy when Rose says "They want their train tickets back? Give them their bus tickets back!" I still don't understand why that's the line, and it always sounds a little awkward to me."

I understood the line but it sounded very awkward to me too.

[BroadwayBound115]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 1:50am

That part in Legally Blonde always confused me as well! I got the impression Elle was shocked/horrified based on her scream, but when Paulette says the line "hair care? i like this guy already" or something like that, you think well maybe Elle really likes it.

[binau]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 2:21am

"Givesmevoice, I always assumed that bus tickets were cheaper than train tickets, so Madame Rose was finding one last way to bilk the boys out of money before they go. "

Mmm....I didn't think it was just about money though, but her bitterly trying to cause them inconvenience etc... at the same time. (I love this whole scene - she is borderline psychopathic I SWEAR!!!)

Updated On: 12/23/09 at 02:21 AM

[BwayTday]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 3:31am

Re: "I Know it's Today"

I always assumed that it was supposed to make no sense...like "**chuckle chuckle** how would she know if she was a good bowler if she was locked in a tower, it's funny, cause she couldn't bowl in a tower, get it? **chuckle**?"

Or something like that...

[Dagobert]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 3:51am

"Warn the Duke!"

[threetwoone]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 3:55am

In Xanadu when Clio/Kira introduces all her sisters to Sonny.

"What rhymes with Nantucket?"

Maybe I live under a rock...but I don't get why that's so funny. I figure it's something sexual?

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 8:16am

There's an old limerick called "There once was a man from nanucket," which is well-known to be extremely filthy. I don't know if I'm allowed to post it here.

[artscallion]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 9:44am

There once was a man from Nantucket,
Whose -blank- was so long he could -blank- it
He said with a grin
Wiping -blank- from his chin
If my ear was a -blank- I could -blank- it!

Updated On: 12/23/09 at 09:44 AM

[teh_pretty]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 11:17am

In West Side Story, I've NEVER understood Anita's line, "It's when I don't look at him that it happens." Everybody laughs, and after seeing the show a couple of times, I still don't understand it...

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 11:24am

IMO Elle is horrified but plays it off. Paulette's reaction also confuses me because all the hair stylists I know can't stand shampoo/conditioner in one.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 11:41am

I think Paulette is trying to cheer her up, like, "Well, he tried!"

[Elke]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 12:22pm

English is not my mother tongue, so it does happen from time to time that I don't get all the nuances.

Like in Next To Normal, when Diana says "Oh, thank you, that's very sweet, but my husband's waiting in the car" during My Psychopharmacologist And I... I understand the sentence of course, but I don't get what she really means. Anyone care to explain?

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 12:25pm

I never got in Rent when Mark leaves during Light the Candle what he does, because he says he's going to fix Maureen's equipment, but he is suddenly back at the apartment for Today 4 U, and the Tango Maureen doesn't start until after You'll See. I assumed he found Collins and Angel during that break of time, but he seems surprised to see everything Collins brings them in Today 4 U, and he obviously doesn't recognize Angel. Is this simply a plot hole?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 12:42pm

There's a lot of Rent that doesn't make sense if you look at it too closely.

[sally1112]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 1:15pm

Elke,

Like in Next To Normal, when Diana says "Oh, thank you, that's very sweet, but my husband's waiting in the car" during My Psychopharmacologist And I... I understand the sentence of course, but I don't get what she really means. Anyone care to explain?


Right before those lines he has assured Diana that it is the drugs slowing the sex in her marriage, not her attractiveness. Diana takes this as flirting, so she is in fact reminded him that she is married, and he is right outside.

[Sauja]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 1:24pm

Sally, do you think that the "waiting in the car" line is justified? Because I don't get a flirtatious read from the doctor at all, which I also thought made her response confusing. I could never decide if it was supposed to be anachronistic (there goes the crazy lady misunderstanding the doctor's intentions) or if a level of flirtation was actually supposed to be intended on his part.

[Jon]

Posted: 12/23/09 at 1:31pm

The Anita line refers to her orgasm.