"Send In The Clowns" help
"Send In The Clowns" help
#0"Send In The Clowns" help
Posted: 7/30/04 at 1:04amI've read a few synapses of "A Little Night Music" online but none that tell who sings "Send In The Clowns" or why she sings it. What makes her sing it? I'm going crazy trying to find the answer. Any help will be greatly appreciated!
#1re: 'Send In The Clowns' help
Posted: 7/30/04 at 1:08am
Desiree Armfeldt, an older actress, is singing about her and her longtime, on-again off-again flame, Frederick Egerman. She has fallen for him again, but he is married to his young, virgin bride, Anne. Desiree is singing about how when one of them fallas in love with the other, the other is already in a relationship. Beautiful metaphors.
"Me here at last on the ground, you in midair"
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
#2re: 'Send In The Clowns' help
Posted: 7/30/04 at 1:11amThank you, StickToPriest!!
#3re: 'Send In The Clowns' help
Posted: 7/30/04 at 2:37amWelcome! But thats just the *very* basic summary!
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
WOSQ
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
#4re: 'Send In The Clowns' help
Posted: 7/30/04 at 9:47am
The script is published.
Also think irony, not tragedy. It is the most common mistake about this song and it is a fatal error. This is not a dirge.
Matt_G
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
#5re: 'Send In The Clowns' help
Posted: 7/30/04 at 9:58amFunny, I always thought the motivation for singing that song was when someone gave money to Barbra and one of her causes.
WOSQ
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
#6re: 'Send In The Clowns' help
Posted: 7/30/04 at 10:14amMeow
kgee30
Stand-by Joined: 6/1/04
#7re: 'Send In The Clowns' help
Posted: 7/30/04 at 11:14am
Absolutely; ironic is the word. It’s also rueful and self-aware, a character-revealing piece that doesn’t work at all (for me) outside the show’s context: Desiree has just been dumped by Fredrik because he’s decided – after declaring his love for her – that the safer choice is to stay with his young wife. You can interpret the lyrics as you will, but to me the song is about regret; she’s lamenting age and foolishness and the wasting of time and opportunity. She’s not under any illusions: she knows she's getting older and she clearly knows what she’s losing, but she’s not self-pitying or bitter.
(The preamble dialogue to the song is lovely, too, as are Fredrik’s last lines before he leaves her – “Desiree, I’m sorry. I should never have come. To flirt with rescue when one has no intention of being saved…”)
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