"Someone Else's Story"

[User6636a849]

Posted: 4/21/26 at 8:19pm

Just saw it Sunday. Loved it. 

But can someone please explain to me why "Someone Else's Story" was given to Florence in this production (or any production, honestly)? I realize historically it has floated between Florence and Svetlana, but the lyrics don't make sense, coming from Florence, in Act II. 

For example, the song starts out, "Long ago...," and she speaks about falling in love as a girl. So then she can't be talking about her relationship with Anatoly, which is said to be 4 years old right about the time Svetlana comes into the picture. The only way these lyrics would make sense for Florence would be if she was singing them in Act I, pondering breaking up with Freddie, not in Act II, thinking about leaving Anatoly. 

I considered that maybe Florence was remembering her relationship to Freddie and simply making a comparison between that and her relationship to Anatoly, but no. She literally says the promises she made in this relationship she made years ago gave "grown impossible to keep," and then she asks, "Will he listen if I stay?," and "Will he miss me if I go?" I think it's pretty clear it is one continuous relationship she is talking about. 

Anyone?

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/21/26 at 8:40pm

I'm an old die-hard fan of the score - I damn near memorized the concept album when it first came out - but it predates any inclusion of this still bafflingly generic ballad. The number's third reassignment and movement to the 11 o'clockish spot for Florence makes zero sense. It was Judy Kuhn's I Want in the first Broadway production, a point of access for the character to explain how she arrived at such emotional stasis. It slowed the show early on, with its reflective tone, but it was beautiful, and the great Kuhn made it memorable. After that, as noted, it went to Svetlana. I'm always suspicious of songs that anyone can sing, at any point in a piece of storytelling, and this one makes my point, persuasively. Did I say "generic"? 

We now spend this entire show waiting for Florence to evolve away from a singular obsession with her romantic partners; it's the only thing she sings about for 2.5 hours, these two men and the woe they conjure. I longed for something new - repurposed with new lyrics? - that might launch Florence as a human being untethered to romantic entanglements as a defining trait. We didn't get it. So her final expression via this pretty song - after so many songs about these two men - as a stopping place feels unsatisfying. The character so needs - let's say it - to get a life beyond these two sequential triangles. The show's creatives, and that includes Strong, neglect her beyond serving Freddie and Anatoly. If the musical dared to propel Florence toward something  we might feel resolution rather than a stop. It's too bad, because the show still knocks these ravishing songs through the Imperial's ceiling.

Updated On: 4/21/26 at 08:40 PM

[kdogg36]

Posted: 4/21/26 at 9:22pm

User6636a849 said: "Anyone?"

As introduced in the original Broadway production, "Someone Else's Story" made a lot of sense to me. Florence is regretting her relationship with Freddie and contemplating a better one with Anatoly. I regret that they've messed with it since then.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 4/22/26 at 1:11am

Right, it's just another baffling choice in this production for me.  My friend described it as "everyone needs to get an 11 o'clock number so this is Florence's" and that explanation makes about as much sense as anything else you could come up with for why it's the penultimate number of the show.

When given to Florence, it ABSOLUTELY needs to be in act 1 and be about Freddie.  The original version had it come in the place of Nobody's Side (with Nobody's Side moved later), where she's just had an argument with Freddie and realizes she's at the end of the line with him and has to leave him.  I personally think it would be best served in the Heaven Help My Heart slot, as she's going from one lover to another and reflecting on her past relationship (it doesn't hurt that I've always found Heaven Help My Heart a bit too cloying for Florence, but it was a #1 hit in the UK so what are you going to do?)

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 4/22/26 at 1:41am

Has she managed to find the emotion in the song yet!