I'm assuming you've never seen the show, so you don't know that the song follows a scene in which the female characters [Wendla, Anna, Thea, and Martha] are hanging out, when it is pointed out that Martha's braid has come loose leading to a dark reveal. Martha gets defensive, and slowly shares details of how her father sexually (and psyhically) abuses her at night. After Martha shocks the girls by revealing her bruised arm, the girls react in varying degree of disbelief and confusion, especially the now slowly awakening sexually Wendla. When Anna mentions wanting her children to grow up "strong and tall, and free", Thea retorts with "Free? But what how will we know what do if our parents don't tell us?". The scene fades as Martha steps center to a microphone brought on by Ilse (who has been lurking in the shadows) and thus allowing Martha to shed light onto her own problems. The adult woman plays Martha's mother briefly, as the adult man plays Ilse's father who comes onto her via the line "Ilse, Ilse - it's story time" which leads into Ilse's section of the song.
"Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we’re all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.” --- Patti LuPone.
Updated On: 1/22/14 at 03:16 AM
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