What am I missing? Floyd Collins

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What am I missing? Floyd Collins

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

So I bought FC after loving Light in the Piazza. I've listening to it three time and I just can't get into it. What am I missing? I find it interesting but can't get hooked.

Genius lasts longer than beauty.

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 1:48am

You're missing a live production...as we all are. Or even a script for more description. Some of the songs stand beautifully on their own (How Glory Goes, Daybreak) and others could really benefit from more context than the recording gives. personally i think floyd collins is some of Guettel's most MUSICAL work. Piazza is gorgeous and complicated at the same time with it's italian romanticism. Floyd Collins nails it on the head with a perfect mix of classical complexity with Appalachian banjos. I can't listen to "Lucky" without getting a big smile on my face. And Bruce Coughlin's orchestrations are amazing! Give it time. it took me almost a month or so to listen to ALL the tracks without skipping through to the more "understandable" or melodic ones that weren't dependent on context. Give it time.

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 3:37am

Yeah, I sort of slid into it. I love "How Glory Goes," but the complex melodies take time to really sink. If you like "Piazza," then I really think you'd enjoy this show. It's the same style, but maybe not as mainstream as "Piazza."

I would love to see a production of this. I'm so curious to know how this would work on stage, or how it worked at Playwrights.

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 6:03am

Yes, Floyd Collins must be seen. I saw a small production in LA a couple of years ago starring Bryce Ryness as Floyd and it was overwhelming. The scenes with his brother, the memories of their boyhood, are wonderful and heartbreaking and all of the business with the reporters and the townspeople really plays. It's a fantastic piece and very do-able. I'm not sure why we don't see it more often.

Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 7:45am

Precisely. You're missing a production. You need to see the show to appreciate it. It's not really stand-alone material.

"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 7:48am

The songs add to and illuminate the context. But they don't really reveal the context. Must be seen to fully appreciate how brilliant the songs really are. Love this show.

Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 11:04am

Like a Sondheim show, Floyd Collins is a score you have to sit and really listen to rather than just have it on in the background. "How Glory Goes" has the most beautiful ending that I've ever heard. It makes me cry pretty much everytime I hear it.

That said, yeah, I think it's a show you have to see. I'd probably appreciate the score more if I saw it, though I have read the complete libretto.

Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 11:21am

Ugh. Nothing.

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

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

Yeah I saw it. it's about a guy stuck in a cave who (SPOILER) gets eaten by crickets. Couple of decent songs.

#10

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 2:53pm

I was under the impression that he dies of exhaustion & the "crickets" were a side effect of the effects of starvation & exposure.

Does anyone know of any productions (professional or college) that will be happening in the coming months?

#11

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 2:59pm

He died of exposure.

Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!

#12

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 3:08pm

MYTHS & HYMNS is much better and much more interesting and varied, musically at least. There's some amazing stuff in that.

FC is always a chore to me. I never met a country musical I particularly enjoyed, perhaps that has something to do with it. I do like the new song Guettel wrote for the London production, though. In the UK it's on the actor who played Floyd's solo cd.

P

#13

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 4:12pm

He died of exposure THEN he got eaten by Crickets. Sheesh.

#14

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 4:29pm

I liked the story better when it was called Baby Jessica.

#15

re: What am I missing? Floyd Collins

Posted: 12/23/09 at 5:05pm

Well, not everyone has to like the same things. I think Floyd Collins is one of the finest musicals I've ever heard (I have yet to actually see it, although I do harbour a dream of directing a promenade production in a local cave system XD), and I had an excellent evening earlier this year tucked up under my bed in the dark with the full score, libretto, the cast recording on my iPod, and an old-fashioned lantern. I find the score to be very well-done, very appropriate, and it's a refreshing subject matter for a show. But if you don't like it, so what? You don't HAVE to, y'know. I'd laugh if something someone said on here convinced you otherwise; granted, you could well be missing something, but if you don't like it that much, then you don't like it that much! Form your own opinion! :P

Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter

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