Apr. 13th, 2015 12:00 pm
Sexual Carousal
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muckefuckBlondie seems to think that I don't like musicals. Y'all know that's not true. I don't like most musicals. And I don't like seeing musicals presented on an opera stage, because it only invites invidious comparisons. If I'm watching a musical on DVD, I'm comparing the soundtrack to that of other movies I've seen and thinking, "There are some pretty good songs here." If I watch it at the Lyric, I'm comparing it to scores of great operas I've seen there and thinking, "This sounds pretty weak."
Given that handicap, Carousel actually did really well on the musical axis. Some reviews have called it the "most operatic" of musicals (or at least of classical musicals or Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals) and it's impressive how durchcomponiert it is in places. There are still lots of "numbers", but the songs don't feel shoehorned in they way they often can. Instead, the dialogue feels carefully inserted between the musical bits, which are the meat of the matter.
But, Jesus God, the characterisation. I know all about the past being a foreign country. Still, there's only so much I can do to keep my second-wave feminist sensibilities in check during an extended scene of sexual assault played for laughs (at the expense of the naïve soubrette, natch). And even that was peanuts to the constant domestic abuse apologetics culminating in the equation of striking a young girl with giving her a kiss. Ew, ew, ew.
Nuphy and I almost got into a fight over it afterwards. He grew up with Carousel, the songs are woven into the fabric of his childhood, and he kept urging me to take the ugly bits "in context". I argued that that was exactly what I was doing: the context was one of normalising sexual abuse. From his protests, I feel like he didn't understand what that really means. Yes, it's all meant to be enjoyed as light entertainment. That's exactly what makes it so awful. We're so comfortable with exploitation and abuse of women we're going to do a cute little dance number about it. (Maybe follow that up with an uptempo number about darkies knowing their place? Oh, wait, no, different musical.)
Even despite that, I found the show genuinely affecting. I teased Nuphs about his watery eyes afterwards, all the while hoping he didn't notice the tear tracks on my own cheeks. At some point during "You'll Never Walk Alone" I began thinking of that grim future where I won't ever again have![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
monshu to come home to and then it was all over. Is this how I'm going to be from now on? How tedious.
The production was terrific. Great sets, solid choreography. The Second Act interlude feels endless though. A couple in front of me got up to leave right as it finished and I was like, Where you going? You just made it through the worst part! The only thing that really bothered me (beyond, you know, the rampant sexism) was the lighting. For some reason, most of the action takes place around sunset regardless of whether that makes any sense. It's very pretty to have those pinkish hues glimmering on the scrims, but it doesn't lend any coherence to the action at all.
We also came very close to missing curtain for only the second time in my history with the Lyric. Somehow both Blondie and Nuphy managed to look right at the tickets and not see that the show started at 1:30. The former and I arrived at the theatre about 1:24 expecting to meet Nuphy there only to find out from a phone call that he was relaxing across the street. I expect that kind of ditziness from Blondie, coming from Mr Semper Clamo it's a surprise. I made it to my seat just as the lights were dimmed; they managed to slip in during the overture and moved up after the first intermission.
Given that handicap, Carousel actually did really well on the musical axis. Some reviews have called it the "most operatic" of musicals (or at least of classical musicals or Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals) and it's impressive how durchcomponiert it is in places. There are still lots of "numbers", but the songs don't feel shoehorned in they way they often can. Instead, the dialogue feels carefully inserted between the musical bits, which are the meat of the matter.
But, Jesus God, the characterisation. I know all about the past being a foreign country. Still, there's only so much I can do to keep my second-wave feminist sensibilities in check during an extended scene of sexual assault played for laughs (at the expense of the naïve soubrette, natch). And even that was peanuts to the constant domestic abuse apologetics culminating in the equation of striking a young girl with giving her a kiss. Ew, ew, ew.
Nuphy and I almost got into a fight over it afterwards. He grew up with Carousel, the songs are woven into the fabric of his childhood, and he kept urging me to take the ugly bits "in context". I argued that that was exactly what I was doing: the context was one of normalising sexual abuse. From his protests, I feel like he didn't understand what that really means. Yes, it's all meant to be enjoyed as light entertainment. That's exactly what makes it so awful. We're so comfortable with exploitation and abuse of women we're going to do a cute little dance number about it. (Maybe follow that up with an uptempo number about darkies knowing their place? Oh, wait, no, different musical.)
Even despite that, I found the show genuinely affecting. I teased Nuphs about his watery eyes afterwards, all the while hoping he didn't notice the tear tracks on my own cheeks. At some point during "You'll Never Walk Alone" I began thinking of that grim future where I won't ever again have
monshu to come home to and then it was all over. Is this how I'm going to be from now on? How tedious.The production was terrific. Great sets, solid choreography. The Second Act interlude feels endless though. A couple in front of me got up to leave right as it finished and I was like, Where you going? You just made it through the worst part! The only thing that really bothered me (beyond, you know, the rampant sexism) was the lighting. For some reason, most of the action takes place around sunset regardless of whether that makes any sense. It's very pretty to have those pinkish hues glimmering on the scrims, but it doesn't lend any coherence to the action at all.
We also came very close to missing curtain for only the second time in my history with the Lyric. Somehow both Blondie and Nuphy managed to look right at the tickets and not see that the show started at 1:30. The former and I arrived at the theatre about 1:24 expecting to meet Nuphy there only to find out from a phone call that he was relaxing across the street. I expect that kind of ditziness from Blondie, coming from Mr Semper Clamo it's a surprise. I made it to my seat just as the lights were dimmed; they managed to slip in during the overture and moved up after the first intermission.