#IK HES NOT ACTUALLY DEAD BUT THE FACT THAT ANDY WAS THE ONE TO DO IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY BECAUSE HE WENT THROUGH SO MUCH
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HE ATE THIS SCENE UP SO MUCH AND HE DESERVES TO FINALLY MFING JUSTICE FOR THIS MAN
ABOUT THIS PARRALEL ,,,
#THE FACTS ITS PARRALELING BACK TO THE FIRST MOVIE??#OH MY FOD I CANT#NAH BECAUSE IM SO GLAD IT WAS ANDY TO BE THE ONE TO DO IT INSTEAD OF EVERYONE ELSE#THE FACT THAT ITS BEEN 34 YEARS AND ANDY SAID HE WAS ALSO TERRIFIED AND SCARED? LIKE ABOUT DAMN TIME HE ACTUALLY FACED HIS FEARS#IK HES NOT ACTUALLY DEAD BUT THE FACT THAT ANDY WAS THE ONE TO DO IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY BECAUSE HE WENT THROUGH SO MUCH#ANDY JUSTICE IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME AND THIS SCENE IS SO MWAHHHH CHEFS KISS FR#chucky tv series#chucky spoilers#chucky#andy barclay#childs play#i cant actually even fathom LITERALLY that andy is so GOOD THIS SEASON??#WITHOUT HIM BEING BARELY PRESENT??#THEY ACTUALLY FUCKING PULLED IT OFF??#THERES SOMETHING SO GOOD ABOUT THIS SCENE ABOUT ANDY AND ACTUALLY COMING TO TERMS AND FACING HIS FEARS ABOUT THE WHOLE SUTATION LIKE OH MY G#GOD THIS SCENE IS GOING TO LIVE RENT FREE SO MUCH IDC#IM SO HAPPY IT WAS ACTUALLY ANDY TO KILL HIM !! LIKE THE WRITERS CHOSE HIM AND IT COULDVE BEEN ANYONE ELSE!! AND THEY PICKED HIM!!!#GOD IM SO HAPPY THEY DIDNT INGORE HIM LIKE IT GENUINELY MAKES ME HAPPY THAT ANDY CHARACTER IS LITERALLY NOT BEING THROWN AROUND#AND HAVING HIM NOT HAVING ANY REVELANCE TO PLOT OR CHR AND THEY DID IT!! LIKE THIS IS IT ISTG#GOD I LOVE HIM SO MUCH THIS SEASON THEY UTILIZED HIM SO MUCH AHHHHHH
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rereading 'a good girl's guide to murder'
i did this for my first time read of 'a curse for true love' and actually really enjoyed the process, so welcome to my thoughts rereading 'a good girl's guide to murder' for (i want to say fourth?) time. obviously there will be spoilers ahead, so you have been warned.
RAVI <333
'i pacifically think you're better off without him' 'i antlantically think so too' i'm convinced this is a conversation taken directly from my gc.
lauren, you are not a girl's girl. i hope the heartbreak stings </3
stanley, why have you got to be a racist and then go and make me feel sorry for you later? it'd be so much easier if characters were one-dimensional.
how is ravi already so 😍🥰😭
PIKACHU ONESIE WITH A TUTU ARE YOU KIDDING??? this whole thing is just going to be me screaming over ravi and i am not sorry.
'one of his perfect smiles' pip its chapter six you can't be this down bad already. ik i am but that's different.
leslie - what i'm about to say i want you to know i mean it with my whole heart - i despise you.
TALK NERDY TO ME <333
sorry since when does ravi work at the pub???
i'm eternally grateful that holly jackson is british.
'when are the boys getting here?' lauren you couldn't be more of a pick-me if you tried.
'Stop digging, Pippa.'
BECCA WAS SEEING STANLEY??? HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT THAT???
help the liking photos from five years ago - that's rule one of internet stalking.
and at long last we start to board the 'max hastings is a dirty piece of shit' train. all aboard!!!
pip trying to buy drugs is so funny.
PIPPA FITZ-AMOBI YOU ARE EVERYTHING I ASPIRE TO BE AND MORE.
pipravi <333
'You stupid bitch. Leave this alone while you still can.' Was this Elliot? Because I know he's got a lot to lose but 'bitch' seems a bit out of character. Wait, Nat's note in Andie's locker also said 'You stupid bitch', so maybe it was her. I can't remember.
PIPRAVI <333 where do i find a ravi singh? please universe send one to me.
'REAL MEN WEAR FLORAL WHEN TRESPASSING' FUCK YEAH THEY DO!!!
help ravi's scared of cats i didn't remember that either.
ravi singh i am humbly asking for your hand in marriage.
i am officially a member of the 'nat da silva deserves better' party.
'who's taking the picture?' has to be up there with top ten plot twists of all time LIKE ITS SO CLEVER AND SO GOOD!!!
i'm also a member of the 'sal singh deserved so much better' party. ugghhhhh it actually makes me so mad.
BARNEY :((
DON'T HURT RAVI; THAT HURTS ME :((
holly jackson, i will be invoicing you for my therapy bills.
'hello, trouble' AND SUDDENLY ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD AGAIN I AM GIGGLING KICKING MY FEET TWIRLING MY HAIR OVER RAVI SINGH ONCE MORE!
i'm so dead serious - where do i find a ravi?
the fact she's been setting up clues for book three this whole time is astounding. how does she do it? i'm genuinely asking, holly jackson, please teach me your ways.
becca bell i'm so sorry.
the fact we skipped the start of pipravi's relationship will never not leave me asking for more LIKE WHO MADE THE FIRST MOVE? WHAT WAS THEIR FIRST DATE? GIVE ME THE DETAILS!
'i'm ravishing' RAVI SINGH WE DO NOT DESERVE YOU <333
the fact max hastings walks free represents everything wrong with the world. but where we don't have justice, we have pippa fitz-amobi.
#I CAN'T BELIEVE THE TV ADAPTATION COMES OUT TOMORROW#like i remember reading this when it first came out#and waiting for the release dates of books two and three#and now we're finally going to see them on screen#a good girl's guide to murder#agggtm#pippa fitz-amobi#pip fitz-amobi#ravi singh#pipravi#holly jackson
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You can't just drop that "I read Forces Multiplied" bomb on us and not give a ten page written reaction.
[cracks knuckles] if u insist
nicky cant drive hc: destroyed. rip. also i loved how andy and nile stole those sports cars and were being badass and driving off the bridge & meanwhile joe and nicky were just absolutely vibing in the van
'heres the thing about power: people who have it think they deserve it' [shot of police car] i see u greg
5 whole panels being dedicated to booker not being able to unlock his door. booker not even seeing noriko sitting RIGHT THERE in the window at first. incredible
noriko being 24/7 horny was surprising. like wow all of the stuff i saw she did out of context was 100% equally horny in context as it was out of context. love that for her
i didnt think the 'andy + slavery' thing was handled as badly as everyone made it out to be when telling me about it. tho from the way it was talked about i had kind of figured the conflict between andy and nile re: slavery would be really racially charged (esp considering nile is a black american and would obvs have Thoughts on the subject in that regard) but like,, done in a cringey 'a-white-guy-obviously-wrote-it' kind of way? but it wasnt that. i mean. it makes sense that andy would be implicit in slavery through the years
i mean, like she says, is that not what people just did to each other in the aftermath of battles for thousands of years? and i really like how its pointed out that it was what she was raised with (in the beginning when you see her put shackles on that guy after the battle) but she also accepts responsibility for it and acknowledges that it was wrong and not just 'what people did'.
i like how from her expressions you can kind of tell baby andy knew it was off but she sets those feelings aside bc she felt angry. it explains how she felt but didnt make her out to be blameless in it. plus i mean. i dont know, the fact that andy was involved in a lot of morally shady stuff for 7000 years is not that wild for me. if you live that long youre just Going to be involved in some shit, and she didnt even have other immortals with her as positive community influences, she literally just did whatever the fuck she wanted for thousands of years
'i was worshipped as a god once' i mean, yeah no shit she wouldve been involved in some seriously fucked up stuff, gods were fucking scary back in the day
tldr it could use some polish but it wasnt that bad
tho everything people said about moose being boring was unfortunately a little true. sorry king i tried to be interested in you
joe and nicky writing verbal fanfiction about nile and moose was iconic. 'you seeing that?' 'i am definitely seeing that'
it was also extremely funny bc that was like 60% of their contribution to the whole comic, besides kidnapping copley. they came, they wrote some fanfic, they left. kings. at least in tog1 they had an excuse to be useless bc they got kidnapped
joe just found out his old friend who he thought was dead is alive (and also probably wants to murder them) and instead of investigating with andy he stopped to help nile up. champ.
nicky shooting noriko through andy was cool. rip to the concept since it wont happen in tog2
wanna see mr ejiofor deliver this line
on that note imo copley was. weirdly enough, more interesting in fm than in tog1. to me at least. the fact that andy let him live and he was so haunted by what had happened that he came back and sought them out despite knowing they would likely kill him for it bc he wanted to not only make up for what hed done but also to tell them what theyd done for the world was admittedly more interesting than andy just kind of drafting him to the cause and him going 'okie'
i like how nicky was drawn in this one. in opening fire he looks like a blob man but in fm he looks more like a very nice grampa with a very good dye job
'theres no pain like a broken heart' andy 🥺
noriko implying andy's never drowned. .. .idk about that one, she musta drowned sometime
joe and nicky came, they waxed poetic about nile's love life, they waxed poetic about grog, and then they left.
sports bras being a reason humanity is good. i mean..... okay, yeah.
i mean. wild but you cant exactly tell her shes wrong
i liked how noriko telling andy that their purpose is to make people suffer coincides with joe and nicky finding out that they actually did good all those years
joenicky in opening fire: jail for booker jail for booker for 100 years
joenicky when copley tells them he knows where booker is: WE'LL KILL YOU WHERE IS HE
joenicky when copley comes back: if your vibes come off as even remotely rancid we Will destroy you
joenicky 2 minutes later when copley helped them find booker: he made up some ground :)))) <3 lov you j cops
theyre forgiving af
moose: how old are you?? a hundred??? a thousand???
nile [vine voice]: I M 2 7 ?
alright andy you got me there
joe texts like my aunt
i dont know why noriko drowning andy in that car tickled me. Bad And Naughty Andromaches Get Put In The Pear Wiggler To Atone For Their Crimes.
the drowning sequence was cool
copley trying to talk to andy while she was like o_o at him was great
ive hit the picture limit but id seen that panel where nicky goes 'forgive me' as he kills a guy out of context and it was HILARIOUSLY anticlimactic for me to discover that there was literally no context to it. nicky just apologizes to random people he kills. i thought that guy was someone he knew or something. nope its just Some Guy that nicky didnt know from adam
nile's complaint that andy was especially brutal to the guys on the boat... i mean. . , how exactly does one kill a man with an axe and not be brutal about it?
it was funny how noriko kissed andy and the only people who seemed surprised by that were nile and also andy
nicky and joe's complete non-reaction to finding out noriko is alive And Evil Now is endlesly funny. they just left her on that boat and neither cared. i get book and nile not caring but joe and nicky knew her, and they just have 0 input on the subject of what to do with her
pinstripe suit guy!
joe and nicky and booker packing up and leaving with nile
andy blowing up at nile was A Moment tho
i dont know, i get why people didnt like the ending but its. .. . it makes more sense in the comicverse. bc the squad doesnt really. .. interact outside of jobs? i mean, think of the moon landing story in ttt. that was booker and joe and nicky doing a job and andy only showed up a for a couple minutes after it was done. or the brunch in the first issue of opening fire. the squad arent as tight in the comic, and andy often seems to do her own thing outside of work, so andy saying 'i dont want to do work anymore' and the squad being like 'alright bye then' makes more sense in this universe than the movie one
also i feel like greg was Trying to set up a thing where nile becomes the Leader of The Squad after andy dies but like. its not very well done since. . . i mean, nile hasnt spoken to booker since opening fire, (and she only knew him A Day). and shes known joe and nicky all that time, but there isnt really anything that indicates that they have any relationship at all, much less one that's grown. in all the comicverse the only time nile and nicky speak is in FM, and in that scene nicky tells nile about noriko. nile goes from someone who needs to be set aside to have background knowledge explained to her to being the Leader of the group with nothing in between. it kind of... comes out of nowhere.
on the other hand tho... i felt really bad for andy thru the whole thing. well, i always felt bad for andy, but in this one she seemed so miserable, especially since it really felt like none of the others actually.... cared about her. when noriko came back no one asked andy how she was doing (big question ik, but it wouldve showed they cared at least), nobody ever expressed any concern for her, no one even really seemed to want to be around her. in opening fire everyone was more distant than in the movie of course, but there were little moments where she would joke with joe, or nicky would try and comfort her, or stuff like that, but in FM it really felt like they just didnt really care about her. & in opening fire it felt a lot like andy's relationship with nile breathed some new life into her, but in FM it felt like all they did was argue. i get theyre not *as* close in the comics but it really felt like the only person who cared about andy at all was noriko (which was probably also how andy felt) but it just seemed to come out of nowhere. honestly i was reading and i was honestly agreeing with andy that she might just be better off if she did just die. opening fire, on the other hand, never make me feel that way
tho everyone made it sound like when the squad split up it was one of those cursed 'the found family leaves each other at the end of the journey' tropes. but guys i mean,,, this is the second installment out of three. that isnt the End. theyll come back in the third one and Dramatically Reunite to fight some baddies (probably those 'others' noriko mentioned). im guessing yitzhak fits into that too somehow.
anyways it wasnt That Bad but it made me kind of sad and the only Sweet Found Family vibes in it were when they saved booker. also they shouldve beefed up that nilemoose romance, it underwhelmed me. 6.5/10
i also ABSOLUTELY understand all of greg's comments about how you couldnt make FM directly into a movie, he always said that it had no plot and. i get it now. it really didnt have a plot sdfghjkl
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homestuck recap
i hated this so fucking much bc my 2 am bitch-ass didnt want to read a recap thats probably longer than any slowburn out there
anyways here it is
also, uhhH sorry im using this as a end of session discussion bc that shit gets explained in her as well. and im not writing up more recaps of a recap so this is where im done for the day. (by done for the day i mean last nights session, im still doing a liveblog soon. i just wrote this yesterday)
also that this is long
you dont have to read it, theres nothing of importance
ive been coping with humor to get me through it
neato.
have fun with what i suffered through:
why was “beta” the only thing unhighlighted?
like did i miss a page???
OH its the beta version of HS thats why
damn its like 5 pages and thats it
mmh
well youll all be happy to know im clicking every single one of these links again bc i like looking back like ahh i remember that. good times. also in case i forgot some shit existed.
do you think andrew had fun writing this? or was he like “fuck”
thats a lot of fucking package talk. good thing im not confused as of now and remember it pretty clearly. of else, this early on in the recap, id be screwed.
god remember when i did an analysis on each item and what it did
i feel as if i have the technology engrained inside my head right now
cruxite, alchemeter, all that jazz
flashbacks are starting up already
yeah, that was the good part in homestuck where i knew 100% that i probably would continue on this liveblog in its entirety, ngl
that one explosion scene. bc it kept me going.
OH W A IT SHIT
i just realized how the intermission spades probably fucking foreshadowed the whole jack revolts thing and gains the ring, which was also technically JOHNS fault considering he slashed up the doll in the first place
my god, i guess thats the only good aspect of the recap. looking back at things and realizing the missing pieces.
oh that makes sense for the whole “this prototyping had no effect on the enemies, since he was already in the medium” i didnt actually think about that
little did rose know where that would get her right now
oh yeah
there’s still the whole entire lab terminal thing and how mom basically knows the place exists. i guess we’re still venturing onto that and itll come up later when we find out how mom knows SO MUCH about the game.
still think shes some weird spy or secret agent
i kinda love her ngl
anyways, theres literally no reason for skaia to produce a cloning machine. so technically, they only sent the meteors in, right? so who put the cloning machine in if not mom?
oh yeah that impact was nerve wrecking asf
and still at this point in the comic i called dave fuckboy red
huh, how times change
i hated reading that whole paragraph ngl, the frustration just kicked me in the boobs again
yeah nobody else got tornadoes, huh?
OH that makes also much more sense
bc she did prototyped them before she entered the medium.
i gotcha
man one of my favorite edits i made, rose hitting that meteor with a bat
are you
telling me
the exiles structures they arrived on were in the form of the items the kids used to enter the medium?
THE EGG
THAT EXPLAINS “EGG”
of course it was 413 years ago. that was never explained. simply vague “many years in the future....” but i expected no less from this
man serenity is the most wholesome character in hs no doubt
damn thought andy here was really gonna spoil us jade’s planet
okay cool, im glad i now have the layout to the whole “their stations went to the coordinates of the home button” shindig
man i honestly dont know what else to say besides “yeah cool recap” when i already pretty much know what went down? ofc im looking into each link and shit and adding in things when i see fit, but otherwise its just me going “ah good times” yknow
the whole meteor thing kinda makes sense now?
we’re still missing a few pieces of info but we’re getting there, folks
oh yeah that reveal
god jade and dave have it in the shits for parents huh
bro isnt the best and jade has a fucking dog
who lowkey
is doing better than bro
who knew a fucking dog is a better guardian than bro lmfao
dreambot = terminator. im telling you.
sorry im still on that idea and it will never leave unless i have the actual proof in front of me that its not going to become a thing. meaning, ive finished hs and theres still no terminator dreambot or either andrew himself gives me a canon letter with “the robot is not arnold, mackenzie, pls just let it be”
why is the entire game session highlighted
i swear to god if this is like to a second recap or smth of the whole game session i may fucking CRY
okay thank god its just a design of the skaia layout
which is honestly cool
idk why its blurry tho but i can at least see the layout now. which is honestly how i pictured it anyways.
yeah, john did make a huge impact in his friends’ life and i find that so fucking touching
yep. got that. everything loops around. cool.
especially when the trolls come in. god we havent even gotten to that recap portion yet, we havent even gotten to the INTERMISSION
pls can this be the halfway point to the recap
AT LEAST
so they were exiled after the whole jack: ascend thing, right? considering theyre way in the future. man no fucking wonder.
speaking of jack
man that whole dad and jack interaction was gold, ngl
OH THAT EXPLAINS THE RING THEN
and wow, andrew’s really giving us the best female content huh. andrew is the true god of equality and diversity.
also hey, i didnt realize that wow. so PM tricked the queen in showing the parking ticket to be able to take the present from jack. she’s a smart cookie, that one..
she and PM basically snitched on jack and it was the best thing that has happened to me so far
oh yeah okay
but why did AR panic over bec? bc thats something we havent learned yet, right?
anyways
exile town, the only town which should exist. facts. i dont make the rules.
noice
i love PM being queen. like.. thats canon now. shes an actual queen.
yeah that was a fun game and the consorts were cute
fuck yeah the dick head
hate them even more now that i know john was killed because of them
anyways, i wonder what dick move dave’s denizen did? maybe thats why its filled with lava bc the denizen was like “fuck it. make the land red. kill them all”
UH WHAT
WHAT
OH MY GOD HOW DID I JUST FORGET NANNAS LETTER LIKE THAT LMFAO
THEIR TITLES WERE THERE THE WHOLE TIME!
so i still dont know what they mean but i can gather it has something to do with the game giving them abilities. considering dave is the “knight of time” and he can go back in time. whack.
which means john can either control someones breathing or simply wind. and rose is... like that one girl in the winx club who does the sun shit. bc whenever i think of light powers, i think of stella.
and jade is space. witch of space.
nice
i have no idea what that means ngl
okay finally
we’re at the trolls
maybe this recap will end soon
i remember when i thought they were internet bullies
yesss
someone asked if i basically knew the trolls were on a different veil than the kids, so not presently with them, and i know lol. i was making a joke before btw. jsyk. dont think im incompetent to forget these things when sometimes i choose to forget it so i can add in a joke
it be like that, i annoy many
then again, pls dont assume im trying to say im not incompetent bc im also a fucking dumbass and DO forget shit and i have no excuse
imagine being so bored on the meteor, your last resort is speaking to aliens
ngl me if i was ever trapped on a meteor and could potentially do that
nah ik its bc its their only hope at helping with their session or whatever tf CG said to john. but there was BOUND to be a conference meeting between them like “okay guys. humans. that needs to be sorted out” and you just hear CG screaming in the background
i cant wait to meet them honestly bc im growing on all 4 of the ones we’ve seen already. and on top of that, i know what they look like and i know theyre not THAT bad, just a little on the crayy zee side sometimes
but theyre trying
OH MY GOD
I GET IT
FUCK
DOES THAT MEAN THE INTERMISSION IS *APART* OF THE MAIN FUCKING STORY??
AND SPADES IS WV FOR THE TROLLS
GOD D A M N
wow
i didnt expect that. but maybe the signs were there and i was just willingly choosing to ignore it or smth bc “haha couldnt be, right”
flashbacks to how i thought the trolls were humans
anyways, i guess he got his revenge on the kids version of “snowman” ie the black queen. but really
he did not have to do that. he could have cut off the finger and fled. but he decided “nah, lets implode her” so the loml is dead and all i got was a catchy song
i knew they were different types of “bullies” but now i just have to replace bullies with uhh
trolling strategies
anyways, this is cute. i love how they’ve come to be friends through mutual frustration. good part in the comic.
i wonder why it explodes
more importantly
....
terminator time?
this was my favourite sequences of dialogues in the whole entirety of homestuck. that is to say the back and forth thing that the kids went through to become a sort of wingman for the other.
absolutely gold.
all except AT’s rap.
GC was the only smart one with the linear shit
anyways fuck he still has to kill the denizen now but apparently its hard to beat for a sleeping dick head so
that will be fun for the future
john will probably need to kill A LOT of imps to get there
yeah rose is a badass bc she slayed that thing with needles of all things
OH and the white queen was the cursive
damn did AR ever do the whole guide process to a kid yet? maybe he will with dave, idk
oHHH
i fucking SEE
thats why he said DNA
to use it and replace all the life forms in the ocean
fucking neat wow
man that sounded sarcastic but im genuinely impressed bc all i got was bullshit as i read jaspersprites log
so thats the secret. it was “meow” bc that somehow translates to the genetic code she needs then. and that code apparently took fucking years to write as well. sick. whack. oh man.
derse is very pretty, ngl
and wow shit
“dave had already been awake in his tower all along without realizing it” how tf does someone just
do that, awake in both places at once
i didnt even fucking realize that fact as i read that pesterlog wow
ah yes, around the time things got confusing
okay so the capsule makes sense bc at first i didnt know it was a fucking time capsule so i got confused as to how it just apparated the game lmfao
the more you know i guess *twinkle*
i find that a neat concept tho
like the whole whatever you prototype affects the imps and shit
yeah so that whole “he had no advice” basically impacted his future
no shit dave wanted to reset things bc he probably thought he caused some sort of bad butterfly effect and killed his best friend
fuck calsprite thats all im gonna say
i read that first sentence and i think i got an aneurysm
and then everything else just made me sad again
i mean good thing he fucking did amirite?
we got pain at first but now we got cool shit like idk
fucking DAVESPRITE
damn idk how that works
will rose have like two minds now? or will this be some steven universe fusion shit?
“and understood their meaning” course well i fucking didnt so could you pls elaborate, rose?
okay but then what the fuck did he use that was inside the fucking box
bc i thought he used his knife?
im only every going to refer him as that now, thank you andrew
alright okay..
god that was a lot
i dont know what will happen once i click on those links but i am going to see that for myself bc i refuse to add ANYTHING ELSE
#homestuck#homestuck liveblog#hs65#hs65 end#act4#pg1674#THANK FUCK FUCKING CHRIST#THIS TOOK ME A SOLID 4 HOURS IN TOTAL TO DO#INCLUDING PROCRASTINATION THO#LIKE I DID SNIPPETS WHILE I WAS AT WORK#AND THE MAJORITY LAST NIGHT#GOD#NEVER AGAIN#anyways#i learned some new stuff but then again this isnt even worth it for you all#like i didnt even say anything witty enough for it to be at least entertaining#just 'man that was cool'#and other synonyms of that sentence#im so sorry this took so long#and was tedious to read
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Bobby Darin Who? Jonathan Groff Gets It Now
Jonathan Groff, the star of “The Bobby Darin Story,” which will open the new season of the “Lyrics & Lyricists” series at the 92nd Street Y. Credit: Ike Edeani for The New York Times
By Elysa Gardner Jan. 4, 2018 (x)
When he was first asked if he’d want to play Bobby Darin in an upcoming production in the long-running “Lyrics & Lyricists” series at the 92nd Street Y, Jonathan Groff wasn’t sure how to respond.
Mr. Groff, who became a Broadway star at 21 in the 2006 production of “Spring Awakening,” knew little about the entertainer and songwriter who, in a tragically brief career, was one of the biggest pop stars and most accomplished performers of the late 1950s and early 60s.
“My only reference point was seeing the movie with Kevin Spacey,” Mr. Groff explained during a recent interview, referring to the 2004 biopic “Beyond the Sea,” which earned lukewarm reviews and flopped at the box office, even well before accusations of sexual misconduct abruptly derailed Mr. Spacey’s career. (Mr. Spacey’s lugubrious performance of Darin’s “The Curtain Falls” at the end of last year’s Tony Awards did little to help that singer’s faded reputation.)
But the morning after Ted Chapin, the new “Lyrics & Lyricists” producer, mentioned Darin’s name to him over a post-theater dinner, Mr. Groff was hooked.
“I went on YouTube,” said Mr. Groff, speaking before an early rehearsal at the Y, where “The Bobby Darin Story” will kick off the new “Lyrics” season from Jan. 20 to 22. “I watched all these TV performances, from the beginning to the end of his career, and I was blown away by his versatility. The rock & roll and the standards, the dancing, the folk songs. The duets with George Burns and Judy Garland. His life was insane.”
Bobby Darin performing on “American Bandstand” in 1959. Credit: ABC Photo Archives, via Getty Images
Mr. Groff — also known for his cheekily effete, Tony-nominated performance of King George III in “Hamilton,” and TV roles in “Glee,” “Looking” and “Mindhunter” — was discussing his new “obsession” with the show’s director Alex Timbers, the music director Andy Einhorn and Mr. Chapin.
Mr. Timbers, the director of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” and “Here Lies Love,” was brought into the project by Mr. Groff. The two had met last spring to discuss another collaboration, but couldn’t coordinate their schedules.
Mr. Timbers said he was intrigued by the chance to reconsider the performer’s career. “It’s interesting to ask if Bobby Darin’s legacy has been negatively impacted by the fact you couldn’t put him in a box,” said Mr. Timbers. “He was always chasing the next wave in music. In one of our first conversations, we were talking about people like Madonna, how she was ahead of the whole EDM thing with ‘Ray of Light.’ Or U2, when they released ‘Pop.’ ”
If Darin’s singing could seem slicker and less distinctive than that of his more celebrated contemporaries, his range was indeed expansive, encompassing rock (“Splish Splash”), lush and jazzy pop (“Dream Lover,” “Beyond The Sea”) and show tunes and songbook staples (“Mack the Knife,” most famously).
He also ventured into film acting, founded a record label and music publishing company, and, as his political awareness grew, crafted “Simple Song of Freedom,” a pacifist anthem for the Vietnam era.
Darin pursued goals like he was running out of time — “like he had a stopwatch on his life,” noted Mr. Timbers. And with good reason: childhood bouts with rheumatic fever had left the performer’s heart severely weakened; he would die at 37. He nonetheless proceeded at a breakneck pace: marrying movie sweetheart Sandra Dee; collecting an Oscar nomination; holding court at the Copacabana and in Las Vegas; campaigning for Bobby Kennedy before returning to nightclubs.
“It’s an extraordinary trajectory for a guy who was told he’d be dead by the age of 15,” said Mr. Timbers.
If Darin’s singing could seem slicker and less distinctive than that of his more celebrated contemporaries, his range was indeed expansive, encompassing rock (“Splish Splash”), lush and jazzy pop (“Dream Lover,” “Beyond The Sea”) and show tunes and songbook staples (“Mack the Knife,” most famously).
He also ventured into film acting, founded a record label and music publishing company, and, as his political awareness grew, crafted “Simple Song of Freedom,” a pacifist anthem for the Vietnam era.
Darin pursued goals like he was running out of time — “like he had a stopwatch on his life,” noted Mr. Timbers. And with good reason: childhood bouts with rheumatic fever had left the performer’s heart severely weakened; he would die at 37. He nonetheless proceeded at a breakneck pace: marrying movie sweetheart Sandra Dee; collecting an Oscar nomination; holding court at the Copacabana and in Las Vegas; campaigning for Bobby Kennedy before returning to nightclubs.
“It’s an extraordinary trajectory for a guy who was told he’d be dead by the age of 15,” said Mr. Timbers.
While Darin was prolific in the studio, evidence suggests his live performances could be looser, and swing harder. In the “Mack the Knife” captured on “Darin At the Copa,” his voice sounds grittier than on the hit single, and his syncopation is more playful.
“As with so many great performers,” said Mr. Einhorn, “there was clearly something about being in the room with him, this great kinetic energy. That’s often where you discovered what he could really bring to the music.”
From left, the creative team of “The Bobby Darin Story”: the director Alex Timbers; the producer Ted Chapin (back to camera); the music director Andy Einhorn; and Mr. Groff, who performs the title role. Credit: Ike Edeani for The New York Times
While in Australia in 2016, Mr. Chapin caught the jukebox outing “Dream Lover: The Bobby Darin Musical” and began to think that Darin’s work might an attractive subject for the “Lyrics” series. “There was so much about his story I didn’t know,” he said.
Though “Lyrics” shows have focused more on writers known for their work in theater — the new season will include tributes to Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser and Lynn Ahrens — Mr. Chapin said he thought, “Well, Bobby Darin did write his own songs, so there is that aspect to it.”
After getting the blessing of the “Dream Lover” producers (who hold worldwide rights to Darin’s story, via his estate), Mr. Chapin assembled his team and hunkered down. Getting rights to the songs Darin had written, of which there are 160 titles, proved tougher than expected: “I could get my hands on only 25 of them. One piece I actually bought on eBay for $35.”
Like previous installments of the “Lyrics” series, “The Bobby Darin Story” will not be a book musical. (Nor are the creators banking on a fuller production.) But there will be something of a narrative line, written by Mr. Chapin, as well as other performers joining Mr. Groff to tell the story of Darin’s roller coaster life, which included a “midlife meltdown,” in Mr. Chapin’s words, precipitated by the late-in-life discovery that the woman he thought was his older sister was actually his mother.
“There aren’t characters speaking dialogue, having conversations on stage,” Mr. Timbers said. “It will show emotion through music, and narration. That section toward the end of Darin’s life, this sort of downward spiral, could have been tricky in musical theater, where it can become less exhilarating when you don’t have a protagonist making choices, taking positive action. But Ted has been able to focus on the coolest, juiciest stuff about Bobby Darin.”
Mr. Groff’s own research has included “Dream Lovers,” an unsparing account of Darin and Ms. Dee’s lives together written by their son, Dodd Darin.
“There’s this quote that basically says that after all the things Bobby Darin did, in the end, he felt most powerful and most alive and most himself performing in a nightclub setting,” Mr. Groff said.
Mr. Timbers added: “He lived a gritty, driven life. He hurt people along the way and people hurt him.
“It would be easy to do a hagiography, a scrubbed-clean look at the meteoric rise of a pop sensation who bottoms out in midcareer and then has a resurgence. But I think this will be more ornery and strange and idiosyncratic. As befits Bobby Darin.”
A version of this article appears in print on January 7, 2018, on Page AR4 of the New York edition with the headline: Look Out, Old Macky’s Back. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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