#always a sucker for emotional leads and high syncopation

[utterlyinevitable]

why do i love all the songs from julie and the phantoms...

[fisheoctrashdump]

Willow 1-20 e w e

Holiday

She's not a big fan of holidays. Growing up, she didn't really celebrate holidays with her family. She didn't dress up and go trick or treating or get presents on christmas. She learned to hate pretty much every holiday, but her favorite will be Valentine's day. She loves the idea of making chocolates for all the people she loves (both romantically and platonically) and having an excuse to be so full of love for her friends.

Cooking

Willow isn't technically bad at cooking, but she's much better at baking. It's something she enjoys doing a lot, and she feels very fulfilled when she shares her creations with her friends and family. She thrives on compliments for a lot of her ideas and actions, but most of all for baking.

She doesn't have the passion for regular cooking, so most of the time when she cooks she tries to rush through it.

Sleeping

Willow had to learn to be a light sleeper. Noises and lights will keep her awake, so she has to be in total darkness and silence to fall asleep. Movement on or near her bed is also sure to freak her out.

She sleeps completely wrapped in her blankets like a little burrito.

I keep imagining that after she gets used to the Lovelace family and feels comfortable being there, she lets Dobby sleep on her bed ;w;

I also keep thinking about Willow talking softly to Zeron in the dark when she's overthinking and can't sleep. Even if he's sleeping, she feels better after she unloads all of her worries and anxieties, leading to her actually being able to sleep.

Driving

Willow can't drive, actually. (Not just because she's not old enough yet lol)

She has semi frequent syncopal episodes, commonly due to stress and fear. She can't and won't be able to drive because of it.

Bathing/showering

She hates showering and tries to avoid it for as long as possible. She hates looking at her body. It makes her feel sick and uncomfortable. It also has to do with the fact that she can't get motivated to shower as often as she should.

Hugging

She likes hugging others, as long as she is comfortable around them. I think she will very often try to get hugs from bleblesscra, Galatea, and Zeron in the future.

Kissing

Willow feels suffocated when being kissed. It's a psychological thing related to her trauma. I'm not sure when she will feel comfortable enough for mouth kisses, but cheek and forehead kisses are fine owo

Sex

Willow lost her virginity when she was nine. She is still sexually active, but not by choice.

General physical contact

Again, she doesn't mind it as long as it's with someone she's comfortable around. It's very obvious to see Willow flinching away from Erika's seemingly affectionate touch, no matter the circumstances. She probably wouldn't be too comfortable with Arvid touching her, either, but for different reasons. Currently, she is really starved for attention and human contact, and I imagine becoming friends with Zeron will mean Willow looking for any and every excuse to be physically close to him.

Physical appearance

Other than the picrew thing I did for her, here's a few little other things about her appearance

Willow has naturally black hair

She bites her nails, so her fingernails are always short

She chubby ;w;

Wardrobe

She wears a lot of purple, blue, and yellow. She also tries to wear hoodies, high collared shirts, and chokers to cover the hickies on her neck (or at least try to). Doesn't stop people from seeing them and nicknaming her "slut" for it lol

She also tends to wear baggy clothes to conceal her body, and wears more layers than necessary if she knows she's going to be alone with Erika at any point that day.

Jewelry

She doesn't wear a lot of jewelry. She wears chokers as her main accessory, and she really likes snake themed jewelry if she's feeling up to wearing it. (Like rings, necklaces, and earrings)

She will get a vertical labret at some point in the future, and I can also see her getting an industrial piercing of some kind, but I'm not sure exactly what kind yet

Nickname

A nickname I've been crying over for the past weeks is Cupcake. I'm not sure who comes up with it, but the nickname makes Willow incredibly happy, and a lot of her friends and family pick up calling her that nickname (even Arvid.) I've had a few ideas on who comes up with it, and I think either Sacra, Galatea, or Blez? Those three stick out as most likely in my mind, for some reason.

Dancing

Is ice skating kinda like dancing? Lol

Either way, nobody can convince Willow to dance. A shame, cause she would actually be pretty good at it. She feels too self conscious to do so, like everyone would be watching her if she did

Singing

She doesn't sing much. She has a pretty decent voice, but she won't use it often. I imagine Arvid encourages her to sing with him later on because he's a sucker for dramatic duets lol

Anger

She doesn't really get angry. All of her anger is usually converted into sadness, and she's more likely to cry during a stressful event.

Soft spot

Arvid

Cute pokemon things. Especially desserts and plushies.

Snakes/ferrets she like the long bois

Favorite possession

The choker she stole from Arvid. She jokes that she needed it more, especially since she was able to steal it from him so easily (and he didn't notice it was missing for nearly a month)

Favorite photograph

She currently doesn't have one. I'm gonna take a pass on this one, because I'm really not sure.

Relationship with ___

Erika

Willow has a lot of complicated emotions involving Erika

The most prominent being fear. Willow is terrified of Erika and the things she does, not just to her but also to other people. She has a certain level of adoration for Erika, however, because Erika was the only person that pretended to give a damn about Willow for, well, basically as long as she can remember. Erika of course used this to her advantage and broke Willow's spirit with the many horrible things she did to her.

Despite everything, Willow remains obsessed with Erika because she doesn't believe there can be any other way. She is aware that Erika sees her as useless and disposable, but sometimes when Erika is showing her the attention she craves, Willow convinces herself that that is what it means to love someone.

She tries to fight against Erika when they are alone together, but ultimately will lose. It's a common occurrence between them, and some days Willow wonders if fighting back is even worth it.

Erika being removed from her life (in whatever way we decide to go about it) will feel like both the best and the worst thing to ever happen to her. Erika has Willow convinced that they need each other, and working through all the damage and trauma Erika caused her will take a significant amount of time.

Arvid

She feels safe with Arvid. That's the main point of their relationship, is that Willow clings to Arvid for a sense of security.

Initially, Willow felt like she and Arvid had a lot in common. She watched most of the school harass him when she entered middle school, and she understood the feeling. She watched Arvid from a distance, wishing she had the confidence to talk to him, until seventh grade. She finally forced herself to make conversation with Arvid, and hoped for the best.

Getting to know Arvid provided Willow with a lot of relief, also. She had someone she could escape to when she absolutely needed it, and he never pushed her to talk about anything. The more she got to know Arvid, the more she identified with his unspoken feelings of isolation and fear of abandonment.

She realizes she has a crush on Arvid shortly before he starts high school, but having a crush on him causes her so much grief because 1) Arvid is gay, and she knows this and 2) some part of her feels guilty for feeling that way about someone, almost like she's betraying Erika somehow.

Arvid and Willow don't get a chance to hang out as much now that he's in high school, and she's mostly gone back to the way things used to be. Alone and unwanted by her classmates, with no one to escape to.

Galatea

I'm not sure when or how Willow becomes friends with Galatea, but I just imagine their friendship making Willow feel so safe and happy. I'm sure at first the age difference will make her nervous, and she probably won't trust being alone with Galatea no matter what, but I imagine Galatea has very friendly vibes in her own unique way, and because of this Willow warms up to her pretty fast.

In addition to always trying to impress Arvid, Willow will also try to impress Galatea almost constantly. She will also often give Galatea gifts.

Something else I've considered for their relationship is Willow having a crush on Galatea, but not like in the way Razi does or in the way Arvid and Fel have a crush on Chuck.

Because of her past experience with her relationship with Erika, I imagine Willow being very confused about how she feels for Galatea. The only older sister figure in her life before now made Willow feel like her emotions didn't matter unless there was sex involved. With Galatea, Willow will feel as though at some point to keep her around, she has to do the same as she did with Erika before. Hopefully by this time, Willow will be in therapy and be able to figure out how to ensure her relationship with Galatea remains a healthy one.

Bonus random things I thought of/info I wanna share ;w;

Arvid leaning in to Willow for their first kiss and Willow immediately passing out (kinda funny when you think about it but also :( )

Willow is nonbinary, but she doesn't have specific pronouns. Most people just use she/her and she's fine with that

Her favorite color has been purple pretty much her whole life. She didn't consider blue a favorite color until she met Arvid

Willow enjoys a variety of different music genres. 2000's - 2010's pop is the one she enjoys most, but all her favorite bands belong to different genres (Like Simple Plan, Mindless Self Indulgence, Hey Violet, Halestorm, and NF)

The scenario you came up with Willow asking Zeron to give her a mohawk will be canon (at some point after they meet, probably also after she is adopted)

She has a suicide note saved that she intends to give to Arvid, because she knows he's the only one who would care enough to know her final thoughts

[ismael37olson]

Flying Too High with Some Guy in the Sky

Some of the songs in Anything Goes seem at first to be throwaway numbers, one-idea novelties to shoehorn some more dance into the show. But even the seemingly emptiest of songs in this show reveal surprising relevance and irony to our story and to the times. Even the innocuous "Let's Step Out" has the twin agendas of commenting on Bonnie's "class" divide from the other passengers, as the moll of the country's most dangerous criminal; but she also rails against the gloom and seriousness of the Depression, after the wild years of the 1920s. It's weirdly synchronisitic that the passengers sing the twisted, morally upside-down hymn "Public Enemy Number One" to Billy, believing him to be Bonnie's boyfriend -- just before Bonnie herself enters and chides them for their pointless solemnity. Unlike most of the passengers, she gets how fucked up all of this is. She also knows that with Snake Eyes in the care of the FBI, she's safe now -- so why not party and flirt? But the richest song in the show is deceptive in the surface simplicity of both its music and lyrics. Reno's emotionally naked torch song, "I Get a Kick Out of You," is another of Anything Goes' songs that we've gotten too familiar with. We stop hearing these lyrics fresh. The song originally opened the show, revealing Reno's secret crush on Billy, though I've never figured out the point of that, plot-wise. The 1962 revival moved the song to late Act I, and now it's about Reno's surprise at falling in love with Evelyn. It's so much stronger here, because these feelings are revealed to us now after we've spent time with the smartass Reno for an hour. That's much stronger structurally. When this song opens the show, it gives us a false first impression of Reno; but moved to later in the show, it reveals a deeper layer to Reno. "I Get a Kick Out of You" has this sinuous Latin line in the low reeds under the vocal intro, which says so much about this very sensual woman, but that line disappears after the intro, and the rest of the song was set, in 1934, to the standard Broadway foxtrot. But in '62 (our version), the main part of the song continues the Latin beat, though still without that reed line. Alongside the Latin syncopation, there are several moments of hemiola (long vocal triplets over an accompaniment in four), that make the beat momentarily ambiguous, just like Reno's feelings. But what exactly is Reno saying here? She's literally saying that nothing in life gives her particular pleasure or happiness. She is (particularly if we assume Texas Guinan's real life details) a professional cynic and smartass. Texas Guinan, the model for Reno (and for Velma Kelly), greeted her speakeasy guests every night with "Hello, suckers!" Look at this lyric --

My story is much too sad to be told, But practically everything Leaves me totally cold.

Yep, that's the speakeasy hostess alright. And it really is sad. She feels nothing. This isn't the usual musical comedy leading lady. Hope seems more like our leading lady, but she's not; Reno is. She goes on:

The only exception I know is the case When I'm out on a quiet spree, Fighting vainly the old ennui, And I suddenly turn and see Your fabulous face.

She's racing through life -- racing around this ship -- doing anything to stave off boredom ("the old ennui"). Nothing thrills her. Nothing moves her. Except one thing -- the face of the man she loves. Up until this time, Reno's made a couple off-hand remarks about finding Evelyn cute, but this is Reno dropping the cynicism and honestly looking at her own emotions, maybe for the first time ever.

So why the goofball Sir Evelyn Oakleigh? He finds an undeniable joy in the adventure of life. He's almost childlike in his delight over learning new things. Quite likely, Evelyn is the first man Reno has ever met who's not a cynic. Imagine how different he is from the jaded criminals and bootleggers and chorines who no doubt make up the circle of Reno's friends, none of them trustworthy, none of them ever emotionally open or honest -- or delighted by anything. Like her underworld circle of friends, Reno has seen it all...

I get no kick from champagne, Mere alcohol, Doesn't thrill me at all...

Don't miss the punch of those lines. It's one year after Prohibition is repealed, and America's biggest speakeasy queen (again, if we blend Reno and Texas Guinan) is saying alcohol doesn't really do it for her. So she asks the obvious question -- if literally everything leaves her cold...

So tell me, why should it be true, That I get a kick out of you?

Each verse takes an addiction (alcohol, drugs, and adrenaline) all of which do nothing for Reno.

Some get a kick from cocaine, I'm sure that if I took even one sniff, It would bore me terrif- ically, too, Yet I get a kick out of you.

The bridge expands on the title phrase --

I get a kick every time I see You standing there Before me. I get a kick though it's clear To me, You obviously Don't adore me.

Notice the rhyme compounding, giving us a sense of momentum. We get the string of see, me, me, -ly, me, but also before me and adore me.  And yet none of the grammar is awkward or strained. It still sounds like Reno's voice. The last verse follows the established pattern, but this time the music literally takes off with the lyric, and the multiple rhymes give us even more momentum...

Fly- ing too high with some guy in the sky...

But before the stanza is over, the music returns to earth, because there's no kick to be had there.

...Is my i- -dea of nothing to do. But I get a kick out of you.

The mood turns right in the middle of the "i" rhymes (splitting the word "idea"). Remember that passenger airplanes were really new at this point, and only rich folks could afford to fly -- the first passenger jet, the Boeing 247, was introduced one year before Anything Goes debuted. And Lindberg had made his historic trans-Atlantic flight only seven years earlier. I've always wondered if "some guy in the sky" was a sly Porter reference to God and religion, especially since Reno is a former evangelist. We know Porter loved talking in code -- just look at his bridges in the title song, cataloging fast living ("low bars," "fast cars," etc.) and unconventional sexual tastes ("backstairs," "love affairs with young bears," etc.)... One of the most interesting aspects of this song is how it changed when it was lifted out of context. In 1934, radio stations wouldn't play a lyric about cocaine, so Porter had to create the ever dangerous "bop type refrain." But also, almost every pop singer rewrites the rhythm of the title phrase. (I've noticed pop singers also always rewrite the 10/8 bar in "Memory" from Cats. WTF?) Originally, Porter wrote that title phrase to a rhythm that almost no one sings correctly today. Most pop singers -- and therefore, most women playing Reno -- move the word "kick" to the downbeat. Like this:

That's not what Porter wrote. He placed the word "kick" on beat 4, ahead of the downbeat, to give the word "kick" a kick. Once you hear it the right way (which you will in our production), the other way sounds so wrong. This is the right way:

I've written background and analysis essays on so many shows, but as much as I've always loved Anything Goes, I never stopped to ask myself why I love it. Now that I'm working on it, now that I'm doing my best to help our actors find the reality and the humanity in this script and score, along with the dozens of period jokes and cultural references, now I know why I love it. It's endlessly rich and aggressively truthful. Anything Goes is everything I want in a musical -- subversive, smart, surprising, insightful, often unexpectedly emotional; and despite its over-sized style and energy, there is a real honesty there about human connection and the early effects of branding and celebrity on American culture. So interesting! The more I explore it, the more deeply I love it. Long Live the Musical! Scott Click Here for Tickets! from The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre http://newlinetheatre.blogspot.com/2018/02/flying-too-high-with-some-guy-in-sky.html