#dogfight the musical

[stitchbewitchs-blog]

Allow me, if you will, to write about something that has been rattling around in my brain since I first heard the first released songs from The Outsiders musical. It owes a lot of its theater legacy to Dogfight the Musical specifically in the way that it sounds.

Any musical post 2012 (the year Dogfight first played off Broadway) with a strong ensemble of male voices, more than a lot of shows, and folk/rock influences will have me thinking back to Dogfight. And my first listen of The Outsiders did exactly that, recalling the bounding, rollicking fun of the first few songs of Dogfight when the Marines land in San Francisco. I could write a novel about this, and I might post about it more, but I need to talk about the similarities between Little Brother (The Outsiders) and Come Back (Dogfight).

They are both the eleven o clock numbers of their show, the final big emotional song to really knock your socks off at the end of the show. They are both songs about grief, Dallas singing Little Brother after losing Johnny and Eddie singing of the deaths of Bernstein and Boland and his experiences coming home from Vietnam.

Musically, they choose to tell us of their grief in different ways. "Little Brother" has more rhythm, more blues influence, in the way that it swings and the singers add riffs. It includes some singing from the ensemble towards the end, building the crescendo of the song as Dally emotes his grief in a ramp up to the very last verse. The ensemble portion is a call and response, all of the voices representing Dally's desperation in his powerlessness to help his few loved ones (Ponyboy hurt, Johnny dead). In the final verse a violin slide (which is one of the creepiest sounds every) introduces us to his contemplation of his final action, the danger that is coming. Dally jumps up in pitch to sing "Johnny I am coming home/bout to take my final bow/hope you saved a seat for me/Johnny can you see me now?" before his death. The inclusion of the chorus and then their silence (as well as Dally standing alone onstage) emphasizes the solo singer but also his terrible isolation. His voice stands by itself for the very last time.

"Come Back" is Eddie's first solo song in the show. Every other song he sings either in duet with Rose or in harmony with his friends. The grinding, marching beat of the accompaniment (written in 12/8 triplets for the entirety of the song) echoes the martial drumbeat of "Some Kinda Time (Reprise)" as the characters go off to war. This is the beat of a dirge, the ebb and flow of the chords building to the crescendo of Eddie repeating how he does not know how to come back over and over and over in more and more discordant notes, his sorrow picked up in an electric guitar riff right before the end of the song. The repetitive nature of his crying out with no answer is the musical version of his isolation, a veteran of a war that no one wants to acknowledge, his invisibility in his home country. "Come Back" resolves itself musically (Eddie resolving on E which is the key for the final part of the song) when he sets eyes on Rose for the final scene of the musical.

Anyway I'm so normal about these musicals.

[grantaires-waistcoat]

I swear nothing feels better than learning/ singing a song for the first time in a singing lesson and not geting many notes (as in corrections) and getting to block it the week after. Even beter when it's a song in a key woth notes that are easily reachable for my range. FYI it's Pretty Funny from Dogfight the Musical. (It's also just an amazing song in general, I LOVE IT)

[bad-beans]

Me Listening to a soundtrack of a show I saw seven months ago and it clicking just now at 12:45am:

OmG bC tHeY wErE jUsT sTuPiD bOyS. ThEy wErE cHiLdReN aNd NoW hEs GrOwN uP WiThOuT aNyOnE LoViNg oR tRuLy kNoWiNg HiM 😭😩🫢🤢

That being said I still have major issues against Eddie birdlace and his buddies… >:|

[rhiannon02]

Before It’s Over from Dogfight the musical SLAPS

And don’t even get me started on the lyricism in that song holy HELL

“I’ve been that girl who fades away,

Accepting what I’ve got,

Stuck in what I am,

And everything I’m not.

I’ve only seen this tiny world I’m in,

Where I can only be what I’ve been.”

And that’s literally not even the best part. WHAT.

[iloverace]

someone talk to me about Dogfight

omg I’m begging

[chimeofthecomet]

my favouriteeeeee thing in musical theatre songs is whenever the repetition of a phrase like.. changes its meaning. You can hear it easier listening to you gotta die sometime but the way his voice gets more distressed and enunciates as “some time” repeating it as a desperate plea

[theatre-stuff]

Theatre songs that make me absolutely euphoric:

30/90 - Tick, Tick… BOOM!

Another Terrible Day - The Lightning Thief

Behind Closed Doors - In the Light: A Faustian Tale

Boho Days - Tick, Tick… BOOM!

Brooklyn’s Here -Newsies

Carrying the Banner - Newsies

Chant - Hadestown

Come to a Party - Dogfight

Come to Your Senses - Tick, Tick, BOOM!

Dare to Dream - In the Light: A Faustian Tale

Ex-Wives - SIX

First Date/Last Night - Dogfight

Gee, Officer Krupke - West Side Story

Goodbye - Catch Me if You Can

Guns and Ships - Hamilton

Halloween - Be More Chill

Hey Good-Lookin’ - Dogfight

I Can Do Better Than That - The Last Five Years

I Was Born This Morning (The Cicada Song) - Joe Iconis, Things to Ruin

In the Light: In the Light: A Faustian Tale

King of New York - Newsies

Livin’ it Up on Top - Hadestown

More - In the Light: A Faustian Tale

More Than Survive - Be More Chill

Moving Too Fast - The Last Five Years

Never Heard Nothing - Joe Iconis, Things to Ruin

No Reason - Beetlejuice

Non-Stop - Hamilton

Once and For All - Newsies

Partner in Crime - Tuck Everlasting

Picture Show - Bonnie and Clyde

Rise or Fall/Act I Finale - In the Light: A Faustian Tale

Run Away With Me - The Mad Ones

Satisfied - Hamilton

Say My Name - Beetlejuice

Screech In - Come From Away

Seize the Day - Newsies

Sextet Montage - Tick, Tick… BOOM!

Some Kinda Time - Dogfight

The Next Ten Minutes - The Last Five Years

The Room Where It Happens - Hamilton

The Schmuel Song - The Last Five Years

The Smartphone Hour (Rich Set a Fire) - Be More Chill

The Squip Song - Be More Chill

The Whole “Being Dead” Thing - Beetlejuice

The World Will Know - Newsies

This World Will Remember Me - Bonnie and Clyde

Times Are Hard for Dreamers - Amélie

Tomorrow Begins Today - In the Light: A Faustian Tale

Top of the World - Tuck Everlasting

Voices in My Head - Be More Chill

Wait For It - Hamilton

Wait For Me - Hadestown

Watch What Happens - Newsies

What I Know Now - Beetlejuice

What the World Needs - Ride the Cyclone

When He Sees Me - Waitress

When I Drive - Bonnie and Clyde

Word to the Wise - Hadestown

[hunterzkhalaf97]

PW almost out for 2 years already on this December soon

[davytheshark]

One of my fav underrated “sad” Musical songs that I wish more people knew about is “Pretty Funny” from Dogfight like that song makes me cry EVERY DAMN TIME

“Aren’t you funny? Pathetically naive and desperate to believe you can always find some good. Well you misunderstood, or you’ve been dreaming. Cause people are just…cruel”

And the performance by Lindsay Mendez on the album is just *chefs kiss*

LIKE AAAAAAAA 😭😭😭

[broadway-nepeta]

:33< it's purretty hard to to get in close with someone who's hurt you

:33< but sincere apawlogies are also very hard, so you can work on it together that way

[Song: First Date, Last Night from Dogfight | Lyrics unchanged and cover art under cut]

[Nepeta]

Street lamp, dim glow

A light to blanket night like summer snow

Well, let it pour

Just cover up whatever came before

[Eridan]

Sea breeze, whips through

And makes you do some shit you'd never do

Talkin' queer, why the hell are you still here?

[Both]

And we go

Bum bum bum

Bum bum bum bum bum

Bum bum bum bum bum

Bum bum bum bum bum

Don't know why

I decided to come

Don't know why I decided to come

[Nepeta]

Meet me halfway

A touch and go of don't know what to say

Do we talk?

[Eridan]

*cough*

[Nepeta]

What?

[Eridan]

Huh?

[Nepeta]

Don't expect too much

Just walk

[Eridan]

Blank slate, blank stare

Yeah you made her cry

Why do you care?

What took hold?

Look at her, she looks so... cold

[Both]

And we go

Bum bum bum

Bum bum bum bum

Bum bum bum bum bum

Bum bum bum bum bum

Don't know why

I decided to come

Don't know why I decided to come

[Nepeta]

Twisting lemons into lemonade

You'd be sleeping

([Eridan] You'd be drunk)

[Both]

If you had stayed

And you might miss

Any good that could come

After this

[Nepeta]

First date

[Eridan]

Last night

[Both]

Not quite what you pictured, but alright

[Eridan]

So take her out

[Nepeta]

Give him a shot

[Both]

'Cause people can surprise you...

Or not

Bum bum

And we go

Bum bum bum

Bum bum bum bum

Bum bum bum bum bum

Bum bum bum bum bum

[iloverace]

someone talk about Dogfight with me. Please I’m begging

[thepasteldreamers]

My brain currently:

🎵 You are here at the start of a moment 🎵

🎵 There's a chip on my shoulder and its big as a boulder 🎵

🎵 I say NOOooOoo 🎵

🎵 But for today we'll wander and enjoyyyy 🎵

🎵 Look at me I'm the king of New York 🎵

🎵 See a world beautiful and strange 🎵

🎵 When you're the enemy of Allie McAndrews 🎵

🎵 And just because it's fiction doesn't mean its not real 🎵

🎵 If we're gonna go we gotta go tonight, goOoo tonight 🎵

🎵 Freeze your brain 🎵

[velarisnightsky444]

Whatever you do, don’t listen to this song from Cassian or Rowan’s point of view😭

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[haveyouseenthismusical]