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notupforpolo · 2 years

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Elegies: A Song Cycle and Narration

William Finn’s Elegies: A Song Cycle is one of my absolute favourite musical theatre albums. Although it does not have a plot, as it is a song cycle, there is a cast of recurring characters who all sing songs about the overarching theme: loss, grief and mourning. The off-broadway cast recording from the original 2003 production at Lincoln Centre features Micheal Rupert, Keith Byron Kirk, Carolee Carmello, Christian Borle and Betty Buckly features 18 of the original 20 songs with the five actors constantly switching between narrators and characters. I implore everyone who hasn’t to listen to it!

When I listen to it I always find myself trying to put the pieces together and figure out who the person telling the story is. I want to know from what perspective is it being told but also I find that it can give a deeper meaning to the songs and their message. Since it can be somewhat difficult to do, especially in some songs, I have put together a list of who I believe to be the narrator in every song.

1. “Looking Up Quintet” opens the show and has no narrator as it does not have any lyrics.

2. The first sung song is “Mister Choi and Madame G” wherein the narrator (played by Keith Byron Kirk) recounts his relationship to a korean couple and their family whom he used to know. It is possible that the narrator is William Finn himself but there is no textual support for this and I haven’t been able to find any other sources that suggests who it may be.

3. In “Mark’s All-Male Thanksgiving” Micheal Rupert plays William Finn who recounts a thanksgiving event he’d attended. The central Mark is Mark Thalen, a real life lawyer, LGBTQ+ rights activist, and friend of William Finn’s who dies of AIDS. That Finn is narrating is further supported by the lyric: “The handsomest guy wore a tie / That was Arthur / sweetly decent, funny, and living / I met Arthur when Mark made his all-male Thanksgiving”. William Finn’s real life-partner is named Arthur.

4. “Only One”, sung by Betty Buckley, is often accredited to an unnamed and unknown english teacher and I have no reason to believe otherwise. There is no source I can find who says anything else except for some who speculate her to be one of Finn’s teachers growing up.

5. “Joe Papp” is about the man who established the Public Theatre in New York. Although it is mostly ambiguous with the narrator (Kirk) not having a clear voice there are a few lyrics who confirm it to once again be the voice of William Finn. “I never understood / What Joe was saying to me / He'd quote Shakespeare / And I'd simply nod” he sings which is something Finn also has mentioned in an interview with Playbill. “[...] he quoted Shakespeare all the time — I had no idea what he was talking about — and I didn't know whether I should say, "Wait — I — Joe — I'm really stupid — help me!" So I used to just shake my head all the time: I was exhausted. I didn't know what he was talking about.”

6. “Peggy Hewitt & Mysty Del Giorno” has a similarly ambiguous narrator as Christian Borle and Carolee Carmello commemorate how loved the actress Peggy Hewitt was, particularly by her girlfriend Mysty. Finn did know Hewitt as she was part of the cast of his musical Romance in Hard Times. Borle opens the song by telling an anecdote about the couple and sings “She [Peggy Hewitt] was in a children's show / And we were sitting with her girlfriend / The late, great Mysty Del Giorno” which suggests that his character was friends with them. Borle is the only solo singer in the song thus I believe that he is playing William Finn.

7. Carolee Carmello sings “Passover” next, and there is plenty of textual support to suggest she too is playing William Finn.Carmello sings “Anyway, when I tell the story of Passover / Which I am instructed to do / I will include how the Jews of Natick traveled over the Hudson river”. Finn’s hometown is Natick, Massachusetts (also mentioned in a later song) and it is stated that the family is celebrating Passover with family in New Jersey, meaning they would have to pass the Hudson. We are family within Finn’s immediate family. To establish it being Finn not another member of the family we can look at the third line where the narrator refers to their sister and later it is said that “Michael, as the youngest, sings out the four old questions”. Finn has two siblings, Nancy and Michael, who are also mentioned in a song later. By process of elimination, as the only sibling not mentioned, it’s Finn narrating.

8. Although there is no textual support whatsoever it is my belief that “Infinite Joy” (sung by Buckley) is also William Finn’s perspective. This song was used in a revue by the same name and in an interview with The Cultural Critic Finn said this is about the impression his mother Barbra Finn left on his worldview. “I see the world through your eyes”, “You said that life has infinite joy”

9. “The Ballad of Jack Eric Williams (And Other 3-Named Composers)” is the first of two songs where the narrator is explicitly named – William Finn is the narrator. It’s a conversation between William Finn (Rupert) and composer friend Ricky Ian Gordon (Borle).

10. The beautiful and sad “Monica and Mark” is my personal favourite but also has a very confusing element. Mark is again referring to Mark Thalen and Monica is a personal friend of Finn’s. The song is sung by Rupert, Kirk, and Borle and throughout the song the pronoun “we” is used. The lyrics “Arthur and I met his good friends Andy and Monica” and “And they asked us to be her godparents / Which we gladly became, we became” (sung by Rupert and Kirk, not featuring Borle) suggests the “we” referring to William Finn and his partner Arthur. Monica dies of cancer and wants Finn to write a song for her. Kirk sings “She wanted, I quote / That you'd sing a song you wrote / That'd make the people cry” after which Rupert sings “I'll write a new song / Wait I'm thinking / I'll write a new song / And I'll play it / Told from her point of view”. To me, this and the godparent-line suggests that Rupert is again Finn and Kirk is Arthur. However, what to do about Christian Borle? In the original staging Kirk is only paired with either Rupert or Borle, who are never paired with each other. In their essay on Elegies Michelle Dvoskin suggests that Rupert is the present Finn and Borle is the past Finn. I agree to an extent however I suggest that Rupert represents the reminiscing Finn whereas Borle represents the Finn that in the moment was mourning, which I think is amplified by the fact that Borle delivers most of the bad news in the song, such as the fact that Monica is sick.

11. “Monica and Mark” sets up “Anytime (I Am There)” which is the very song Monica asked Finn to write. Therefore Carolee Carmello is singing as Monica.

12. “My Dogs” sure is an odd number and one where the narrator remains unnamed. It could be Finn himself, a friend of his, or just a made up narrator.

13. “Venice” again features Rupert as William Finn. Although the central character is “The former lover of my lover”, “a sophisticated Pole, named Bolek” it is Finn who narrates his and Arthur's (mentioned on multiple occasions) relationship with Bolek. Bolek also calls the narrator “Billy” which is a nickname for William which is also used in the next song where it explicitly refers to Finn.

14. “14 Dwight Ave., Natick, Massachusetts” is the second song where the narrator(s) are explicitly named. Buckly plays the composer’s mother Barbra Finn and Borle plays the composer’s younger brother Michael (mentioned by name in “Passover”).

15. In “14 Dwight Ave., Natick, Massachusetts” Micheal is taking Barba for one last drive before she dies. In the following song, “When The World Stopped Turning”, Borle sings about Barbra after her death. Sadly, although there is video of some of the songs up on youtube, I can’t know how it was staged. Because Micheal was the one singing it is likely that Borle is still playing Michael. However, as the most prominent voice has been William Finn it is not unlikely that he is once again the narrator. Thus far, potentially everyone (according to my analysis), has played Finn and therefore it is not unlikely. Borle could also be playing both, or even all three of the siblings (William, Nancy, and Michael).

16. The last three songs are all written in response to 9/11. “Goodbye/Boom boom” is often written as two songs, however on the cast recording it is the same track. Kirk is a husband working in the world trade centre leaving a voice message for his wife and child and Carmello narrates his wife’s reaction as well as the reaction of the architect who drew the towers, both in 3rd person. Michelle Dvoskin suggests that Carmello is the wife however as a trauma response she is speaking in third person. The same goes for the architect (who uses male pronouns), meaning that she is playing two distinct characters.

17. “Looking up” is Buckley lamenting the loss of the towers as part of the New York skyline. Not being able to see them there is a constant reminder of the tragedy. There is no clear narrator.

18. The closing song, “Goodbye (Finale)” has no clear voices as the actors say goodbye in beautiful harmonies.

In conclusion, I fucking love this musical.

Sources (formatted wrongly, ik): Robert Viagas, “PLAYBILL ON-LINE'S BRIEF ENCOUNTER with William Finn”, Playbill, https://playbill.com/article/playbill-on-lines-brief-encounter-with-william-finn-com-329495, 2004 Michelle Dvoskin, ““Just Saying Our Goodbyes”: Elegies’ Queer Interventions into the History of 9/11”, The Journal of American Drama and Theatre, https://jadtjournal.org/2015/03/06/just-saying-our-goodbyes-elegies-queer-interventions-into-the-history-of-911/#_ednref35, 2015 Acting Up Stage Company, Study guide for students, https://musicalstagecompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Elegies-Study-Guide.pdf Steven Cohen, “Finn de Siecle, the finite joy of William Finn”, The Cultural Critic, https://theculturalcritic.com/finn-de-siecle-the-finite-joy-of-william-finn/, 2001

All lyrics taken from Genius, but it should be said that it is not always correct when it comes to who is singing.

Videos from the original 2003 Lincoln Centre production Infinite Joy Monica & Mark and Anytime (I Am There) 14 Dwight Ave., Natick, Massachusetts

Bonus: Fred preformed by Christian Borle – it was cut from the cast recording

#this is very self indulgent #elegies: a song cycle #elegies #long post #incredibly long post actually #musicals #musical theatre #william finn #michael rupert #betty buckley #christian borle #carolee carmello #Keith Byron Kirk #I fucking love Keith Byron Kirk's voice #it's soooo nice

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