#that song is also so so fucked like my god sondheim

[callixton]

literally why did charley write a love song abt him and frank’s relationship. wtf was all that

[jgroffdaily]

Interview by Jake Nevis, photos by Jenny Anderson - excerpts:

For Groff in particular, who’s earned a Tony Award nomination for his swaggering turn as the prodigious composer Franklin Shepard, the experience of starring in Merrily We Roll Along is provoking a tender sort of reappraisal of the wide-eyed, closeted 20-something who arrived on Broadway two decades ago in Spring Awakening, tending his own dreams. “There’s so many powerful parallels and I’m feeling the opportunity to release a lot of the tension I was holding at that time,” he told me earlier this month over coffee in Greenwich Village (just before showing face at a Tony’s luncheon). “This character feels like an exorcism of the lightest and darkest parts of myself.” With easy candor—and a charm not dissimilar to the kind he demonstrates in the role—Groff opened up about learning to live without shame and what Looking, the polarizing HBO series he starred in from 2014 to 2016, taught him about show business.

JAKE NEVINS: Hey, Jonathan. Congrats on your Tony nomination.

JONATHON GROFF: Thank you so much.

NEVINS: That’s exciting. How do you feel?

GROFF: Oh my god, I feel super emotional. I’ve been crying a lot these days. Last time I was nominated was during Hamilton, which was like seven or eight years ago. And I wasn’t in the show when the nominations happened. I had left to do a TV show. So this is the first time since Spring Awakening that I’ve experienced the intensity of awards season on Broadway while being in the show. I’m having a lot of flashbacks to being 22 years old.

NEVINS: What were your first encounters with Merrily in particular?

GROFF: Gideon Glick, who was in Spring Awakening with me, sent a text to the Spring Awakening text chain saying, “This documentary came out called The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened. And it’s devastating and beautiful, and it reminded me so much of us. You all have to go see it.” So I watched the documentary about Merrily that Lonny Price made and was blown away by it. At the Hollywood Bowl, I had done Sondheim on Sondheim, where I sang the role of Frank in “Opening Doors” and Jesse Tyler Ferguson did “Franklin Shepard, Inc.,” so I knew the songs from there. Funny enough, we had just finished our Spring Awakening reunion concert, which was in the fall of 2021, and we were making a documentary about the concert and about the show. The Merrily doc was a big inspiration for that because of how they went back and forth and showed them as kids and showed them as adults. And then in January 2022, me and Jim Carnahan, who cast me in Spring Awakening 16 years before, were in a film club during COVID. After we saw 8½ at the Film Forum in January 2022, he said to me, “We’re going to come to you with an offer for Frank in Merrily We Roll Along. Do you know the show?” And I was like, “I know pieces of it, but I don’t know the show.” Maria’s production in London was on YouTube, so I watched it and I died for it. I just thought it was fucking genius, never having seen it and obviously knowing from the documentary that the show was originally a flop. So it took six months between January and June 2022 for us to figure out the dates. Dan [Radcliffe] was already attached to play Charley, and then Lindsay [Mendez] came on, and then we were off and running.

[Jonathan on reactions to Looking] And I was like, “Whoa.” That was when I started to learn the art of walking with an open heart and also protecting myself.

NEVINS: What does that look like?

GROFF: It’s like, having empathy and respect for the haters and honoring them and understanding that that opinion can exist and I can still be in my lane and express myself. Just because someone says it’s terrible doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth making.

NEVINS: Well, I’ll leave you with this. What’s the status of your inner voice? By all accounts, you’re living your dream, but I don’t want to draw any conclusions.

GROFF: This feels like it’s been a rebirth, a bit of a renaissance, and a release. It’s like I’m re-experiencing what I experienced when I was 22 with Spring Awakening, but now as a flashback, which is what Merrily is about. I moved to New York in 2004, 20 years ago. This show takes place over the course of 20 years. It’s about three friends. Spring Awakening was about these three characters. There’s so many powerful parallels and I’m feeling the opportunity to release a lot of the tension I was holding at that time. It feels like this opportunity to tap back into that 20-year-old I was and release all of the baggage from that time. I’m feeling more like myself than I ever have. This character feels like an exorcism of the lightest and darkest parts of myself.

NEVINS: An exorcism that ends with a Tony, hopefully

GROFF: Oh my god.

[little-lovett]

sweeney bway round 2 ~ all the little things + my favorite moments 🩶

- toby!!!! daniel marconi was absolutely divine. i really loved his movements, he kind of flails about with a tiny, strange limp. you can tell there’s something off and it just makes him all the more endearing. he’s so loving and his not while i’m around broke my heart into a million pieces

- i forgot how disturbing poor thing is. turpin has this vulture mask on and he just looks so disgusting and cruel. the staging looks like a satanic ritual and really establishes judge turpin as a perverted, evil piece of shit from hell

- mrs. lovett kissing up and down sweeney’s shoulder and beginning to slide his suspenders off just after wait, then someone walks in and she quickly slides it back up (and forgot who LMFAO i was so giddy)

- mrs. lovett genuinely calming affect on sweeney just melts me. they really needed eachother 🫂

- josh & annaleigh are so perfect, they read so genuinely as old friends and apprehensive lovers. they are magnetic. their bond is so palpable and it just makes everything hurt more

- mrs. lovett holding sweeney’s arm and nuzzling her face into his shoulder during pirelli’s

- lucy cries a lot. you can hear her sobbing whenever she’s on stage. she’s clearly very sensitive to men’s anger and is distraught whenever sweeney yells at her. my poor baby 💔

- also during pirelli’s; sweeney rubbing mrs. lovett’s hand and whispering into her ear. it’s def their most mutually affectionate song besides a little priest. felt like their little honeymoon era 🥰

- anthony began to sob at the end of johanna. i interpreted it as him seeing turpin abuse jo cuz he looked horrified. it was really really impactful

- sweeney holding lucy’s body and screaming in grief during toby’s monologue

- during a little priest after the whole privates gag, mrs. lovett was down on her knees and had her hand at sweeney’s groin and they both just stared at eachother it was PERFECTION

- i think a little priest was prob 10 minutes long because josh and annaleigh had SO MUCH interaction. they milked the living shit out of it and i’m so glad they did

anyway this is a fucking spectacular production of the best musical ever written. will not take any other answers thanks. hilarious, heartbreaking, dark, sexy sondheim. it doesn’t get any better. i will be back trust me. GOD, THATS GOOD!

[squirrelno2]

Actually no it pisses me the fuck off when people are like "this is for kids we can't hold it to high narrative standards" yes the fuck we can??? That's when we should??? And that's definitely when we should examine the implications and impact of a work, not just the intent behind it or the surface level stuff, because it's for children. They do not have the critical thinking skills that adult readers (hopefully) have developed, they are learning, and they will absorb a fuck ton of learned behaviors from story without ever realising. You have to look at kids media like "this has to be that deep actually" because kids are going to listen! Adults tell stories! Adults are authority so story is authority! There's an entire Sondheim song about this!!! ("Careful the things you say, children will listen" anybody???)

Cressida Cowell is my favorite example of this because her How to Train Your Dragon books almost definitely Weren't That Deep to begin with. (With the caveat that I am not her and so cannot be sure.) The first few books were very much "haha funny dragons, isn't it fun they can talk" - and then you can kind of watch in realtime over the course of the books as she realised the implications of having an entire group of sentient beings with their own language and culture be regularly kidnapped as infants by people who keep them as pets/weapons/tools - and instead of asking her child readers not to look at that, to pretend it's not that bad, she turns around and asks us to look closer. To consider what all this means, that the characters we know and love who don't seem like bad people have also participated in this all along. There are no easy answers! It's absolutely stomach turning, and though she speaks simply to the child reader she never pulls her punches! I'm sure there are people who have issues with her execution and I'm not here to say it's perfect but god. That's how to handle children's media with unfortunate implications. Lean into it, don't tell the kids to ignore it. That's how they learn to ignore all the real world shit, they end up with so much practice.

Just because something is how it is doesn't mean it's not worth looking closer. Teach children that from the start. Don't shy away from your characters participating in fucked up systems just because you think they need to be the good guys. If they're going to be good, make them good, and make them deal with the fallout when they're not.

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

I watched sweeny todd for the first time after seeing you gush about it, and I have to say the entire time I was thinking "this is pretty tame considering the premise" only for the last ten minutes to hit me like a semi.

I also listened to a few versions of the soundtrack and I think I might be in love with Sondheim. the Johanna reprise is probably my favorite even if the begger woman's bits are kinda jarring. Epiphany is a close second followed by the ballad.

*sweats, screams, cries, throws up, heart palpitates* I love that I convinced someone to watch it just by not shutting up about it lmao

First of all, what version did you watch? Did you watch the film and go listen to the ballads later, or did you watch a version of the stage show? I ask this because the film is definitely the most gruesome version of the show, and it's my favorite rendition of it (which would be much to the outrage of Broadway purists, but my justifications for my opinion would take up a long post lol). Sondheim pretty much intended to write a horror film for the stage, and the movie adaptation brought his vision to fruition in some ways. I feel like the whole show is dark without going edgy, you know what I mean? Like, it's never forced, while you have the protagonist singing a love song to his murder weapons lol

Secondly, I love "Johanna (Reprise)." I honestly think it's one of Sondheim's most underrated songs, perhaps because the Beggar Woman's parts are jarring, but people could easily take those out and make beautiful covers of the song. I love how the film version is able to juxtapose the beautiful lyrics and harmonies with blood splattering on the screen lol, but I do like Johanna's part in the stage versions of the song, too. I think "Epiphany" is probably my favorite song, if for no other reason, because of just how difficult its purpose was in the show and how brilliantly Sondheim pulled it off. Sondheim said that was the most difficult song of the show for him to write, and while I can pull out quotes from Sondheim On Music about it if you want, Sondheim also talked about (and partially performed) the song in this video starting at 39:30 if you're interested.

I love the last 10 minutes of the show. They're insane. So much happens, it has a plot twist I genuinely didn't see coming when I first saw it, and in the film version, it has some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard (if you did see the film, I'm talking about when Sweeney first looks down at [redacted] and Realizes; due to the nature of film, Burton was able to make Sweeney really take his time with that moment, and the music is more drawn out than on stage, but god, the way it swells is just so fucking good).

Please feel more than free to send me more thoughts about this show dnakjdnkajdfknjks

[here2bbtstrash]

CD1-04. Boy in Luv

🎧 Tell me your favorite pickup line.

CD1-05. Danger

🎧 If you were a ghost, who would you haunt?

CD1-15. ON

🎧 Tell me a hidden talent that people don't know about.

CD2-07. BTS Cypher PT.3 : KILLER (Feat. Supreme Boi)

🎧 What is your biggest pet peeve?

CD2-15. Dimple

🎧 What is your favorite physical feature on a person, romantic or otherwise?

i'm sorry hehe

thank you for the questionssss sarah my love!!! 💜

🎧 Tell me your favorite pickup line.

does anyone actually like pickup lines 💀 i'm so sorry but i hate them all and i cringe whenever i hear one, joke or not lmfao

🎧 If you were a ghost, who would you haunt?

YOU MEAN I FINALLY DON'T HAVE TO BE ALIVE ANYMORE AND I CAN'T JUST FUCKING REST???????? honestly i'd go haunt yoongi just to get the tea on what the fuck all these photoshoots are. and also to see his cat 🥺🥺🥺

🎧 Tell me a hidden talent that people don't know about.

well, i sing! i've done a few local open mics, some musicals back when i did theatre (sang one of sondheim's hardest fucking songs as a solo 😵‍💫 and i was even the lead in one!), and i recorded backing vocals/harmonies for my ex's band's album (no i will not share a link so do not ask me lmao). i'm also self-taught on piano and guitar. i'd really like to spend more time practicing all three this year. they're on the list of hobbies to do that aren't writing 😂

🎧 What is your biggest pet peeve?

impatient or otherwise entitled people 🙄 i've dated people who couldn't stand in a line/queue for more than like, 2 seconds without complaining, and it drove me fucking insane. like you are not special, everyone in front of you is also trying to do the same thing that you are right now, so just fucking. CHILL. my god.

🎧 What is your favorite physical feature on a person, romantic or otherwise? - already answered this one!

proof asks!! 💿

[thelaurenshippen]

holy shit, this fucking RULES!!!! HAPPY TEN YEARS TO ONE OF THE GREATS!!!!!!!

I first got into Wolf and met Gabriel right here on tumblr dot com. if memory serves, I made a post about the show being described as "about the advantages of floating, tiny and alone, in the middle of nowhere” and if that was a Sondheim reference. that, as I would learn through many posts that ultimately constituted the beginnings of our friendship, was a siren call for Gabriel Urbina. we bonded over Sondheim and making audio drama - that was the spring of 2016 and by the spring of 2017, we were going to see Pacific Overtures (which opens with the song "The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea") off-broadway:

throughout that time, I also got to know Zach and Sarah and the rest of the Wolf team--Sarah, Zach, Ceci, and I all went to the very first PatreCon together, after which Zach and I road tripped down the PCH; they've all been to my parents' house in NY and hung out with my sister (here with Gabriel and I at the show); I saw Emma last time she was in Seattle and got to benefit from her incredible wine expertise; all of them have given me immense creative inspiration, incredible advice, unwavering support, and deep friendship.

Gabriel and I still talk regularly about our work and the industry - we recently sent each other our current scripts we're developing and Gabriel, as always, gave me amazing feedback and oh my god you guys are going to lose it when you eventually hear what Gabriel has been working on. those early days of AD renaissance feel so far away now, that sometimes I lose sight of just how much these people - who could have just remained respected colleagues - have been fully woven into my life. I wouldn't have it any other way.

what's more, I genuinely have such crazed fangirl feelings for Wolf 359. it's not just a show I love because I love the people who made it, I'm a genuine freak about it. I remember sneaking away from my family on christmas to listen to the finale (which, like, what the FUCK guys, on christmas!?!) and crying because of how good it was. it is still the number 1 show I send to people when they need examples of how much you can do in audio.

so happy ten years, pals. I love you all a lot.

8.15.2024: Happy [ Ten Years of Wolf 359!! ] 💫📻

In celebration, @avesmonster and I have spent this year organizing an anthology of fanworks, and I'm so happy to finally be able to share it. It's such a labor of love from everyone involved, and it's incredible to see how passionate people still are about this show. We received over 50 (!!) submissions, both old and new, so please, please check it out, let everyone know how awesome their work is, & leave a comment on our guestbook, while you're there!!

[inkyquince]

*slams fist on table*

THEATER KID! MUSICAL THEATRE KID!!!

Give me all your hot takes and favorites!

SO FAVOURITE MUSICAL IN THE WORLD? HADESTOWN BABEY, I SAW IT WHEN IT WAS JUST A LIL GUY, A LIL MUSICAL, AND I LOVE THE ORIGINAL STAGE RECORDING OF IT THE MOST ITS BEAUTIFUL, ITS TRAGIC, ITS THE GREAT DEPRESSION ERA OF AN ANCIENT GREEK MYTH.

It gets Hades right! Like, as a ancient history student, I have a deep hatred any modern movies depiction of Hades (YES, I FUCKING HATES THE DISNEY MOVIE HERCULES, FUCK THAT FUCKING THING fun fact greece banned it) BUT YES. Hades isnt the colossal enemy because he rules over the underworld, you fucking planks.

He is the bad guy BECAUSE HE IS THE GOD OF FUCKING RICHES AND A METAPHOR FOR CAPITALISM IN HADESTOWN. oh MYGOD THE FUCKIN GENIUS.

Love Moulin Rouge so much, AND i know its looked down on for being a Jukebox musical but its so beautiful. It made a huge impact on me because i saw it so young.

Phantom of The Opera too, why you think im so deeply fucking dramatic?

Okay sO

Starlight Express? OF COURSE IT COULD ONLY WORK IN GERMANY, WITH EVERYONE ELSE WRITING IT OFF. ITS DEEPLY ENDEARING TO THE GERMANS and andrew lloyd webber is a fucking pussy for trying to distance himself from it. He's also generally a pussy, that fuckin tory.

Dear Evan Hansen was a mid story with sometimes good songs. Like, the movie warped every single character but my guy, they were already all insufferable. THE ONLY GOOD SONG IS SINCERLY ME, ITS SO GOOD COMPARED TO EVERY OTHER SONG IN THERE, CMON

... Book of Mormon overhyped. I don't care about it.

SHREK THE MUSICAL FUCKING STEAM PLOWS THROUGH WHAT MAKES SHREK SHREK. ITS BAD, IT DOESNT UNDERSTAND ITS OWN FUCKING CHARACTER. If you were going to make a decent fucking musical about shrek, DONT EVER HAVE SHREK SING!!! THAT'S SHREK BABEY, HAVE EVERYONE ELSE SINGING AROUND HIM!! SHREK WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE ABOUT MAKING FUN OF FUCKING DISNEY SO WHY SUDDENLY DISNEYFY HIM. fUYCKIN flops

Finally, Into The Woods was butchered by its own film. I love everything Stephen Sondheim, especially Sweeney Todd and into the woods was done so so bad. Its so underappreciated and because of the movie, it will further be misunderstood.

The live action les mis movie was always terrible and its sad that it took watching Cats (2019) to people to realise what a hack idiot Tomothy Hooper is.

Rent sucks. Fuck you. La Boheme doesn't deserve this.

FINALLY STOP PUTTING JAMES CORDEN INTO MUSICALS, WE DONT NEED THAT FUCKING MORON RUINING MORE SHIT

[floorbed]

fuck it holland playlist

hey guys here’s my yearly holland vosijk playlist update post. more songs!

listen here

tracklist and annotations under the cut >:)

hymn 1 - teen suicide

he took this ailing body from me

for he knew it was causing me pain

he wont give me a new one cuz i had my chance

but he forgives me 

nobody - mitski

my god, i’m so lonely

so i open the window

to hear sounds of people 

to hear sounds of people

in the woods somewhere - hozier

deer in the chase there as i flew

forgot all prayers of joining you

i clutched my life and wished it kept

my dearest love, i’m not done yet

how many years i know i’ll bear

i found something in the woods somewhere

guilty - alex g

are you guilty? are you waiting to be found?

do you think that you’d be happier with no one else around?

are you hiding, but the trial never comes?

capable type - momma

i keep looking out the window, i keep finding stuff to fight

i keep looking out the window i don’t

i don’t wanna play nice

i keep looking out the window, i keep finding stuff to fight

i keep looking out the window i guess

i’m just the capable type

hollow - alex g

don’t talk too much 

you’ll hurt yourself

i know 

i’m hollow

coming up roses - elliott smith

i’m a junkyard full of false starts

and i don’t need your permission

to bury my love under this bare lightbulb

the moon is a sickle cell

it’ll kill you in time 

the body is a blade - japanese breakfast

try not to get so righteous

about what’s fair for everyone

find what’s left in you

channel something good

kicker - alex g

white bird in a black cloud rain comin down

thinkin hey, maybe we should turn this boat around

gardenhead / leave me alone - neutral milk hotel

leave me alone

for you know this isnt the first time

in fact this is twice in a row 

that the angels have slipped through our landslide

and filled up our garden with snow

judge - alex g 

all the time i try to recall

what drove you away from here

what was dream and what was real

where was i? 

that day meant nothing to me

a hiccup in my memory

this life will leave you hungry

i am completely guilty

when you die - mgmt

i’m not that nice

i’m mean and i’m evil

don’t call me nice

i’m gonna eat your heart out

i’ve got some work to do

who could love you lucille? - john congleton

and as god as my witness

i am here to do the devil’s business

i’m behind you

right behind you

and i could be anyone

you’d accept anything 

tongues & teeth - the crane wives

and i know that you mean so well

but i am not a vessel for your good intent

i will only break your pretty things

i will only wring you dry of everything

the boredom is the reason i started swimming its also the reason i started sinking - the front bottoms

i wanna feel lethal, on the inside

i wanna read american psycho again

but i am not sure that i want any single part of this

any single part of any of this shit

cuz everybody pays

yeah everybody’s head is in the noose

you’re part of a program

get with the program

brain stew - green day

i’m having trouble trying to sleep

i’m counting sheep but running out

as time ticks by, still i try

no rest for crosstops in my mind

on my own here we go

cannibal - tally hall

dig up the skeletons of men that thought that they would be the one like me 

body - mother mother

i’ve grown tired of this body

cumbersome and heavy body 

brutus - the buttress 

and even if i can’t be the one

maybe i could at least help make way for him

until the day that he comes

maybe my name could also be known

100 years - florence welch

but then its just too much

the streets they still run with blood

a hundred arms a hundred years

you can always find me here

abbey - mitski

i am waiting

i have been waiting

i was born waiting 

sleepless - girlpool

the room’s beige it’s a mess

you dream to be sleepless

all alone in bed - teen suicide

are you coming home?

you’ve been losing weight again

does your mother know that you’re skin and bones

does your mother know you spent a year all alone in bed

the same things happen to me all the time even in my dreams - teen suicide

i am warm and i am bored

and i am drifting through this place

it’s no better or worse than anything else that’s ever happened to me

but i wish that i never met a lot of the people that i’ve met

not because i don’t like them but because i only let them down

things to do - alex g

welcoming you back home the only one that you have ever known

welcoming you back home the only one that you will ever know

april 8th - neutral milk hotel

crawl across toward your window

i’m calling softly from the street

always a lonely widow

half awake and sleeping on my feet

bag of bones - mitski

and after everythings done and i’m all undone

you can hear my high heels walking off

clickety-clacking through the night

i’m carrying my bag of bones

soup - girlpool

you’ve got lots of potential can you feel it

fireworks - mitski

i will go jogging routinely

calmly and rhythmically run

oh comely - neutral milk hotel

there isn’t such one friend that you could find

here standing next to me

he’s only my enemy

i’ll crush him with everything i own

pearl diver - mitski

but hunter, you were human, don’t forget it and go safely

it will come back - hozier

don’t let it in with no intention to keep it

jesus christ don’t be kind to it 

honey don’t feed it it will come back

i would hurt a fly -built to spill

there’s a mean bone in my body

untitled oct 19 - teen suicide

this body’s at an end

this pale decaying flesh

but i will be again

made into light

when i come back home

you won’t see me

being alive - stephen sondheim 

somebody crowd me with love

somebody force me to care

somebody let me come through

i’ll always be there as frightened as you

[andhumanslovedstories]

Recent country songs that have made me literally gay gasp as a gay woman, in order of how much they make me want to write an essay on gender and queerness

HONORARY MENTION BUT JUST BECAUSE I THINK THIS IS TECHNICALLY AMERICANA NOT COUNTRY (but genre is fake) AND THIS SONG ISN’T RECENT (2014 and I’ve been listening to it faithfully since then) BUT I ONLY RECENTLY LEARNED IT’S A COVER AND THAT’S MADE ME RECONTEXTUALIZE IT: “Murder in the City” by Brandi Carlile, a cover of The Avett Brothers where she changed the words “make sure my sister knows I loved her/make sure my mother knows the same” to “make sure my wife knows that I love her/make sure my daughter knows the same” which fucking. fucking gets me. Especially since the first time that I heard this song, I assumed it was from a man’s point of view because of that line, and then I learned that Brandi Carlile is a lesbian and I was caught up in my foolish heteronormitivity, and then I learned it was a cover and thought oh okay I guess the song is originally from a man’s pov and it’s cool she covered, and then I learned she changed those lines to make a song that already feels deeply personal to her to explicitly include her love for a woman and the family they’ve made together. And that’s just. It’s all just a lot. 

3) “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” by Miranda Lambert featuring Maren Morris, Elle King, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes and Caylee Hammack, because the first time it came up on my spotify, I saw the title and was like “hey dope I like this song” and then I heard the first line was still “I must have been through about a million girls” and I realized none of the words or pronouns were getting changed and I was getting the song I’ve always wanted and deserved: a high production value, high energy, big girl group tribute to being a lesbian fuckboy who Fooled Around And, oops can you believe it, Fell in Love. 

2) “If She Ever Leaves Me” by The Highwomen, sung by Brandi Carlile who is, as mentioned, lesbian, but since I’m apparently still chugging my comp het juice, I was still trying to figure out if this song--a classic “hey buddy keep walking, she’s my girl and she’s not interested” song with an interesting element of the singer being aware the relationship might not last anyway--was gonna be explicitly queer. And then there’s the line, “That's too much cologne, she likes perfume,” and I was like OH HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!! 

This is immediately followed by the lines “I’ve loved her in secret/I’ve loved her out loud” which is also deliciously queer in this context, with this singer and that juxtaposition, but the line that really fucking got me is my favorite of the song: “If she ever leaves, it's gonna be for a woman with more time.” This is two women in a complicated relationship. This isn’t just a “keep walking, cowboy” song, it’s a song that uses that framework to suggest a whole ass “Finishing the Hat”** relationship, and that’s so interesting to me. Like a song that isn’t just explicitly about two women in love but one that conveys very quickly a rich history between the two of them. And in a genre where the line “Kiss lots of boys, kiss lots of girls if that’s something you’re into” was revolutionary representation.

(Fun fact, “Follow Your Arrow” was partially written by Brandy Clarke, another country lesbian! Another fun fact, so is basically every other good country song. Brandy Clark, please write a big lesbian country anthem, I know it will immediately kill me on impact.) 

To quote one youtube comment, “”lesbians how we feeling??” and to answer by quoting some others, “As a closeted baby gay in the 90s, who was into country, this song would have changed my life”, “I just teared up.  So many happy tears, as a gay woman raised on country music,  this is something that's definitely been needed.  Thank you Brandi. Thank you highwomen”, “This song means more than I can say in a youtube comment”, and “Lesbians needed this song :)”

It’s me. I’m lesbians. 

**ANOTHER HONORARY MENTION EXCEPT IT ISN’T RECENT AND IT ISN’T COUNTRY SO I GUESS THIS IS JUST A MENTION, BUT I AM INTERESTED IN THIS SONG--“Finishing the Hat” by Kelli O’Hara. A very good Sondheim joint, that’s about making art, the costs of its obsessive and exclusive nature and the incomparable pleasure of putting something into the world that wasn’t there before. It’s such a traditionally male narrative that I’m thrilled to find a wonderful female cover of it. I’m not even fussed about her changing the gender from the lover who won’t wait for the artist (except that the shift from “woman” to “one man” sounds so clunky) because there’s value turning this song into a lament of the men who won’t love artistic women. But I do also wish she’d also recorded a version that kept the original gender so it would be gay. OKAY BROADWAY TANGENT OVER, BACK TO COUNTRY. 

1) “Highwomen” by The Highwomen, ft. Yola and Sheryl Crow. I can’t even express the full body chills the first time I heard this. Like repeated, multiple chills renewed at every verse of the song. This really closely parallels my experience with “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” up there, because when I started it I was like “oh dope I know what this cover will be” and then the lyrics started and I was like “OH MY GOD I DIDN’T.” In the case of “Fooled Around” it’s because I was amazed that they kept the original words. In the case of “Highwomen” I fucking transcended because they changed them. 

So I grew up on Johnny Cash, obsessed with a couple of his albums but largely with a CD I had of his greatest hits. (Ask me how many times I listened to the shoeshine boy song. Hundreds. Johnny Cash told me to get rhythm and I got it.) And my FAVORITE was “Highwayman” from the country supergroup he was in, The Highwaymen. The concept of the song is that each of the four men sing a verse about a man from the past and how he died. It’s very good. The line “They buried me in that grey tomb that knows no sound” used to scare the shit out of me. I didn’t expect to have a song that targets so specifically my fear of being buried alive in wet concrete. 

(If you haven’t heard the song, by the way, listen to this version to properly appreciate it as a piece of music. If you have, watch the fucking music video holy shit this is a work of art oh my GOD.) 

So I was predisposed to love this cover before I even heard it. But then I heard it. And they rewrote the song to be about historical women. And it’s like. There’s layers here okay. 

Neither the Highwaymen nor the Highwomen are signing about famous people. This isn’t a Great Man tour of history, it’s about dam builders and sailors and preachers and mothers and Freedom Riders and also Johnny Cash who flies a starship across the universe, as you do. 

In the 1986 version, it’s a song about the continuity of life--the repeated idea is “I am still alive, I’m still here, I come back again and again in different forms.” The highwayman is all the men in the song. He reincarnates. The song is past, present, future. The title is singular, masculine. The same soul, expressed through multiple voices, multiple lives. 

In the 2019 version, the title is plural, feminine. Highwomen. This song is about women. Each verse asserts the same motif as the 1986 version--“I may not have survived but I am still alive”--but there is no implication of reincarnation. Each woman is her own woman. This version has a final verse that the previous versions lacks. The singers harmonize. It’s not a song where one voice replaces  another, the story of this One Man progressing through time. It ends in a chorus of women saying “We are still alive.” 

We are The Highwomen Singing stories still untold We carry the sons you can only hold We are the daughters of the silent generations You sent our hearts to die alone in foreign nations They may return to us as tiny drops of rain But we will still remain

And we'll come back again and again and again And again and again We'll come back again and again and again And again and again 

Another fun fact! The first time I heard them sing “We are the daughters of the silent generations” I died! But luckily I came back again and again and again.  

This is a song about the continuity of history. It asserts that women’s historical lives matter and that they continue to matter, long after they died. This is a song about legacy as well, the legacy of nameless women who worked to protect the ones they loved and make the world better. They don’t die by chance. They are all hunted down by political violence, by racism, by misogyny, for stepping outside their prescribed roles. But, as Yola (who btw fucking CRUSHES THE VOCALS ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????? HOLY SHIT MA’AM) sings as a murdered Freedom Rider, she’d take that ride again. And at the end of the song, she joins the chorus but does not disappear into it. Her voice rises up out of crowd. And the crowd calls itself “we”. These women are united but not subsumed into being One Woman. This is about Women. 

And then, outside the song itself, there’s the history of this song about history. It’s originally by Jimmy Webb and was covered by Glenn Campbell. This cover inspired the name of the supergroup that covered it, the group with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and my man Johnny Cash. And it’s like holy shit! What an amazing group to collaborate! Hot damn! 

Then, it’s 2019 and here’s The Highwomen with Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires. The name is obviously riffing on The Highwaymen. Shires set out to form the group in direct response to the lack of female country artists on the radio and at festivals. And they name themselves after a country supergroup, and they put out this song, a song connected to massive names in country music, and they center all of this on women and womanhood and the right of women to be counted in history and to make history and to talk about the ways we have mistreated and marginalized women, in a group that started because one woman was like hey! we’re mistreating and marginalizing women! 

I just think this is neat! I think there’s a lot here we could unpack! But this post is 100 times longer than I was planning and work starts in a bit so uh I’m gonna go get dressed and listen to The Highwomen on repeat for the next hour, “Heaven is a Honky Tonk” is another fucking bop that improves on the original, it would be dope if they’d collab with Rhiannon Giddens, okay byyyyyyyye 

[leninouche]

Some Les Mis observations I made today as I watched the show at the Sondheim Theatre in London. Hope you enjoy!

- jean valjean is SOFT his voice is soft and silky and i love him

- THEY INCLUDED PETIT GERVAIS IM DLWNLDSLL

- At the „you know what that means“ „yes it means i‘m free“ „NO“ they made it as if Javert said no to keep a guard from hitting Jean and I‘ve never seen that before??

- The confrontation was LIT i mean it was ON they FOUGHT and it was amazing I loved it a lot

- Javert‘s overpronounciating everything and it‘s perfectly in character (but his french is terrible)

- His OUTFIT (tight black pants and boots, blue coat and ponytail, he hot)

- Very high Tension ™️ between Javert and Valjean, they „held hands“ for approximately a minute straight

- After Javert told Valjean about „this con man he once knew“ he went off-stage. Valjean kept tense for a long moment. Then face-palmed while he sung: „he thought that man was me without a second glance“ as if to say: ughgh javert is SO embarassing!

- The thenardiers are excellent and very much in character, amazing

- Okokok paris scene was good but THEN ENJOLRAS APPEARED AND I WAS NOT READY FOR THIS MAN NOT READY

- he had beautiful blond curls and was wearing a violet coat with a red waistcoat

- Marius is a Dork ™️ he‘s living the dumb dumb life

- My god, Enjolras talked to the poor people around and to his friends and he was genuinely concerned and attentive

- When the Thenardiers attacked Jean, Cosette fell to the side a bit and nearly got robbed by Montparnasse, but Marius sprung in between them. Monty continued to threateningly wield is small little pocket knife at a very distressed and scared Marius

- Montparnasse is excellent btw, long black hair and tailored clothes, he cute tho

- Ponine and Cosette are both awesome and I enjoy them so much. Cosette hit the high notes flawlessly and Ponine‘s end of On my Own was luminous

- Jean let his tissue drop when he ran away with cosette and Javert picked it up. Is that a UF tissue reference??? He even smelled it

- THE AMIS SCENE I AM

- grantaire gave his all, he even danced a little

- When Marius started singing about Cosette all the amis shouted at him to shut up in a joking manner

- Enjolras is the BEST omg he is genuinely excited and soft and laughs at Marius and enjoys his friends a lot, I love him so much. And his voice is SOFT and beautiful, he is beautiful and one of my favorite Enjolraii ever

- They had Vicky Hug‘s aquarelle paintings as background

- Gavroche is GREAT, he really lives his role and does little dances and gestures

- Stars was just utterly beautiful. Javert was super excited about the stars in the first part, it was very adorable, and the second part was just his voice filling the damn hall, straight into my heart god he was so good

- Omg omg a heart full of love was great. Ponine and Marius heard some of the conversation between jean and cosette, then when they were gone Marius climbed into the garden. That idiot threw a stone at Cosette‘s window what the heck, cosette came out, then suddenly ran away excitedly when she saw who it was- Marius didn‘t understand what was happening and that‘s when he sang: I‘m doing everything all wrong. It was great.

- Also great romeo and juliet reference with the balcony

- My god, the robbery. Montparnasse was just squatting on the fence the whole time, like a bird. What the fuck. He got to wield that little knife of his again as well

- I don‘t know if it‘s real or if i‘m imagining things but during one day more Enjolras looked up and in my direction and smiled and i smiled back and i hope he was looking at me and that i didn‘t just imagine it

- i forgot what awkward props muskets are

- At the barricade Enjolras jumped down the different levels with such speed and grace i am honestly Amazed

- Grantaire kept to the side the whole time, cowering on the floor or sheltering Gavroche

- Just- Javert‘s face when Gavroche called him out was heavenly. And when he was done, Gavroche literally flipped Javert off. Legend.

- Javert‘s undercover outfit was very cute and his hair was open

- They had literal torches on stage

- Ok at the beginning of drink with me they played a flute- feuilly reference??

- After Grantaire‘s solo Enjolras came up to console him but Grantaire pushed him away and retreated to the background again, with his face to the wall. Gavroche approached him and then pulled him into a hug, they went to sleep side by side

- Towards the end of Rain will make the Flowers grow, Gavroche noticed Ponine dying and froze which in turn made Grantaire notice what‘s going on. He signalled to the other barricade people to shut up and pay some respect and they watched on silently as the song finished

- The guy who i think was feuilly had a girlfriend which i assume was musichetta? They were adorable

- When Gavroche had climbed over the barricade, Grantaire froze with his face to the audience and waited with bated breath for the sound of a shot. When it came, he nearly collapsed until he heard Gavroche singing again. He ran towards the barricade and shouted something like: GO ON KID, HURRY UP. When Gravroche appeared at the top of the barricade he was shot. He fell into Enjolras‘ arms who in turn handed him to Grantaire. As the fighting ensued, Grantaire slowly carried Gavroche over to the side of the stage, seemingly unaware of shots being fired

- Next encounter between Valjean and Javert was intense again, and then Valjean uttered the softest „go“ ever as he stared into Javert‘s eyes

- Usually i don‘t quite enjoy Bring me Home but this Valjean did an awesome job, his singing was so mellow and emotional

- At the barricade, Enjolras was the first to die and he fell over the barricade into the void, and Grantaire was the last to die. He got shot in the head.

- When the barricade got cleared away and Javert inspected the grounds a cart was wield up on which Enjolras was half lying half hanging off it. They put Gavroche‘s body on top of him and pulled them off-stage

- Javert‘s suicide was fucking weird. The song was great, but when he jumped off the bridge they added a bit of animation in the background and lifted him up slightly with the help of ropes so that you saw him fall from different angles but... it just didn‘t work, it was more funny than dramatic

- During turning the women placed candles on stage. One woman began to cry and a small girl (who earlier had played cosette) gave her her handkerchief. It was really sweet. During Empty Chairs the boys came onstage and each took one candle, together with Marius

- During the wedding-feast the actor that had played Enjolras was one of the waiters and he was hilarious, even though the role was so small

- After bowing, as they ran off-stage, Enjolras made a heart sign with his hands

- And bonus: as the applause thundered through the theatre, Jean Valjean and Cosette were the last on stage. Jean carried Cosette in his arms and just stood there for a while, grinning. Then the curtain fell.

[sunsoakd]

PLEASE say more about why you hate 2019 company i'm obsessed with how bad it looks

omg ok you are really about to open a can of worms at midnight on a sunday here we go.

a pretty ubiquitous and not at all unusual analysis of the show is as a critique of heterosexual marriage culture in the 1970s, particularly as sondheim was a gay man looking at it from the outside when it was written. he says all the time that bobby isn’t gay, and he might not be, but intentionally or not he is kind of super gay coded and being alive has thus become a gay anthem of sorts.

the problem with 2019 company is not only that it removes any and all historical and sociocultural context of the show, which is already a pretty big problem, but that it is a show that fundamentally does not make sense when set in 2019. in what world is anyone pressuring anyone to get married at 30? particularly well-off, young, metropolitan professionals?

the genderbent casting is also soooo lazy like i cannot believe they got away with doing something so ridiculous. not that bobby could never be a woman but doing it the way they did it was honestly deplorable. i realize that it is a show that is fundamentally about heterosexuality so they had to bend over backwards to make it straight. but the inclusion of a gay couple with paul and jamie was so nonsensical because in the original it’s like. a big deal in the scene with peter where bobby realizes that being gay is even an option. that’s such a fundamental turning point in the show i feel and they couldn’t effectively do that.

also the treatment of the you could drive a person crazy trio makes me LIVID. oh my god. that song when it’s sung about a man by women is pretty harmless. but when sung about a woman by men it gets pretty misogynist pretty quick. so to remedy this, they just made all three of the guys awful and sexist and in doing so ruined the three best characters in the entire show!

and finally the scene with bobbie and joanne which i watched for the first time today and informed my rageposting.... where joanne offers her HUSBAND to bobbie to have sex with, for some extremely odd reason? “larry will take care of you” has such strange and weird connotations and i really don’t think anyone understood how fucked up it sounds. it makes the entire rest of that scene with her and joanne seem really dumb and gives it a lot less weight and stakes i feel. god it’s awful. they should’ve done that scene, if they wanted to do it at all, with bobbie and larry, but then either patti couldn’t sing ladies who lunch or they’d have to completely rewrite ladies who lunch and that would’ve made them realize how big of a mistake they made so i guess they didn’t go down that road.

speaking of. some of the lyric changes simply did not need to happen literally at all. my favorite line in the show is “should there be a marital squabble/available bob’ll/be there with the glue” and they changed it and i still don’t know why. is bob too masculine? god it makes me so mad.

anyway. it’s just awful and it doesn’t make sense and i can’t believe they got away with it. and i hate to say it but katrina isn’t even that good in it. she’s a great actress and a great singer but i don’t think it’s a very good role for her. at this point i don’t even want an album like it makes me so upset i can’t bear to think about it for more than five minutes at a time without losing my whole mind

[reingkings]

Black Friday (*Spoilers*)

Alright first I want to say this is not hate! I absolutely LOVED Black Friday. However, I did have some things that I felt could have been changed to make the script a little stronger

Things I loved:

The old TGWDLM gang! — we got an update into their lives without it being overly shoved into our faces. It was just there for people who loved the first musical, but knowing about them wasn’t necessary to the understanding of this one

The music! — Feast or Famine, Do You Want to Play?, Adore Me (especially the chorus), Black Friday, If I Fail You, Our Doors Are Open well I can’t name them all.

Oh, and how America is Great Again played in the background when General McNamara appears on screen. I’m a sucker for characters having their own themes songs. Wouldn’t it be amazing if Paul got a mix of Let it Out/Inevitable

The fact that starkid made a MUSICAL extended universe

The new characters/actors, Kim, Angela, Kendall, James, Curt, were all amazing and their addition really helped flesh out the new universe (plus, it doesn’t hurt that they have amazing voices)

The old cast playing new dynamics and pushing themselves (Lauren, Dylan, and Joey especially, but Jaime killed in her role as Sherman too, as did Robert with Ethan and Jon as Gary)

THE SCRIPT OH MY GOD THE SCRIPT

The choreography! Feast or Famine was my favorite but they keep getting better and better with this!

Their comedy, still fucking gold. Especially those fucking oneliners and small exchanges. “Well, we haven’t put a label on it yet” “But we are intimate” *moment if silence*, “Hannah what the fuck is this, that better be fucking floss!”, “That’s a bribe sir, and that’s illegal”, *raised eyebrow*, “... Well it should be”, “Ooh right in the subpeona”, everything about James Tolbert as Agent Morris

The social CRITIQUE, the fact that the kids don’t even want wiggly, it’s the adults who want to buy wigglys to fill the holes in them (still buying a wiggly though)

How vitalized they all seem to be about the new direction of starkid/that they’re experimenting and coming out of their comfort zone. I love starkid but you could tell that they were getting worn out by just sticking to the same formula of just making parodies. Before TGWDLM we had 2 year gaps between uploads of musicals (which, a year to write a musical is incredible, Sondheim has currently been working on the latest for a decade, and Miranda took like three for Hamilton). I love seeing creators grow

The overall aesthetic of the stage, costumes, and music was so vicerally haunting and scary. I literally slept with my hallway light on and the door open the first time I saw it

Sigh, and now for the things I might get pitchforked for

First some technical stuff. One, I think the sound equipment was on too low for the stage production. If you compare the songs in the stage production to the album version, you can tell that the more subtle parts of the intrumentals were just too quiet. Also, the actors’ voices were much louder than the music so sometimes it was like they were singing acapella. Two, although I appreciate the new camera work and how it’s more similar to traditional recordings of musicals, it did take away from my ability to appreciate the choreography and the subtle reactions of the cast

While a lot of the songs were good, some of them just needed to be cut or trimmed. Especially for songs where one line of explanation would have sufficed. An example of a trimmed song I think is CaliforM.I.A where Lex sings that her mom is an alcoholic, etc. I feel like it could have just been spoken and it would have been more subtle, quiet and painful. A song I think needed to be cut was Deck the Halls. I love Robert, but that song was mostly just an omage to what they did with Workin’ Boys. However, the part that made Workin’ Boys, pardon the pun, work was that it was Professor Hidggen’s backstory/dream. It revealed something about him and his isolation

Some of the lines in the lyrics were just clunky. It’s something I noticed in TGWDLM, but I thought it really worked there since the characters couldn’t sing naturally. However, it seemed to be worse in this? Like I said, some songs were still golden. But some just. Monsters and Men, I noticed had a lot of it. Which yeah, they had less than a year to write it and they had more songs than TGWDLM, so it makes sense that some are a bit rushed? But still, i would have preferred a shorter soundtrack with tighter songs.

I think the Becky and Tom romance was so unnecessary. I feel like yeah, you can make them exes, and you can build up their chemistry so it’s implied they’ll get together eventually, but the fact that they fall in “love” in like 5 hours makes them so shoehorned. For Becky, it’s kind of a disservice because most of her songs are then focused on romance. For Tom, it’s just. It kind of cheapens him, especially since he was previously married for at least 8 years. Like you don’t hear him mention Jane or Tim at all, or worry about Tim’s gift when he’s at the theater. So when it comes to him singing “If I Fail You” it doesn’t feel authentic because you don’t get that sense of Tom feeling like failure over Tim in his dialogue. And also, you could cut out a lot of songs (and give them something new ones)

Although I loved the multiple storylines, I felt like it was really hard to connect to the characters. I feel like that might be because of the songs? Characters were so busy with info dump songs that there were just less interactions in general. I would have loved if the character subtleties could be explored in the same way as TGWDLM

They shouldn’t have killed Ethan. Not just because it’s Robert, but as part of the overall storyline, they shouldn’t have killed Ethan.

Imagine if it had played out like this: No Becky-Tom Romance. They’re just fleeing the mayhem together because they’re the few that managed to keep sane. Becky has a doll but Tom doesn’t. Ethan and Hannah get accosted by the mob. Ethan tells Hannah to run and you see him start to fight, but not what happens after. Hannah is running and you see dead bodies strewn around the mall (to show that people have died). Becky and Tom appear. They hear a few of the wiggly worshippers members yell that they have to find the girl with the wiggly. Tom joins in on the hunt because “he needs to find one for Tim”, the same scene plays out with Do You Want to Play With Me? bc that song is a BOP but Ethan shows up to save Hannah. Becky manages to snap out of her trance and helps Ethan subdue Tom. The three of them flee. Now the two of them are bigger targets bc they had two wigglys. Meanwhile Lex teams up with her managers/discovers her supernatural powers during their escape or something and goes looking for Hannah and Ethan. All this within the first act. Now you’ve got about ~4 plotlines (the cultists/Linda, the trio, Lex (all at the mall) and General McNamara) that are a bit interconnected instead of ~6.

None of the characters got time to breathe, pause and reassess, or grieve. Hannah and Lex never even found out about Ethan. Gerald didn’t find out his wife died, and his call bit was used for comedy, The President didn’t even seem too affected by General McNamara’s sacrifice (which might be a byproduct of the switching story arcs, but contrasts to his TGWDLM moments where he at least got his last words and Paul remembered him)

There was no indication of Lex being supernatural, so her connection with General McNamara was pretty out of the blue and unearned.

That’s it. As I said, I loved it, I just think it could be rearranged somewhat

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

I see you’re a woman of culture 😌 I LOVE The Book of Mormon, POTO, Something Rotten; they’re definitely in my top 5. I’m also a Sondheim fan. I love LesMis, Chicago (the movie), Cabaret, Hairspray, Legally Blonde, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and dare I say it, Cats (NOT the movie, and before you ask, no I’m not a furry lmao). Falsettos, Dogfight and Rent make me cry like a baby. Avenue Q is good but I think it’s a bit dated.

Anyways on the topic of RPF or fanfiction in general, what’s like the worst fic you’ve encountered? That one I talked about definitely scarred me the most, but I also saw fics where the entire premise is a female Y/N “turning Freddie straight” and having heterosexual sex with him which is just ew. And tbh I personally don’t have anything against old man thirst/PD!Queen fics (not including fics that normalize ped0philia etc), it’s just… some things are harder to stomach than others lol. As long as they keep it in their corner of the Internet and do not present it to the people they write about, live and let live.

Actually now that I think about the old man thirst, it’s a bit concerning to see literal children in their preteen and early teen years openly thirsting for old men, like men in their 60-80s. This goes beyond the Queen fandom, and applies to the wider classic rock fandom. The things I’ve read… They’re not just cute innocent crushes, they’re literally talking about present day rock stars in a very explicit, sexual way. A LOT of kids are getting into classic rock now; I sent you that ask about Tiktok and I’m not exaggerating when I say I see a lot of 11-14 classic rock fans (who like bands like Motley Crue, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, The Who…) And this opens up to all kinds of problems; I’ve seen a lot of them talk about how creepy old men would disguise themselves as their faves online and talk to them, ask for their number/address, etc.

-----------

Oh yeah, Avenue Q is a product of its time. It was 2003 and it even has the line that George Bush is "only for now" in the last song lol. A lot has changed in our culture over the past 18 years. Sondheim is my favorite composer, hands-down. He's a genius and his music is so damn smart a lot of times. I haven't seen all of the other ones you've mentioned, but I'll be controversial and say that not only am I not a fan of Cats or POTO (with the latter, it has good songs but I think they're better out of context because the characters suck), but god, I really dislike RENT lol. I know a lot of people love it and that's fine. I'm glad you can get more enjoyment out of it than I can. I cried my eyes out when I watched it in 8th grade, but then I watched it when I got older and really did not enjoy it anymore.

Ooo boy, you're asking the real controversial questions lol. I'm definitely uncomfortable with the type of stories you mentioned. RPF is a complicated topic and I have mixed thoughts on it, but the short version is that I do think there are lines that shouldn't be crossed with it. I...really hate to name any specific fic....But. There's this person who has posted a ton of stories and they've gained quite a reputation. The stories tend to have these common themes: young Freddie being physically ill in some way (so some lowkey illness exploitation, for lack of a better term), the other members of the band being medical professionals who are either related to Freddie or his partners, some underage shit, random George Michael cameos, a dentistry fetish, and a tickling fetish. There are other things thrown in their work, but those are the things that pop up the most frequently.

I'm sorry, but it's the strangest collection of stories I've ever come across. I read just the descriptions of these stories to friends who've been reading fic for a long time, and they agree they've never seen such a weird collection. I think it would be weird if it were regular old fanfiction, but the fact that it's RPF is...Idk. I might get my head bitten off but I'm very uncomfortable with these stories which revolve around making Freddie medically suffer in some way when he really died of a terminal illness. This is where the stories go from strange to offensive for me. It's not like these stories deal with his real AIDS diagnosis, either, but stuff he didn't actually have irl. I saw one description where he'd need a lung transplant (?!) and closed the fuck out of AO3. Just, why? Where is the enjoyment out of imagining such a thing? Why not just write this story with a fictional character if it's going to have nothing to do with Queen? It honestly unnerves me. Oh, and the formatting of the stories themselves is absolutely unreadable. I clicked on one out of sheer curiosity but the lack of spaces and paragraph breaks hurt my eyes.

I do think the old man thirst is concerning when the people doing it are very young. Sorry but....kids aren't supposed to find senior citizens attractive lmfao. It definitely seems to be a thing in the wider classic rock fandom. I was going to say they'll just outgrow it, but if these kids on Tiktok are really talking about older men talking to them while posing as their idols, that's really concerning. Reason #7234 TikTok was a fucking mistake and I'm so glad I'm not on there.

[wings-of-indigo]

So, Waitress is closing and Why I am Happy about that: An Exceedingly long essay Rant about Broadway

Look. Nobody's gonna read this, most likely, but it's 2 in the morning and my brain's been obsessing over Broadway (more than usual, anyway) since communing with my people at intensive this week. So, in the interest of getting some sleep before 8 hrs of dance and shitty high notes tomorrow, here goes.

I love classic, high-school-and-community standard musicals. I love new and experimental musicals. I love Disney film-to-stage musicals. I love institution musicals like Chorus Line, Cats, and Wicked; I even have a soft spot for Phantom. I am eagerly anticipating West Side Story next Christmas (seriously, I have a calander).

BUT.

As I said to one of my fellow dancers during post-class stretch (after noting his insane flexibilty and making yet another resolution to stretch more) I am Sick to GoDAMnEd DEATH of revivals, franchise adaptions, and restagings taking up the Broadway and greater theater markets.

I get why it's happening; I do. Musical theater, even shows that never make it out of Regional productions (Be More Chill, btw, I'm so proud of you bby :'-D ) are REALLY FREAKING EXPENSIVE, not just to stage, but also to develop. Broadway productions nowadays regularly go upwards of TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in costs.

Those costs are more and more frequently being met through funding by large groups of wealthy investors, who can expect basically little to no return on that investment. Only a select few shows that make it to the Great White Way do well enough to turn a profit (let alone the kinds of numbers that Hamilton, DEH, and Wicked continue to make), and more and more shows are closing in defict or once they break even. (Coincidentally, this is probably why we're seeing more and more straight plays on Broadway, especially in limited engagements. They're quicker, cheaper, and still have the same level of prestige.)

It makes sense then to assume that a show linked to an already successful property has a better chance of reaching that break-even mark, or perhaps generating a small return, than a more original idea. It's a surer bet, and we've seen it a lot these past few seasons. Anastasia, Beetlejuice, Pretty Woman, Moulin Rouge, Mean Girls... we get it. We promise. Investors want some security in an extremely and notoriously insecure market before they're willing to lay out the dough.

I get it. Everybody gets it.

And, to be fair, some of those shows are and continue to be GOOD. Tony nominees and award winners, even. But here's the problem: it's boring.

And not because I know how Act 2 ends without getting spoilers on tumblr. Unless they're younger than ten, the population of Broadway-and-musicals fans generally has a good handle on where a show's relevant plotlines are going. It's really not the wanting to know the end that keeps your butt in your overpriced red velvet seat and your eyes on the stage. It's the score, the words, occasionally the choreography, and most importantly the magicians on, off, and backstage bringing those things to life in a new and interesting way.

The antithesis of this, then, is having to watch slavish recreation of iconic scenes, lines, and characters from iconic films, presented Onstage! (TM), now with Bonus Songs! for your reconsumption. (Yes, Pretty Woman, I'm looking at you.)

Hey, I love Pretty Woman the Movie, slightly dodgy messages about feminity aside. I love it as a movie, and I really don't need to watch the knock off version of it, even if it comes in a shiny Broadway package.

Anastasia, and Beetlejuice, on the other hand, work extrodinarily well as musicals because they are NOT carbon copies of the original, somehow miraculously transplanted onto the stage.

Ironically, musicals based on original ideas are actually some of the most successful and well reviewed recent productions. Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away, and Hadestown this season are all original works, and well, look at them. (Fishy, huh? Coincidence, I think the fuck not.)

Recently I got to see The Prom on Broadway, the day after I saw Pretty Woman. The contrast between shows and my enjoyment of them was well defined. I couldn't look away from The Prom, despite many of the major story beats being as obvious as our Cheeto-in-Chief's spray tan. I and the entire rest of the theater were completely engaged by what was going on onstage, both comedically and dramatically. At Pretty Woman, I found myself checking the Playbill to see how many songs were left for me to make it through and anxiously comparing the size of my thighs to the dancers onstage to pass the time (ah, pre pro Body Issues, welcome back! We all thought you'd retired!)

Three guesses which show I'd choose to see again.

When I read that Waitress was closing, the first thing I did was panic and start marking pre January weekends where I would both be free and possibly have disposable income (I've never gotten to see the show, and frankly I would like too). My second reaction was, yes, to mourn the closure of a wonderful show, but it was mixed with hopeful anticipation. Waitress had a good long time in the sun, and just like a well lived life, eventually it must and should end. It's better, in my humble student opinion, to live with memories and cast albums (and regional productions) than the stodgy life of a show that's jealously clung to its Broadway berth through the tourist-and-date-night trade (*cough*Phantom*cough*). It's sort of like your 40 something mother taking selfies in booty shorts in an effort to prove she's still 'hip' and in her twenties. Cringe.

Ephemera is the nature of live performance, and probably part of its allure. And just like in the natural world, old things have to end so that new things can become. Waitress closing is a vital part of this cycle.

Broadway has a limited number of theaters. That's a hard and absolute fact. Maybe a quarter of them are effectively taken off the market for new shows by productions apparently cursed with immortality. Waitress has just opened up another spot both physically and creatively for a new project- hopefully something we haven't seen before- and I hope to God, Satan, and Sondheim that it doesn't get filled with another franchise spinoff, celebrity jukebox musical, or -Lin Miranda forbid - yet another revival.

Why the revival hate, though? Aren't revivals an major way to revisit the landmark and important musicals of the past and bring them to a new audience?

Well, yes. They are, especially when they're staged and presented with the emphasis on letting the music and words speak for themselves and giving the actors leeway to work with the material, without the typical levels of Broadway Extra (TM) and creative meddling from the producers. (The recent Lincoln Center staging of A Chorus Line is a good example of the stripped down style I'm talking about.) But even if they have their place, once again, revivals (while valuable and cool and all that) are Something We've Already Seen.

Let's take Newsies for example. A show with a huge fan base (mostly teen, mostly girls) who I frequently see wishing for a revival.

Now, I am a raging Newsies fan. Newsies is the show that got me started on attempting to make a profession out of dance and theater. I can sing both the OBC and Live albums back to front. I may or may not have had embarrassing crushes on certain cast and characters that I will take to my grave (I'll never tell and you'll never know, mwahhaha). So, do I love and worship ever iteration of this show? Yes. Do I wish I had been able to see either the Natl Tour or Broadway productions? Hell yes, with all my heart. Do I wish the Gatelli choreography was in any way accessible for me to learn? More than I want Broadway tickets to cost less than my soul, kidney, and hypothetical but unlikely first born combined.

But do I want a Broadway revival? Hell FUCKING No.

It's over, it's done, and it lives on in reinterpretation in regional and junior productions. Good. That, to be quite honest, is where it should belong.

It doesn't need to be rehashed on the biggest stages, and to be frank, neither do most of the ultra popular revivals that have been happening. (Yes, Ali Stoker is awesome and deserves the world, but Broadway does not need Oklahoma. If you need to see it that bad, go find a high school production somewhere. I recommend the midwest.) Broadway does not need 1776 (even though I am looking forward to it). Broadway does not need a Sweeney Todd revival (even though I want one like I want ice cream after suffering through jazz class in an un-air-conditioned studio on a 90 degree afternoon with no breeze. Seriously, I might be making sacrifices at my altar to this cause in the back of my closet).

Broadway needs musicals that are at least nominally original, and if not, come from something obscure enough (Kinky Boots, Waitress, Newsies) that they can make their own way. Barring that, investors, writers, and directors, please have the courage and decency to take established content in a new direction. Please, I'm begging you. I'd honestly-and-truly much rather sit through something that didn't try to shove the better version of itself down my throat even as it bored and annoyed me to tears. If I'm going to pay $80+ to sit through two hours of something terrible (and less engaging than my dancer body image issues) at least let me get my money's worth in unique horribleness.

[outrosforlucy]

Songs/Characters I want to see Adam perform

Okay after watching Marriage Story and seeing Adam perform Being Alive, here is a short list of musical theatre songs and characters i would love to see him perform

Anything Sondheim. like literally anything. Bobby, “No one has ever loved me”, “Agony”, “Good thing Going”, Sweeney Todd, “Send in the Clowns” (my god could you imagine)

Billy Bigelow from Carousel. I’m not a huge fan of this character but it would be a great acting piece for him. imagine how amazing it would be to see him perform “Soliloquy”

“If I Can’t Love Her” from Beauty and the Beast. kinda for shits and giggles but let’s be real who wouldn’t love to see Adam as Beast

Pierre from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. okay so this role is might be too high for his vocal range but like I would sell my lungs to watch him in it anyway. like wow what a dream

“How Sad” from No Strings. it’s a fun upbeat song about how sad it is for women to have to be attracted to men. i mean Adam Driver deprecating the entire male species? yes please

“Younger than Springtime” from South Pacific. again this may be a little too high but that’s what transposing is for kids

Curly from Oklahoma! this one is definitely for shits and giggles because i think in an interview he spoke about being in the ensemble for this show and only having one line at the very end. but also I guess I just want him to sing anything Rodgers and Hammerstein too???? like i really need to see him as a purely romantic lead before I die

“Stars” from Les Miserables. because why fucking not

“My Nose Ain’t Broken” from Rocky. this is one of my fave songs of all time and i would die the happiest of women if i heard Adam sing this(!!!)

Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady need I say more?? Adam as a snobby, posh, British phonetist? sign me up

yeah okay so that’s all i can think of off the top of my head. But in general, can we get Adam Driver in a musical please????????? he can clearly do it so...