#treason: the musical

[margridarnauds]

Treason: The Musical Meta: The Ladies

So, before the full recording was released, one of the things I was most curious about was how the female characters would end up being treated -- would they be on the periphery, or would they be characters in their own right? Most of the early releases, with the exception of Blind Faith and the Day That Elizabeth Died, were centered around the male characters. It seemed like they would get the most focus, especially since....the Gunpowder Plot is pretty much exclusively known for the male conspirators, especially Guy Fawkes. I wasn’t overly optimistic from the cast list dividing the cast into “The Plotters” and “The Peacekeepers”, with the only female character NOT being put into “The Peacekeepers” being Debris Stevenson as the Narrator -- it gave the idea of a gender binary where women = peaceful, non-violent, and non-assertive, while men = violent, assertive, and aggressive. Martha seemed like she was going to be important, but was she just going to be one more female character whose role in the story was to be The Wife™? 

(Spoilers beneath the cut)

I was really shocked when I got to listen to the full album (thus far), and realized that, in the full musical as it stands, this is Martha Percy’s story, her tragedy. Yes, she still is shown to be against the plot repeatedly, as opposed to her husband Thomas, who is pulled into religious zealotry by his crush Robert Catesby, but it’s grounded, imo, in a way that a lot of similar characters aren’t. We open and close the musical with her grief, with a kind of brilliant subversion in the sense that the folk song used as the basis for her opening/closing solo, “Cold Blows the Wind”, is actually about a young man who is grieving his lover. (I will note, in the interest of objectivity, that there have been a number of female performances over the years, including some which changed the lyrics.) We see how much of a toll this is taking on her marriage, she’s allowed to vent her worry (A Watchful Eye, Blind Faith) her self-doubt and confusion and guilt (The Inevitable), her anger and frustration (No Happy Ending) in a way that feels really organic and makes her feel more like a rounded character. A lot of reviews say that they’ve gotten rid of Guy Fawkes to focus on the tragedy of Thomas Percy, but I don’t really think that’s the case, or at least. Not the total truth. I think they got rid of Guy Fawkes to focus on the tragedy of Martha Percy. 

I also appreciate that, while none of the other female characters are given the same level of fleshing out, we absolutely see they aren’t a monolith -- with the final decision at the end, some of the women want to support the men in the plot, arguing that they’re fighting for Catholicism in a time where they’re being persecuted, while others argue that the guilt of hundreds of innocent lives on their hands would haunt them. It isn’t a simple matter of “women = peacemakers”, but something that they have to work through. Likewise, in “The Day That Elizabeth Died”, instead of splitting the final minute or so between the women and the men, with the women singing “We mourned for her/She was our Queen/And for forty five years/She had reigned supreme” and the men singing “We did not mourn for her/She was our captor”, in the new version, while the women do sing the first verse, they ALSO sing the second, along with the men. It makes sense -- it’s possible to mourn the stability that someone brought, even as they were a pretty terrible person whose reign included some pretty terrible things, and it’s natural for there to be divided feelings. 

Going back to the final couple of songs in the musical, I find myself going back to “Caught in the Crossfire” repeatedly, not even because the tune is my favorite in the musical (that honor PROBABLY goes to “Burn” or “No Happy Ending”), but because it’s, imo, brilliant in how it resolves that question: Who sent the anonymous letter to Parliament? I know there are a few candidates, people have argued and back forth, but it is interesting, when you think of it, that the main suspects are always assumed to be men. The musical plays on the same ideas that we all had going in, that this is a story about men, that women are there to be Shrews or Obedient Wives, to deliver its coup de grâce. We don’t expect it, because we’re conditioned to not expect it, especially from women like devoted, uxorious Martha Percy.

 I think it might be a little too on the nose in her monologue, especially since I always feel...when we talk about how men go to war and women are left to clean it up...how many women DID go to war and we just didn’t want to talk about it? It reminds me of how there was a certain blogger who once said that men in the French Revolution participated in the Revolution while the women kept the memory of the events alive...which works well until you remember that some of those women’s participation was deliberately muted in the memoirs, either as the result of self-censorship after the fact (like Grace Dalrymple Elliot’s work as a Royalist spy) or by their biographers as a means of forcing them to fit within a certain ideal. You know, it’s easy to fit people on that kind of paradigm when that’s deliberately the paradigm they wanted us to believe actually happened. I can also see how a woman like Martha Percy could believe that, from where she’s at, but this monologue feels like it’s for the benefit of the 21st audience, so I go back and forth, likewise for the women deciding to do it “for the women of history” -- I felt like their reasons were perfectly plausible, and perfect for them as characters -- I don’t think they need to see it as a broad feminist decision in order to do it; they have agency either way. But, that being said, while the monologue does feel a little bit modern and out of place, it does remind me a lot of the original meaning of “Well behaved women rarely make history” -- that the women who lived their lives, day to day, supported their families, did their daily chores, are often left out of history books, rendered boring or not worthy of study or consideration. So I’m of two minds on it, I see areas it works and areas it doesn’t. But I think that, overall, the treatment of its female characters, especially Martha, was so much better than I thought it would be going in, I think there are things it does with the female characters that are honestly brilliant, and I look forward to seeing where else it might go. 

[enixamyram]

Okay, I don't know how many people here listens to Epic The Musical about Odysseus. (Fantastic songs, can't stop listening to them myself.)

But I'm kind of flabbergasted by the TikTok videos I keep seeing where people are more pissed about Eurylochus opening the bag than Odysseus sacrificing six men???

One was admittedly a really stupid move and Eurylochus should be held accountable even if it was an accident but Odysseus literally picked six people to die without them even knowing. Like, if we're gonna compare situations then Eurylochus' mistake is better matched with Odysseus telling the Cyclops his name (another stupid mistake). Why are people comparing a dumb mistake with literal murder??? And why are people saying Odysseus is the better choice in it?!?!

Like, am I the crazy on here???

[badsalmonella]

It hurts to be something, it's worse to be nothing with you

[pureanonofficial]

Gleb: error 404 does not compute

[bodhrancomedy]

I am HYPED.

[wemade-an-arrangement]

Canon 🤣

~~~~~

A message from the king 😝💅

[phantomspren]

A handful of random obscure musicals that no one talks about but they're some of my favorites ever:

Frankenstein

Based on Mary Shelley's book of course. It changes some stuff but is generally very faithful to the book and the music is excellent. I just really like it. (Best songs: Modern Prometheus, Coming of the Dawn)

Treason

Based on the gunpowder plot. To my understanding (I'm American and hadn't heard about this until I started listening to the musical), it's pretty accurate to the general history, but fills in a few gaps if you will to make it work better as a story. In the musical, the wives of the plotters are the ones who tipped people off about the whole thing, while I believe that we didn't actually know who wrote the letter. (Best Songs: The Day Elizabeth Died, Burn, Digging Down Deeper, Caught in the Crossfire)

The Clockmaker's Daughter

Not based on the book. I have no idea what the book is about. There is no relation. But it's set in this little town in Ireland. There's this clockmaker whose wife and daughter recently passed away (he's played by the wonder and amazing Ramin Karimloo), and he tries to recreate his daughter out of clockwork. And he ends up creating a sentient clockwork girl whom he names Constance. It's genuinely one of my favorite musicals ever but NO ONE knows about it which is so sad. The music has a ton of piano and strings and it's incredibly rhythmic and I love it so much. (Best songs: You're Still Here, Impossible, Fear and Whispers, Clockwork, also all of them they're just so good)

I also thoroughly enjoy The Count of Monte Cristo musical and The Scarlet Pimpernel (haven't read this book so I dunno how accurate it is), but not enough for them to get their own spots. :p

[out-of-heaven-and-hell]

Okay ig he gets tags now

[dyfts-blog]

the truth

Your disguise has worn down

The real you peeks through,

now that your bubble of lies is leaking the truth

You made me abide by your reasons and rules

Now I’m paying the price, knees deep in these dues

And I guess I’ve found nothing but treason in you

This pain’s all I have as heartbreak season concludes

How could I be so naive, the air reeks of last june

When I didn’t foresee you’d be beating me blue

[wackpedion]

It's just a musical. It's not that serious, bro.

WRONG IT IS im fighting the idgaf war on the side of gaf

[mswyrr]

I was a big fan of the Scarlet Pimpernel musical as a kid (Sir Percy/Marguerite OTP 5ever!1!!) and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is reminding me of how much I LOVED this song and the whole tense atmosphere.

[monkeesrevolution]

Michael Nesmith and the Second National Band

I have wanted to write about Tantamount to Treason Vol. 1 for a long time, I have quite a bit to say about it. I feel especially inspired to talk about why this album version of Circle Sky is my favourite out of all the different recordings of the the song out there.

I love Circle Sky no mater when, where, or how he does it- but this 1972 version really knocks me out the most. I have been thinking on why this might be, and I realized it's because it's the most Him recording of the song. Michael was in charge and there was nobody telling him how to do it- he had all the creative control to bring his song to life in his own imaginative way.

I love The Monkees songs, clearly... but Nesmith does mention that his creativity could be stifled by the recording and producing taking place in those studios. His 70s work is a real testament to him proving just how talented and creative he really is unrestrained.

Circle Sky features many notes of the musical influences in Michael's life- it has qualities of hard rock, country, old rock and roll/rhythm and blues all paired with his unique lyricism. An unlikely combination that blows my mind every time... the talent and creativity is astounding. This track really feels like a piece of Michael Nesmith and who he is.

Circle Sky is one of those iconic monkees songs, the kind of tune that really defines the band for many fans. When I listen to this TtTv1 version I really feel through the song just how much The Monkees and The First National Band grew and shaped Nez as an artist! These songs to me, demonstrate how these experiences brought him to higher and higher musical levels and highs. There is a maturity and freedom to the record that I just love, I could talk about this masterpiece for hours.

I really think this whole album is horrifically underrated, it's got to be one of my favourite records in my collection... and I mean how pretty is this 50th anniversary edition ;)

[is-that-sand-in-my-waffles]

I don't know what kind of music Eli usually listens to but I DO know that as soon as his shift ended after the GDLV incident he was in his bunk listening to "good 4 u" on repeat

[elidelochaned]

thank you tinashe for saving the music industry

[every-thing-is-copacetic]

You're first and foremost, you're always on my mind.

[1000-year-old-virgin]

Tinashe - Treason