Monday, August 10, 2015

Falling in Love with Love

Hey Guys! Long time no see!
This blog is brought to you by how bored people are by love.  Yes, you heard me right.  Y'all are bored by LOVE.

Most recently I've had some requests from clients to find them some soprano material that isn't boring.  When I ask if they're bored singing legit sounds or bored by the subject matter, they say "I just hate how it's all like, 'I'm in love blah blah blah.'"

First off, let me just say: You are nuts.
Secondly,  this is how I think about it:

Love songs aren't just about love.

Think back to the days when your high school theatre teacher stood in front of the room and talked about how to approach a monologue.  Buzz words like obstacle, objective, stakes, and most importantly given circumstances/moment before filled the air and these things always seemed so easy to identify back then.  But now you've got a song that simply proclaims how nice everything is.

How do we keep the "fluffy" things interesting?

Before putting a song away because it's too corny, read through the synopsis really quickly and see what else you can bring to it.  Search for the "Why."  Why is it so important that this person finds love or is currently in love?  Why does this person deserve it?

If you're a human being, you know nothing is ever perfect.  Even if you're with the hottest guy who has the highest paying job ever...  SOMETHING is not perfect.  So I've taken the liberty of perusing the Soprano Anthologies we all have lying around under our beds and selecting a few songs to discuss.

Here are some of my interpretations and thoughts about how to make the fluffy stuff not SO fluffy:

"My White Knight" - The Music Man is quite possibly one of the cheesiest musicals I've ever seen and until fairly recently I really hated this song in particular, yet Marian Paroo is at the top of my list of dream roles because now I realize how much is at stake for her (and I can sort of relate in a sad, "it's ok because the character is in a musical" kind of way).
Even her 10 year old piano student basically just called her a spinster, she's got this guy running around town stalking her who won't take a hint, and her mom is on her ass every day about getting married.  She's in this small town in Iowa so there's a chance she'll never meet ANYbody, and I may have to fact check this but she did have a hot relationship with an older man who was very well read and she needs to find someone who will live up to that guy but would be socially acceptable to marry. And look what's at stake! If this guy of her dreams doesn't come in on his white horse to Gary, Indiana, she's going to be single, intellectually-unchallenged, horny and the joke of the town for the rest of her life.  That's a lot to handle.

"I'll Know" - Perhaps a distant cousin of Marian Paroo, Sarah Brown from Guys and Dolls also knows exactly what she wants and she's got her reasons.
She sings "I'll Know" during which she illustrates her dream man and basically says, "Oh, I'll know the right guy when I see him... And trust me, you're not him." Done deal. The end.  But give it some context.
She's saying she "won't take a chance" on some guy who could be unreliable (a fly by night Broadway romance)... Why? This girl is DEVOUTLY religious and until she meets the right guy she will  "be strong" and basically remain abstinent for God.  And she's not simply annoyed that he's trying to flirt with her... she's terrified because she actually sees herself falling for this guy but she knows she's being tempted by someone who represents everything unholy! That's some dark $&*@. Even if he HAPPENS to know a quote from the book of Isaiah, he IS really handsome and charming and he DOES want to take her to Havana just for dinner, she knows she's got just one shot and she can't waste it on someone who isn't THE ONE.   
Also think about this: where are this girl's parents? She lives with her uncle... she desperately wants someone to love her and make her feel "at home, safe and sound." 

I'm In Love With a Wonderful Guy:  South Pacific- another fave.  Nellie Forbush isn't JUST in love with a wonderful guy and that's it. She had insecurities about being perceived as boring and she is so happy because he actually likes her back! Earlier in the show she describes herself as a little hick, and she doesn't think he could be interested in her because he's an older, cultured Frenchman.  She also says earlier that she is a fugitive of her simple upbringing in Arkansas so there's a possibility that this Pacific island paradise could become her home. And now she's got her overbearing mother who sends her newspaper clippings in the mail out of her hair.  In this case, the answers are in the other songs or even the revival rewrites, much like the Sound of Music with the song
"Something Good." In the play, Maria briefly hints at having had a lonely childhood, but this song which was written for the movie elaborates and confirms.

Sometimes the answers are everywhere except the actual song.

If you're the kind of person who loves the dark, brooding songs, find the dark, brooding moment of this person's life and celebrate with them that it's over or almost over or fantasize about what it would be like to be over!   You know what they say...