Arthur Laurent's Gypsy: The Musical

It’s apparent that Louise’s identity has changed from being a shy and isolated girl to someone that wants to have power.

Louise’s illusions all have a beginning stage. One of these delusions is the fact that she views the world in a superficial perspective, only connection self worth to beauty. An example of this, is seen when she is given the symbolic representation of a prostitute when she marries her first husband, seducing him with her charm and beauty. This provides background information about her character, stating that this superficial view has been a part of her since a young age. This twisted perspective also feeds into her other misconception, which is that her son, Patrice, must be intelligent because of his beautifully sculpted face and body, but, is in fact dumb. In the quote “Louise did not question the intelligence of her ten-year-old Adonis. He spoke very little, but she attributed this speechlessness, like the silence of the gods, to

In the entire story being told, there are no exact dates or times stated by the main character as to when the story being told took place, but from reading through the entire story, it could be concluded by readers that the story is from a more modern period of time. With the way the main character refers to the out of date clothing styles he chooses to wear and descriptions of the past from the depression era and how the other characters, such as the main character’s father and the tenant Chaz always ridiculed the way he dressed or his opinions on how life should be lived. Even though there is no exact time frame for the story, the reader does know where a majority of the story took place. The main

13.How does this play , produced in 1916 show its age ? in what ways does this play seem remarkably new

For this assignment. I will be talking about the original musical performance of 42nd street. I will present the conditions of the stage and setting for the original stage performance. In this, I will talk about the plot and the characters of 42nd street, how the plot progresses and how each character has their own purpose in the story in comparison to each other. I will talk about the underlying themes of 42nd street; how these themes are important

Our Town takes place in Grover’s Corner, New Hampshire around the turn of the century. (1900’s). This play uses a lot of flashbacks. There’s one with George and Emily when they first fall in love at Mr. Morgan’s shop. It also uses foreshadowing. When they told of how everyone died. Another flashback is when Joe comes back after about ten years and they talk about the dead and everyone’s lives.

“Gypsy” is about a mother who tries to have her two daughter perform onstage and make it in show business. In the end you find out that the mother was just trying to live her dreams through her children. In Act I, the daughters audition to play in the vaudeville circuit that goes around the United States. There mother, Rose, is pushing them to be the best they can be but normally only focuses on June and not Louise. Rose convinces Herbie to be the manager for the girls after she takes her fathers plaque to use for money. As time goes on the act that the girls perform stays the same and is losing interest. Herbie gets Mr. Goldstone, who represents the Orpheum Circuit, to have a contract with the girls and the newsboys which gives the act a new name. Soon after Herbie proposes to Rose and she rejects. Herbie tells Rose that he will leave but Rose refuses to be believe that he will ever get away from her. The act eventually gets to the Orpheum Circuit and June is offered a place in a Performing Arts school, but Rose rejects the offer. Soon after June comes up missing and a note explains that she eloped with Tulsa, a

The original Broadway cast had John Rubinstein as Pippin, Ben Vereen as leading player, Christopher Chadman as Leading Player, Eric Berry as Charles, Jill Clayburgh as Catherine, Leland Palmer as Fastrada, and Irene Ryan as Berthe until her stroke in 1973 that led to her death six weeks later in Santa Monica

The story of the book takes place in 1813, the time when the book was first published. The time frame of the movie is the late 18th century.

At the very beginning of the play, the Chorus comes in and gives a nice little start to get the audience caught up to the present day. The Chorus says,

In 1951, Frank Loesser’s Guys & Dolls opened and received what were said to be “the most unanimously ecstatic set of reviews in Broadway history” (Block 200). For a show whose development included disappointing librettos from eleven different writers, this feat was truly unbelievable (Lewis 73). The unprecedented success of Guys & Dolls and its ability to remain culturally significant, as a popularly revived piece, is the product of several attributes unique to this show. The unusual writing progression that led to a truly integrated libretto in terms of the relationship of the score to the text, Loesser’s assimilation of a unified, yet distinctive style of speech into his lyrics for the

I will be honest with you I had a lot of trouble enjoying the play, like I said the dialect gave me trouble, plus my seats were not that great. I did however like the movie quite a bit, but I realize I am a product of a different generation as well. I have been brought up around TV and movies rather than plays

The beginning of the story sets the theme for the whole story. We are told about the heart condition that inflicts Louise. This is significant throughout the story. The heart condition is a symbolic way of describing her thoughts of oppression she felt about her marriage. She was trapped and isolated by the marriage. She felt the need to hide these feelings. Women of her era were supposed to be home and under their husbands command. The story has her going through this journey privately. That is significant in the fact that now in her husband’s passing, she will be alone. She will need to work through things by herself. She will be able to go through the whole process on her own, without being judged and persuaded to feel differently.

This combination allows for the musical to obtain a severe plot, however, maintains the audience’s attention. The unique combination of pop melodies with sophisticated musical techniques along with complex use of musical elements allows the songs within the musical to depict a profounder meaning than what is originally perceived. This is depicted well in the song The wizard and I as it uses complex musical elements along with sophisticated musical techniques.

Throughout the play, I enjoyed the role of music used to set a comic atmosphere and replace the dialogs during comic scenes (e.g. when they chase each other around). I also thought that they made a good use of light to indicate the moment of the day the scene was happening or to set the atmosphere of the scene (e.g. pink colour during the romantic moments). Lastly, I liked the way the play ended. Even though it was a little messy with everyone running after each other off and on stage, and this policeman coming out of nowhere, which really surprised me; I couldn’t think of a better way to end the play.