Interludes

VIEWPOINTS: Love and Beauty in Musical Theater

• By drediman
• April 7, 2014
• No Comments

Rightly or wrongly, it’s hard for many of us not to be captivated by couples who, upon initial impression, are physically incompatible with each other. One of them is much more “beautiful” than the other, we think, and can do better. Our minds then prod further: How did they meet? What are their sexual relations like? What’s their story? I think it’s healthy to be inquisitive, as it is the first step to understanding and ultimately (hopefully) accepting seemingly odd matches. Social acceptance of previously taboo relationships (e.g., interracial and homosexual couplings) start with simple questions, and with time, exposure, and activism, have come a long way. There is also art, and in this particular case, musical theater, to show us the respective inner lives and relationships of unexpected couples, both literally and allegorically speaking. The combination of the emotional and intellectual transparency brought about by dramatic writing and the inexplicable and passionate expression of longing and love that only music can convey creates portals into worlds in which audiences can come to understand, even celebrate, unconventional love vis-à-vis conventional love (usually by utilizing the classic “love triangle” formula). Like it or not, we come back into our “real” worlds with some residual of that newfound worldview. The following classic works from popular musical theater are prime examples of how the performing arts can allow us to experience love and beauty in a different, and hopefully transformative, light.

“The Most Happy Fella”

Last night, I had the great privilege of catching Encores! lush and heartfelt production of Frank Loesser’s gorgeous “The Most Happy Fella”. In short, “Fella” is the story of a young but world-weary waitress (Rosabella) who decides to be a mail order bride.  She is tricked into marrying a crippled older Italian immigrant (Tony), who owns the vineyard in which most of the show is set. Initially, Rosabella is repulsed by the thought of an older, unattractive man as her husband. Over time, she develops romantic feelings, even sexual longing, for Tony. Just as things are going well, Tony finds out that Rosabella had slept with his handsome foreman Joe on their wedding night (!) and is carrying his child. Not surprisingly, Tony throws her out. In the end, however, Tony takes stock of his life and decides to forgive Rosabella and build a life together. Here, Frank Loesser’s extraordinary quasi-operatic score takes center stage. In the music, you hear Rosabella’s blossoming to Tony. Likewise, you hear not only Tony’s insecurities about himself and his relationship with Rosabella, you also experience in the music the essence of the man. Here is a man who has been written off much of his life and has much love to give. By the show’s conclusion, the audience is won over and cheers the hard-fought an unlikely union between Tony an Rosabella.

“Violet”

Jeanine Tesori’s early success, the sensitive and low-key quest musical “Violet”, has some interesting observations about beauty and perception: both in terms of how we view ourselves and how the world views us. In this cynical day and age, our tendency is to underestimate the world and what it has to offer in order to avoid being hurt or disappointed. The same can be said of this musical’s title character, who was accidentally struck in the face with an axe by her father, causing severe facial deformity. In the musical, Violet futilely packs up to leave home to travel to see a preacher whom she saw perform miracles on television in order to not only remove her scar, but also make her movie-star beautiful. On this journey, Violet meets an array of characters, most of whom are drawn to her spunky character after the initial shock of her deformity wears off, at which time Violet’s defenses raise and self-confidence falls. Although this optimistic view of humanity can be didactic, the way it’s depicted in Tesori’s lovely country music inflected show (or at least in the excellent current Roundabout revival with Sutton Foster in stunning form playing against type) is not sugar-coated. People are not nice, “Violet” indicates, but once a genuine connection is made after an emotional tug-of-war, people are good and perceive the beauty within first and foremost. As Sondheim so memorably expressed in another quest musical, nice is indeed different than good. This is the lesson our heroine painstakingly but triumphantly learns on her quest for beauty.

“The Phantom of the Opera”

When did the “Phantom” lore become more romance than horror? I would argue that it was with the advent of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ever-popular musical, “The Phantom of the Opera”. The well-known plot concerns the love triangle between a young, pretty up-and-coming opera singer (Christine); her rich, handsome childhood friend who develops romantic feelings for Christine (Raoul); and a deformed genius who lives in the bowels of the Paris Opera house (the Phantom) and terrorizes the denizens of the opera house. Suffice to say, Raoul ends up with Christine (at least in this first installment; Lloyd Webber has concocted a preposterous sequel in which things end up differently), but not before the audience is subjected to the Phantom’s intense, deep well of longing for his muse, Christine. Mostly everyone is familiar with the Phantom’s signature seductive lullaby “The Music of the Night” and the famous Phantom-instigated chandelier drop. However, it’s in the show’s harrowing final 20 minutes, starting with “The Point of No Return”, that fully lets us into the Phantom’s psyche: his love, madness, cynicism, genius, and yes, humanity. By the time he lets Christine and Raoul escape, we are devastated and yearn for the union between Christine and the heartbroken Phantom that can never be. Indeed, the show has captured the imagination of audiences the world over to the extent that “Phantom” has become Broadway’s longest-running show.

“Passion”

Stephen Sondheim has written scores of songs that explore the different facets of love and relationships. Indeed, an analysis of Sondheim’s thoughts on relationships and marriage from his musical “Company” could undoubtedly fill a lengthy book. However, it is his work on the chamber musical “Passion”, Sondheim’s meditative response of sorts to Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom”, that most articulately and intensely explores the tricky relationship between love and beauty. This show, which is free of irony and almost completely devoid of humor, centers on an attractive and sensitive Italian soldier (Giorgio) and his relationship with two women: one a beautiful married woman with a child (Clara); the other a reclusive, utterly plain, obsessive spinster (Fosca, so vividly played by Donna Murphy in the original Broadway production, and others subsequently). Over the course of the musical, Giorgio comes to realize that the kind of all-consuming love that Fosca has to offer trumps the riches of his practical, sensual love affair with Clara. In “Passion”, Sondheim delves deep into the very nature of love and the relevance of beauty. True beauty, Sondheim seems to argue, is a product of uncompromising love, and not vice-versa. Love that is anything less is susceptible to beauty that is temporal, however sweet. As if by metaphor, Sondheim gives Fosca some of the most uncompromising, simple, and beautiful songs he has ever written (“I Wish I Could Forget You”, “Loving You”) to argue her point of view. In the end, we see it. And, as if by some sort of alchemy, Fosca becomes beautiful before our eyes, and not just within.

“Beauty and the Beast”

With the long-running musical adaptation of the classic fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast” (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice), Disney has unknowingly introduced mainstream American movie- and theater-goers to a rather subversive story. Here’s a tale in which a lovely girl (Belle) is captured by a brutish, violent Minotaur-like beast (the Beast), formerly a man who had been transformed into a beast via a spell. Although the Beast faces strong competition for Belle’s affections from her father and handsome yet arrogant suitor (Gaston), Belle ultimately chooses romantic (and dare I say sexual?) involvement with the Beast. It is only then that the spell is broken, and the Beast is transformed back into prince charming, but not before we are introduced to haunting, strangely beautiful thoughts of what life could be like between beauty and the beast.