#that my least favorite of the love interests had the only duet reprise | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

genderless-consul · 4 years

Note

Top 5 glee ships?

Straight to the live wire, huh?

Ok, so:

1): Brittana - The fact that I really struggle to write them doesn’t change the fact that this is the one they got right, and I can still barely believe it to this day. The original joke in Season 1 was so obviously a throwaway lazy gag from a writing staff that consistently wrote women with absolute contempt, but Naya pushing them to take it seriously changed the course of the entire show. Their arc in Season Two is Glee at its absolute best (they even made Gwyneth Paltrow tolerable!), they have some really beautiful moments in Season 3 even if that whole season and Santana’s coming out arc in particular is kind of a disaster, and as much as we love to make fun of Santana’s gay panic in Season 4 (don’t act like it’s not highly relatable) even their break-up is legitimately beautiful - Naya turning Mine into a breakup song with nothing but her voice is the moment that cemented her as the GOAT Glee vocalist in my book (also Hand in My Pocket/I Feel the Earth Move is my second ranked mash-up of all time and I’m so angry the awful Santana/Kurt scene right after overshadowed it). And I have....complicated feelings about A Wedding as an episode (and we’ll get to that) but their part of it is absolutely everything it needed to be. “I would have suffered it all, just for the tiny chance to be standing up here marrying you.”

2): Faberry - No surprises here, except maybe that it’s not number one (canonicity was the tiebreaker, sadly). My favorite thing about Faberry is that there’s a million ways to ship them and all of them are great - obviously I’m more than onboard for an alt-version of Glee where theirs is the slow burn unlikely love story, but I also really love the tragedy you can read into them just from the canon, especially spinning out from the Quinntana one-night stand: that Quinn probably does have feelings for Rachel but either realizes it too late or just buries it out of self-loathing, and by the time she’s comfortable with herself the chance for storybook romance has already passed her by. Like seriously - if they had made that characterization explicit instead of retreating to the laziness of the Biff/Quick disasters in the anniversary episodes, I would have been just as happy with that as a Faberry endgame, both because the latter was always probably impossible given the centrality of Finchel to the show’s core structure and because Sad Flameout Lesbians deserve representation too, goddammit! And of course they’re a gold mine for fanworks, because there are so many “could have been” moments where their story has the chance the take a different direction, the best being their confrontation in Original Song: “you can’t hate me for helping to send you on your way” is the best use of Glee’s existential sadness since the Pilot. Oh, and their one and only duet is a fucking Red/Blue sequence and also one of the best songs on the entire show - enough said.

3): Finchel - My ultimate hot take, at least as someone from the Faberry side of the fandom, is that Finchel is Good, Actually. Keep in mind, I never watched Glee as it was airing, so I never experienced the frustration of Finchel’s inevitability; I knew from the very beginning that they weren’t going to get their happy ending. And as irritating as some of the on-again/off-again drama could be and as choppy as the pacing was at times, it really was one of the few relationships on Glee to be developed with consistent care and effort. I love that they have a genuine friendship and push each other to be the best versions of themselves (however inelegantly) even when they aren’t together, and the dynamic where the guy is the willing sidekick to the female protagonist and knows what they have might only be temporary was really refreshing to see, especially in a high school show. I’ll always be heartbroken that they couldn’t end it the way they were supposed to even if I wouldn’t have liked it, and they’re the reason the final scene of Season 3 makes me sob every time.

4): Tike - The ultimate “THEY DESERVED BETTER” ship. And yes, I know it’s off-brand for me to put two m/f ships on the list, and yes, I know RBI basically had to make Tartie endgame as a courtesy to Kevin and Jenna for sticking it out until the absolute bitter end, but I’m still mad. Tina was always used as a joke, and Mike was never used at all, but when they were together they got the briefest taste of actual storylines, and they were so. goddamn. cute together. Sing! and L O V E aren’t the first Glee duets that most people think of, but they captured the magic of just being straight up in love with someone better than a lot of the more over-the-top numbers from other characters. And look, I don’t actually need my ships to stay together forever on a high school show (or any show), but given that they had the longest run as a continuous couple on the entire show I will never forgive RBI for using them as the one “no”in A Wedding in a disingenuous attempt to pretend they were at all interested in realism and weren’t just throwing bones to the fanbase. Like, I don’t know how to explain this to you, Ryan Murphy, but it’s not subverting expectations to kick the shit out of Tina one more time because THAT’S LITERALLY ALL YOU’VE EVER DONE WITH HER (Sorry, what was I talking about?)

5): Klaine - my ultimate love/hate ship, and the ultimate victim of Glee being consumed by its own hype machine. The initial arc - the staircase, Teenage Dream, Blackbird - was magical even at its corniest, and beats like the GAP Attack and Blame it on the Alcohol were desperately necessary moments of complication that kept Blaine’s character more interesting than “Kurt’s perfect boyfriend” (also, real quick, fuck Ryan Murphy’s biphobia). But the second Blaine transferred in Season 3 it became clear that they didn’t really have a plan for Klaine in the same way they did for Finchel - Blaine gets a different personality every single season, Kurt gets to a completely different place in his life that makes his inability to move on from Blaine really hard to buy, and Blaine as the New Rachel in 4/5 is every bit as insufferable as that conceit implies. Even with all that, though, they kept winning me back, because Darren can sell the hell out of over the top cheese and Chris Colfer is the world’s greatest exasperated Straight Man (thinking especially of Teenage Dream Reprise and that absolutely batshit Beatles proposal, both of which worked for me way more than they should have). I also weirdly like the messiness of late Season 5 Klaine - the episodes aren’t good, but I appreciate their willingness to confront how much of a terrible idea them living together at that stage of their life actually is, and they even managed to win me over to the idea that they would find a way to make it work anyway. But the Karofsky thing in Season 6 was just one reversal too far, and to get them back together again after that in the most contemptuous, smug, “nothing matters so just give the shippers what they want I guess” insincere way possible (I really hate The Hurt Locker, can you tell?) was the last straw for me, to say nothing of how disrespectful it was to Brittana and Klaine to have one couple’s wedding coopted at the last moment by another so that it was no longer about them as characters but about how much Ryan Murphy has done for The Gays. So yeah, Klaine: My favorite canon ship that I wish didn’t actually end up together, at least not the way they did. But they were at their best when Glee was actually relevant and changed a lot of lives as a result, and that timing alone earns them a Top 5 spot.

#Glee #top 5 anything #long post

5 notes · View notes

popblank · 5 years

Text

Frozen the musical tour thoughts -- my usual brain dump below (lots of details with some Frozen 2 spoilers):

List of musical numbers from the playbill (which incidentally is now branding the show as “The Hit Broadway Musical” rather than just “The Broadway Musical”):

The pre-show projection is a view of Arendelle with the mountains towering above it, the northern lights, and the show title.

“Vuelie”: It sounded like a slightly different arrangement than I remember, or at least different than the one on the cast recording. At first I thought it was because the sound at the Pantages is not great (it wasn’t from where I was sitting, all of the group numbers sounded mushy) but it did seem like there were changes.

“Let the Sun Shine On”: Can’t remember if there was anything new/different here. The little kids behind me giggled every time butts were mentioned, starting here and throughout the rest of the show.

“A Little Bit of You”: As I recall Young Anna had a doll that looked like Elsa. The contrast between Anna’s and Elsa’s personalities here was pronounced; it was as if Young Anna was dialed up just a bit. When she hugged their toy Olaf it was just a little too enthusiastic and Olaf’s head fell into Young Elsa’s lap. (Wasn’t an issue, just funny.)

“Hidden Folk” : Can’t spell “Pabbie” without “ab” -- he had plenty to spare.

“Do you Want to Build a Snowman”: Here come potential Frozen 2 spoilers: 1) I believe before going on their trip, Agnarr says something to the effect of they’re going to find help or answers for Elsa and for their people (was that in there before? can’t recall), and 2) the choreography in the shipwreck scene has changed. Last time I clearly remember them solemnly standing facing the audience next to each other, then the ensemble lifts them straight up and backwards from the standing position as they look toward and reach for each other looking sorrowful & stricken. This time they are surrounded by the ensemble, who act as the water moving them around and trying to pull them apart as they actively reach for each other and try to embrace.

Both adult Anna and Elsa received entrance applause. At the end when Elsa sings her line, snow falls.

“For the First Time in Forever”: Nothing particularly different that I remember. I listened to the movie version for maybe the first time in two years not long ago, and frankly I like the stage version a lot better. It has the feeling of “okay intro’s over, now our story really gets going” (similar to “At The End of The Day” in Les Misérables). This was the first opportunity the crowd had to applaud properly, and they really went for it. There were two big waves of applause and cheers before the show went on, which probably would have kept going had they not started up the music.

Back to Anna seeming a little dialed-up: Caroline Innerbichler’s Anna was just a little weirder and more awkward than I expected (e.g. not modulating her voice in certain ways) particularly in the scene where she meets Hans. It was interesting to me because it both seemed consistent with Young Anna and also consistent with someone not being around enough people to learn social skills. In previous viewings (and the movie) it seemed like Anna was awkward in a way that was more funny and winsome rather than potentially off-putting.

“Hans of the Southern Isles”: In the character’s intro section I’d say Austin Colby as Hans is not as dorky as John Riddle’s version, but also not as smooth.

“Queen Anointed”: Slight staging change. This part all happens front and center instead of in an apse toward the back of the stage (too bad, because that was one of my favorite visuals). I suspect it would have been hard to see from the far sides if staged as it was on Broadway, but I have no idea if that was the reason for it.

“Dangerous to Dream” and “Love is an Open Door”: Pretty similar to Broadway.

Elsa freezing everything: the freezing effect only covered the show proscenium and stage, didn’t go outside of it. The frozen bridge used for “What Do You Know About Love” comes onstage from the wings as part of Elsa’s running away moment.

“Reindeer(s) are Better Than People”: Kristoff enters for this just as Elsa runs off, so that bridge is there through the entire scene where Anna and Kristoff meet.

“What Do You Know About Love”: I thought the bridge setup was cleverly updated. On Broadway the dangerous part was meant to be falling through the slats of this rickety bridge, where in the tour version the danger was because the bridge was steeply inclined and meant to be covered with ice, and it looked like there were some mechanisms in place so that the actors could simulate a semi-controlled slide. (As someone who has slid down an icy hill out of control but has never fallen through unstable flooring, it seemed pretty relatable.)

“In Summer”: Very similar to Broadway. Olaf always gets a good response.

"Hans of the Southern Isles (Reprise)”: Nothing new that I remember.

"Let It Go”: There’s a four-step platform that slides onstage so that Elsa can stand on it for the dress reveal, and it looks pretty good. Not sure the timing was exactly right yet. Caroline Bowman sounded great. However, two people behind me, not even in the same group, started singing along; one was a little kid (who actually had decent pitch) and one was a person who really should have been old enough to know better. It was very distracting; please don’t do this.

Intermission projection: Same view of Arendelle as before (no title), but now covered with snow with more coming down, though no consistent accumulation. Particularly liked the image of the mountain since that’s the sort of landscape scenery that appeals to me.

“Hygge”: No significant audience interaction for Oaken, he just peeks out from behind his shop on stage to start the scene. Kristoff is still a good killjoy, which I like.

“I Can’t Lose You”: Much as described in the LA Times article. Cannot remember the melody at all, but maybe if I hear it again it’ll start to stick. It did not seem as vocally/musically indicative of Elsa’s emotional state as the “First Time In Forever” reprise, but in the background there is clearly more (projected) snow flying around, plus there are lighting changes and clouds of dry ice rolling onto the stage until the two are pretty well surrounded. At the end Anna abruptly goes to hug Elsa, but Elsa can’t bring herself to touch Anna and keeps her arms out and away. I’m not sure if I liked it better than the original scene, but they sounded great together and I am glad these two characters got a proper duet, which clearly emphasized that they are the center of the story.

“Fixer Upper”: No wedding pronouncement at the end, it just plays that familiar bit from the wedding march and the two look at each other.

“Kristoff Lullaby”: Similar to before.

“Monster”: The ice spikes looked kind of silly sliding on from the wings, but once they were in place it looked fine and they were more abstractly threatening than the moving conical ones on Broadway. If anything it seemed to put the emphasis far more on Elsa for this song, which is fine.

The whole part with Hans’s duplicity went by rather quickly. I’m disappointed that they cut “True Love,” which was one of my favorites of the new songs. Basically Anna briefly sees Young Anna and Young Elsa run in, around her, and then out, and then Olaf pops in. There is still some instrumental music with the “True Love” theme as it transitions into the “Colder by the Minute” scene. (ETA 12/14: when Young Anna and Young Elsa run in, an instrumental version of the “I Can’t Lose You” theme plays.)

"Colder by the Minute”: Seems pretty similar.

"Finale”: Elsa seemed quite shocked at Anna socking Hans; was even funnier when I remembered the actors playing Elsa and Hans are married. At one point the whole cast gathers into a wedge and walk forward singing; while they do this, Elsa conjures some snow over puppet Olaf’s head. Nice little detail.

Audience observations: Opening night, but I rarely recognize famous people and had a cheaper seat so I have no idea who was there. Saw several small children dressed as characters; guessing the Elsa to Anna ratio was about 3 to 1. Also saw two adult men looking pretty sharp in dark blue winter-themed dress suits (one covered in Christmas trees, one I think might have been snowflakes?).

General thoughts: Was worried that I might be too accustomed to the voices of Caissie Levy and Patti Murin as the characters, but that was not an issue. Caroline Bowman and Caroline Innerbichler sounded really good, and I liked Caroline Innerbichler’s portrayal of Anna in particular.

#frozen #frozen the musical #frozen 2 spoilers #frozen on tour #frozen 2

25 notes · View notes

thenightling · 5 years

Text

My top 15 love interests for romantic incarnations of Dracula (No, they’re not all Mina)

If I was to do a list of favorite love interests for Dracula it would be...

Keep reading for a full list...

16. Bonus: Lydia from Dark Prince: the true Story of Dracula.

I list this one here because she’s technically an historic figure and the rest are fictional so I am not sure if she should count or not. The historic Dracula’s first wife’s name has been lost to history even though the river tributary under Poenari Castle was named for her. The film Dark Prince: The true Story of Dracula starring Ruldolf Martin names her Lydia.

Though this film is mostly historic the ending implies that the two are both vampires and walking together through eternity.

Vladislaus Drakuyla AKA Vlad III of Wallachia, AKA Vlad Tepes (The Impaler)’s first wife died by suicide and the film hinted that this might have been enough to enable her to come back as a vampire.

Right before Vlad’s assassination in 1776 or early 1777 (at age forty-five or forty six) in the movie we hear her voice, which suggests she’s either waiting for him or has set into motion turning him into a vampire to be with her.

15. Sir Integra Hellsing from the Hellsing.

In the manga and anime Hellsing (and Hellsing Ultimate OVA), instead of having been destroyed by Doctor Abraham Van Helsing after the events of the Dracula novel, Dracula was instead captured and through arcane means bound to serve the Van Helsing bloodline for eternity. The family founded the Hellsing organization for fighting monstrous threats. Dracula took on the name Alucard (his own name spelt backward) and may have gone slightly crazy...

He became fiercely loyal to Integra Hellsing, the most recent descendant of Abraham van Helsing to become his Master. It is a very strange relationship to say the least...

14. Xander Harris from Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

In Buffy The Vampire Slayer season 5 we have Buffy encounter Dracula for the very first time. Here he is played by Rudolf Martin, the same actor who played Dracula in Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula. In the episode Dracula takes Xander to be his Renfield-like henchman. At the end of the story Xander is free from Dracula’s spell however the story of their relationship is not over yet.

According to the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer season 8 comics Xander and Dracula have formed an unusual relationship. Xander taught Dracula about modern fun and pleasures and Dracula became more and more protective of Xander. When Buffy came and retrieved Xander (again) from Dracula, this time Dracula fell into a deep depression. Refusing to feed or take care of himself Dracula’s hair and claws grew and he deteriorated into his elderly form. When he found out that Xander was coming to pay him a visit, he hastily made himself presentable and de-aged to a more attractive / youthful appearance.

Now the two bicker like long time lovers. I ship it.

Oh, and Xander still calls him master, despite himself.

Further note on this one: Dracula is actually smart for NOT getting a smartphone. All cellphones can be traced via GPS. Do you really want a tracking device in your pocket while hunting human prey? You just made Blade and Buffy’s jobs a little too easy there. A practical vampire would not carry such a device while hunting.

Unfortunately this comic retconned a few important aspects of the TV show version of Dracula and even claimed he doesn’t actually conjure storms, but senses them coming (contradicting the beach scene from the Buffy vs. Dracula episode.) I wish people would stop de-powering Dracula.

13. Jonathan Harker (Multiple versions):

Dario Argento said that his version of Dracula was attracted to Jonathan Harker. And in Frank Wildhorn’s Dracula The Musical (Particularly the German production called Dracula das Musical) the scene “Fresh Blood” (Blut) is very errotic.

Fresh Blood (Blut) now featured Jonathan Harker being tied to a bed and his shirt removed as he’s fed upon by Dracula. But first by Dracula’s brides and grooms of the castle.

Also one of the lyrics in the English language version of the song indicates he wants Jonathan AND Mina as his and plans to make them both vampires. Thus reaffirming the polyamorous version of Dracula.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slZps47LgKQ

Dracula gets particularly “grabby” with him during his de-aging sequence.

The relationship is pretty one sided...

12. Renfield (multiple versions).

The German production of Frank Wildhorn’s Dracula the musical (Dracula das Musical) has Dracula with brides and grooms as opposed to just brides. Despite this change toward bi or panasexuality, this particular relationship is very one sided.

Renfield is very much in love with Dracula in many depictions of the character. This mad man is obsessed with “The Master” and in the Frank Wildhorn Dracula musical he sings a song about how much he loves The Master and how wonderful he is. The reprise version looks as if Dracula is about to kiss him as they sing a slowed duet version of the refrain but this is where Dracula, instead, snaps his neck.

Here is the English language version of The Master’s song (Not the slowed reprise duet.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-v1O-asrHg

There is a deleted scene from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) where Renfield laments that he has lost Dracula “to the pretty woman.”

In Love at First bite, and some other films Dracula actually does give Renfield immortality however. I suspect the Love at First Bite version is a half-vampire since he can go in the sun (this version of Dracula burns in daylight) and he still needs glasses for his nearsightedness but he has apparently worked for Dracula for at least a century so he was clearly granted immortality even if he can’t turn into a bat or hypnotize.

11. Carmilla Karnstein from The Batman vs. Dracula.

Carmilla is an odd one because in her original novel she’s portrayed as a lesbian. She is a vampire whose novel predates Dracula’s own novel. Her prey of choice are young virginal women. And she can turn into a large grey or black cat. She is powerful and independant and in The Batman vs. Dracula she somehow ended up Dracula’s wife. So I will assume this version is bisexual and they’re probably polyamorous and not at all monogamous.

The version of Dracula in Fred Saberhagen’s Dracula books, and the 1979 Dracula movie starring Frank Langella are also polyamorous though he claims Mina (Lucy in the 1979 film) is above the others. Poly-Romantic / Pan-Romantic / and Demi seem to be recurring traits for romantic versions of Dracula.

Dracula spends part of The Batman vs. Dracula trying to bring Carmilla back from the dead, using the very life essence and soul of VickI Vale to fuel the spell. Unfortunately things don’t quite go as planned.

10. Dracula’s mysterious male lover from Marvel comics, Avengers issue 016 (2019).

Marvel’s Dracula has been confirmed as having had male and female lovers. This is not the only bisexual or panasexual Dracula in pop culture. The German production of the Frank Wildhorn Dracula the Musical (Dracula das Musical) gives him brides and grooms in his castle, Dario Argento has said his version of Dracula is bisexual, and Marvel has now confirmed that their version of Dracula has had male and female lovers.

I don’t know much about this pretty elfish, semi-androgynous character. Identified as a male vampire lover of Dracula’s from Marvel’s War of the Vampires storyline, Dracula wept blood tears when this unnamed character was killed. And he (the lover) was clearly willing to die for Dracula. So this spot is for you, you poor, unnamed elfish male vampire lover!

I don’t know his name so I am going to call him Samuel. And in my mind he was the pretty castle librarian whom Dracula became infatuated with. There. Headcanon achieved.

Further note: Usually if you make Dracula cry, it means he’ll take brutal and violent revenge. This is a universal truth with all versions of Dacula. Never make him cry.

I would put him at a MUCH better spot on this list but he doesn’t get a lot of time in the comic and we don’t know much about him. If we only knew more about him he would have a far better spot on this list. Look how adorable and tragic he is! He could easily be one of my favorites but all we know is that his death brought Dracula to tears and that yes, they were lovers. I seriously considered moving this one up the list but I’m bias for this sweet, androgynous, vampire-boy.

Seriously, I want to know this guy’s story. Dracula cries for him! In front of his enemies, he weeps for him! Give us this story, Marvel! Who is he???

9. Amy Peterson from Fright Night (original 1985 version).

This one is a bit dubious because the vampire is Jerry Dandridge but the 1985 novelization of the film suggested that Jerry is actually count Dracula. Fright Night played with popular vampire tropes and a few were homages to the 1960s soap opera, Dark Shadows. In Dark Shadows the vampire, Barnabas Collins, discovered that the young waitress (and later governess) Maggie Evans, was the uncanny look-a-like of his lost love, Josette. Because of the physical similarity he was convinced she was the reincarnation of his lost love even though with reincarnations you could literally end up looking like anyone or even being another gender after reincarnation. Barnabas had a painting of Josette that showed the physical similarity.

In Fright Night Jerry Dandridge meets Amy and becomes obsessed when he realizes how much she resembles a woman he, too, has lost and is pining for. When Jerry is finally destroyed by the has-been horror actor turned real vampire hunter, Peter Vincent, and also by Amy’s boyfriend, Charley Brewster, his last words are crying out for Amy.

Though this relationship is very one sided and Amy is clearly under age, when you’re a teenager (as I was) we can’t help but find ourselves fantasizing about being Amy in Jerry’s arms during the nightclub dance scene or the “Come to Me” scene. Because of problematic aspects of this relationship and because Jerry was never officially revealed as being Dracula in the film, that’s why this is at spot number 8.

The Jerry Dandridge / Dracula character is apparently in a polyamorous relationship as he has a live-in (apparent boyfriend) Billy Cole. Billy does not exist in the 2011. Fright Night remake, which removed all romantic aspects of the character.

8. Evan Barrington-Cabot from the Graphic novel Series Dracula: The Company of Monsters.

In Dracula: The Company of Monsters graphic novel (published in 2011) an evil corporate executive known as Conrad orchestrates raising Dracula from the dead in the hope of using and exploiting him. Conrad’s nephew, Evan comes to understand and respect Dracula and Dracula’s code of honor. The two respect each other. And like with most stories where Dracula falls in love with the protagonist he decides to stalk him and declare him his.

When Dracula takes his revenge on his captors, Evan is the only one that he spares.

He even watches the young man sleep, the way Dracula is often depicted doing to female love interests. And he makes it very clear he plans on making him a vampire down the line.

This relationship is kept somewhat ambiguous otherwise I might consider putting it at a better spot on the list.

7. Ericka Van Helsing from Hotel Transylvania 3.

A direct descendant of Abraham Van Helsing (the famous monster hunter) Ericka has a cruise ship for monsters with the sole purpose of luring Count Dracula, whom falls in love with her. He “Zings.” Monsters supposedly can only zing once so there is a fan theory that she is the reincarnation of Mavis’ mother. This is likely true since reincarnation or look-a-like of a first love (or both) is a popular trope in vampire fiction started by Dan Curtis for his TV show Dark Shadows and later carried over into his Dracula movie starring Jack Palance.

Ericka ultimately realizes she loves Dracula too and the cruise ship captain and hotel owner end up together. Dracula proposes to her at the end of the film and she says yes.

Also though Dracula is several hundred years old in Hotel Transylvania he is physically in his forties, I suspect Ericka (as a mortal) is biologically older than him, which is a clever touch since Dracula is usually going after young girls in pop culture. It’s good to see him with an older (well, in appearance) woman. (”When you’re six hundred years old there’s no such thing as a cougar.” - The Emo Vampire Song.) Hotel Transylvania 3 is actually my favorite of the franchise and is a sweet film.

6. Cindy from Love at First bite.

Love at First Bite is a comedy from 1979. Think of Coming to America meets Splash in that a supernatural character, a proverbial fish-out-of-water comes to New York looking for love.

Dracula believes Cindy to be the reincarnation Mina (“But I lost her in that damn London Fog!”). He knows her from magazine pictures and interviews and after communists drive him out of his castle he moves to New York where he plans to seduce her. This consists of licking her ankles while in dog-form, telling her that she is more than merely her appearance, that he understands her and her anxieties. And dancing to “I love the Night Life”. The two ultimately fall in love and knowing the truth about Dracula, Cindy opts to spend eternity with him as his vampire queen. The ending has them fly off together, in bat form, to Jamaica.

5. Lucy from Dracula (1979).

In the 1979 version of Dracula, Frank Langella plays Count Dracula. Though technically a remake and based on the same play the Bela Lugosi Dracula was based on, there are some distinct changes. For starters in this version the character we mostly know as Mina in most adaptations is named Lucy and the Lucy character is named Mina. The names are swapped.

Not only that but in this version it’s Dracula who is initially seduced. Though engaged to Jonathan Harker in Edwardian England (set roughly twenty years after most versions of Dracula, which are usually set in 1891) Dracula arrives for dinner at the home of his new neighbors. Here he offers to hypnotize the sickly Mina to relieve her of a headache (that he very likely induced). Lucy protests, showing her dislike and distrust of such methods and the manipulation of the will of others. This bold reaction delights Dracula as he is not used to conflict from women.

The next step in the possibly-accidental seduction of Dracula comes when Lucy turns on a phonograph record player and asks him to dance with her, improperly, right in front of her fiance.

And later after some tragedies, when the rest of the household is unable to uphold an invitation to Dracula’s house for supper, Lucy goes alone.

I like this one because in this one it’s mostly Dacula who gets seduced. Lucy wants him and she gets him. She knows what she’s doing. Also Dracula isn’t a whining, brooding, emo vampire. He is lonely but he LIKES what he is. He’s proud of what he is. He’s fierce and predatory and has all of his traditional powers, including being able to turn into a bat, and wolf, and conjure storms. So few adaptations remember the wolf form these days.

This was the first truly empowered version of the Mina character (though named Lucy). And she is not some look-a-like or reincarnation of a previous love. No. He simply falls in love with her for who she is.

It is very likely this version of Dracula is demi (falling in love with personality before any physical attraction) which is also true of the Castlevania version of Dracula and the version in Fred Saberhagen’s Dracula books.

Also based on the last dialogue from Dracula to Lucy (that he would return to her once they stopped hunting him) I choose to believe he faked his death in this version, especially by the wolf howl at the very end and the cryptic smile on Lucy’s face before the end credits. Long live The Count and Lucy!

4. Mina from Fred Saberhagen’s Dracula books.

Very similar to Lucy in the 1979 Dracula starring Frank Langella, this is a romantic interest where Dracula sees the person as his equal.

This Mina is not the reincarnation of a lost love, nor does she resemble a lost love. When we first see this version of Mina it’s in the novel The Dracula Tape (retelling of Dracula from Dracula’s point of view.) Dracula shows up at her door to deceive her and try to manipulate her into getting the heroes to leave him be but she doesn’t fall for it. And she wrings the truth out of him. She’s clever and also manipulative and the two become lovers.

And in the contemporary world of the later books, though Dracula is having affairs with Mina’s own descendants (It’s a bit weird, I know but at least he’s honest about it.) he still seeks her for comfort and guidance. And constantly refers to her as his greatest love. It’s creepy yet sweet.

In this continuity he fakes his death at the end of the Dracula Tape. And when Mina finally dies of apparent old age she comes back as a vampire because his blood is in her system. As his kind of vampire can change their age based on how heavily they feed, she (like Dracula) can look any age she chooses. (Dracula usually looks roughly forty-five-years-old since that’s about the age he was when he died in his mortal life but sometimes he deliberately abstains from feeding to look older or even elderly.)

And with Mina to guide him, Dracula becomes the protector (and casual seducer...) of her mortal descendants.

Mostly the relationship and personality (as well as powers) are very similar to that of the 1979 Dracula film starring Frank Langella.

Another reason I like this version of Dracula is the cause of how he became a vampire is sort of ambiguous. He dies as the historic figure dies but in the Fred Saberhagen novel “A Matter of taste” (Book six of his Dracula novels) it’s revealed that loyalists stole his body and severed head and left a look-a-like in his place.

They prepared him for burial where candles kept going out and the wounds started to heal (including his head apparently re-attaching itself) so they hastily buried him. He rose as a vampire and insisted that it was a “transition of will” that he refused to die. In other words he has no idea how or why he came back as a vampire.

Considering most vampires in the Fred Saberhagen Dracula novels are created by a mortal drinking the blood of a vampire, after having been fed on, this made Dracula very unique and mysterious. I really like this origin. It’s my favorite origin for Dracula since it explains nothing while explaining everything.

It’s a lot better than someone renouncing God and drinking blood from a stone cross...

This one could easily be my favorite female love interest for Dracula, tied with the one I have listed for number 1 but I put two others between this and the number one spot because of their significance to pop culture and my love of some musicals.

3. Mina from Frank Wildhorn’s Dracula the Musical.

This is essentially the musical adaptation of the 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula movie. The biggest difference is there is no mention of Dracula’s mortal life’s wife and no suggestion that Mina resembles (or is the reincarnation of) an old love. The only problem is there is little explanation given as to why he falls in love with her other than that he seemed to have a mysterious psychic link with her all along.

Still, the songs are beautiful and the relationship is sweet and this version of Mina is very likable.

2. Mina from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992 film):

Before I proceed with this one, yes. Yes, I know Dracula and Mina are not actually lovers in the original Dracula novel. I know that when he makes her drink his blood in the novel that it’s more of a rape. But this version plays with the love story Dan Curtis created for his Barnabas Collins and later carried over into Dracula.

Dracula is seeking the reincarnation of his deceased mortal-life wife. And not only was he lucky enough to find her in a look-a-like body but she’s also the age the first wife was when she died (by total coincidence!). At first it seems like he just thinks she looks like his dead wife and he can seduce her but he seems shocked when she starts to actually remember details of his home. (watch his expression as she starts to talk about his homeland. He’s genuinely surprised).

The two begin a consensual love affair that sadly ends with Mina putting him out of his misery.

A least it’s implied he was forgiven and got to go to Heaven despite the things he had done (Much like in Stoker’s original novel. No, really, that’s in there.)

I like the Frank Wildhorn musical adaptation of this version of Dracula slightly better than the original non-musical movie because in the musical you don’t get the weird bleeding cross / renouncing God origin for Dracula’s vampirism. and 2. Mina doesn’t seem to be anyone’s reincarnation or look-a-like. They’re just in love (Even though yes, I know that is not in Bram Stoker’s novel.) But I do have a soft spot for this one because most of it does follow the novel and the musical probably would not exist if not for this movie.

1. Lisa Țepeș from Castlevania.

Lisa fast became one of my favorite love interests for Dracula. She went to Dracula’s castle seeking knowledge and bravely stood up to the antisocial vampire.

Much like Lucy from the 1979 Dracula film she talked back to him. She was bold and brave. She wanted to learn and she wanted the ability to save lives and damn it, she would risk her own life to do it. Dracula fell in love with this personality almost instantly. It was her personality, not her physical beauty that he became infatuated with.

And they were both happily nerdy together. She humanized Dracula and reminded him that there is good in the world. Dracula married her and the two had a son together.

For her sake he learned to trust and love. But it was for that love that he was driven to madness by her death...

Lisa was only forty-five-years-old when she was burned at the stake as a witch while simply trying to help people as a medical doctor.

This version of Dracula was a good man deep inside but pushed to madness and governed by his vampiric instincts he couldn’t bear to be without her. And when she was murdered he blamed almost all of humanity (save for a select few) for it.

And so Dracula began a subconscious quest to be destroyed by going through the motions of wanting to destroy the world. This is not the only plot where Dracula plans to destroy the world and the protagonist catches on that it’s an elaborate and “world’s longest suicide note”. This was also done in the Hammer horror film The Satanic Rites of Dracula. But here it was for heartbreak of a deeply lonely man.

#Count Dracula #Lisa Tepes #Castlevania #Hotel Transylvania #Love at first Bite #Mina Harker #Bram Stoker's Dracula #Carmilla #Renfield #Ericka Van Helsing

92 notes · View notes

d-ama-ien · 5 years

Text

“They’re Cheesy for a Reason”

Written for the First Visitation Day Gift Exchange run by @yancy-support-group

Gift for @breadstickksss , Prompt: soft

Yancy x Reader

Word count: 2626 (I may have gotten a bit excited…)

It's been months since the incident that got me sent to Happy Trails Penitentiary. Sure, adjusting to prison life was a bit rough at first, and I still don't love when the guards are in a bad mood and beat us around, but the kindness of the other prisoners quickly made me realize it wasn't that bad to be in prison. And I was a model prisoner, so I didn't fall victim to the guard's bad moods very often.

Of all the prisoners, I had quickly grown closest to Yancy. He was the head of the family, in a way, so he often took the new prisoners under his wing until they got their feet under them. My feet have been under me for months, to the point where I can even help out new prisoners myself, but Yancy still spent most of his free time with me. It's not like I'm going to protest, I love spending time with him. Anything from mealtime to lifting weights in the yard was a pleasure; it was a surprise just how cute he could be, especially since I had heard from one of the others what exactly had gone down that led to him being sent here.

But, despite all his issues, Yancy was kind to the other prisoners, he valued the family he had built here above everything, he loved singing show tunes, even making and choreographing his own songs. When Yancy found out I was a musical fan as well, he had ranted about the shows he had seen for an hour before realizing how long he had been talking and apologizing. I found it adorable though, loving his enthusiasm, so we continued to talk about that for hours until the guards had to physically separate us for curfew.

I don't see Yancy every day, he has to keep the family in shape, I have my own things to do, my own friends to hang out with, but on those days that Yancy is off with a new prisoner, I can't help but feel a bit moody. Each day, spent with or without Yancy, I'm becoming painfully aware that the feelings I have for him are more than platonic. It gets to the point where I have trouble reciprocating his friendly touches, finding myself daydreaming that instead of a platonic squeeze on my shoulder, he would lace his fingers with mine and squeeze our hands together instead.

Yancy doesn't seem to be interested though, so I keep content with our friendship, enjoying the opportunity to know him any capacity. Sometimes, he makes it difficult for me to remain on the friendly side of things.

It happens while talking about first dates or first meetings in musicals. We were talking about romantic duets from our favorite shows, and the topic shifted to things like the start of the romance versus the big romantic finale when the characters will kiss and live happily ever after.

"I mean, is there anything cuter than I'll Cover You? Angel and Collins are absolutely perfect," I say, sighing as I remember the scene from Rent.

"Yeah, yeah, it's real cute until you remember the reprise that Collins sings after Angel dies," Yancy points out.

"It's still romantic! Depressing and awful, but those two have a love like nothing else, so even the reprise is romantic," I don't bring up how I cry like a baby almost every time I listen to the reprise. I mean, Angel's death and then the funeral and then all the breakups immediately afterward, it's a series of painful scenes.

"What about something cute and not depressing, maybe that Prom show you were talking about?" Yancy was pretty behind on Broadway shows, makes sense since he's been here so long, but I had been doing my best to tell him about the ones I knew.

"The Prom ends cute, but that main relationship goes through some serious problems too. I mean, the one girl's mom is a homophobe and purposefully ruins the main character's prom night, leading the girls to break up. They make up, but you know I cried in the theater because of that moment," Yancy sighs when I explain more about the central relationship I had told him about.

"Is every relationship depressing in musicals, or am I just not thinking of the right type of show?"

"I mean, if the relationships went well right off the bat, then it wouldn't be much of a plot," I point out.

"These musical characters got it all wrong, they just gotta do something simple. I think show writers underestimate the power of something cheesy like a picnic under the stars," Yancy throws his hands behind his head, leaning back casually while speaking.

"Aww, who knew you were an old school romantic," I tease, earning a scoff.

"Stuff like that's only considered cheesy because it works! Youse would agree if anyone did something like that for you," I'm almost offended at the insinuation that no one had ever done something cheesy for me. Still, none of my partners had set up a starlit picnic for me, so he was technically right.

"You got me there, I've never had anyone set up a picnic under the stars for me. But I think a normal coffee date would be the most realistic thing to portray in a show, I don't think picnics are super common anymore,"

"Do ya know what? I'll set up a starlight picnic for youse sometime, then you'll get what I'm talkin' bout," I laugh at what Yancy says, ignoring the stirring of emotions in my chest at the idea of Yancy doing something like that for me.

"Sure, Yancy, we'll see if that changes my mind," I agree.

"But, really, there's gotta be a relationship that goes well for an entire show," Yancy returns to the original train of conversation, and we spend the next hour of our free time trying to spitball shows with a straightforward and completely happy relationship.

After a week, that conversation is basically out of my mind. We have a lot of discussions, after all, and my brain space isn't only dedicated to Yancy, other things are going on around the prison to think about.

One evening I return to my empty cell, my cellmate had gotten parole a few days ago and hadn't been replaced yet. I turn on the small TV, it'll hopefully keep me entertained until lights out at least. The channels are minimal, I end up with some soap opera droning in the background while I take some time to read. They spoil us here at the penitentiary, but we're all about rehabilitation and rewards. Unless you get punished because when they give out punishments, you really suffer. That's why I keep on my best behavior, that's how I get these privileges. I'm just getting invested in a new chapter when the guard on duty stops by my cell.

"It's time for lights out, shut your TV off and get to bed," I oblige quickly, the guard walking away once I put the remote and book down by the, now off, TV. I slide under the covers of the bottom bunk, settling in for another good night of rest.

When I wake up, the cell is dim, I know it's still night, but I heard an unusual sound. I open my eyes slowly, blinking to adjust to the near non-existent lighting, and then I nearly jump out of my skin and have to muffle a scream.

Yancy has stuffed himself between the bunk and the mattress, grinning down at me. I cover my face for a moment, taking deep breaths to recover from the scare, before rolling out of bed to wait for Yancy to come out from under the mattress.

"What are you doing here? You nearly gave me a heart attack," I whisper my complaint, not wanting to draw the attention of the night shift guards.

"Just put ya shoes on, we got a picnic to get to,"

I blink in confusion as Yancy hands me my shoes, not sure I processed his sentence correctly. "A picnic?"

"You thought I was kidding?" Yancy laughs a bit as I slide my shoes on, "I really meant it when I said I'd take you out on a starlight picnic one of these nights," I suddenly recall our conversation from earlier this week, but I had seriously thought he was joking about that.

"Wait, we're in prison. How are we supposed to have a picnic?" It's the middle of the night, I don't know how to wrap my brain around this.

"We're gonna break out," My mouth drops open in shock, I'm about to loudly demand an explanation when he rapidly waves his hands, "Temporarily! We'll come back, we ain't leavin' forever. Just for the picnic,"

I sigh in relief, I was almost sure for a second that this was Yancy's evil twin or an alien imposter and I was going to have to kill him. The Yancy I knew did not want to leave here anytime soon.

"Come on, if youse keep stalling, we ain't gonna have time for the picnic," Yancy nags as I finish lacing up my shoes. "But, before we go, youse gotta promise that you ain't gonna tell anyone the way out, and promise that youse won't go out for no reason,"

"I promise," I intend to finish out my sentence honestly, and while I like the other prisoners, I wouldn't want any of them out in society, so I definitely won't be telling any of them the way.

"Good, we'll skip the blindfold then," Yancy says with a grin, turning to move some of the decorations, revealing a small hole in the wall. He hooks a finger into the hole, apparently the wall here is just a panel that can be dragged open. We go through the tunnels, dodging some insanely heavy security measures that require very odd counting to get through, swim through a sewage pipe, which is as awful as it sounds, go through a series of increasingly complex instructions that I barely follow. Suddenly we're outside the prison gates. Yancy grabs my hand, pulling me along until we're clear of the building's light, walking along the edge of a nearby forest.

I gasp when we come upon the picnic Yancy had set up, a collection of candles surrounding a large blanket, a basket sitting in the center. Yancy smiles at my reaction, dragging me over to the blanket and encouraging me to sit on the blanket while he pulls supplies out of the basket.

"Yancy, where did you get all of this?" I ask, totally delighted as he hands me a glass and pours me some sort of sparkling drink. He pulls out a plate of small sandwiches next, offering it to me before he pours himself a drink.

"Cucumber sandwiches, really?" He even cut them into tiny triangles.

"You just gotta know where the guards keep their personal stash, they got all sorts of fancy stuff there. They won't miss any of this stuff, so we might as well use it," he explains, leaning back to support himself on his arm, watching me with a small smile.

"I can't believe you really set this up," I lean back as well, craning my neck to look up at the stars. They're beautiful out here; there's no light pollution out here, so the night sky is clearer than I've ever seen it.

"I'm a man of my word, and I said I'd set up a starlight picnic for youse. Do youse doubt my word?" I can tell Yancy is teasing, he nudges my shoulder how he usually does when poking fun, but I decide to answer anyways.

"I thought you were joking, honestly. I mean, why would you put in the work of setting all this up just for me?" Yancy's brows furrow at that.

"What do ya mean by that? Of course I'd do stuff like this for youse." Yancy ducks his head, rubbing the back of his neck shyly, "I care about youse, dummy,"

I wait for the joke or laughter to follow, but it never comes. My heart is nearly beating out of my chest, my cheeks burning red even if I'm sure he meant he cared as a friend.

"I care about you too, I really value your friendship," I reply, managing to smile at him. I swear his lips twitch into a frown for a moment, but it must be a flicker of the candlelight. I shiver a bit from a sudden breeze, Yancy immediately activates his "head of the family" instincts and starts rummaging through the basket.

"I thought it might get a bit chilly," he comments as he pulls out a fuzzy blanket, it's even my favorite color. I accept the blanket gratefully, wrapping myself up in the soft material. I stare up at the stars, trying to pick out constellations that I could remember, and I hear Yancy softly sigh from next to me.

"Hey, Yancy, I've got a question," I glance towards him, waiting for his nod before continuing, "Do you ever… do you ever regret getting sent here?"

It's a sensitive question, one I don't think I would ever ask while in the walls of the prison, but Yancy does not react at first.

"I…. I honestly can't say that I regret it. I didn't mean for things to go the way they did, but this life is better than anything I ever had on the outside. I got a real family here, and… I got youse," I twist my hands in the soft material of the blanket, quietly contemplating his answer.

"What about youse? Any regrets?"

"I miss my family, I guess, but otherwise, I can't say that I regret much. If I weren't here, I wouldn't have met you, and you're probably one of the best things to happen to me," I admit it, at least partially, getting those feelings into the open air under the stars.

"Come here," Yancy mutters, pulling me closer to him until I'm pressed against his side, resting my head on his shoulder. We sit in comfortable silence, relaxing under the stars.

"I think you were right about these picnics," I mumble, sleep starting to take over. I feel Yancy's low chuckle more than I hear it, followed shortly by the press of his lips against my forehead. I doze off, comforted by the warmth of his body and the blanket surrounding me.

The next day I wake up in my usual bunk, half wondering if I dreamed up that whole picnic. That escape situation was ridiculous after all, and I can't imagine anyone, even a guy as strong as Yancy, being able to carry someone through all those security measures. And it's not like I can ask about it- if it did happen, that means we literally broke out of here last night. I shake off the thoughts, deciding to just go to breakfast and worry about it later.

"Hey, youse!" Yancy greets as I walk into the dining hall, "I saved youse a seat," he points out the chair in question, going over to talk to one of the other prisoners while I go and grab a tray of food and take my seat.

"How'd ya sleep?" Yancy questions, winking when I raise my eyebrow at him. His hand finds mine under the table, intertwining our fingers and squeezing when I smile at him.

"I slept great, and you know after last night I just had this strange inclination that you had a point about those cheesy first dates,"

"I told youse, it's cheesy for a reason.”

#visitationdaygiftexchange #first visitation gift exchange #markiplier #ahwm yancy #yancy #a heist with markiplier #long post #so the literal 'soft' is the soft blanket that yancy wraps you up with #but its mostly a figurative 'ahhh soft fluffy fluff' kind of thing #that story about me crying in the theater during the prom is true i was literally sobbing at the fake prom set up #im a sensitive gay okay?#i do also cry every time i hear the i'll cover you reprise #again with the sesitive gay thing #RENT especially bc Angel is literally how I discovered my sexuality lol her death really really hurt #anyways sorry if you aren't familiar with musicals i just needed a reason that he would take us on a starlight picnic #and that reason is we all theater nerds in this joint

11 notes · View notes

ravenqueensspecialboi · 6 years

Text

Come What May

DaiSuga Week 2018 Day Seven: Mafia or Kissing Rating: G Summary: Before Daichi could stop him, Koushi bolted from the room. Once he was far enough away, he stopped, leaned against the nearest wall, and gasped for breath. He wasn't just falling in love with Daichi. No, he was deeply, madly in love with him. So much for professional integrity. Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15810462

Fic under the cut!

Eight in the morning was too god damn early, in Koushi's professional opinion. If he had it his way, they wouldn't be meeting until at least noon, but no. Koushi stifled a yawn as he observed the room before him with disinterest. He stood at the front of a large stage, overlooking the house of the local theater. Takeda had brought up the house lights before vanishing into his office, giving Koushi a full view of the empty room. From where he was standing, Koushi could see a dark stain on one of the front row seats; someone must have ignored the "No food or drink" rule and spilled on the seat. Koushi would have to talk to Takeda about it later, ignoring the irony as he took a sip of coffee from his thermos. He checked his watch; the actors wouldn't be arriving for another half hour at the earliest.

Koushi sat down on the edge of the stage, grabbing his copy of the script. The theater's fall production was Moulin Rouge. Koushi had seen the movie a handful of times, but he never really got much from it. It was a forbidden romance story with the world's worst twist ending (worst by Koushi's—again—professional opinion). Needless to say, Koushi wasn't exactly enthusiastic about Takeda's choice. At least he'd have fun as the show's Music Director.

"Excuse me," a voice called from the back of house.

Koushi looked up from his script. A man was standing in the doorway, shuffling from foot to foot. He probably had been standing there for a few minutes.

"Hi there," Koushi said.

"Is this where the cast is supposed to meet?" the man asked.

"Are you here for the Moulin Rouge cast meeting?"

The man nodded, making his way down the center aisle. "I am. My name's Sawamura Daichi, I'll be playing Christian."

Koushi had to admit, he looked perfect for the part. He was no Ewan McGregor, sure, but he worked. He had that sort of softness that Koushi would have expected for a Christian. Plus, he was good looking. Takeda had been spot on.

"I'm Sugawara Koushi," Koushi said, hopping off the front of the stage. "I'm the Musical Director and pianist."

"You're doing both?" Daichi asked. "That's impressive."

"What can I say, I've got talented hands," Koushi joked.

Daichi laughed. He didn't have to, Koushi's joke was terrible, but he did. Koushi could feel his face heat up a little, but he squashed the feeling immediately.

Keep it professional, Koushi.

Daichi and Koushi chatted for a bit as the other actors began to file into the theater. Koushi spotted a few familiar faces in the crowd, he had worked with a lot of them before—Azumane Asahi, the Tanaka siblings, the Tsukishima siblings, Ennoshita Chikara, Kinoshita Hisashi, Narita Kazuhito, Nishinoya Yuu…. Koushi could see a few that he hadn't worked with too, but he recognized their faces from productions he had seen. Yuu waved at Koushi as he took a seat next to Michimiya Yui, one of the few people Koushi hadn't worked with. Koushi was actually extremely excited to work with her; Koushi had heard all about Yui's vocal range from her fiancé and Koushi's longtime friend, Shimizu Kiyoko, and he couldn't wait to work with her on her solo pieces. Yui had actually given Koushi an extremely tight hug when she first arrived and promised to bring homemade baked goods to the next rehearsal, cementing her as Koushi's Favorite Person for the production. Eventually, Takeda emerged from his office, arms full of script books that swayed dangerously as he made his way to the stage.

"Good morning, folks," Takeda said as he dumped the scripts onto the stage. "My name is Takeda Ittetsu, and I'm the Stage Director for this season's production of Moulin Rouge. As we get closer to tech week, I'll be introducing you to our Technical Director, Ukai Keishin, and his team. And this is Sugawara Koushi. For those of you who don't know Sugawara, he's our Musical Director, and will also be the show's pianist and playing the part of Satie, the Bohemian pianist."

Koushi turned to stare at Takeda. "I am?"

"We'll talk more about it later," Takeda said. "For now, let's go around the room and introduce yourselves. Tell us who you're playing and what you're looking forward to the most."

The company had mostly been doing that before Takeda arrived, but they humored him and reintroduced themselves. Koushi noted that, for the most part, he wasn't that surprised by the casting choices—of course Ryuu was Zidler, of course Yuu was Toulouse-Lautrec. He was a little surprised that the eldest Tsukishima brother was playing the Duke, but he figured it'd probably be a fun challenge for the guy. It also surprised Koushi that Daichi was the last to talk.

"My name's Sawamura Daichi," he said. "I'll be playing Christian, and I'm most excited to work with our Musical Director."

Koushi blinked in surprise. "You are?"

"Of course, I've heard a lot of good things about you," Daichi explained. "I hope that we work well together."

"Me too," Koushi replied, hoping that his voice didn't crack as badly as he thought it did.

***

Never knew I could feel like this, like I've never seen the sky before. Want to vanish inside your kiss, every day I love you more and more.

***

Rehearsals were going better than either Takeda or Koushi expected them too. All of the actors were taking things seriously and putting in more effort than Koushi had seen in past productions. They were able to move from script reading sessions straight into song rehearsals, starting with the large group numbers. It took Koushi a bit of time to get everyone used to singing with each other, but soon the actors had themselves sorted and were singing well together. Koushi could have cried; they were making his job so much easier.

Two people stood out to Koushi more than the others, he would admit. First was Yui. Kiyoko had massively undersold her fiancé and her vocal ability. She was incredible. She already bringing so much emotion to her parts that Koushi had to call for a five minute break so everyone could recompose themselves. Second was Daichi. Koushi knew that Daichi had to be good; he was cast as Christian, after all. But watching him sing was something else. Koushi found himself entranced by Daichi every time he opened his mouth. He found himself wanting to work with Daichi and only Daichi. It was becoming a problem.

Towards the end of their first month of rehearsal, Takeda provided Koushi with an excellent opportunity to work one on one with Daichi.

"Alright, so in a few rehearsals, we're going to start working on blocking, as well working on solos and duets," Takeda announced. "Hopefully you all have started looking at those, but if you haven't, now would be a good opportunity to start.

"If you guys have parts you want to work on with me individually, you're more than welcome to schedule something with me," Koushi chimed in. "See me after rehearsal and I'll give you my number."

Takeda ended rehearsal soon after. A few people took Koushi up on his offer of private sessions, coming up to the piano to swap numbers with him. Koushi was pleased to find that Daichi was one of them.

"Is it okay if Yui and I come in together to work on 'Come What May?'" Daichi asked. "We wanted to work on it a bit beforehand so we get used to making lovey eyes at each other while singing and not crack up while doing so."

"Is that a problem you guys have been having?" Koushi asked knowing full well that it was.

"Yeah, just a bit," Daichi said, giving Koushi a sheepish grin. "She's like a sister, so it gets a bit weird sometimes."

"Have you guys tried it with the recording?"

"We have, but we wanted to try it with just the instrumentation," Daichi explained.

Koushi nodded, "Yeah, we can work something out then. If you wanted to, we could start tomorrow."

"We definitely could," Daichi offered.

Koushi ignored his inner monologue's screams of celebration.

"Sounds good to me."

***

Listen to my heart. Can you hear it sing, and telling me to give you everything?

***

"Daichi was saying that you two were having a hard time keeping straight faces during 'Come What May'," Koushi said, taking a seat on the piano bench.

The room had cleared out pretty quick at the end of rehearsal, leaving Koushi alone with Yui and Daichi. The pair stood next to the piano, exchanging sheepish glances.

"You'd think we'd be used to it after years of playing love interests," Yui commented.

Koushi nodded, then turned to the piano. He played a few bars of 'Come What May', then turned back to the leads.

"So, this song is the love song of the musical," Koushi explained. "I know that 'Elephant Love Medley' is what people think of first, but as far as the love songs in Moulin Rouge go, 'Come What May' is more important. This is the part where Satine and Christian pledge their undying devotion to each other. This is the song that gets the reprise."

Daichi and Yui nodded, their expressions earnest. Koushi found it endearing.

"I want you two to visualize something for me when you sing it," Koushi continued. "Think of the one thing in your life that you love more than anything. Whatever that thing is, picture it, visualize it, sing to it. Yui, I see you blushing. You thinking of Kiyoko?"

Yui's face went pink. She mumbled something that Koushi assumed was an affirmative. Koushi gave her an encouraging grin as she covered her face with her hands.

"No, don't be embarrassed, you love her! You're getting married to her next year! I should know, Kiyoko asked me to be her best man."

"I know, Kiyoko's the most amazing woman in the world. It's just a little embarrassed to be read that easily," Yui groaned from behind her hands.

"Listen, I don't blame you for being head over heels, Kiyoko's an incredible woman," Koushi said. "Channel your love for her into the song, and you're golden."

Yui nodded, pulling her hands away from her scarlet face. Koushi turned to Daichi and raised an eyebrow.

"How about you, Christian?" Koushi teased. "Got someone in your life to motivate your passion?"

Daichi rubbed the back of his neck as he replied, "Right now? I mean, sort of. I wouldn't call it love, it hasn't been that long. Maybe an infatuation? I want something to come out of it, because it'd be great motivation, like you said. I just need to think about it a bit more."

Koushi almost missed the meaningful look Yui threw Daichi. Almost.

"Well, hopefully it becomes something a little stronger than an infatuation," Koushi said. "I'd love to see where it could take you."

The way Daichi said, "Me too" nearly knocked Koushi flat. The way that his eyes lingered on Koushi just long enough left whisperings of hope in Koushi's heart. Maybe, just maybe, Daichi was thinking about him.

***

Seasons may change winter to spring, but I love you until the end of time. Come what may, come what may, I will love you until my dying day.

***

As the second month of rehearsals progressed, more and more people began asking Koushi for one on one sessions. It was fun for Koushi to run the sessions—his favorite so far aside from Daichi and Yui's duet had been Ryuu and Akiteru's rendition of 'Like a Virgin'. But it left Koushi in a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, he loved that everyone had enough enthusiasm for the production that they wanted to take on extra rehearsals. On the other hand, more private sessions with the others meant less private lessons with Daichi, especially since Koushi had to learn all of the songs and learn lines. He understood why Takeda had cast him as the Bohemian piano player; it was a fun stylistic thing to have the orchestra gradually appear onstage as the show progressed. But still, the less professional part of Koushi was mad that it was cutting into his time with Daichi.

The universe had a habit of dropping good things into Koushi's lap, however. Yui started showing up to less one on one sessions, stating that she had her parts down pretty well. Eventually, she stopped showing up to them altogether. Koushi had a sneaking suspicion that Yui had done this on purpose, but he also wasn't about to call her out for it. He appreciated the alone time with Daichi.

"You've improved," Koushi noted during one session. He and Daichi had been running through his part in 'El Tango de Roxanne' and Daichi had perfectly embodied the sad jealousy needed in their last runthrough.

"Thank you," Daichi said, draping himself dramatically across the back rim of the piano. "I've had lots of inspiration recently."

"Oho?" Koushi chuckled. "Feeling jealous about something?"

"Truth be told, yes," Daichi admitted. "My muse for 'Come What May' has been busy with other people recently. It's a little hard to not be jealous."

"I didn't take you as the jealous type," Koushi said, ignoring the nervous fluttering in his chest.

Daichi didn't respond for a beat; he was too busy studying Koushi. Koushi shifted in his seat. There was something in the way Daichi looked at him. It was intense.

"Can we run through my part of 'Come What May' next?" Daichi asked. His voice barely rose above a whisper.

Koushi swallowed—was it always that hard to swallow?—and nodded. He stumbled over the first few bars, earning a soft chuckle from Daichi. Koushi stuck his tongue out at Daichi and started again. He gave Daichi a nod when it was his time to come in. As Daichi's voice filled the room, Koushi felt himself fall a little bit more in love with Daichi. No, he wasn't just falling in love. Koushi jolted, fingers stumbling over the keys and bringing the song to a grinding halt.

"Um, Koushi?" Daichi asked.

"I-It's fine," Koushi stammered, getting to his feet. "I just need a quick break. Be back in 10."

Before Daichi could stop him, Koushi bolted from the room. Once he was far enough away, he stopped, leaned against the nearest wall, and gasped for breath. He wasn't just falling in love with Daichi. No, he was deeply, madly in love with him.

So much for professional integrity.

***

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place. Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace. Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste. It all revolves around you.

***

"An entire rehearsal dedicated to kissing practice seems a bit much," Daichi commented as Koushi set up the piano.

It had been a few weeks since Koushi's revelation. To his credit, he had made it back to the room to continue his session with Daichi. And there had been no further incidents since then. Koushi had been keeping it together, thank you very much. Plus they were three weeks out to opening night, he had no choice but to keep it together.

He was a little surprised that Daichi wanted to continue one on one sessions. Daichi didn't need the help, he had his lines and lyrics memorized. Hell, he'd had them memorized a month and a half in. But he still insisted on meeting with Koushi whenever he could. Koushi tried to not read too much into it. Tried.

"Well, sometimes actors need it," Koushi said. "Even if they've been friends for years."

"I know, it just seems like a lot."

"No such thing as too much practice," Koushi reminded him. "Speaking of, what are we working on today?"

"'Come What May'?" Daichi asked.

"Daichi, you've had that one down for months," Koushi pointed out. "Do you really need to run through it?"

Daichi shrugged. "I just like running through it with you."

And wasn't that telling.

"How about we run through the reprise version," Koushi compromised.

"Are you going to sing Satine's part?" Daichi teased.

"I could, but it won't sound anywhere near as good as Yui's version," Koushi said.

Daichi gestured for Koushi to start. Koushi inhaled, exhaled, and began to play. Just a few bars, then he began to sing, "Never knew I could feel like this, it's like I've never seen the sky before. Want to vanish inside your kiss, every day I'm loving you more and more. Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings? Come back to me, and forgive everything."

Daichi sat down on the bench next to Koushi, his eyes never leaving Koushi. Koushi blushed, but continued, "Seasons may change, winter to spring. I love you, until my dying day."

Daichi joined in, "Come what may, come what may, come what may, come what may-"

"Come what may-"

"I will love you, until my dying day," they finished in harmony.

It wasn't until Daichi pressed his lips to Koushi's that he realized how close the two had gotten. Koushi let his eyes slip shut, enjoying one blissful moment before the imminent crash of anxiety. He braced himself against the piano bench as Daichi pushed forward, his fingers threading into Koushi's hair. Koushi moaned, a soft whine of a noise, as he placed a hand on Daichi's chest and pushed. Daichi opened his eyes, confusion evident in those soft brown eyes that made Koushi weak.

"Daichi, we can't do this," Koushi whispered. "Not now."

"Koushi-."

Koushi shook his head, trying his hardest not to start crying at the look of hurt on Daichi's face. "I want- I want nothing more than for this to happen," Koushi said, "believe me, I really do. I've wanted this for months, Daichi. But I'm your Musical Director. This can't happen while I'm still your Musical Director. If we started something, people would claim nepotism. If we broke up, imagine what would happen to the show. It just… can't."

Daichi studied Koushi for a moment, then nodded. He moved back from Koushi, then got to his feet. He grabbed his stuff and headed for the door.

"Daichi," Koushi called.

He could hear Daichi pause.

"It's not a 'no'," he said. "It's a 'wait until the production's over'."

"Come what may," was Daichi's only response, and then he was gone.

As the door closed behind Daichi, Koushi broke.

***

And there's no mountain too high, no river too wide. Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side. Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide, but I love you until the end of time.

***

The two week run was a smash hit. Critics loved it, audiences loved it, it was everything Takeda wanted it to be. He hadn't been sure how the production would turn out; both Christian and the Musical Director had sudden, incredibly noticeable changes in mood, but things had been fine in the end. Moulin Rouge was a success.

Koushi avoided the cast party the night the run ended. As soon as he was out of costume, Koushi had left the theater without a backward glance. Things between he and Daichi had taken a turn for the worse after they kissed. Daichi stopped coming to one on one sessions, his performance during 'Come What May' was lacking. It was week one all over again, and Koushi knew it was his fault. It didn't help matters that he did his own fair share of sulking. It got so bad that Takeda had canceled rehearsal one day, unable to stand what Daichi and Koushi were doing to the production's atmosphere. Ryuu, Asahi, and Yuu had dragged Daichi out of the theater while Yui had pulled Koushi aside to lecture him. It quickly turned into a coffee date where Koushi could word vomit his feelings at Yui.

"Koushi, you turned him down," Yui had pointed out.

"I just spent five minutes telling you my feelings and that was your takeaway?"

Yui had made a face at Koushi, then moved right into her lecture, "Well, yeah. He made a move on him, you told him not right now. The way I see it, you two just need to move passed the awkwardness and things will sort themselves out. So quit moping, you're killing the vibe of the show. This show's about freedom, beauty, and above all, love. Right?"

Things improved with Daichi after that. They were still incredibly awkward with one another, but they were congenial. Takeda was willing to let them be, and the show went on. They survived the last two weeks of rehearsal and two weeks of performances, then it was over. Koushi knew Daichi wanted to talk to him, but Koushi couldn't bring himself to be alone with him yet. He was scared, scared that Daichi was going to reject him after he rejected Daichi. He needed time.

So he went home without a word to anyone. He made himself the spiciest tofu he could, then collapsed onto his couch. Koushi was ready to sleep for the next thousand years.

The universe had other plans. Koushi's phone went off, ringing once, twice. He fished it out of his pocket, accepting the call without looking at the screen.

"Hello?"

"How come you're not at the after party?" Daichi asked.

Koushi froze. Panic set in.

"I never really go to after parties," he said, aware that he sounded like he was lying.

"Koushi, I've seen the photos on Facebook."

Okay, yeah, he was busted.

"I don't know, I just didn't feel like going," Koushi explained.

Daichi was silent. Koushi would have guessed that the call was dropped if it weren't for the sounds of a standard cast party in the background.

"Daichi?"

"Can you meet me in the park? The one by the theater?" Daichi asked. "I want to talk to you."

Koushi wanted to say no. He so badly wanted to say no.

"I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes," he whispered.

"See you there," Daichi said.

Koushi's phone beeped; Daichi had ended the call. With a sigh, Koushi put his tofu in the fridge. He grabbed his coat, put his shoes on and left. He had a meeting to get to.

***

Come what may, come what may, I will love you until my dying day. Oh come what may, come what may, I will love you.

***

The cold, November air nipped at the tip of Koushi's nose. He cursed himself for not grabbing his scarf, but there was nothing he could do about that. He had promised Daichi that he'd be at the park, and damn it, he was going to stick to his promise. Now, if only Daichi would do the same. Daichi was actually five minutes late, by Koushi's count. The longer he stood there, the more Koushi started to worry that Daichi had stood him up. Which would be fair, considering the mental bullshit Koushi had subjected him to.

The sound of footsteps caught Koushi's attention. He turned, and there was Daichi. Daichi smiled at Koushi, then started walking towards him, his movements slow.

"You said you wanted to talk?" Koushi called to him.

"Never knew, I could feel like this-"

Koushi cocked his head to the side, "Daichi, what are you doing?"

"-it's like I've never seen the sky before."

Realization hit Koushi like a train. An embarrassing and emotionally overwhelming, but incredibly welcome realization.

"Daichi, oh my god, we're in public."

"Want to vanish inside your kiss-"

"I can't believe you."

"-every day I love you more and more."

"This is unfair, I helped you learn this song."

Daichi stepped close enough to grab Koushi's hands.

"Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing? Come back to me and forgive everything."

Koushi pressed his forehead to Daichi's shoulder as he said, "Daichi, that's not even your part."

Daichi paused. Koushi lifted his head, and Daichi cupped his cheek."Seasons may change, winter to spring," Daichi whispered as he caressed Koushi's cheek.

"Daichi, please-," Koushi whispered back, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes.

"I love you, until my dying day."

"Daichi," Koushi sobbed.

"Come what may, come what may, I will love you until my dying day."

Koushi couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed the lapels of Daichi's jacket and dragged him into a bruising kiss. Daichi responded in kind, wrapping his arms around Koushi's waist. When Koushi pulled back for air, Daichi pushed forward, kissing him with all the desperation of a man who had been separated from his lover for years.

"Daichi, I'm so sorry," Koushi whispered against his lips.

Daichi pulled back to rest his forehead against Koushi's, his breath coming to him in ragged pants.

"Don't apologize," he told Koushi. "You did the professional thing."

"Avoiding you wasn't professional," Koushi countered.

"We're both guilty of that," Daichi said. "But believe me, Sugawara Koushi, I love you. And I want to be with you. Even after all of that, I still want to be with you. You make me feel whole."

Koushi kissed Daichi again, softer than he had before. Daichi melted into the kiss, drawing Koushi in close.

"Be mine?" Daichi asked when they parted for air.

"You can't get rid of me now, Sawamura," Koushi teased, his eyes gleaming with tears and unbridled joy. "You sang a love song at me."

***

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place. Come what may, come what may, I will love you until my dying day.

#daisugaweek2018 #daisuga #theater au #haikyuufanfics #haikyuu fanfiction #hq writers #moulin rouge

9 notes · View notes

mortimers-cross · 7 years

Text

LND Post 1 of 3

Nearly eight years ago I heard for the first time a song (and voice) that took my breath away.

A few months later, the cast album of the musical from which this song came was released, and I heard the work in its entirety.

I then proceeded to compose a long blog post.

The main takeaways/conclusions:

1. The storyline is a mess of frogs' guts.

2. Most of the lyrics are cheesy/awkward.

3. The score is gorgeous, even breathtaking.

4. The cast is brilliant.

5. It will never make it to Broadway.

6. If it tours, I will go see it.

Honestly, I never believed it would happen.

I was wrong.

Several months ago (perhaps even the end of last year sometime?) it was announced that Love Never Dies would tour the US.

This past March (not quite seven years to-the-day since my blog rant, but very close!), it was announced that the Love Never Dies tour would include our local theatre (best theatre in the entire US, I might add as a shameless plug, though it means little since I am not giving the actual name of the theatre for security reasons). Well, of course my dear Theatre Buddy and I immediately affirmed that we'd keep our unofficial pact and go see it when it came round. Later, we decided to invite my sister as well, since as a wee one she'd put up with my dressing her up as Gustave and lip-synching to "Till I Hear You Sing," "Beautiful," and "The Beauty Underneath," and was now old enough to actually appreciate shows for their own merits.

A few days ago, we did see it. While it still has plenty of problems, it managed to take the cake as one of the best productions I've ever seen. I shall attempt to at least partially explain why this is the case, though always bearing in mind that there are many "levels" and "categories" and "angles" this discussion could take on; obviously I haven't time to address them all here. I'm merely attempting to explain my main impressions at the time of watching, and much of it has to do with personal preference. I am by no means hoping to persuade anyone one way or another about the show - I simply wish to... Hang it all, let's just proceed. I'll start by addressing my 2010 "takeaways" and go from there.

1. The storyline is a mess of frogs' guts.

The storyline remains a mess of frogs' guts; there's really no getting 'round that, given that the source material was a glorified fanfiction by the name of The Phantom of Manhattan. However, a few of the ideas presented within that storyline are quite interesting and could work well if handled by a good writer:

Erik faking his own death (Even in the Ultimate Canon, Leroux's novel, although Erik is definitely intended to be dead at the end, the only proof we have is the Persian's word; a skeleton supposed to be Erik's; and the gold ring. There is some room for arguing that Erik set all that up to fake his death and actually fled the country...Not likely, but you could write a "what-if" story for kicks.)

A child (not even necessarily his own) being the one to love and accept Erik as he is.

Mme Giry helping Erik but also working toward her own ends (essentially what she does throughout the novel).

2. Most of the lyrics are cheesy/awkward.

There are still plenty of cheesy/awkward lyrics, but not quite as bad as before, thanks to our Hero, Charles Hart! He came in and fixed quite a bit of the flow. Some things of particular note:

"Heaven By the Sea" has been eradicated. Joy and jubilation!

The new "Beauty Underneath" is amazing! More about this later.

"Beneath a Moonless Sky" is, unfortunately, still present and in its original form. In other words, that whole scene is still an embarrassing, awkward mess. Impossible to listen to with a serious face. That song needs to be seriously edited or eradicated and its tune used elsewhere - that tune is lovely.

3. The score is gorgeous, even breathtaking.

This, of course, is unchanged - if anything, even truer than before. Between the phenomenal, huge orchestra we heard and the

excellent

acoustics and sound system of the theatre, this was definitely one of the greatest bits of the overall experience. Some moments of note (a.k.a. Things that shook me to the core and set my very bones a-rattlin'):

Erik's Big Entrance (he has several entrances, but That One that makes Christine faint. Typical.)

All of "The Beauty Underneath"

The saxophone before and during "Why Does She Love Me?"

The huge bits during "Devil Take the Hindmost" (between "She walks - you leave together," etc.)

The Streets of Coney Island

Any and all horn solos and duets

Even "Bathing Beauty" has some impressive instrumentation

Everything

4. The cast is brilliant.

It was true of the original London cast, and true of this touring cast. THEY. ARE. AMAZING. Every single one of them! The principals! The ensemble! The solos were well-done, but my favorite bits were the whole ensemble singing together, especially:

"Bathing Beauty" - I know, I know, but the guys' group and the girls' group each had such a powerful sound and blended perfectly, and then when they all came together - wow!

"The Beauty Underneath"

That reprise of "The Beauty Underneath" during The Streets of Coney Island! Sent chills down my spine!

Everyone brought such emotion to their roles - truly, they gave the best possible delivery of this material. At the embarrassing bits, I admit to snickering inwardly - but over the material, not the actors' performances.

This is all rather vague, and much of it is just quick notes so I don't forget certain things. In a later post, I may do a more song-by-song format and try to give more specifics. Plus I haven't even mentioned the best bit apart from the music, which is that SET and those LIGHTS! So, definitely more-to-come sometime when it isn't quite so late.

#Love Never Dies #Love Never Dies US Tour #Hint: It's Shiny

6 notes · View notes

popblank · 7 years

Text

So I went to Denver to see the pre-Broadway tryout of Frozen; here are my thoughts and observations. It’s basically a brain dump of everything I remember so there are lots of spoilery details. (Won’t claim it’s 100% accurate though, since it’s been a few days. For that matter, it might have changed by now anyway). Also, I saw the movie for the first time fairly recently so I was making a lot of comparisons.

I’ve never been to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts before, but it seemed easy to get to (barely ran into any traffic) and has convenient parking right next to the theater or at the Convention Center across the street. Within five minutes of arriving at the box office I saw at least half a dozen little girls dressed as Elsa. There were also more than a few adults whom I suspect had purposely chosen specific shades of blue to wear that evening.

Act 1:

“Vuelie”: There was a lot of applause when the music kicked in. The audience was clearly predisposed to like to the show.

“Anna and Elsa”: Pabbie acts as narrator, introducing Elsa & Anna, their relationships with their parents, each other, and the kingdom. Elsa is relatively serious and appears to be conscious of her role as heir, while Anna is irrepressibly energetic and adores her big sister (as Pabbie sings, “Elsa had her [Anna’s] heart”). On the parent-child side, Agnarr and Anna wear green outfits and interact with each other, while Iduna and Elsa wear blue outfits and interact with each other. I wonder if they were trying to set up parallels between parent/child; it was interesting to me that we basically don’t see Agnarr & Elsa or Iduna & Anna interact until the accident.

“A Little Bit of You”: Young Anna and Elsa build Olaf from toys in their room, and then the fateful accident happens.

Iduna is given more to do than in the movie; she is able call the Hidden Folk (not trolls) because she is a child of the northern nomads. She wears a necklace that resembles the ones worn by the Hidden Folk, but with a single glowing crystal rather than multiple. Elsa is the one who describes her own fearful vision, instead of it being shown to her by Pabbie. The magic snow powers are mostly glitter-based so far, with some projections.

“Do You Want to Build a Snowman”: Seemed much like the movie version, except there’s only one set of Young Anna and Elsa (i.e. no intermediate ages) and their parents die when E&A are young. Adult Elsa’s first (silent) appearance is at the end of this song.

“For the First Time in Forever:” Anna’s bedhead wig,lol. I was fully expecting it but it was still funny. We first see Hans, Kristoff, and Sven here. Sven got some applause from the audience, although his role is somewhat diminished from the movie.

“Hans of the Southern Isles”: Hans is dorkier than I expected. His introduction song is very much meant to make you sympathize with him.

“Dangerous to Dream”: Loved the whole coronation sequence right before this, which starts off with Elsa standing in profile in a church apse while her cape is placed on her shoulders. It’s a small part of the movie which I liked but wished had been given more gravity, and this did it for me. (To be honest, I also like the coronation dress better than the sparkly ice one, and there’s plenty of time to look at it here.) This is basically Elsa’s “I Want” song, and it’s my second favorite of the new songs.

Right after this is the ballroom scene, which is slightly different than in the movie. Instead of Elsa foisting the Duke of Weselton off on Anna, Anna steps in and rescues her and it ends up being a more effective bonding moment for them. At one point the Duke suggests that Elsa might be looking for a king soon, and she gives a brief incredulous laugh, then pulls herself together and says, “one thing at a time.” (I chose to interpret the laugh as, “A king! Fat chance.” But that’s just me.)

When Hans shows up after this scene, Anna is still mostly worried about Elsa and it is clearer here than in the movie that he subtly turns the conversation around to focus on himself.

“Love is an Open Door”: Just Anna and Hans on an empty stage, and it’s funny and charming with a bit of physical comedy.

The freezing of Arendelle happened somewhere in here and it was a neat use of projections with well-timed fog. I think this was the first effect that the audience applauded for.

“Reindeer(s) are Better Than People”: More or less like the movie.

Anna waddles onto the stage in her waterlogged gown at this point and Kristoff lends her a bunch of his winter things to take her up the North Mountain. (There seems to be a lot of dressing and undressing in this show.)

“What Do You Know About Love?”: Anna & Kristoff bicker and banter while journeying. At one point they have to cross a rickety bridge and manage to rescue each other from doom, thus building trust in each other. I am not sure it worked for me dramatically because I didn’t get much sense of danger (compared to say, a vicious wolf chase).

“In Summer”: Another staging the audience really liked, suitably cheesy for the song.

“Hans of the Southern Isles (Reprise)”: In which Hans takes charge, puts together a band (mob, whatever) to go rescue Anna/pursue Elsa, and the people of Arendelle start to hail him as a leader. I got the impression from his body language that he was somewhat surprised and pleased at this development.

“Let It Go”: There was a distinct murmur of anticipation in the audience when the opening notes started. People really liked the dress change (and the dress is very, very sparkly). I admit I was slightly disappointed at the stage effects, if only because the ice castle-raising is probably my single favorite sequence in the movie and nothing really gave me a chills-down-the-spine moment like that here.

I was a bit concerned when I first saw that this was the Act 1 closer (since the song comes relatively early in the film), but I enjoyed seeing all additional material used to build up the characters and character relationships. Overall it didn’t feel like the first act went too slowly.

Act 2

“Hygge”: Oaken’s only appearance, leading to a big comic ensemble number with lots of sauna-goers dancing in nude bodysuits. (It was a little WTF for me.) It occurred to me at this point that dressing and undressing might be a recurring theme. This is when Anna gets her familiar winter outfit. (More info on the idea, not the song: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-year-of-hygge-the-danish-obsession-with-getting-cozy)

“For the First Time in Forever (Reprise)”: If I remember correctly, Elsa sings the bridge of the pop version of “Let It Go” in this scene. I’d like to have seen a bit more spectacle; I kind of wonder what they could have done with the lighting setup that was used at Eurovision this year (and a wind machine, of course).

How Anna, Kristoff & co. exit from the castle is a bit unclear (no Marshmallow). But they go to the Hidden Folk, whom Kristoff calls in the same way Iduna did in Act 1.

“Fixer Upper”: Similar to the movie, except Kristoff gets a dance break with the Hidden Folk, and they finish the wedding pronouncement at the end. (Make of that what you will.)

“Kristoff Lullaby”: Before taking her back to Arendelle, Kristoff sings to a sleeping (or near-asleep) Anna and realizes his feelings.

“Monster”: In which Elsa wonders whether she really is a monster, considers whether the world would be better off if she were dead, and decides on her own that she will not be a monster and has to set things right. I like the general idea, though it was a little bit on the nose for me and veered into pop ballad territory more than I’d like. During this time she’s commanding giant glowing icicles out of the stage. The mob arrives and surrounds her, and while at first she fends them off with the ring of giant icicles and I think some turntable-based tricks, it seemed like Elsa basically allowed herself to be captured rather than continuing to resist.

She has a new costume for this song, switching from the glittery ice dress to one that seems more draped with a shorter diagonal hem and a gauzy sort of robe over it, and ditching her shoes.

“Hans of the Southern Isles (Reprise 2)”: Hans reveals his dastardly plan to Anna. I still find this a bit abrupt.

“True Love”: Anna is left to die alone in a locked room and sings about it very poignantly. Easily my favorite of the new songs. Not too showy, but IMO the most emotionally effective one.

“Colder by the Minute”: Some clever choreography; the ensemble essentially acts as the storm, while Anna, Elsa, Hans, and Kristoff run around among them (and Anna’s hair and costume gets progressively whiter). Anna’s final freezing doesn’t look much like the movie version, but it’s gracefully done and looks pretty cool, combining choreography, costumes, projections, and sound. This was another effect that that audience applauded for.

“Vuelie (Love Thaws)”: Personally I liked the freezing better than the thawing.

“Resolution”: It brings Young Anna and Young Elsa and the parents back onstage so the story is full circle, though it seemed a little rushed/busy to me. I would have liked for Anna and Elsa to have a full duet as adults, something like a “For Good.”

Cast:

I liked everyone, but I came away most impressed with Patti Murin (admittedly Anna is the most well-developed role).

After the show, I overheard a woman say that she liked the diversity. I think the cast is more racially diverse than in most shows I’ve seen.

Merchandise:

Every item was Denver- or Colorado-specific and had the name of the show, but I’m not sure anything included characters. From what I remember items for sale included t-shirts, hat, mug, poster, keychain, canvas tote bag, postcards, and lanyard w/pin.

Overall:

I definitely enjoyed it, though some parts are aimed at an audience younger than me. If it were actually playing nearby I’d see it again, and would probably bring some of my little-kid relatives along. At this point it does seem like there are some things to tweak/improve but hopefully being in a more permanent location will help.

#frozen #frozen the musical #musical theatre #I had more thoughts than I expected #spoilers abound

4 notes · View notes