stella i ended up watching it pretty much immediately while drawing mk bc i do not control what my brain decides to eat and when and goddamn. the musical really is the musical equivalent of a reverse timelapse video of watching an apple rot. their youth and optimism. Gone. they were so cute and optimistic towards the end but then you remember That All Goes To Shit. (inserts that one sonic meme) Frank Wake Up. You Fucked Up Big Time. repeatedly. a lot. giving in a little every time to further their dreams but eventually losing sight of it all.... shouldntve have had an affair tho. thats entirely on you bud. idiot. man.... they were SUCH GOOD FRIENDS.... so patient and supportive of each other.... but then it all....... Man. sorry this is all p disjointed i literally just finished the musical something past 2am and i need to speak. i like hearing all the leitmotifs tho..... my memory is too shit to remember which part i heard it But Theyre Absolutely There.... the musical was so good....... it is such a story. a story that absolutely would be prime material for a fixit fic tbfh. what a mess... but i like messes.... man stepping back a lot... its kinda fucked up.... that if you ignore the timeline... the structure is kinda the same as a typical underdog story as in its starts out with a conflict thats meant to be overcome and ends with an all happy and optimistic open ending with things looking up..... BUT NO... the struggle is backwards.... if this story was chronological it truly wouldnt have the same wistful impact... you would just be like what the hell man. thats how it ends? but no it establishes from the beginning that this is the result. But How Did We Get Here. and thats the story....very funny how one of the lines in the song are "never look back" when thats the entire goddamn premise of the musical lol. this is like 3 times longer than i intended it to be. im glad the character count has been expanded so i can subject you to all of this all in one go. Narratives Man. got me.

YOU GET IT NOW!! YOU UNDERSTAND!!! Hang on I have a quote from sondheim’s book I want to highlight where he goes into a bunch of his own thoughts for something like a personal glossary

look at this one

lol.

another thing that sticks out about sondheim is that he’s VERY particular about who sings what. in his book he talks about being annoyed when every part of the ensemble sings the same lyrics even when they’re different groups of people with different ideals and priorities. and it means there’s a LOT of really tasty interactions within songs for character consistency & character dynamics, for example

Mary as the person who tries to fix things, Frank as the person who minimizes, Charley as the person who corrects him, and Mary again who runs interference between them.

Then there are verses that not-so-subtly highlights the Frank conflicts with Mary and Charley—

And even a line that’s not the highlight of the verse gets this treatment!

There’s just a lot of irony and contradiction and hypocrisy textually, subtextually, and metatextually. I mean the musical’s called merrily we roll along and it’s all about going backwards to get context for a miserable beginning (end) lol. And another thing that’s interesting about the structure is that Frank *can* be sympathized with at the end mostly because you end where he began, and you’re following him to how awkward and earnest he was as a person (rather than if it were a linear narrative, it’d be easier to dismiss his present self as a dumbass bastard) (which he is lol). What’s the phenomena about the first thing and the last thing is what’s most memorable. Ah, whatever, you get it. Anyway yeah all his problems are his own fault, though they weren’t helped by gussie. bro you could’ve compromised a *little* for money without compromising uhhhhh Every Single Person Who Was Ever Important To You. literally every step of the way had someone going like woah there hang on, stop, plowing ahead,