The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
TRiceFan
Swing Joined: 7/5/10
#1The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/28/11 at 11:07pm
Mr. Sondheim has often done much with musicals where nothing is happening. Follies and Company, nothing really happen much. Second half of Sunday? Nothing happens. In "Sondheim: Enlarged and Updated", it talked about how he drove himself crazy writing Lesson 8 and Children and Art. What shows can you think of where nothing happens?
I'm not saying horrid books, im saying when there's no story.
I chose and my world was shaken, so what? The choice my have been mistaken, the choosing was not, you have to move on - Fav. Sondheim Lyric
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
#2The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 12:07amMy Fair Lady
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
#3The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 12:07am
You are greatly mistaken if you do not believe much happens in COMPANY, FOLLIES, and the second act of SUNDAY. While these musicals do not follow linear plots, the complex characters in them still grow, change, and learn.
Updated On: 1/29/11 at 12:07 AM
HummingAlong
Stand-by Joined: 12/22/10
#4The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 12:43am
i guess that's the danger of the question...there's a gigantic difference between plot and story. a plot can be relatively stark and tell a beautiful, full story, or conversely it can be very full and tell hardly any story at all.
I would offer that nothing much happens in Company PLOTwise...that much, I think, is true. Summary of show? People come over. And sing. About relationships. (I tried to make it long...) I guess I'm looking to you for the growth aspect that you speak of, and how you think he's learned/changed at the end of the show. I never felt any sort of cathartic response to the show, but I can be blind to obscure messages at times.
What, in your opinion, is the full, "happening" story of Company? (This shouldn't be read as a challenge. I'm interested in your opinion!)
Updated On: 1/29/11 at 12:43 AM
#5The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 12:56am^ I'll let Emcee take on that one. FOLLIES is more my forte than COMPANY.
#6The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 1:01am
I'm not here to argue either point, but COMPANY is widely known to be the first 'Concept Musical' so while much may not 'happen' the show has a lot to say.
I would argue that much does happen though.
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
vlegra
Stand-by Joined: 11/7/07
HummingAlong
Stand-by Joined: 12/22/10
#8The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 1:12am
plot-wise, idina? from a book writing standpoint, I guess I don't understand that.
But from a story standpoint, educate me! It's been years since I've seen it. I remember loving people playing their own instruments, and certain songs broaching interesting concepts, giving me more to think about. But in terms of what I walk away with, it still just feels like snippets of things, not one cohesive thing. Maybe it just doesn't strike the same emotional chord with me, but I don't feel like I walk away with the realization that Marriage is good or marriage is awful or it's better to be alone or relationships mean nothing or are everything...(not to say that the message would have to be so black or white...)
Anyhow, looking forward to hearing more thoughts on it!
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
#9The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 1:16amDrowsy Chaperone: Man listens to record
Q
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/3/05
#10The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 2:23amDid someone really say MY FAIR LADY?
#11The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 2:41am
COMPANY:
Bobby is turning 35.
Bobby wishes he could meet someone he wanted to marry, but everyone is a neurotic douchebag, including him.
Curtain.
(ETA - for the record, I love Company.)
And no one grew into anything new, we just became the worst of what we were."
Updated On: 1/29/11 at 02:41 AM
#12The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 3:13amThere's a lot of stuff happening in Song & Dance. Emma dates several guys, moves to LA, gets her green card, she gets dumped, etc, etc.
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
dex
Swing Joined: 10/25/10
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#15The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 8:40amBrooklyn: street musicians beg you for money.
#16The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 8:58amCOMPANY follows a circular plot structure rather than a linear one. The story is Bobby coming to terms with what he wants out of a relationship.
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
#17The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 9:07amI'm sure this will be contested, because it's technically not 'nothing,' but 'Caroline, Or Change,' seems largely an internal sort of monologue until the conclusion of the second act. Of course things do happen- since the show's structure isn't as 'circular' as Company's, but the much of what Caroline seems to be dealing with during the show is a state of stasis, and so when action finally is taken in the end, it's all the more resounding.
"Are you sorry for civilization? I am sorry for it too." ~Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck
theminutepast
Broadway Star Joined: 2/1/06
#18The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 9:36amThe first act of La Cage has a slow plot. After the son tells Georges that he will be married and doesn't want Albin there, Georges has to tell Albin. That's it. But there is a lot of character exploration and discussion of the past. Still, it felt slow.
sally1112
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/13/04
#19The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 11:41am
@ Dex- I agree completely with Cats.
It was one of the first musicals I saw as a kid, and I did not "get it" at all. Luckily the second show I saw was a tour of Evita, and my love of musicals began....
#20The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 12:42pm
Wow, I knew I shouldn't haven't opened this thread. Or at least, not first think upon waking up.
As many said previously, most of these mentioned shows are rich in happenings, just not the linear kind.
I'd wager to say more happens in Company and Follies than the lot of linear musicals being slogged out today.
"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#21The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 12:52pmNothing Really Happened in "Is There Life After High School?"
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#22The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 1:39pmWe don't agree politically, Goth, but that was pretty clever.
Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.
#23The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 1:46pm
Most revue-type musicals, the most Bway example being Sondheim on Sondheim, don't really tell a story.
The Drowsy Chaperone was a great example -- the main character (Man in Chair) doesn't really go through any kind of evolution during the course of the show. He's the same person in the same situation at the beginning of the show and at the end of the show. I'm having trouble thinking of another non-revue musical in which the protagonist does not undergo any change during the show (whether internally or in his or her circumstances).
"What was the name of that cheese that I like?"
"you can't run away forever...but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start"
"well I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart"
JP2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/2/07
#24The Musicals where NOTHING happens!
Posted: 1/29/11 at 1:49pmAmerican Idiot is the only show that immediately pops into my mind.
