Guys & Dolls
May. 12th, 2014 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerA while back I won a pair of tickets to Guys & Dolls in a raffle - it occurs to me that the only more appropriate way to acquire tickets to Guys and Dolls would be a craps game - and I enjoyed the stage production so much that I also watched the movie version with my mom, although frankly I don't think the movie was as good. Who decided to cast Marlon Brando as Sky Masterson? Brando has many fine qualities, but he also has the vocal range of a platypus.
The actors didn't really hit the comic timing in the movie, either. They made the dialogue sound stilted rather than stylized, and they skimmed right through a lot of the lines that ought to have been funny without allowing time for a laugh.
Still, it's a fun musical. I have the same feeling about this that I often have about mid-century musicals, viz., "The music is so catchy! The dancing is so athletic! It looks like they're all having so much fun! But damn, that marriage is going to last for about two weeks."
What am I saying, I think this might apply to all musicals. I rarely root for any of the romances to work out, because the partners always seem so ill-suited (because, in particular, the dolls always seem far too good for their guys) - Kiss Me Kate, Oklahoma, Miss Saigon - ARGH MISS SAIGON, I found the whole story immensely frustrating. Why would you separate right before the evacuation, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? Why does she shoot herself? WHY IS ANY OF THIS HAPPENING?
(On the other hand, I was way into Lieutenant Joe Cable and Liat when I saw South Pacific when I was eleven. I was shocked and appalled with Cable died, because I was not yet well-versed enough in the ways of war movies to know that the secondary romantic lead always dies. But then, I didn't care for Nellie and Emile - WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE SECRETLY A MURDERER? - I was not big on nuance when I was eleven - which is yet another tick in the "musical romances are not for me" box.)
I particularly feel this way about Sarah Brown, sergeant of the Save-a-Soul mission, and Sky Masterson, high-flying gambler - particularly because the stage production ended with sky in the Save-a-Soul uniform, because he converted in order to wed Sarah his lady love. How long can that last? How swiftly will he return to his gambling ways? But even worse! Does the Save-a-Soul mission even allow divorce? Will Sarah be tied to Sky forever????
Maybe they will decide to open a mission in a war zone somewhere, and Sky can get his adrenaline rush from getting shot at and won't need to gamble anymore?
The actors didn't really hit the comic timing in the movie, either. They made the dialogue sound stilted rather than stylized, and they skimmed right through a lot of the lines that ought to have been funny without allowing time for a laugh.
Still, it's a fun musical. I have the same feeling about this that I often have about mid-century musicals, viz., "The music is so catchy! The dancing is so athletic! It looks like they're all having so much fun! But damn, that marriage is going to last for about two weeks."
What am I saying, I think this might apply to all musicals. I rarely root for any of the romances to work out, because the partners always seem so ill-suited (because, in particular, the dolls always seem far too good for their guys) - Kiss Me Kate, Oklahoma, Miss Saigon - ARGH MISS SAIGON, I found the whole story immensely frustrating. Why would you separate right before the evacuation, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? Why does she shoot herself? WHY IS ANY OF THIS HAPPENING?
(On the other hand, I was way into Lieutenant Joe Cable and Liat when I saw South Pacific when I was eleven. I was shocked and appalled with Cable died, because I was not yet well-versed enough in the ways of war movies to know that the secondary romantic lead always dies. But then, I didn't care for Nellie and Emile - WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE SECRETLY A MURDERER? - I was not big on nuance when I was eleven - which is yet another tick in the "musical romances are not for me" box.)
I particularly feel this way about Sarah Brown, sergeant of the Save-a-Soul mission, and Sky Masterson, high-flying gambler - particularly because the stage production ended with sky in the Save-a-Soul uniform, because he converted in order to wed Sarah his lady love. How long can that last? How swiftly will he return to his gambling ways? But even worse! Does the Save-a-Soul mission even allow divorce? Will Sarah be tied to Sky forever????
Maybe they will decide to open a mission in a war zone somewhere, and Sky can get his adrenaline rush from getting shot at and won't need to gamble anymore?
no subject
Date: 2014-05-13 01:52 pm (UTC)But damn, that marriage is going to last for about two weeks.
Yes but I would totally watch those two disastrous weeks unfold if set to catchy song and dance.
no subject
Date: 2014-05-13 06:57 pm (UTC)If the two disastrous weeks of marriage took place during a musical, you know it would end with them getting back together at the end. They would be like, "Sure, our honeymoon was a disaster and we are personally incompatible in every way except that we can sing duets like no tomorrow... But surely we can build a marriage on duets!"