lolipastor@a... wrote:
lolipastor@a... wrote:
> In an opera workshop class a few years ago, a friend of mine did the funniest
> thing EVER with "Johanna". We were supposed to choose a musical theatre song
> and then we found out that our assignment was to take it completely away from
> the context of the show, write a monologue to precede it, and then perform
> the song, staged with your new concept in mind... well his was so freaky. He
> played a stalker who would watch his neighbor, Johanna, through the
> window...the monologue was him calling her and saying freaky things like,
> "Hello, Johanna... I can see you in your pretty red dress...." hahahaha, he
> played it SO slimy and gross. Just imagine the lyrics to that song now...
> they take on a whole new meaning... "I see you, Johanna..."
Actually, that's not that strange an interpretation.
Written for the show, but not always performed (but
performed in the version just aired on PBS), is another song
called Johanna, sung by Judge Turpin, which is overtly
voyeuristic and, I think, the most disturbing and creepiest
song and character ever written for a Broadway musical.
(Jud Fry in Oklahoma comes a close second, though R&H only
gave him creepy/voyeuristic dialogue. His two songs are
comic and sympathetic respectively.)
In the show, Judge Turpin observes the young sailor staring
at Johanna in her window, and then buying/giving her a
canary bird, which is Turpin's reason to lock her away and
decide to marry her himself. Turpin's thought process is
shown in the Judge's Johanna. A VERY creepy takeoff on the
conventional commedia dell'arte/opera buffa plot device of
the old guy attempting to marry his young ward, e.g., the
plot of The Barber of Seville.
Peggy
--
Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
"Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile"
mailto:peggyh@i...
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