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AN EXCITING MUSICAL EXPERIENCE Review by: Beth M, Nov 5, 2007 |
“MAKE ME A SONG: The Music of William Finn” By Beth Mandelbaum
“MAKE ME A SONG” is a high impact emotional workout. I consider it an absolute must for everyone who loves musical theater and many, many others as well.
“MAKE ME A SONG” is a gorgeous kaleidoscope of about 20 individual songs and some musical vignettes from a number of William Finn’s most well known musicals and from a newer project yet to be produced. ... read more It should prove to be an extremely exciting experience for those who are familiar with Finn’s work and a wonderful exposure for others. And my own knowledge of William Finn has been greatly enhanced by seeing this show.
It is filled with wonderful material about interpersonal relationships, often within families, and love relationships between women and men, and between men and men. It also powerfully examines with the realities of illness, death and loss.
I imagine that many people, when they think of William Finn, will think of his current, long running Tony Award winning “The 25th Putnam County Spelling Bee,” songs from which are not represented in this show. “Spelling Bee” tells the story, as most may know, through individual songs sung by the contestants, of a group of extraordinarily bright and gifted children (actually played by adults) who are competing in a very important regional spelling bee, the winner of which will go on to Washington to I imagine, a national competition.
To me, Finn writes brilliant music which is deeply heartfelt; extremely clever, very moving, sometimes funny, quirky, and often sad, haunting, and sometimes heart wrenching. His works are truly songs of human experience, a phrase that I would use to characterize all of Finn’s compositions. Finn is one of the remarkable composers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Though in some significant ways, the songs from “Spelling Bee” seem to have a somewhat different flavor that those in “MAKE ME A SONG.” The songs of “Spelling Bee” have a kind of innocence reflective of songs expressing the thoughts and feelings of children, albeit highly sophisticated ones. Those who have seen “Spelling Bee” or have listened to its music will probably find “MAKE ME A SONG” to be a quite different kind of experience, as its songs, for the most part, go into territory that, I imagine, most children will not encounter until they are older.
The songs in “MAKE ME A SONG” express life experiences that are extremely sophisticated; sometimes surprising; often hilarious; sometimes tragic. The songs have been chosen from a variety of William Finn’s musicals, but the production draws especially from Finn’s extremely well-know and extraordinarily well praised “Falsettos” cycle, (sometimes referred to as the “Marvin” cycle), which includes the “March of The Falsettos” and “Falsettoland;” “A New Brain;” “Elegies: A Song Cycle;” and “The Royal Family of Broadway,” which is a project for a future time.
Among the themes of the songs presented are: memories of family gatherings long since past along with somber remembrances of so many family members no longer living (“Passover”); tributes to Broadway; serious illness, with family and friends struggling to cope; a few hilarious vignettes called “Republicans”; a homeless woman asking for change—nickels and dimes, but also social change (“Change”); a favorite song of Finn’s in which his college-age self is thanking the community at his school for their support, “for the most part” (“You’re even Better Than You Think You Are”); a mother talking to her unborn child to whom she refuses to give birth until the world becomes a better place (“That’s Enough for Me”); a gorgeous song sung by a man to his lover (who I know, from listening to “A New Brain,” is actually inside an MRI machine!) called “I’d Rather Be Sailing;” to me, one of the most powerfully moving pieces in this show called “Anytime (I Am There)” is a song in which a dying mother tells |
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My recommendation:
Make an effort to see
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I saw this show with:
Spouse/Partner
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Recommended for:
Adults
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