lovett1979

For me, it started a few minutes after 6:30, but opened with a montage and intro from Julianne Haugh and Skylar Astin.

Now that the season is over, I have to say that I really hated all the time jumping and think it made the season overly complicated and confusing. I realize that they wanted Midge's big "4 minute" break to be the finale and also to show us what the rest of her life was like, but I think they should have made a choice between those two things. Either have the show go chronologically the way the previous seasons did and end with that night and include an epilogue saying how successful she and Suzie became OR put that night in the middle of the season and then time hop through the rest of her life (but in order) and end with her and Susie watching Jeopardy. What was the point of the daughter's therapy session (and then we never saw her again), or most of the stories told about Susie during her roast (time jumping within time jumping), or literally anything about her kids (the boy is stupid, Abe is concerned/disappointed; the girl is a genius, Abe's misogyny is challenged; the boy is sleeping in the hallway (?), etc).

Yes, it was absolutely the end of Pippin, the underscoring matched it as well. (with a little bit of Company thrown in as well)

I too was hoping that she would turn out to be the wife/mom. In Sweeney, The Beggar Woman is the only character that doesn't seem to be involved in the plot until the discovery at the end. Likewise, as much fun as it is to have a drunk lady quoting Company in the background, she's the only character that isn't really involved in any of the plots. Making her Daisy would have been much better story-telling AND a better reference to the source material.

Alan Cumming is the guest on Randy Rainbow's podcast this week. Their conversation was recorded a few months ago, though, so no real discussion of the contents of the show. However, Alan told a story about running into Sutton Foster and telling her about the name-check in episode 1. For some reason, I find that so charming.

And I'm the opposite! I realize/assume it's JCS because of the bass guitar (and lack of lyric or melodic interest) but I don't know the specific references. But I can show you note-for-note how Dooley's music is derived from Sweeney Todd.

I want to alert everyone to a great channel on YouTube that is doing fantastic breakdowns of each episode, Broadway By Ghostlight. Here's his breakdown of Episode 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOyC0tzKv08. I highly recommend watching this, and the previous episodes as well. He even has interviews with the choreographer of the series breaking down every dance move and reference. Two things that we've been discussing are given further detail and/or confirmation in his breakdown. First, Melissa's clothes ARE based on Barbra's costumes from Funny Girl and On a Clear Day, confirmed by Cinco Paul. Also, "Something Real" (the love duet) was actually written by Paul many years ago. He acknowledges that it is in the style of Stephen Schwartz but it wasn't written as an attempt to directly parody "Love Song" so that is why it's not as similar melodically or rhythmically to its inspiration as most of the other songs in this series. I apologize for the hour+ you all are about to lose watching these YouTube videos.

The orchestration is very similar with a pulsing repeated chord and slow-moving melodic cello line. The voice parts, which start very soft and in unison, begin with an eight note on beat one followed by a longer note on the and of the beat that is significantly higher (Perfect 4th in Schmigadoon, Major 6th in Sunday). Also, on the lyrics "see ourselves through others' eyes" there is a dissonance in the orchestra reminiscent of what happens during "let us pass through our perfect park" and while "trees" is being held in Sunday. Regarding Sweeney's victims, at first he just wanted to kill the Judge and the Beadle, who had directly wronged him. But when he missed his chance at the Judge, he decides that all of humanity deserves to die. His targets, though, are only those who come for a shave/haircut so it's only grown men he has access to. And he is careful to only kill those with no family so nobody will notice that they've gone missing. So I guess they are "orphans" but not children, lol. I doubt Schmicago will actually have them go through with this plan because child-murder, even in a musical fantasy TV show, is a bit dark. But it's hilarious to hear Alan and Kristin sing about it. I wish the writers had come up with a better reason for Melissa to not be as familiar with 60s/70s musicals than that she had been traumatized at Sweeney Todd (I think they just wanted to get that blood spatter gag in) because she should have "recognized" Dooley and his story and what he was capable of better if that was the ONE show she had seen. (I like someone's idea upthread that she sees him as Mayor Menlove and that's why she doesn't see the danger) It could have been that she was raised in a conservative/religious/uptight family and those shows were "inappropriate" for her to see so she never got to.

It was vaguely referencing Love Song from Pippin, but not quite as similar to it as other songs this season have been to their inspirations. On the whole, it was more standard 70s love ballad, but there were some licks in the orchestration that were definitely lifted from Love Song. It's a good thing I still wear a mask on the subway, otherwise people this morning would have been wondering why I was grinning like an idiot as I sensed the "Little Priest" moment coming, watching on my phone during my commute.

This show is such a delight for us theatre geeks. In the opening shots of the stores in Schmicago, we saw references to Sondheim, Schwartz, and Ebb, all of whom have already been represented in the musical references so far. But there was also "Herman's Hummable Tunes" which is not just a reference to Jerry Herman (whose work we have yet to see used in the show, but Hello Dolly and Mame could fit the time period) but to his (in my opinion) atrocious Tony acceptance speech in 1984. His score for La Cage aux Folles won over Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George. Accepting the award, he said “This award forever shatters a myth about the musical theater. There’s been a rumor around for a couple of years that the simple, hummable show tune was no longer welcome on Broadway. Well, it’s alive and well at the Palace.” This was clearly a dig at Sondheim, even though Herman denies this. Speaking of Sondheim, the parodies of Worst Pies in London (2 of them!), Barber and His Wife, Epiphany, and Getting Married Today were amazing. And Kratt's Jesus Christ Superstar number (sorry, I don't know that show well enough to specify) had moments of Judge Turpin's Johanna in the staging.

Loving the new season. Aaron Tveit's character is giving Pippin (his song was a take-off on Corner of the Sky) and Godspell (he's in jail for "peddling parables with no clear takeaways" which is basically the entirety of Godspell, also his name is Topher, which is short for Christopher, which is a derivation of Christ). I haven't seen anyone mention it yet, but the names of the ladies doing the Hey Big Spender number are the orphans from Annie, lol.

I am so happy that "A Strange Loop" won Best Musical. "Six" seems like a lot of fun but maybe not a full "musical"? (I haven't seen it yet because tix are expensive), but ASL is revolutionary. I don't know if their performance on the show last night sold it well, but they don't have a lot of TV-friendly numbers to choose from. As the song said, it's a "big, Black, and Queer-ass American Broadway show." It's about a fat, black, gay man trying to exist in a world where gays are racist, Blacks are homophobic, and everyone hates fat people. There is no "plot" per-se, it's more an exploration of Usher's subconscious as he tries to navigate those conflicting worlds/identities. It's a concept musical, not unlike Best Revival-winner Company. I don't know that I would say it's "perfect" but it is coming from a voice never-before-heard on Broadway and is revolutionary in many ways. I would recommend everyone to see it, UNLESS you are easily offended by language (the N-word is thrown around a LOT, in the common way it is used in the Black community) or discussions/depictions of sexuality. Both of these aspects are somewhat shocking, and only you know if you can handle that.

Not original cast

She is not good. That's why she didn't get nominated.

It is remarkable that L Morgan Lee is the first openly trans person nominated. Patti gave a superior performance (in the opinion of the voters). Both of these things can be true.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who is less-than-enthralled by her. She was cast in, like, every musical project last year and I just...don't...get it.

If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend Heartstopper on Netflix. It reminds me of the David/Patrick storyline from Schitt's Creek and I think anyone who enjoys one would enjoy the other. It's only 8 episodes so far!

They are random in that at any point in HIS life, he might jump back to see her as a child. But, he gives her a list of dates of all the times they will meet between their first meeting and the library meeting. (you have to accept the time loop that he gave her the dates that he memorized after seeing them on the list that he dictated to her) So she know when he will be there and is waiting. Or leaves a note because she decides to go to a party instead. In the first episode, she says she knows she's his wife because "he told her", which seemed inappropriate. Then in this episode he repeatedly lies to her that she's not, even though the clues she's piecing together are pretty convincing. I'm glad to see that his intention was to never tell her and it only slipped out because of the argument with the rapist. When he returns back to future Claire, I wish they had had a more emotional connecting about what had just happened (for him). He finally knows an almost-truth (he knows she was assaulted, if not raped) about his wife that he had never known before. You'd think that revelation, or their shared experience of that night, would be something to commiserate about, rather than the marker.

I'm really enjoying this show. I never read the book or saw the movie so I'm a complete noob. I love Theo James and think his chemistry with Rose Leslie is great. The whole "grooming" thing is a little odd. It's not that he's inappropriate or sexual with young Claire, but, as she says, their interactions formed her erotic and romantic imagination around him, so when they were finally at appropriate ages, of course she was going to be drawn to him. It's a little icky, but I'm trying to ignore it because they are hot together, and the story is compelling. I have a question about his scar. In the first episode, I thought it was saying that the scar was from her throwing her shoe it him? But now it seems the scar is from the car accident. BUT, in the scene at the museum, which was after the accident (this young Henry knows about the accident and tries to warn his mom) he doesn't have the scar. Can anyone help clarify? I also don't entirely understand her timeline between their first meet and the meet at the library. They meet when she's a kid, he gives her a list of over 100 dates, she crosses them off as they happen. But when they meet at the library, she seems surprised (so it wasn't on the list?) and also reacts like she hasn't seen him in a long time. Was there a gap between the dates on the list and this meeting? Did he never travel to her during her teenage years? It's his first time meeting her, but why does it seem like such a momentous occasion to her? Silly side note, but it's very distracting to me that this was filmed mostly in NYC but they're trying to pass it off as Chicago. I live in NYC, I know many of those locations, I actually remember seeing "no parking" signs near my office because they were filming the show. Why not just set it in NY? Because that, my friends, was not the Art Institute of Chicago. That's the Brooklyn Museum with a print of "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" put up on the wall.

Your analysis of this episode is really spot-on, but I wanted to highlight and thank you for this part. That is a really great observation, and great advice for dealing with touchy subjects in a productive way. Thank you.

I just checked both scenes, the hallway on Instagram in Ep 2 is not the same hallway to the locker room. But it's probably a different hallway from the school. My interpretation of Nick's "vision" is that he is realizing how hard Charlie's life has been. And he feels like he just wants to protect him from all that (the way he protected him from Ben, which was the last thing we saw and what his DMs are about). I don't think Nick even knew who Charlie was before they met in Ep 1. I personally find it easier to type and/or read on my laptop vs the phone, so it could just be that? Though also, I suppose someone could snatch his phone and see the history whereas the computer probably stays at home and is thus more secure.

I'm currently almost done with my second time through the series, and I've also become addicted to YouTubes of other people watching the series for the first time and reacting. There's something I haven't heard any of them mention, and something that isn't articulated in the series that I feel is important. Tao feels betrayed that he's the last to know about Charlie's relationship with Nick. And that's valid, and maybe Charlie was holding back on telling him because of the tension in their relationship. BUT Charlie actually didn't tell anyone else either. Isaac found out because he walked in on them in the nurse's office after the rugby match. Tara and Darcy found out because NICK told them. Elle found out because NICK told her. Charlie is respecting Nick's coming out process and closet by not telling his friends. Nick chose to tell some of them, when HE felt comfortable. Maybe after the milkshake date, Charlie should have asked Nick if it was ok to tell Tao? But I feel that Charlie is getting a lot of blame for something that was most likely rooted in respect for Nick, and not because his friendship with Tao was strained.

Yup, that sounds like the American homeroom class.

I believe that's a common thing for Brits when they text or write internet comments. It doesn't mean kiss like Americans would use it. It's more just a friendly sign-off. https://britainexplained.com/what-that-x-means-on-messages/

What a sweet show! I hope they get another season. Tao and Elle need to get together. And, as much as I don't want things to end for Charlie and Nick, I would love to see out, bisexual Nick date a girl. Did anyone else feel that Charlie and Nick's story matches up, almost beat-for-beat, with David and Patrick on Schitt's Creek? I'm not complaining, that's one of my favorite love stories of all time.