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sophia_sol) wrote2014-11-08 07:07 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2014-11-08 07:07 pm
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Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812
Okay so I got my cd of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 in the mail a while ago and then I...didn't listen to it. Because I was worried! Worried that either I would not love it as much as I thought I would, or that I would love it too much and get overtaken into new fannish feeling about a musical that almost none of fandom has heard of.
Today I had some mindless work I had to do with my hands so I thought, OKAY SELF NOW IS THE PERFECT TIME so I finally sat down and listened to it. (with the lyric booklet in front of me so I could see who was saying what - very important!)
And I do love it a lot! But not in a dangerously overinvested way! (I THINK/HOPE)
Here are some of my feels:
1. ALL THE FEELS FOR NATASHA, ohhhhh Natasha bb all the hugs. I like that the musical doesn't condemn her for what happened.
2. Pierre shut up. I just. Why was the ending of the musical all about his personal growth? THE MUSICAL IS NOT ABOUT YOU PIERRE, or at least it SHOULDN'T be, the main story of the musical has very little to do with him. It's about NATASHA. Shouldn't Natasha get more focus as to how she's grown and changed as a result of these experiences? Instead of us just seeing her from Pierre's eyes when he comes to visit her at the end? Wiki says that Pierre is War & Peace's main character and something of an author stand-in. And I gather that in The Great Comet Pierre is played by the writer of the musical soooo also something of an author stand-in I am guessing. DUDE YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE THE CENTER.
3. But all the other characters who are not Pierre, I AM THERE FOR THEM. Like with each new song that gave more focus on one character or another I was like UNEXPECTED FEELS. Especially Mary. And Sonya. MY SHIP FOR THIS MUSICAL: Mary-Sonya-Natasha friendship times because uggghhhhh Sonya's sad friendship song!!! and Mary's lonely life taking care of her ungrateful father, and how awkward she and Natasha are with each other!
4. Of course some of my unexpected feels are of the "YOU ARE THE WORST" variety, eg Anatole.
5. I want to know more about Helene? She's kind of a cipher! And I want to know what's going on in her head and why she does the things she does and stuff.
6. (BASICALLY CAN I JUST TURN THIS MUSICAL INTO CRANFORD YES GOOD THANKS. Sometimes I feel like that's my wish for all stories: get rid of the dudes and the romances and make it about complicated and interesting lady friendships the end. Maaaaaaaybe I would get bored of this eventually BUT IN THE MEANTIME THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH STORIES LIKE THAT)
7. Another complaint: the use of slurs like "slut" and "gypsy". Yes, it looks like from ctrl-f-ing the gutenberg War & Peace that the references to gypsies are taken from the book, but even so did they have to make their modern production use a word that is painful and insulting to a group of people? And the use of "slut" has no excuse.
8. This musical does not sound like a traditional musical. The songs are mostly not what one would call catchy, the lyrics mostly don't rhyme, and it keeps on doing third-person narration bits from the characters themselves. But I really rather enjoyed these things.
9. In conclusion: a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I will definitely be relistening a bunch. As soon as I get around to transferring the files to my phone, at least........
Today I had some mindless work I had to do with my hands so I thought, OKAY SELF NOW IS THE PERFECT TIME so I finally sat down and listened to it. (with the lyric booklet in front of me so I could see who was saying what - very important!)
And I do love it a lot! But not in a dangerously overinvested way! (I THINK/HOPE)
Here are some of my feels:
1. ALL THE FEELS FOR NATASHA, ohhhhh Natasha bb all the hugs. I like that the musical doesn't condemn her for what happened.
2. Pierre shut up. I just. Why was the ending of the musical all about his personal growth? THE MUSICAL IS NOT ABOUT YOU PIERRE, or at least it SHOULDN'T be, the main story of the musical has very little to do with him. It's about NATASHA. Shouldn't Natasha get more focus as to how she's grown and changed as a result of these experiences? Instead of us just seeing her from Pierre's eyes when he comes to visit her at the end? Wiki says that Pierre is War & Peace's main character and something of an author stand-in. And I gather that in The Great Comet Pierre is played by the writer of the musical soooo also something of an author stand-in I am guessing. DUDE YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE THE CENTER.
3. But all the other characters who are not Pierre, I AM THERE FOR THEM. Like with each new song that gave more focus on one character or another I was like UNEXPECTED FEELS. Especially Mary. And Sonya. MY SHIP FOR THIS MUSICAL: Mary-Sonya-Natasha friendship times because uggghhhhh Sonya's sad friendship song!!! and Mary's lonely life taking care of her ungrateful father, and how awkward she and Natasha are with each other!
4. Of course some of my unexpected feels are of the "YOU ARE THE WORST" variety, eg Anatole.
5. I want to know more about Helene? She's kind of a cipher! And I want to know what's going on in her head and why she does the things she does and stuff.
6. (BASICALLY CAN I JUST TURN THIS MUSICAL INTO CRANFORD YES GOOD THANKS. Sometimes I feel like that's my wish for all stories: get rid of the dudes and the romances and make it about complicated and interesting lady friendships the end. Maaaaaaaybe I would get bored of this eventually BUT IN THE MEANTIME THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH STORIES LIKE THAT)
7. Another complaint: the use of slurs like "slut" and "gypsy". Yes, it looks like from ctrl-f-ing the gutenberg War & Peace that the references to gypsies are taken from the book, but even so did they have to make their modern production use a word that is painful and insulting to a group of people? And the use of "slut" has no excuse.
8. This musical does not sound like a traditional musical. The songs are mostly not what one would call catchy, the lyrics mostly don't rhyme, and it keeps on doing third-person narration bits from the characters themselves. But I really rather enjoyed these things.
9. In conclusion: a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I will definitely be relistening a bunch. As soon as I get around to transferring the files to my phone, at least........