How Carousel's "Bench Scene" revolutionized musical theatre

there is a single scene in rogers and hammerstein's 1945 musical carousel that forever changed musical theater and musical theater conventions it is the infamous bench scene as stephen sondheim said probably the singular most important moment in the evolution of contemporary musicals let's review the way plots unfolded in the stereotypical musical comedy of the 20s and 30s to kick off the love plot a boy and a girl would meet maybe even in a park with a bench at first they'd flirt the girl would be standoffish then the boy would woo her with a song often leading into a dance and the audience would go aw don't they make a nice couple applause applause applause then they'd disappear for a scene or two before their romance progressed while in this scene for these 12 minutes dialogue and song weave seamlessly in and out and while previously songs meant to serve a single message gosh that lady is a oh yes she is let me sing you a song listening all the ways she's a i never bothered with people that i hate that's why this chick is a well in this scene there is a clear and deep progression of story the music itself is glorious and beautiful the aesthetics and symbolism very pleasing the characters so well-rounded and vulnerable for the third scene of carousel their dramatic challenge would seem simple enough how to make the two lead characters a quirky independent-minded millworker named julie jordan and billy bigelow a barker at the local carousel who is a self-assured egocentric blowhard fall in love with each other but these were complex characters with nuanced defenses reservations in other words mature personalities julie and billy couldn't just proclaim some sort of adolescent unbridled affection for each other simply to move the plot forward they were longing to tell each other their deepest feelings but they were also as hammerstein eventually put it afraid and shy like in many of musicals they can't quite say they love each other and the entire process the whole story is about coming to a point where they can actually say that it's always if i loved you it's always conditional they never really come out and say and just all of it makes it one of the finest crafted scenes in musical theater history the rest of this video we will watch the bench scene along with the score commentary at the top will come from a companion article written by lawrence maslin the whole article is beautiful and fascinating and worth the read it can be found on the official rogers and hammerstein's website and the link is in the description well and then what happened huh you were telling me about that girl from coney island oh right uh yeah so um one night i'm putting the lights out on the carousel see and this girl say tell me something ain't you scared of me i mean after what that cop said about me taking money from girls i ain't scared that your name julie julie something julie jordan [Music] [Music] you couldn't take my money if i didn't have any and i don't have a penny that's true and if i did have money you couldn't take any cause you'd ask and i'd give it to you [Music] julie jordan have you ever had a fellow you give money to ever had a fellow at all no you must have had a fella you weren't working with where'd you walk nowhere special i no on the beach no did you love him no i never left nobody i told you that you're a funny kid say you want to go into town and uh dance maybe or no i have to be careful of what of my character you see i'm never gonna marry i'm never gonna marry if i was gonna marry i wouldn't have to be such a stickler but i'm never gonna marry and a girl who don't marry has got to be much more particular what if i was to say i'd marry you you scares you don't it you're thinking about what that cop said no i ain't i never paid no mind to what he said yeah but you wouldn't marry anyone like me would you yes i would if i loved you it would make no difference what you well even if i died for it how do you know what you do if you loved me or how you'd feel or anything i don't know how i'd know ah just the same i know how i how it'd be if i loved you [Music] when i worked in the mill weaving at the loom i gaze absent-minded at the roof and half the time the shuttle the tangle in the thread and the warp it get mixed with you but you don't no i don't but somehow i can see just [Music] exactly if i loved you time and again i would try to say [Music] if i loved you words wouldn't come in an easy way [Music] round in circles i [Music] my golden chances [Music] oh he would go in the midst of day never never [Music] [Music] [Applause] here but you don't love me it's what you said wasn't it yes oh [Music] i can smell them can you the blossoms the wind brings them down ain't much wind tonight hardly any you can't hear a sound not the turn of a leaf or the fall of a wave in the sand the tides creeping up on the beach like a thief afraid to be caught still in the land on a night like this i start to wonder what life is [Music] and i always say two heads are better than one to figure it out i don't need you or anyone to help me i gotta figure it out for myself we ain't important what are we a couple of specks or nothing look up there there's a hell of a lot of stars in the sky and the skies so big the sea looks small and two little people you and i need oh [Music] you're a funny kid don't remember ever meeting a girl like you you you trying to get me to marry you no and what's putting it into my head you're different all right i don't know what it is but you look up at me with that that little kid face like you trusted me i wonder what it'd be like what nothing i know what it'd be like it'd be awful i can just see myself kind of scrawny and pale picking at my food and love sick like any other guy i'd throw away my sweater and dress up like a dude in a dicky and a collar and a tie if i love you but you don't no i don't but somehow i can see just exactly how i'd be if i loved you time and again i would try to say [Music] if i loved you words wouldn't come in an easy [Music] way [Music] i let my golden trances pass me by soon you'd leave [Music] and you never [Music] would [Music] if i love you [Music] i'm not a fella to ever get married even if a girl was foolish enough to want me to i wouldn't don't worry about it really who's worried you're right about there being no wind tonight the blossoms are just coming down by themselves just their time to i reckon [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: Into the Hoods

Views: 1,180

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 6KY8NbvzoUw

Length: 15min 24sec (924 seconds)

Published: Mon May 03 2021