:: jane eyre. the amazingest musical* ::

(*caveat: the amazingest musical since the other really good ones. like especially not better than phantom or les mis or even joseph, so just remember that I love it, but not that much.)

my sister just turned sixteen! sixteen -- wow. she's almost a grownup. maybe soon she'll start acting like one.

ha ha. I love you, jess :)

for her birthday, my current favorite friend amanda gave us her the 'jane eyre' musical soundtrack and we've spent good hours and a half listening through it. dude, if you've never listened to it, go do it, like, now. it's fantastic.

somehow they express, through a combination of words and music, the story of jane eyre as it was, is, and always will be -- like, this is what I would have made it, could I have made it. remember our a tree grows in brooklyn concept? if ATGIB were jane eyre, and we made it into a musical, it would be this; and I solemnly swear -- my love will endure --

no, no, without bursting into song, I mean it.
   forget the "not bursting into song" part. I'm thrilled. I'm enchanted. enraptured! excited! gratified. tickled. and now you're invited: be charmed! be disarmed! …'jane eyre'. I'm delighted!!

they put all the right imagery in there. example: the chestnut tree, struck in two by lightning. whoop whoop. they make use of brilliant foreshadowing in the lyrics. take "I hear your cherished voice across the moorland skies" -- literally occurring later on in their relationship. a few lines later,

and I wash my hands
of every evil crime
defy them all
God will give me time
and you will lead me blind

and we all know she does!
   nor could I fail to mention just how many times they directly paraphrase -- or even quote -- the book. "if I had a string under my ribs, knotted to you, connecting our frames…" "then, as the days went along, like it or not I was not as depressed; and soon after that, we were finally blessed with little adele!" "she was my flame, my gallic sylph." "your logic's fading by the hour, and to no avail, jane! poor, blind puppy!"

"and when our firstborn was placed into his arms, he could see that the boy had inherited his own eyes: large, brilliant, and black."

and I quote!

the music, as far as it goes in the context of musicals, is also fantastic. varied styles, some humor, utterly singable, it has the themes that are the glue of all good serial songs. you know how in phantom it doesn't really matter what song you're singing, you can stick the "he's here, the phantom of the operaaaaaa" part in just about anywhere? while I don't equate 'jane eyre' with pto, you can definitely detect the riffs and tune-foreshadowing that pepper the music. what's even more amazing, those are the tunes that go to the words that relate to the house that jack built current song!
   for example -- when jane tells rochester she's got to leave thornfield because he's marrying blanche ingram, and he's all, "yep, and you're going to ireland! have fun! …wait. that's not good. mmmmwhy, jane?" she says,

yes, it is [a tear], and I cry
because the pain
because the grief
is slowly turning to rage
I'm like a bird upon the brief
who wishes she were never born into this cage

the imagery recalls the swallow she "yearns" to be -- "and go where I am not allowed; over mountains, over oceans; heaven, take me away; for I long for my liberty, for sweet liberty I pray!" the tune, though, just for those few middle lines are identical to lines from "brave enough for love"!
   if all that didn't make sense, you obviously just have to listen to it, because I can't describe it. I'm kind of on an emotional high right now, so I blather. (are you talking to me? I'm a little bit deaf.)

one last amazing thing about this musical. we got the original broadway cast -- which I think is the only version available, heh -- and I really really really like this cast. needless to say, I can pick voices I like better for the parts, but since this is what I have to work with, it's way not bad at all. marla schaffel is superb, and james barbour is surprisingly not bad. sure, "nothing is so bad as 'not so bad'", but I have a long-standing grudge against this someone so audacious, bold and ungracious, to play sydney carton with a face like that. sorry, dude. I don't like rating guys by their looks, but really? hey, it makes him kind of perfect for edward fairfax rochester.
   I did watch him acting the part in a (terrible) recording of the play. I must say: he was stupendous. (but well-performed, don't you think?) he had me crying. great actor, yes. syndey carton, NO NO NO. no. aesthetics won't let it be more than a friendship. you'd better forget it.
   my favorite part is the ritual jess and I have -- when we hear "across the moors" sung (gloriously) by Everybody's Favorite Greek God Look-Alike, we look at each other and say emphatically, "STEPHEN. BUNTROCK." it's great fun, and also… well… it's stephen buntrock. what more can I say. (other than: there is a back story. we are not rating him on his looks.)

I wish everyone in my life could read, hear, and see this thing. I think we'd all be better people. so rest now in peace. our secrets will keep till we speak again (or sing) tomorrow.

you know, the only people I feel worse for than you, having to endure all this, are those in my family. poor sisters. *james barbour laugh*