Broadway's Greatest Trainwrecks Vol. 1, aka Ms. July vs the Ingenues*
I don't remember what brought us there, but it was possibly this:
That on Smash, I was rooting for Ivy Lynn to get the part of Marilyn. Not Karen. Because Iowa is not only too green, but because Ivy Lynn had worked hard, paid her dues--10 years as a chorus girl! Her mother is overbearing, and surely it must be hard to crawl out from under her shadow. The girl did everything she could. It seemed unfair that a tiny misstep, and Iowa would be handed the role in a silver platter.
Then C told me I should be careful. Because siding with Ivy Lynn means that I'm not seeing the world with the ingenue's eyes anymore. The rose colored glasses had come off and everything was now coated with the cynicism of the eternal chorus girl.
At the time, I didn't worry much about it. Until I found myself catching up on back episodes of Glee. I had stopped watching after the break up episode. Then suddenly over the holiday break, I binge watched all the episodes.
I've been telling myself since Season 3 that if the show's creators couldn't even be bothered to get their plot or character continuity right, then surely my time was better spent elsewhere. Then I clicked on a preview that had Rachel Berry duking it out with Cassandra July and just like that, I was reeled back in.
They had a strange relationship, Ms. July and Rachel Berry. Rachel probably thinks that just by showing up in New York, things would fall into place. They need someone who could bring her enthusiasm down a notch. Who else is better equipped to school a bright eyed ingenue that a jaded former ingenue, whose fiery outburst over a ringing cellphone in an out of town preview prematurely killed her Broadway career. Imagine her contempt at having to teach snot nosed Schwimmer from Ohio how to tango.
The antagonism is fun to watch. And it's basically the only thing that's holding my interest in Glee right now. From the "All That Jazz" dance off, I backtracked to the time they first met at the dance studio, the one where Ms. July just had to show them how it's done. "I may not be an ingenue anymore, but I can still dance circles around anyone." Was it really necessary to show off Ms. July's skills like that, and all for Schwimmer's benefit? I say it's better to get the teacher's wrath than not be noticed.
But the thing is, Rachel does not back down. In real life, if she answered back to her teacher like that, she would have been thrown out. And Ms. July would be perfectly within her rights to ship Schwimmer back to Lima.
That's when I remembered C's warning against siding with the Jaded Veteran and not the Ingenue. Yes, I have that July-Berry "All That Jazz" dance off on repeat. I am rooting for Broadway's greatest trainwrecks, volume 2. Does this mean that I have lost my inner ingenue?
The only thing that gives me hope is that I also have the Barden Bellas Finale Set from Pitch Perfect on repeat. While it's entertaining to see Aubrey Posen lose her lunch, and while I do admire her determination to rise from where she had fallen from grace, ie, sing "The Sign" till we snooze, I am definitely rooting for Beca and her mashups.
So the world is fascinated by ingenues. But what about the ones who paid their dues? Surely, not everyone is as bright eyed and bushy tailed as when they first arrived on the scene. Yes, naivete can be amusing--for a while, and only in the beginning, and then the gloss wears off. Is it a crime that I find it more interesting to watch Broadway's Greatest Trainwrecks, battle scars and all?
*I am vaguely aware that this probably sounds like the title of a fanfic, but it's not. Sorry.
That on Smash, I was rooting for Ivy Lynn to get the part of Marilyn. Not Karen. Because Iowa is not only too green, but because Ivy Lynn had worked hard, paid her dues--10 years as a chorus girl! Her mother is overbearing, and surely it must be hard to crawl out from under her shadow. The girl did everything she could. It seemed unfair that a tiny misstep, and Iowa would be handed the role in a silver platter.
Then C told me I should be careful. Because siding with Ivy Lynn means that I'm not seeing the world with the ingenue's eyes anymore. The rose colored glasses had come off and everything was now coated with the cynicism of the eternal chorus girl.
At the time, I didn't worry much about it. Until I found myself catching up on back episodes of Glee. I had stopped watching after the break up episode. Then suddenly over the holiday break, I binge watched all the episodes.
I've been telling myself since Season 3 that if the show's creators couldn't even be bothered to get their plot or character continuity right, then surely my time was better spent elsewhere. Then I clicked on a preview that had Rachel Berry duking it out with Cassandra July and just like that, I was reeled back in.
They had a strange relationship, Ms. July and Rachel Berry. Rachel probably thinks that just by showing up in New York, things would fall into place. They need someone who could bring her enthusiasm down a notch. Who else is better equipped to school a bright eyed ingenue that a jaded former ingenue, whose fiery outburst over a ringing cellphone in an out of town preview prematurely killed her Broadway career. Imagine her contempt at having to teach snot nosed Schwimmer from Ohio how to tango.
The antagonism is fun to watch. And it's basically the only thing that's holding my interest in Glee right now. From the "All That Jazz" dance off, I backtracked to the time they first met at the dance studio, the one where Ms. July just had to show them how it's done. "I may not be an ingenue anymore, but I can still dance circles around anyone." Was it really necessary to show off Ms. July's skills like that, and all for Schwimmer's benefit? I say it's better to get the teacher's wrath than not be noticed.
But the thing is, Rachel does not back down. In real life, if she answered back to her teacher like that, she would have been thrown out. And Ms. July would be perfectly within her rights to ship Schwimmer back to Lima.
That's when I remembered C's warning against siding with the Jaded Veteran and not the Ingenue. Yes, I have that July-Berry "All That Jazz" dance off on repeat. I am rooting for Broadway's greatest trainwrecks, volume 2. Does this mean that I have lost my inner ingenue?
The only thing that gives me hope is that I also have the Barden Bellas Finale Set from Pitch Perfect on repeat. While it's entertaining to see Aubrey Posen lose her lunch, and while I do admire her determination to rise from where she had fallen from grace, ie, sing "The Sign" till we snooze, I am definitely rooting for Beca and her mashups.
So the world is fascinated by ingenues. But what about the ones who paid their dues? Surely, not everyone is as bright eyed and bushy tailed as when they first arrived on the scene. Yes, naivete can be amusing--for a while, and only in the beginning, and then the gloss wears off. Is it a crime that I find it more interesting to watch Broadway's Greatest Trainwrecks, battle scars and all?
*I am vaguely aware that this probably sounds like the title of a fanfic, but it's not. Sorry.