Word: singing
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...this new version a fresh view or just mischief making? Ponnelle did not choose the framework of a dream gratuitously. Senta's reveries verge on hallucination. Other characters sing of their dreams. By eliminating intermission breaks Ponnelle keeps his own vision flying. He also makes a point: it was time for the Met to present an example of the most exciting, if divisive, opera productions now being staged...
...Marchand), an unresigned widow. (Colleen Dewhurst played Ruth for a few performances but withdrew because of a prior commitment.) A fifth woman distinctly jars this ostensibly patrician clan. Dixie Avalon (Dixie Carter) is a breezy, purse-swinging entertainer who has been hired by one of the absent menfolk to sing Oh Promise Me, apparently as a prank. Dixie clearly plans to get cash for her trash...
...star of the show--as "Nick, Sam Nick", the detective, is the quintessential Columbo parody, from that cultivated unshaven look to his rapid-fire delivery. Nicks' exchange with Natalie in the interrogation room is really the funniest scene in the show; it makes you forget that he can't sing. Jay Bacal as the broker is aggressively mediocre, weighed down by an insecure voice and a struggle to fight his repetitive style. His secretary, Miss Zweig (Ellen Zachos) has to grapple with a woman's role written for a Pudding man but her voice is the best in the show...
...boys sing in two-part harmony. Al speaks solidly, narrating the story of their lives step by step, unhesitantly supplying details and background references. Birdy speaks in a more flighty tone, but in sharper focus, offering the history of his bird colony and telling us how, in his dreams, he goes from boy to bird...
WHARTON'S WRITING quietly expresses the ultimate humanity of the two boys. Wharton writes cleanly, simply. His words let Birdy fly. Wharton's writing is fun and inventive. For example, about canaries: "They were put in cages because they sang and now they sing because they're in cages." Or, on feeding birds: "I try to think what it would be like to have some gigantic bird come and stick his claws into the window of my room with some potato chips or a hoagie...