I see we're of a mind when it comes to this musical. <3
Like, if, oh, say, Frank Wildhorn or Andrew Lloyd Weber (who admittedly isn't American, but same deal) got hold of Fritz' story, I suspect there would be... a lot less of Old Fritz in it.)
I'd say none. Hence my assumption that "Fritz, the Disney version", would blame all the worst stuff on Grumbkow & Seckendorff as the minions of the Evil Austrian Emperor, and would end with now crowned Fritz righteously invading the Evil Austrian Empire and triumphing.
Wilhelmine played as relentlessly cheery: I hear you. Mind you, back in the day when the early Salon had reawakened my interest and I checked out A03 for Fritz fic, what little Wilhelmne there was in those stories (before Mildred started to write her into her stories for me, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!) was also relentlessly cheerful and uplifting and comforting. I remember complaining about this. Now the reason for this is obvious - the writers want a character to comfort Fritz and cheer him up, and the way Wilhelmine herself was also emotionally damaged and neurotic is evident only if you bother to read more of the source material than posted on Tumblr -, but I would like to point out that the 1980s tv two parter "Der Thronfolger" also has Wilhelmine doing the comforting of Fritz, but it doesn't have her relentlessly cheery. (It even includes a bit to indicate her relationship with her mother when SD critiques her posture and asks for "contenance" in her behavior). So even if you need Wilhelmine primarly as a supporting (in both senses of the word) character, you can show she's not a bundle of joy all the time.
To return to the musical, at first I assumed it might also be that the actress/singer was one note and couldn't do more, but her big argument scene with Fritz in act 2 blew that assumption out of the water because she is great there (and here the script allows for a whole scala of emotions).
Fritz is definitely played as more into Katte than strictly platonic friendship, but there was absolutely no chemistry or attempted chemistry between them, either romantic or platonic, and not even any really good friendship moments.
So much agreed, and never mind history, that's truly to the detriment of the story the musical itself is trying to tell. If Katte and Fritz aren't believable good friends (even without the slightest bit of subtext), then Katte's actions make no sense, and Fritz still being haunted by him years later in both senses of the word does not resonate in the way it needs to. Your comparison/contrast to Carlos and Rodrigo, even if you'd cut the friendship duet, is astute.
The Wilhelmine scene where she argued with him about wanting Bayreuth to remain neutral was amazing.
Wasn't it just? This was perhaps the greatest surprise to me when I watched the musical, because the bits that are on YouTube don't include it and give no indication of it, and it is so very good. (It also means vindicates the actress playing Wilhelmine as in, clearly the relentless cheeriness earlier was how she was directed to play it, she can and does offer more.) Of course, it also helps that Chris Murray is now playing Fritz and he, as we agree, is the superior singer (and actor). But seriously, much as the rest of the script is workmanlike as is the music, here it deserves credit for having found a way to fuse various complicated historical developments into a stage-friendly shorthand for a two hour musical which nonetheless is layered and really, really effective.
And now, selenak, I understand what you meant about the curtsey at the end -- her relating to him as the King she has just submitted to, not her beloved brother, ouuuuch.
Indeed. You can imagine how when reading "Grind" for the first time and arrived at Amalie deeply curtseying in front of Heinrich, I thought "ohhhhh, did someone watch the musical after all?"
the neat thing was how FW and Fritz traded their melodic line back and forth, prefiguring the way Fritz takes on FW-like qualities later on.
See, that's the kind of astute musical diagnosis none of us other salon members could provide.
Everyone in the musical: Old Fritz, you're such a terrible person that you're all alone! Me: What about Fredersdorf?? ...oh, well, I guess he's dead at that point. What about Heinrich? Heinrich: Leave me out of this!
LOL. I bet. (Now someone just needs to compose the music to my script of Lehndorff!The Musical.)
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Re: Friedrich: Mythos und Tragödie
Date: 2021-01-14 07:42 am (UTC)Like, if, oh, say, Frank Wildhorn or Andrew Lloyd Weber (who admittedly isn't American, but same deal) got hold of Fritz' story, I suspect there would be... a lot less of Old Fritz in it.)
I'd say none. Hence my assumption that "Fritz, the Disney version", would blame all the worst stuff on Grumbkow & Seckendorff as the minions of the Evil Austrian Emperor, and would end with now crowned Fritz righteously invading the Evil Austrian Empire and triumphing.
Wilhelmine played as relentlessly cheery: I hear you. Mind you, back in the day when the early Salon had reawakened my interest and I checked out A03 for Fritz fic, what little Wilhelmne there was in those stories (before Mildred started to write her into her stories for me, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!) was also relentlessly cheerful and uplifting and comforting. I remember complaining about this. Now the reason for this is obvious - the writers want a character to comfort Fritz and cheer him up, and the way Wilhelmine herself was also emotionally damaged and neurotic is evident only if you bother to read more of the source material than posted on Tumblr -, but I would like to point out that the 1980s tv two parter "Der Thronfolger" also has Wilhelmine doing the comforting of Fritz, but it doesn't have her relentlessly cheery. (It even includes a bit to indicate her relationship with her mother when SD critiques her posture and asks for "contenance" in her behavior). So even if you need Wilhelmine primarly as a supporting (in both senses of the word) character, you can show she's not a bundle of joy all the time.
To return to the musical, at first I assumed it might also be that the actress/singer was one note and couldn't do more, but her big argument scene with Fritz in act 2 blew that assumption out of the water because she is great there (and here the script allows for a whole scala of emotions).
Fritz is definitely played as more into Katte than strictly platonic friendship, but there was absolutely no chemistry or attempted chemistry between them, either romantic or platonic, and not even any really good friendship moments.
So much agreed, and never mind history, that's truly to the detriment of the story the musical itself is trying to tell. If Katte and Fritz aren't believable good friends (even without the slightest bit of subtext), then Katte's actions make no sense, and Fritz still being haunted by him years later in both senses of the word does not resonate in the way it needs to. Your comparison/contrast to Carlos and Rodrigo, even if you'd cut the friendship duet, is astute.
The Wilhelmine scene where she argued with him about wanting Bayreuth to remain neutral was amazing.
Wasn't it just? This was perhaps the greatest surprise to me when I watched the musical, because the bits that are on YouTube don't include it and give no indication of it, and it is so very good. (It also means vindicates the actress playing Wilhelmine as in, clearly the relentless cheeriness earlier was how she was directed to play it, she can and does offer more.) Of course, it also helps that Chris Murray is now playing Fritz and he, as we agree, is the superior singer (and actor). But seriously, much as the rest of the script is workmanlike as is the music, here it deserves credit for having found a way to fuse various complicated historical developments into a stage-friendly shorthand for a two hour musical which nonetheless is layered and really, really effective.
And now,
Indeed. You can imagine how when reading "Grind" for the first time and arrived at Amalie deeply curtseying in front of Heinrich, I thought "ohhhhh, did someone watch the musical after all?"
the neat thing was how FW and Fritz traded their melodic line back and forth, prefiguring the way Fritz takes on FW-like qualities later on.
See, that's the kind of astute musical diagnosis none of us other salon members could provide.
Everyone in the musical: Old Fritz, you're such a terrible person that you're all alone!
Me: What about Fredersdorf?? ...oh, well, I guess he's dead at that point. What about Heinrich?
Heinrich: Leave me out of this!
LOL. I bet. (Now someone just needs to compose the music to my script of Lehndorff!The Musical.)