Don't Be "Shy" When it Comes to Love

We've all had one of those nights when falling asleep seems to be more impossible than climbing Mount Everest. Whether the lights are too bright, the mattress is too hard, or the room is too cold, something just doesn't vibe well with the night.

In Mary Rodger's Once Upon a Mattress, Princess Winifred experiences- to the luck of all the royal citizens- one of these restless nights. This musical is an adaptation of the popular story, "The Princess an the Pea." No one in the kingdom is allowed to marry until the prince marries; the only catch is that the Queen deems every suitable princess as unfit for her son. When Winifred comes along, the Queen decides to test the princess's sensitivity. She places a pea under twenty downy mattresses and tells Winifred to go to sleep. If Winifred is able to sleep with a pea under her mattresses, she will fail the sensitivity test and be kicked out of the kingdom.

I think its safe to say the couples in the kingdom do not like that possibility.

But much to the surprise of the whole kingdom, Winifred cannot fall asleep due to a "lump" she felt under the mattresses. The Queen objects still, saying she will continue to forbid her son to get married. In the end, however, the prince sticks up for himself and the Queen becomes powerless against her son's love. Ah, romance.

While the musical comedy sends out multiple messages, one of the less obvious themes regards this power of falling in love. As was typical within royal communities, Prince Dauntless is arranged in marriage with princesses he never met before. This in itself is a message about true love. The prince doesn't actually like any of the former princesses (who all failed their tests anyway) with whom he was set up. If he were to marry any one of these failed princesses, the lack of intimacy in the relationship would cause both partners to be unhappy; Prince Dauntless was aware of this, and decided he wouldn't marry anyone he didn't truly love. He must patiently wait for years to find the right girl, and when he finds her, he refuses to let his mother destroy his chances with her.

Therefore, Once Upon a Mattress sends a powerful message to seek love, not materialistic desires. Money, societal status, and even physical attractiveness should not be the sole characters taken into consideration when choosing a life partner. The prince proves how necessary that is.

Another message hidden under the comical plot is to follow your heart no mater what other people think. For years, the prince succumbs to his mother's tyrannical presence and does nothing to stop her from controlling both his and his royal citizen's love lives. Whatever his mom says, goes. Being his mother, the Queen has so much influence over Prince Dauntless that he is willing to do whatever makes her happy, even if doing so means he is not happy. But once Winifred arrives and the prince finally learns what true love is, he sticks up for himself despite his fear that his mother will punish or disown him. The musical shows that you should always stand up for what you want and what you think is right, no matter what other people may think of you.

A little bit of courage can go a long way.

I Get a Kick Out of Anything Goes

My home town is infamous for being the place that everybody hates, but never leaves. Our high school has been home to generations within families, and the town is so small that every community member knows everyone and everything.

That's right...no secrets.

Well, my family is no different. My grandparents live in the area, my parents live in the area, and I think it's safe to say that I will probably live in the area (though I am trying my hardest to break the curse and venture out to the actual world). And because my mom and I went to the same high school, we've shared some similar high school experiences, just 30 years apart. One of these shared experiences is on the high school stage. 

Today I'm going to part slightly from my usual analysis of a musical to tell you a little bit about my all-time favorite musical and why I love it so much...Cole Porter's Anything Goes.

So you are probably thinking one of two things:

1) What the heck is that show?

                   or

2) How is that boring show you're favorite?

For starters, the show takes place on a ship (a big one, at least), and features two romantic counterparts who aren't supposed to be together. Typical.

But aside from the cute love story, the show has, for me, both sentimental and literal meanings behind it. Exactly 30 years ago, my mom played the role of Hope Harcourt on our high school stage. Since watching her production- and the Broadway production as well- I have also wanted to play Hope if ever given the opportunity. 

The best I could get was singing one of Hope's duets, "It's Delovely," with a friend during a fall fundraiser show, but that was just as good. 

However, Anything Goes also has underlying deeper themes- the two most prominent being about what true love is and the reality of finding out who your enemies are.

Hope is engaged to Lord Oakleigh in the opening of the show, though she does not love him entirely. The two were arranged in marriage because of their wealth and economic status; while Oakleigh enjoys the relationship, Hope realizes that marrying for wealth will lead to an unhappy life. On the boat, she falls in love with Billy Crocker, a stow away who hopped on the boat just to get Hope to fall in love with him. Throughout the musical, Hope and Billy see each other secretly- Billy has to dress up in ridiculous costumes so nobody notices him and kicks him off the ship- and eventually Hope's marriage is broken up for Billy. 

The show, therefore, represents the idea that people should go after what they want, not what they think is necessarily right. Hope ends her marriage with a wealthy man because she knows she will not be happy; by marrying Billy, she is following what she knows she wants in her heart. 

Lastly, Anything Goes proves that sometimes our enemies are closer to us than they may appear. During the whole show, the minister on the ship is really Public Enemy Number Thirteen, or Moonface Martin. He is able to disguise himself as a minister and gain access to the ship, even though he is, in reality, a criminal. Towards the end of the show, Moonface reveals he is a criminal; the crew is taken by surprise, as they once confided in the man. 

This surprise demonstrates that sometimes our enemies are people we once trusted. While disheartening to think about, people can change unexpectedly. I believe this to be a valuable lesson taught discreetly by the musical. 

Overall, Anything Goes is funny, entertaining, romantic, and timeless; the songs are bouncy and fun, and the plot is engaging. I encourage everyone to see it at some point- if not for the entertainment, for the themes the show exhibits underneath a comical plot.

Greece Lightning

When I was younger (and by younger I mean much younger), I remember somebody asking me if I had ever heard of the musical, Grease. Hearing that word, I became excited, and replied with: "Of course I've heard of that, I am Greek after all!"

Obviously I had not yet learned the concept of homophones.

Now I am not only fully aware of the distinction between grease and the country, but also quite familiar with the plot of the show. Almost everyone has heard of or seen the musical, Grease, yet an astonishing number of people regard the musical as sexist and inappropriate. (But what do you expect? It takes place in the 1950's.) I will say, I love the musical, but it has its faults just like any other show. Yes, the girl tries to change herself for the guy and vice versa, but I think there's a more important underlying message that may not be as obvious: peer pressure is real, and it is insuperable.

We've all succumbed to peer pressure once or twice in our lives. Sometimes it can be a very positive influence on our behaviors. For example, if all my friends start going to the gym and persuade me to join the bandwagon, I may just turn off my Netflix show and get out of my bed for once in my life. That's healthy.

But unfortunately, peer pressure is often times not so inspiring. Underage drinking, drug usage, cigarette smoking, and more can all result from the the impact of victims' surroundings. In Grease, this negative peer pressure is seen when the girls go to Marty's house for a sleep over.

Sandy is new to the area and just wants friends to make her life more comfortable and familiar. When she is invited to the girls' slumber party, Sandy is unknowingly very vulnerable to peer pressure; she is willing, though reluctant at first, to do whatever her new friends do so that they like her. Sandy, once an innocent and naive girl, then tries a cigarette and is even convinced to get her ears pierced (though she gets sick at the sight of her blood). The girls also drink some wine. While these are normal behaviors for her friends, the activities are new and terrifying to Sandy; her demeanor changes as a result of her choice to partake in these actions.

This scene from Grease Live shows how Sandy's friends made fun of her for being reluctant and even refusing to do some of the activities normal to them:





Of course, this scene isn't the only one in the musical that deals with peer pressure. Danny must act a certain way to be a "cool" member of the T-Birds, and the Pink Ladies have their standards, as well. Basically, no movie or musical character known to mankind can escape high school cliches and societal norms. While slightly exaggerated sometimes, peer pressure does exist and is the cause of many problem behaviors in teens and adults alike.

So we can encourage people not to give in to peer pressure as much as we please, but the reality is this: societal pressures are not going to disappear for a long time. There is no real way to stop this from happening because humans are naturally attracted to activities in which their friends participate. People are wired to try to fit in and be accepted by their peers; whether this pressure is good or bad, we are drawn to the comfort of conformity.

Don't Dance and Drive

It's 2 am on a Saturday morning. You and your friends are driving home from a long night at a high school party, even though you've all had a little too much to be behind the wheel. Then, out of nowhere, you look in your rearview mirror, and the terrifying mix of red and blue flashing lights pierces your dilated eyes. To your horror, the cop approaches your window and takes in a strong whiff of alcohol. He then proceeds to ask you the obvious question: "Have you folks been dancing recently?"

Ok, to any normal person that's not the obvious question; perhaps you thought the officer was going to ask if they'd been drinking that night. But to a resident of Bomont, Georgia in the 1980's, the cop's question would be nothing out of the ordinary. In Snow and Pitchford's musical, Footloose, this fictional town bans all types of dancing in an attempt to prevent driving under the influence, especially in underage teenagers.

As scary as it is, we all know somebody who, at some point in their life, has driven home while intoxicated, and the Moore family is no exception; Reverend Shaw Moore's son dies in a car accident after a dance party one night. Because of his death, and the sorrow and pain Shaw felt afterwards, the reverend creates a new law making dancing illegal in Bomont. While this law may sound crazy at first, thinking about the consequences of drinking and driving does cause one to wonder if the fictional character has a point.

Still today, driving while intoxicated is a persistent problem. Every day, in the United States alone, 27 people die from an alcohol-related car accident ("Drunk Driving Statistics"). Worsening the situation further is the addition of the cell phone, which causes 2,600 American deaths every year in and of itself (Brit). But despite these statistics, many people still neglect to believe that they could contribute to the growth of those numbers. Distracted driving is not only unnecessary, but preventable.

courtesy of huggs2

Obviously we aren't going to ban dancing to try to reduce the number of drunk drivers. Since MADD began its campaign, however, people were finally exposed to the consequences that accompany drunk driving. When the public is shown that other people could be impacted by their decisions, they are more likely to choose the right actions. Instead of risking the drive home, people are persuaded to get an uber; instead of letting everyone party, one person each night takes one for the team as the "designated sober driver." It's not too hard, but it is a slight inconvenience people need to get used to.

Despite its foolish nature, Footloose's ban on dancing actually stands for a valid purpose. Too many lives have been lost to drunk driving, and one can never tell who will be next.


photo taken from flickr.com

Works Cited:
Britt, Robert R. "Drivers on Cell Phones Kill Thousands, Snarl Traffic." Live Science. 1 February                  2005. Web.
"Drunk Driving Statistics." MADD. 2015. Web.