Fanny

This weekend I saw the Encores! production of the 1954 musical Fanny. With the average age of audience members being around 75, I didn't really know what to expect, and I felt pretty out of place. The musical is set in Marseilles and is about an eighteen year old (Fanny) who falls in love with a man (Marius). She gets pregnant right when he decides to leave for the sea, and he doesn't know she's carrying his baby. She doesn't know what to do and ends up marrying an older widower (Panisse) so that her child could have a father. I don't want to give too much away, but Marius ends up coming back and that's when we're unsure of what is going to happen. While the musical doesn't involve much conflict or tension, it is still a nice play. There were no characters I absolutely hated and at the same time there were few I truly cared about, possibly adding to the reason why I wasn't really feeling anything during the play. I thought the acting and singing were amazing, along with the orchestra. What was very interesting was that the show was presented in concert form, so while it was a fully staged production, with costumes and everything, it was performed with the script in hand. Each actor held a binder throughout the whole show, sometimes hardly visible and other times clearly shown.

I couldn't decide if knowing and seeing the actors with their scripts the entire night took away from the experience or if it enhanced it. Maybe because they had the script with them it was hard for me to imagine that what was taking place on stage was actually happening, and I couldn't forget that they were actors putting on a play. Because of the binders, it was a constant reminder that each person was playing a certain role. At the same time, even knowing they had the script in hand didn't affect their acting. The acting was great, script or no script, and I never would have known they didn't fully know their lines if they didn't have the binder to look to every so often.

What is so unbelievable is that the actors learned the entire show in nine days, and were only going to perform it for four. I can not believe the amount of work that must have gone into the show, not only learning all of the lines and direction (and the good amount of choreography), but also the little changes that were made to their performances every day. I never could have guessed the play was rehearsed in nine days; everyone performed flawlessly.

I thought the music was nice, but not particularly memorable. What I found to be interesting (and what I learned in the talk back after the performance) was how the songs were written. There is a lot of repetitiveness in the lyrics, and as the music director said, it is not because the composer/lyricist ran out of things to say, but instead it was to showcase what the characters were feeling. The script, while some parts were obviously old-fashion and didn't seem realistic (but that could definitely be because it was written in 1954...) for the most part was enjoyable, and I thought there were many nice jokes. The jokes weren't necessarily laugh out loud funny (usually they weren't) but I did smile a lot because of them, and it was definitely a nice touch.

I wouldn't say the show wowed me and I don't think I can really pinpoint why. The story was interesting, and we were interested in finding out what would happen between Fanny and Marius and how Fanny and Panisse's relationship would also turn out, but because I knew most of the storyline before seeing the show, it wasn't very exciting. I guess I knew what to expect for a lot of it. I don't think the play pulled me in enough. I couldn't really relate to the characters or what was happening to them, and I wasn't completely drawn into what was going on.

I found myself somewhat bored and wondering how much longer until intermission a few times, but there were still many great components to the show. I keep going back and forth deciding whether I liked the show or not. I guess all in all it was a good production of a play I am ambivalent about.