Chương 44: Chapter 44 Structural Imbalance
He succeeded in deceiving his husband Amos, convinced that it was only a thief who was killed, and with a few words of his own, he stepped forward to take responsibility for the shooting. Seeing that she was about to escape the punishment of the law with ease, Lockey breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a trace of pity and amusement for her husband - just as the audience was amused by her stupidity and ignorance, Locke also had a sense of superiority over Amos, who had everything under her control, she looked at her husband encouragingly and nodded with satisfaction like an obedient pug, and when the police shone a flashlight on her face that represented a questioning gaze, Lockhee's body language changed again, He quickly changed from a proudly relaxed reclining position to a cowering and trembling position.
"Sometimes I'm wrong. In such a chaotic and orderly, darkly humorous scene, Lockhee's singing voice slowly sounded, and she did not look at the audience, but at the luthier, as if chatting with him. But the luthier didn't react to this, as if he couldn't see her, and still played the music on his own, "Sometimes I'm right. "
"It's still very much in the play... "Brantley thought silently, now that he had completely put away his contempt for Jenny. "She has a good voice, she sings sweetly, well, maybe she's not good at high notes, but it's enough in this song, at least she's not out of tune... Her biggest advantage is that she has always been in the play. "
For some musical theatre actors, one of the biggest challenges in singing is that they can't grasp the degree of interaction with the audience. Of course, most stage performances have to interact with the audience, especially singing and dancing performances, scanning the audience or something, which is a very necessary link, otherwise the audience's emotions will also cool. But in a musical, if you're singing and you're fully facing the stage, and you're aware of the audience, that's another play for the audience, and it's a reminder to them, "Well, this person is showing me right now, and it's all fake."
One of the great difficulties of musical theatre is to keep the audience engaged in the continuous scene transitions and plot progression, music and dance, so that they forget that they are watching the show, and once the audience realizes that 'all this is fake', it is difficult for them to be carried away by the performance, and they will find the flaws that are bound to exist in any performance. In fact, any performance is like this, there is no movie that can't find a slot, but a good movie is impossible for you to have extra attention to find a slot when you watch the movie, and devote yourself to the characters and the plot.
And Lockhee's performance is the kind that makes people into the play, this song tells her feelings for Amos, just like the whispers between Lockhee and the audience, Jennifer's singing voice is in tune, and the performance is also restrained, she does not have too much eye interaction with the audience, but sings self-pity on the piano, whether it is from her singing voice or from her body language, you can easily distinguish her current mood: she is very complacent, because no matter what, there is such a stupid man who is loyal and completely surrendered to her as a follower, slave, after all, is a proof and satisfaction of her feminine charm. Because of Amos's loyalty, she feels more like an attractive woman, so the performance is also full of narcissism.
Her singing voice is not very natural, making people stunned and kneeling on the spot, but the whole performance is very smooth, people are amused by her narcissism on the one hand, and on the other hand, they can't help but recognize Amos's loyalty to her - Lockhee is indeed so beautiful, she is so beautiful that even vulgarity can't hide her beauty, but she's narcissistic, vain, and stupid so stupid that even her beauty can't hide her vulgarity.
While Lockhee was singing, the whole theater was silent, and Brantley couldn't help but admit that Jennifer Jefferson was really beautiful, and he even felt that her beauty was already a distraction from the plot. - When the police and Amos were talking, although Jennifer didn't move, just made a gesture of concern, but still firmly tied the attention of him, an authoritative drama critic, to himself, making him feel reluctant to look away.
"J.J is so beautiful. Jon's mind is much simpler than that of a critic, and she is now so busy admiring Jenny's every move that she doesn't even want to say anything, but secretly remembers it in her heart, and when the scene changes, she will whisper to her mother that this song can be regarded as compensation for the lack of performance clips of 'Canita'.
Although he proudly sang a song "Funy Honey" in praise of his loyal dog Amos, Lockhee's clumsy tricks were ultimately unable to deceive the police, and he didn't even need them to interrogate anything.
Although Lockhee denied it in every possible way, she still couldn't turn the situation around, she repeatedly begged Amos but couldn't calm his anger, this embarrassment of begging everywhere and having no way out, even made many viewers feel empathetic and uncomfortable, and there was a feeling that they couldn't bear to watch it, and they knew that they shouldn't, but they couldn't help but feel some sympathy: although she was very stupid, it seemed that it was worth sighing to go to prison like this.
Soon, Lockhee was changed into a prison uniform and followed the guards into the prison nervously, where he met the warden 'Mom', which was a song and dance of 'Mom', and Lockhee was just a spectator on the edge of the stage, sometimes swept by the lights, and most of the time in darkness.
"Well, the actor's performance is very good, and the singing voice of 'Mom' is still so strong, she is too easy to play this role. Brantley thought, absent-mindedly glancing at the shadows, where Lockhee stood, and could be seen from the dim light that she was being blown away by Mama's performance, watching back and forth between Mama's interactions with the female prisoners.
He suddenly had a hint of surprise, "I can feel her emotions so darkly, this girl's physical expression is too good, right? The most important thing is that her performance is too natural, and she belongs to the newcomer's heart and timidity? Why doesn't she have a little stage fright? I don't see a little eye-catching tension in her? Her body language is so relaxed, I can't see the tense posture of 'playing the other person' at all... It feels like ... It's like she's Lokesh!"
When he watched "CSI", he felt that Jennifer was acting in her true colors, and she was 'Huanita' in daily life, which is why she was so handy and charming, and Brantley even speculated that Jennifer might be a former high-end prostitute who wanted to turn to the entertainment industry, and the expensive sex appeal between politics and business was so natural that he had such an association. But now Jennifer's Lockhee is so natural, and there is no trace of acting at all - Brantley can't find any other reason at all, because Jennifer Jefferson is only 21 years old this year, and she is not married, and Lockhee's young womanly sense and stupid vulgarity in speech and behavior are certainly not her true colors.
He suddenly realized that he had completely ignored 'Mama'' singing and dancing, and Brantley was even a little weak for a moment: he was a critic, and he had to focus on the whole play, not just a fresh face. It's only the first song, and his attention is completely attracted to the past, and he can't even think effectively, what is the difference between him and those brainless fans and audiences who watch the excitement?
Glancing at the row of peers with a slight distraction, Brantley noticed that at least half of his attention was not focused on 'Mom', and he even felt that the atmosphere in the room was a little fluctuating.
At this point, the 'Mom' solo ended, and another highlight came: the announcer announced the appearance of the six female prisoners in the prison, bringing everyone one of the most famous group dances of "Chicago", "Cell Block Tango", in this song, the six female prisoners took turns to tell the story of their own imprisonment, and each contributed a very powerful song and dance, which always mobilized the atmosphere and made everyone feel like they had eaten a visual feast.
Objectively speaking, Brantley thinks that the performance of the Schubert Theater is still of a high level, and he can't find any outstanding shortcomings in this scene, Dietrich's singing voice is still powerful and full of spirit, and the dancing is also very compelling, she is a very distinctive actor. But—he didn't enjoy the meal as much as he normally would, his mindset was more like eating an appetificia dish: "Well, it tastes good... But, when is Lockhee coming out?"
The audience in the arena must have felt the same way, and Brantley noticed that some of the audience members had left their seats to go to the toilet at this time, which was almost impossible to do in previous performances.
"There's something magical about that girl. Brantley's counterpart, The New Yorker columnist Patrick, muttered to him, and it was clear that he wasn't fully appreciating the song and dance. "James Schubert has found a treasure. "
For some reason, Brantley had a rebellious desire to go against him, saying, "And duets and pas de deux." "
"But you have to at least admit that Roxie won't be a problem for her. Patrick said. "As long as "Nowadays" doesn't mess too badly, this girl is at least the most potential newcomer in the past 10 years. "
"Roxie" is Lockhee's second solo, describing her yearning and ambition for fame, which is still very narcissistic in nature, and judging by the performance of Lockhee's first song, this difficulty is no longer a problem for Jennifer.
After Tango in the cell, Velma reappears, and Lockey overhears her conversation with the warden's 'mother', who is willing to help her get her back to her old job when she gets out of prison, and she benefits from it. Lockhee seemed to see a glimmer of hope for exoneration, and she hurried to catch up with Velma and start the first confrontation between the two.
"Ah, Miss Kelly. Lockhee pushed the cart loaded with toiletries, "I've got your personal belongings here—I'll be happy to do it for you." "
Velma snatched her lace lingerie and reflexively tried to tip, but was blocked by Locke, "No, no, but with a hand." "
Velma didn't care, she turned to leave, but was caught up by Locke, "Hey, listen, can I ask you a few things?"
Velma turned impatiently and glanced up and down Lockhee. Lockhee seized the opportunity to continue, "Do you know Harrison, that prosecutor..."
At some point, Brantley's brow was furrowed, and he began to feel uncomfortable: in fact, he had had a vague feeling before, only now that the rivalry had made everything more obvious.
In this scene, Velma is everything that Locke yearns for, she wears heavy makeup, wears gorgeous clothes, is domineering, bold and high-minded, and is completely the successful person in Lockhee's heart, while Lockhee is wearing prison uniforms, messy hair, and completely looks like an ugly duckling. There should be an obvious contrast between the strength and weakness of these two people, so that the strength and weakness will be reversed later, and when Lockhee becomes the strongest, the audience will feel the contrast.
But now, what Brantley had been vaguely worried about had happened—Lockhee had pressed the show.
It's not that Lockhee didn't play her part well, her apprehension, nervousness, and hope were all played naturally, just like she just now, Lockhee has always been in the role. She gives people the feeling that she doesn't know that there is an audience in the audience, just living her life in a parallel space, and the audience is peeping at her through the transparent 'fourth wall', even if she has the action of looking at the audience, but she has not 'seen' them and realized their existence, so now she is a female criminal who wants to get away with her guilt but doesn't know what to do, and is very confused.
The problem lies in two points, first, Locke is much more beautiful than Velma, even if she is dressed in tatters, objectively speaking, she just wants to look better than Velma. So that this contrast between strength and weakness is not so obvious, people are always strong, and this society worships beauty very much, if a fat woman wears a fur fur and walks with a beautiful woman wearing a school uniform, more than 90% of the visitors will not think that the fat woman is strong, but will think that she is ugly, and the beauty is clear water out of hibiscus.
Velma is not fat, but she is really not good-looking, of course there are beautiful women in black people, but she is not one of them, it is not her fault, it is just a congenital condition. So much so that the audience will be instinctively confused: What are you Velma cow? Aren't you just a dancing girl who eats by being a beautiful woman? Lockhee is so much prettier than you, what good are you in front of her?
Then there is the question: why can Velma be popular but Locke is nobody, is this unreasonable?
Of course, these thoughts may just be a flash, and then the audience will convince themselves: 'This is a play!'
But it is this self-persuasion that makes the audience play on this, and the viewing mood is affected, and they are no longer engaged, but look at the play with a critical mood.
If it's still something that can't be helped, just because Jennifer is too pretty and above the Broadway average, then the second point is really Velma's fault — or Lockhee's. In fact, Velma's acting can't be considered bad, and Dietrich's acting skills are also in the middle of Broadway, but the only problem is that Lockhee is too good.
How natural she is, how stiff Velma's body language is, how vivid her caution is, how contrived Velma's high is on top, the audience can clearly feel that Velma knows that she is acting, and she also knows that she is trying to play this unreasonable plot, and she even knows that the audience knows this, but she still insists on being stubborn.
The atmosphere of watching the drama has been destroyed a little obviously, and this sense of absurdity has made many viewers discuss with their peers in low voices. Brantley heard a few muffled comments.
"She's much prettier than her, and she plays well. "
"Hell, how well is it played? This is simply a total suppression, a horrific massacre. "
It would be a big shame tonight, but Brantley wasn't going to mention it in the review, he didn't think it was Dietrich's fault, she was good, but Jennifer Jefferson, the unnamed girl, was so inhuman.
"She's just a monster. "Thinking of Patry's comment 'That girl has a kind of magic,' Brantley muttered. "She can't just pop out of a café out of nowhere, right?"
Like the audience at CSI, he instinctively refused to believe that Jennifer was new to the stage, and in Brantley's view, this level of performance would not have been possible without thousands of stage trials.
After this rivalry, lawyer Billy and reporter Mary also perform their own solo dances, in which Lockhee does not appear, and Brantley finds himself unable to concentrate, always wondering which part of Lockhee to return.
Of course, Billy's actors are young and handsome, their singing skills are also good, and Mary's performance is also remarkable, but they are in front of Lockhee, like store bread meets French handmade desserts, of course, most of the time you are satisfied with bread, but when you have just eaten luxury desserts, you will naturally have no intention of appreciating the simplicity of bread.
Brantley didn't like the conclusions he was going to make, but in 'the days without Lockhee,' he had to admit that the whole thing seemed to be the exact opposite of what he expected, and that it wasn't that Jennifer Jefferson wasn't worthy of the Schubert Theater, but that the Chicago Theater Company wasn't worthy of her performance.
#
Compared with the entanglement of drama critics, the psychology of ordinary audiences is much simpler. Jon and his mother originally came to see J.J., Jenny performed well, of course they watched it well, but they also understood that the musical has a lot of other people's scenes, and they can watch it with a tolerant eye - because in their hearts, J.J is very happy to play better than others, so they don't mind the pressure of the play, but can appreciate the charm of the rest of the tracks, Jon decided to watch it a few more times, even if he starts working for it, he doesn't care. J.J was a treat to her eyeballs, the highlight of the whole show, but the others were doing well, and the overall level was good.
As for the passers-by who were attracted by Jenny's poster, they all felt that it was worth the money, their mentality was somewhat similar to Jon's, the signature beauty was really beautiful, and the singing and dancing were also very attractive - I can't say what was good, but I couldn't move away, and I was especially looking forward to her reappearance, as for other tracks, some people could enjoy it quietly, and some people just let it go as garbage time, but anyway, there were beautiful women who were very satisfied with it, and they were not very demanding whether they could invest in the story.
The mentality of old drama fans is more like Brantley, they are looking forward to a fascinating performance that will take you into the play from beginning to end, and now although they feel that Velma's theatrical performance is particularly poor, and they don't enter the play at all, if it weren't for the good singing and dancing, it would be a failure of the whole show - but, there is a very big highlight, and people are reluctant to take their eyes off Lockhee.
Therefore, the rhythm of the whole court passed in the rhythm of Lockhee's appearance - the audience held its breath - Lockhee withdrew - some people relaxed, some people continued to be absorbed - Lockhee was in the background of human flesh - many people ignored the spotlight and were still watching her, and this rhythm passed. Most of the audience doesn't know how well she acted, and they don't know why they like her, they only know one thing: they think she is charming, very eye-catching, want to see Loxie, want to see her a little more.
Many of them have decided to memorize the names of the actors on the posters when they go out, so that they can search for any other work at Lockhee when they get back.
After 'patiently' waiting for more than twenty minutes, Lockhee's second solo finally arrived. The audience was in high spirits, some changed positions, some sat up straight, and some began to adjust the focus of the telescope... All eyes were on the stage, watching the changes in Loxey.
Prior to this, Lockhee and Billy had already performed a pas de deux puppet dance — lawyer Billy was initially dismissive of Lockhee, and in order to get his defense, Lockhee needed to come up with five thousand dollars first. In order to survive, Locke had to find her husband Amos, and once again coaxed him to take out all his savings and beg Billy to help. This confrontation between Lockhee and Amos also aroused many people's sighs with laughter: If such a thing happened in life, Locksie would definitely be dismissed as shameless, but because it was a drama, the audience was much more tolerant of her moral requirements, and many people felt that 'no wonder Amos was deceived, for a person like him, it was lucky to marry a beauty like Lockhee, and it was natural to pay everything for her'.
After getting Billy's help, Lockhee was quickly packaged as a rich lady who went astray and eloped by Amos, Billy manipulated the media and transformed the glamorous Locke into a cute and beautiful lady, this plot is reflected in Billy's manipulation of Lockhee like a puppet. Lockhee's dancing skills also made connoisseurs nod their heads in recognition - this kind of dance is a test of physical expression, for example, Jennifer's performance is quite good, without a trace of superfluous small movements, the joints rotate jerky and rigid, which is more convincing than the same singing passages they have seen before.
"We Both Reached the Gun" is also a very classic track, Billy sang very well and performed well, and there were a lot of red lines on the scene, and the performance of the accompanying reporters was remarkable. The dance provoked some spontaneous applause, but soon the audience fell silent again and engaged in the story.
Billy's packaging was a huge success, and Lockhee became popular all over the city and even the country overnight, and the items she used were auctioned off for a high price, and Billy was paid his five thousand dollars, in full, not a penny. And Lockhee's net worth is even fuller than before she was imprisoned, she received fan letters, accepted newspaper reporters, and completely became a star in the women's prison, completely comparing Velma to Velma. Now the media's interest has completely shifted to Lockhee, and no one pays attention to Velma anymore. In Lockhee's view, she has finally been blessed by misfortune and the time has come, and the day of her fame is just around the corner.
"Roxie" is a solo in this context, with Lockhee, who thinks he has worked so hard, leaning against the prison door and chatting with the warden's 'Mom,' who has just offered to arrange for her to go on tour, "You know, I used to date a wealthy smuggler. He kept bragging to me about how rich he was—ugly people love that. "
Just as Jenny had conquered Agata with this solo dance, the audience's minds were drawn to her as Lockey ate and laughed and took off her prison uniform, revealing the silver dress underneath. Before this scene, Jenny was either wearing prison uniforms, pajamas, or the conservative clothes of a woman from a good family, and this was the first time she wore a short dance dress that showed off her slender body to everyone.
In the bright light, the person looks taller than usual, but she is thinner than the average person, so the body shape is almost perfect, and although the face is not clear, the strong beauty has left an impression in the hearts of the people, and they clearly know that they are watching a very beautiful actress - a very beautiful woman with dreams of fame, and ignorant, vain, and vicious.
For the audience, beauty is justice, and even though Lockhee has killed people, looked down on her husband Amos, and even used his sexual performance as a laughing stock to please the audience, they still can't help but be moved by the strong charm she exudes. What's even more rare is that in this scene, Lockhee treats the audience as an imaginary audience, telling jokes to them, expecting them to laugh, to please them, vulgarly speaking, to whine at them, and she switches back and forth between her delirium fantasies and her attentiveness to the audience's reactions. This is not only Lockhee's daydream, but also the first time that she has directly interacted with the audience in the audience.
She was already glamorous when she was immersed in the character's world, and now, Lockhee's charisma was concentrated towards the audience, and she danced languidly, confidently, and arrogantly, as if she were the queen of the high, and all the audience should be mesmerized by her and cheer for her loudly. She twisted her waist in the whispered 'Roxie' of the supporting dancers, and people could faintly see the hook of red lips through the bright light, imagining what kind of intoxicating expression was carried on that amorous face. In their imagination, Lockhee's performance tended to be more perfect, her beauty was more moving, as if she was captured by Lockhee's delusions, and a trace of chagrin appeared in the hearts of all the audience: why can't we see her face clearly, why is this song so short, why does it feel like it has only been long since it began, and it has already come to an end?
The lights dimmed, the spotlight focused on Lockey, she opened her hands from the bottom to the top, as if to encompass the world, the spring breeze was proud, her eyes were closed in a high-pitched tone, and her singing voice was getting higher and higher—"Roxie!"
With a snap, the lights dimmed, the stage plunged into darkness, and the audience seemed to fall into a very brief moment of consternation: they were so involved in the play that the disappearance of the lights startled them.
Brantley suddenly realized that he had been watching the whole time with his mouth open, and not only did he blush a little, but he looked left and right without a trace: fortunately, no one noticed him. Otherwise, he must have looked like a fat, fat, pig who was so preoccupied with beauty that he was in the middle of his tongue - exactly the kind of vulgar and lascivious middle-aged fat man that Lockhee was targeting.
He blinked a few times, trying to make a definitive conclusion on Lockhee's performance just now, but found it very difficult: this is a relatively difficult jazz solo, you have to sing and dance while talking, it is difficult to go down without enough stage dominance, and it is also the most difficult thing to test Lockhee's skills. As a critic, he should certainly look at her performance with a harsh eye, looking for bright spots and flaws -
But... He had just forgotten about it. Brantley pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat: he couldn't help but admit that he had just been completely fascinated by Lockhee as a mere spectator.
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