Thursday, September 22, 2011

"They didn't do THAT on PBS!"

Yes, another "Storm" post. I promise it'll be the last for a while, though you may hear more about the characters I'm evolving from it as The Highwayman's Apprentice continues to grow.

The song in question is "Midnight Well," sung by the gypsy king, the story of a naïve village girl who went out in the night to meet a dangerous gypsy man and was never seen again. On the surface, it's a classic "be a good girl or else" song, but there are elements in it which give me a different feel.

Credit where credit is due, though, Krystal came up with the idea I'm using for The Highwayman's Apprentice, when she pointed out that although the gypsy king and one of the village girls certainly do meet at the well during the song, he seems to be telling a story about another gypsy and another girl…

In any case, the title of this post refers to the final pose struck by the characters during the song. On the PBS special, the girl spreads her arms like wings, and the gypsy, standing behind her, grasps her hands and folds his arms around her, holding her against his chest.

On the DVD, this is not the closing pose of the song. Instead, the gypsy takes the girl's hand and supports her as she performs a controlled fall, landing on her back in the grass. He then drops down on top of her, straddling her, and lowers himself down to kiss her, at which point the camera changes focus.

I could be wrong, but I think I have an inkling as to why this particular pose did not pass muster for the PBS-aired version of "Storm." Certainly it caused me and Krys to do a lot of shrieking when we watched the DVD for the first time. Also a good bit of envy. Ryan Kelly, gypsy king… mmmmm…

Oops, did I just say that out loud?

In any case, both "He Nearly Killed the Cat" and The Highwayman's Apprentice are hot in my head right now, and the only other thing I have on my slate is singing at Vespers tonight. Today is the feast day of St. Maurice, the patron of our parish, so we always do an evening prayer service.

If you happen to pray, toss a prayer God's way for me. If not, send me good thoughts. I got picked to sing the opening solo of the trickiest piece we're doing, and it just about tops out my range…

3 comments:

  1. Having never seen Storm before I can't really comment about it though I will say that I've added it to my list of to-do's - you're very good at making me see/read things ;)
    I'm loving "He Nearly Killed the Cat" and I expect "The Highwayman's Apprentice" will be interesting but as an avid DV fan must ask if the next SD chapter will be out soon?!
    Good thoughts going your way, though I expect you'll be alright when it actually comes to singing it no matter what you feel like now!

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  2. Good luck with your singing!!
    The Highwayman's Apprentice? is that one of your original pieces?

    I've never seen Storm either... but it sounds interesting!

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  3. wow im not the first to comment for once... i also now feel the need to watch storm but maybe i'll wait until november when my exams are over... i very much look forward to it though! good luck with your singing! if your singing is as good as your writing im sure you will do fine... wonderfully infact!

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