ghost quartet - an essay
so this is a story that fucked my brain because its' so intertwined and circular but also it's so good! it took me some time to actually get what's happening but it was so worth it!
it's technically not a musical but i recommend to at least once watch a youtube recording (linked below), because it's just so much fun to see the people who created it and it's kinda easier to follow the story if you know who's speaking/singing each thing. there are four stories told and i linked a powerpoint that explains the plot below if you're interested
i loved this story, or more precisely these stories, SO MUCH! when i finished watching the live recording, i just couldn't stop listening to the songs and see the little connections between the songs, because i just love parallels between songs and there are A LOT
also these stories are so emotional (especially towards the end) and performed so beautifully! just awesomely performed stories about family, and choices, and love, and knowledge, and cycle of abuse i guess? idk it's hard to gather my thoughts about it, it's so complex and really multidimensional but it makes me think about how our parents fuck us up because their parents fucked them up, because their parents fucked them up... (so is it all adam's and eve's fault then?) ...and the cycle continues and there's no easy way to stop that. i loved how the characters were different yet the same in each plotline, and how the relationships between them were also important and connected.
also i have a feeling i need to know some things that were used as an inspiration for this song cycle so i can understand it better
ONE POT OF HONEY
ONE PIECE OF STARDUST
ONE SECRET BAPTISM
AND A PHOTO OF A GHOST
fave songs: I Don't Know, Subway, Any Kind of Dead Person, The Astronomer, Usher part 3, Hero, The Wind & Rain
fave lyrics:
where's my ghost in the mirror, i want one too
i've got a thousand one stories, every single one of them is a lie
when i was a child i used to play, play with all the voices in my head
now i ride the subway every night staring at the game on my phone, keep my head down, i'm all alone
and rose loved a man who lived in the trees
but i will transcend and vomit this loser out of me
it's time to get out of bed and be the starchild i can be
and i don't go to church much but when i do i stand and i sing loud
and i wish i could sing like that but i don't practice enough
i'm confused by the notion that somebody loves me
i love the way you see the world, i love the way your soul sings, i wish that i could sing like you, i wish that i could feel things
and i'm haunted by that memory of who i used to be, so gleeful, so blank, so ready
why don't you just go fuck all your fucking books?
this has all happened before
i will try to forgive myself
i will try to see myself as i am
guess i messed up, guess i made a bad call
i'm not special, i'm the same as anyone else
useful resources:
presentation that explains the plot
official youtube recording
lyrics with annotations
this is an essay written specifically for @felizusnavidad (thank you poppy for recommending it!!!)
14 notes
·
View notes
If you love Neverafter I think you should check out Ghost Quartet. It’s “a song cycle about love, death, and whiskey. A camera breaks and four friends drink in four interwoven narratives spanning seven centuries.” It was composed by Dave Malloy, the same guy who wrote Great Comet. It’s got similar creepy fairy tale-esque vibes to Neverafter (and also features Sheherazade lol). I love this musical and I implore y’all to check it out. There are two cast albums, one live (my fav) and one studio, as well as a full recording of the show on YouTube!
44 notes
·
View notes