"Baby, you're a firework! Come on, show 'em what you're worth!"(Katy Perry, 2010)
As we open the Guidebook to our spring offerings, we are greeted by two bright, beautiful, confident women living different lives at the turn of the 20th century.
Hannah Brown is a singer in a New York bar's floor show. A woman who can protect herself from unwanted attention when a "man who got away from his keeper" looks her up and down with a spin and says, "you'll do." Her response is concise, "I'll do what?" while destroying his calling card with "you'll wait for me."
Laurey Williams is a sassy young Oklahoma farm girl with an attitude. ("Oh, I thought you were somebody come a-singin' like a bullfrog at eight 'o'clock on a Saturday mornin'.") She is also a romantic girl who enjoys carriage rides and snow-white horses but sees herself as a woman who does not need just one man. ("Many a new face will please my eye. Many a new love will find me. Never have I once looked back to sigh over a romance behind me.”)
Each woman shares an admirable quality of self-worth that will be tested as their paths cross with the men that will change their lives.
Welcome to the April – May 2022 Edition Easter Parade and Oklahoma ~ Nothing Compares To You!
When Hannah Brown realizes the "man who got away from his keeper" is the famous vaudevillian DON HEWES she seizes the opportunity to advance her career and takes the job.
As Don attempts to turn Hannah into a carbon copy of Nadine, she questions his choices. ("These dresses are beautiful, but do they look like me, like Hannah Brown?"), Don rebuffs her, saying, "There is no more Hannah Brown. From now on, you're Juanita." Hannah, surprised and feeling a loss of identity, replies," if you wanted a Juanita, why did you pick me?"
Why indeed. Was it because he needed a new partner? Or was it to make Nadine jealous? Or was he turning Hannah into Juanita because ballroom dancing is the style that made him famous? YES!
As the act suffers (one bow during the opening night), Don seeks to rekindle his partnership with Nadine only to discover that "the seamstress," as Nadine calls her, is a poor imitation of the real thing.
With this realization, Don rebukes Hannah saying, "You've been trying to be somebody else!" With this bold, inaccurate statement, Hannah recovers her identity, voice, and self-worth, saying, "I've been trying to what?!" "I tried to explain, I knew I wouldn't look good, and you told me to move like that!"
With a new outlook and new routines, Hannah and Hewes take Vaudeville by storm and outshine anything Nadine and Hewes accomplished.
Their star on the rise, Don turns down a spot in the Ziegfeld Follies starring Nadine, opting instead for a show of their own. "She can't compare to you!"
Don's declaration helps Hannah maintain her sense of self-worth and helps her get her man by the end of the film.
("Never saw you look quite so pretty before. Never saw you dress quite so handsome; what's more. I could hardly wait to keep our date this lovely Easter morning. My heart beat fast as I came through the door. For in your Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it, you'll be the grandest fella in the Easter Parade.”)
Just as Don's rebukes tested Hannah's self-worth, Laurey's is tested by her changeable relationship with Curley. She warms to him (cuddling up to him in Surry with the Fringe on Top) and just as quickly turns on him "for telling (her) lies" when she discovers the Surry is just a "purty" Curley made up to impress her.
These "lies" and Curley's perceived dalliance with "that Cummins gal you're so fond of" cause Laurey to question her attitude and feelings for him (Curley: "You really gonna drive to the box social with that Judd fella? Laurey: "Reckon so! Why?" Curley: "Everybody expects me to take you." Laurey: "Maybe it's just as well you ain't. Don't want people talkin' about us, do we?"), and lead her to accept Judd's invitation to the Box Social.
In accepting Judd and refusing Curley, she is the unwitting subject of a war between these two men wherein her worth is measured in the prize/price of a picnic hamper.
Her sense of self is tested further when Judd confronts her. ("I ain't good enough for you? Miss high and mighty! You ain't getting rid of me ever!"). Though frightened by his actions, she demonstrates the strength and courage needed to save herself. ("You makin' threats to me? If I don't allow you to slobber over me like a hog, you gonna do something about it?")
She also shows an equal amount of vulnerability when she lays her fears at Curley's feet. Her openness leads to his demonstration of affection, and together, they contemplate building a life. "Things is changing, Laurey! They're gonna make a state out of this! Now I got you to help me. I'll amount to something yet!"
With this declaration, Curley, like Don, believes what we as an audience already know. When discussing the empowered women in the Classic Movie Musical ~Nothing Compares To You!
Thanks for Looking In!
~~Lori
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Reference: Yauch, L (5 May 2017). Oklahoma Hello {Blog Post}. Retrieved from www.moviesandmusic.biz
Yauch, L (1 March 2013). Almost Like Being In Love When I Dance With You {Blog Post}. Retrieved from www.moviesandmusic.biz
Yauch, L 1 May 2012). Oklahoma 2012 {Blog Post}. Retrieved from www.moviesandmusic.biz
