Marguerite MacIntyre goes Gothic and a National Tour for Jane Eyre: The Musical?
How frustrating... I somehow managed to delete an entire post wherein I transcribed this very interesting article, sent to me by Esther. For ease of transmission I will transcribe it again, when I get over the disappointment of it all. For now, here is the image itself. Thank you for your contributions, Esther! Details about the early versions of Jane Eyre: The Musical are very difficult to find, so every allusion is significant. I have even had difficulty in finding images to illustrate the text with. I have nearly 2 000 files on Bronte related subjects and only 3 or 4 suitable images.
Marguerite MacIntyre played Bertha Rochester, Miss Scatcherd, and "Claire Dent." From what I can gather from various sources, doubling (or tripling, in this case) seemed to increase with each new version of the show. Originally I believe there were only a few doubled roles, which led to the show having a huge cast (especially since the earliest cast list I have obtained lists just about every character from the novel. Even John Eyre makes an appearance!) The doubling, then, was originally not wholly for the sake of economy. The show is designed to reflect Jane's narrative retrospection. The later versions increase this conception to the point that the show is extremely oeneric. Anyway, regarding doubling, the only positive doubling in the early versions that I know of is that the same actors played Jane's father, and Mr Rochester; and Jane's mother, and Miss Temple. A clue to why this choice was made is Jane's opening speech (sung by members of a chorus as well as Jane- / marks a change in voice.):
"My name is Jane Eyre./ My story begins, gentle audience, a long age ago/ in the home of a poor clergyman/ and his wife;/ my parents./ There is my father, as I now imagine him,/ and there my mother./ And there I am; Jane Eyre, a baby in my father's arms."
Lastly, there seems to be hope that Jane Eyre: The Musical will at last go on its first national tour, according to its creator, Paul Gordon.
3 comments:
Just FYI that Marguerite's been doing a lot of TV lately. This past week she was on "Bones". If anyone caught the episode, she was the veterinarian. And she'll be star of a TV series on ABC Family that will debut in the summer...
On another subject, I am trying to dig up a little treat for you. I know it is somewhere in my house. It's a fan fiction written in the 70s that is a Jane Eyre crossover with...Star Trek. No, Jane does not fall in love with Captain Kirk. But it's really funny and quite plausible in the world of Star Trek.
Adding a post to identify myself as Esther, of course.
I cannot wait to read it! I have a love-hate relationship with fanfiction. At the request of a friend, I am writing a Jane Eyre cross over... with Jane Eyre. All of the different versions I have found so far. ;) It's really refreshing to see how all of the different adaptations really are totally different from the novel, when you get down to it. All of the Janes and Rochesters are distinct, and all.
I did hear that JE did make an appearance on Star Trek once. A friend says that it was a holonovel on Voyager, but that it looked so horrid that she didn't really want to give in to my insistance that she read the book! I think Rochester was geriatric, and moped a lot. She really didn't see what the big deal was ;)
And I am quite glad that Jane doesn't fall for Captain Kirk! (although Blanche... that's far more likely).
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