Hollywood Domination Chapter 44: Structural imbalance

Successfully deceived her husband Amos, convinced him that it was only a thief who was killed, and under his own rhetoric, he came forward to take responsibility for the shooting. Seeing that she was about to easily escape the punishment of the law, Roxy breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little pity and amused her husband - just like the audience was amused by her stupidity and ignorance, and that everything was under her control Amos, Roxie also has a sense of superiority. Like an obedient pug, she looked at her husband encouragingly, nodded in satisfaction, and when the police shone a flashlight representing a questioning look on her face At the same time, Roxy's body language changed again, quickly changing from a relaxed leaning posture to a cowering trembling posture.

"Sometimes I'm wrong." In such a chaotic, orderly and blackly humorous scene, Roxy's singing sounded slowly. Instead of looking at the audience, she looked at the luthier , as if chatting with him. But the luthier didn't respond to this, as if he couldn't see her, he was still playing the music by himself, "Sometimes I'm right."

"It's still very entertaining..." Brantley thought silently, now he has completely put away his contempt for Jenny. "Her voice is good, her singing is sweet, well, maybe she's not good at treble, but it's enough in this song, at least she's not out of tune... Her biggest advantage is that she's always been in the show."

For some musical actors, one of the difficulties in singing is that they cannot grasp the degree of interaction with the audience. Of course, most stage performances must interact with the audience, especially song and dance performances, and glances at the audience are all necessary links, otherwise the audience's emotions will cool down. But in a musical, if you're fully facing the stage while you're performing and singing, and you show that you're aware of the audience, it's another play for the audience, and it's like, "Well, this People are now acting for me, and it's all fake."

One of the difficulties in musicals is to keep the audience's sense of participation in the continuous scene switching and plot development, music and singing, so that they forget that they are watching a show. Once the audience realizes that 'all this is fake', then It will be difficult for him to be carried away by the performance, and he will find the inevitable flaws in any performance. This is actually the case with any performance. There is no movie that can’t find the groove, but when you watch a good movie, you can’t have extra attention to find the groove, and you can devote yourself to the characters and the plot. .

Roxy's performance is the kind that makes people enter the drama. This song tells about her feelings for Amos. It's like a whisper between Roxy and the audience. Jennifer's singing is in tune On the stage, the performance is also restrained, she does not have too much eye contact with the audience, but sings on the piano with self-pity, no matter from her singing voice or from her body language, it is easy to distinguish her current state. Emotions: She is very complacent, because no matter what, having such a loyal and stupid man who completely surrenders to her as a follower and slave is after all a proof and satisfaction of her femininity. Also because of Amos's loyalty, she feels that she is an attractive woman even more, so the performance is also full of narcissism.

Her singing voice is not very natural, which makes people stunned and kneel on the spot, but the whole performance is very smooth. On the one hand, people are amused by her narcissism, and on the other hand, they can’t help but recognize Amos’ loyalty to her. —— Locke Xi is indeed too beautiful, she is so beautiful that even vulgarity can't cover up her beauty, but she is narcissistic, vain, and stupid to the point that even her beauty can't cover up her vulgarity.

When Roxy sang, the entire theater was silent, and Brantley couldn't deny that Jennifer Jefferson was really beautiful. He even felt that her beauty was already a disturbance to the plot. up. ——When the policeman and Amos were talking, although Jennifer didn't make any movement, she just showed concern, but she still firmly tied the attention of him, an authoritative drama critic, to herself, which made him reluctant The feeling of looking away.

"J.J is so beautiful." Jon's mind is much purer than that of drama critics. She is now busy admiring every movement of Jenny, and she doesn't even want to say anything. Whisper mum at the cuts that this song compensates for the fact that 'Juanita' doesn't have a performance segment.

Although he proudly sang "Funy Honey" in praise of the loyal dog Amos, Roxie's clumsy tricks could not deceive the police in the end, and they didn't even need them to interrogate him. A furniture salesman in the past, Amos himself yelled, exposing the fact that the man was not a homicide.

Although Roxy denied it in every possible way, she still couldn't turn the situation around. She begged Amos repeatedly but couldn't appease his anger. It was a feeling that she couldn't bear to watch it, and she knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't help feeling a little sympathetic: Although she was very stupid, it seemed worth sighing to go to prison like this.

Soon, Roxie was changed into a prison uniform, followed the prison guards into the prison anxiously, and met the warden's "Mom". This is a song and dance of "Mom". Lights swept by, and most of the time was in darkness.

"Well, the actor's performance is very good, and the singing voice of 'Mom' is still so strong, it is too easy for her to play this role." Brantley glanced absently at the dark place while thinking, it was Locke Where Xi stood, she could see in the dim light that she was being dazzled by the performance of 'Mom', watching the interaction between 'Mom' and the female prisoners back and forth.

He suddenly had a sense of surprise, "It's so dark that I can feel her emotions. Isn't this girl's physical expression too good? The most important thing is that her performance is too natural, which belongs to the guilty conscience of a newcomer." And timidity? Why doesn't she have a little bit of stage fright? I don't see a bit of attention-grabbing tension in her? Her body language is so loose, there's no tension in 'playing someone else' at all... it feels like It seems... as if she is Roxy!"

When he watched "CSI", he felt that Jennifer was playing the role in her true colors, and she was "Juanita" in daily life, so she was so handy and charming. Turning to the former high-ranking prostitute in the entertainment industry, the expensive and **** wandering between politics and business is so natural that he has such an association. But now Jennifer's Roxy is so natural, with 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 he is not married, Roxy The young woman's feeling and stupid vulgarity in her speech and behavior are definitely not her true colors.

He suddenly realized that he had completely ignored the song and dance of 'Mom', and Brantley felt a little guilty for a moment: he is a drama critic, and he should pay attention to the whole drama, not just a fresh face. It's only the first song, if his attention is completely attracted, and he can't even think effectively, what is the difference between him and those brainless fans and spectators?

Sweeping a row of colleagues with a guilty conscience, Brantley found that at least half of the attention was not on 'Mom', and he even felt that the atmosphere in the venue was a little fluctuating.

At this time, the solo of "Mom" is over, and another highlight is coming: the announcer announces the appearance of the six female prisoners in the prison, bringing you the most famous group dance in "Chicago", "Cell Block Tango", here In the song, six female prisoners took turns telling their stories about going to prison. Each of them contributed a very powerful song and dance, which always aroused the atmosphere and made everyone feel like they had a visual feast.

Objectively speaking, Brantley thinks the performance at the Schubert Theater is still of a high level, and he can't find any outstanding flaws in this part of the scene. Dietrich's singing is still powerful and full of vigor, and her dance is also very good. Force, she is a very distinctive actress. But—he didn't enjoy this big meal as usual, his mentality was more like eating an appetizer: "Well, it tastes good...but when will Roxie come out?"

The audience in the arena should have similar thoughts with him, and Brantley found that some audience actually left the seat to go to the bathroom at this time-this was almost impossible to happen in previous performances.

"That girl has magical powers." Brantley's colleague, the "New Yorker" columnist Patrik, whispered to him. Obviously, he didn't fully appreciate the song and dance. "James Schubert has found a treasure."

For some reason, Brantley felt a rebellious desire to play against him, saying, "There are duets and pas de deux."

"But you have to at least admit that Roxie won't be a problem for her," Patry said. "As long as "Nowadays" doesn't mess up too much, this girl is at least the most promising newcomer in 10 years."

"Roxie" is Roxie's second solo. It describes her yearning and ambition for fame. It is still very narcissistic in essence. Judging from the performance of Roxie's first song, this difficulty is difficult for Jenny It's no longer a problem for Fleur.

After the tango in the cell, Velma appeared again. Roxy overheard the conversation between her and the warden's "mother". profiteering. Roxy seemed to see a glimmer of hope for getting rid of the crime, she hurriedly caught up with Wilma, and started the first scene between the two.

"Ah, Miss Kelly." Roxie pushed the cart loaded with toiletries, "I have your personal items here - I'm happy to help you."

Velma snatched her lace underwear, and reflexively wanted to give a tip, but was blocked by Roxy, "No, no, it's just a matter of effort."

Velma didn't care, she turned and wanted to leave, but was caught up by Roxy, "Hey, listen, can I ask you a few things?"

Velma turned around impatiently, and looked Roxi up and down. Roxy seized the opportunity to continue, "Do you know Harrison, the prosecutor..."

At some point, Brantley's brows became more and more tight, and he began to feel uncomfortable: in fact, he had a vague feeling before, but now this rivalry made everything more obvious That's all.

In this scene, Velma is everything Roxie yearns for. She wears heavy makeup, wears fancy clothes, is imposing, bold, and lofty. She is completely successful in Roxie's heart. Wearing a prison uniform and messy hair, he looks like an ugly duckling. There should be an obvious contrast between the strengths and weaknesses of these two people, so that the strengths and weaknesses will be reversed later, and when Roxy becomes the strong one, the audience will feel the contrast.

But now, the thing that Brantley had been secretly worried about happened——Roxy was suppressing the show.

It's not that Roxie didn't play her part well, her anxiety, nervousness, and hope all acted naturally, just like she was just now, Roxie was always in the role. She gives people a feeling that she doesn't know that there is an audience in the audience, and she just lives her life in a parallel space, and the audience is peeping at her through the transparent 'fourth wall', even if she has a look at her. The audience moves, but also doesn't 'see' them, realize their existence, so now she's a female criminal who wants to get away with it but doesn't know what to do, very confused.

The problem lies in two points. First, Roxie is much more beautiful than Wilma. Even if she is dressed in tatters, objectively speaking, she is more beautiful than Wilma. As a result, the contrast between strength and weakness is not so obvious. People always admire strength, and this society worships beauty very much. If a fat woman in furs walks with a beautiful woman in school uniform, more than 90% of them will Viewers will not think that the fat woman is strong, but will think that she is ugly, and the beautiful woman is a hibiscus.

Velma is not fat, but she is really not good-looking. Of course black people have beauties, but she is not one of them. This is not her fault, it is just a limitation of innate conditions. So much so that the audience here has a sense of drama, and they will instinctively confuse: What are you Velma cows? Aren't you just a dancer who lives off her beauty? Roxy is so much prettier than you, what good do you have in front of her?

Isn't it unreasonable why Velma is popular and Roxy is unknown?

Of course, these thoughts may be just a flicker, and then the audience will convince themselves: 'This is a play! ’

But it is this self-persuasion that makes the audience play the show. The emotions of watching are affected, and they no longer invest in it, but look at the show with a scrutiny mood.

If this is still unavoidable, just because Jennifer is too beautiful, beyond the Broadway average, then the second point is indeed Velma's fault—or Roxy's fault. In fact, Velma's acting can't be considered bad, and Dietrich's acting skills can be regarded as mid-range in Broadway, but the only problem is that Roxy's acting is too good.

How natural she is, how stiff her body language is, how vivid her carefulness is, and how contrived Wilma's superiority is, the audience can clearly feel that Wilma knows that she is acting and knows that she is acting. She is stubbornly acting out this unreasonable plot, and she even knows that the audience knows this, but she still insists on being stubborn.

The atmosphere of watching the show has been damaged to the point of obvious damage. This sense of absurdity made many viewers discuss with their companions in low voices. Brantley heard a few muffled comments.

"She is much prettier than her, and she is also good at acting."

"Hell, is the acting good? This is simply a total suppression, a horrible massacre."

This will be a big regret tonight, but Brantley is not going to mention this in the drama review. He doesn't think it's Dietrich's fault. She is excellent, but Jennifer Jay Ferson—this unknown girl is just too inhuman.

"She is simply a monster." Thinking of Patrik's comment "that girl has magical powers", Brantley murmured. "It's impossible for her to just pop out of a certain coffee shop all of a sudden?"

Like the audience of "CSI", he also instinctively refuses to believe that Jennifer is new to the stage. In Brantley's view, this level of performance, without thousands of stage tempering, is Impossible to show.

After this rivalry, the lawyer Billy and the reporter Mary also performed their own solo dances. In these two paragraphs, Roxie did not appear. Brantley found that he could not concentrate and was always thinking about Roxie. Where should I come back.

Of course, Billy's actor is young and handsome, with good singing skills, and Mary's performance is also remarkable, but they are in front of Roxy, it's like a store bread meets French handmade desserts, of course most of the time you are satisfied The thing about bread is that when you have just eaten luxurious desserts, you will naturally not appreciate the simplicity of bread.

Brantley didn't like the conclusion he was about to draw, but in 'Days Without Roxy' he had to admit that it seemed the whole thing was the exact opposite of what he expected, and it wasn't Jennifer Jefferson was not worthy of the Schubert Theatre, but the Chicago troupe was not worthy of her performance.

#

Compared to 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 enjoyed watching it, but they also understand that there are many other people's roles in the musical, and they can watch it with tolerance-because in their hearts, J.J is better than others. It’s something to be happy about doing well, so I don’t mind the pressure of the opponent’s play, but I can appreciate the charm of the rest of the repertoire. Jon decided to watch it a few more times, even if he started working part-time for it. J.J was a treat to her eyeballs and was the highlight of the show, but the others were also good and generally on a good level.

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. , I just can’t move it away, and I’m really looking forward to her performance again. As for other songs, some people can enjoy them quietly, and some people just treat them as garbage time and let them go, but anyway, they are very satisfied if there are beautiful women watching them. Can you They are not very demanding to invest in the story.

The mentality of old drama fans is more like Brantley. What they expect is a fascinating performance that allows you to be involved in the drama from beginning to end. Now, although I feel that Wilma’s performance in the drama is particularly poor, and I didn’t get into the drama at all. If it wasn't for his good singing and dancing, it would have been a failure of the whole show—but, anyway, there was a very big bright spot, which made people reluctant to look away from Roxy.

So, the rhythm of the audience is when Roxy enters the stage—the audience holds their breath—Roxy exits—some people relax, some people continue to concentrate—Roxy is in the background of human flesh—many people ignore the spotlight, Still looking at her, this rhythm passed. Most of the audience don't know what makes her act so good, and they don't know why they like her. They only know one thing: they think she is very charming and eye-catching, and they want to see Roxy, and want to see her more.

Many of them have decided to remember the names of the actors on the posters when they go out, so that they can search to see if Roxie has any other works when they go back.

After waiting "very patiently" for more than 20 minutes, Roxy's second solo dance finally came. The whole audience cheered up immediately. Some people changed their postures, some sat up straight, and some began to adjust the focus of the telescope... Everyone's attention was focused on the stage, paying attention to the changes in Roxy .

Before this, Roxie and Billy had already performed a puppet dance—lawyer Billy dismissed Roxie at first, and if he wanted to get his defense service, Roxie needed to spend 5,000 yuan first . In order to survive, Roxie had to find her husband Amos, and once again coaxed him to take out all his savings and beg Billy for help. This scene between Roxie and Amos also aroused many people's sighs with smiles: If such a thing happened in life, Roxie would definitely be denounced as shameless, but because it is a drama, the audience respects her. The moral requirements are much more tolerant, and many people think, 'No wonder Amos is cheated. For a person like him, it is lucky to be able to marry a beauty like Roxy, and it is reasonable to give everything for her. As it should be'.

With Billy's help, Roxie was quickly packaged as a misguided rich lady who was abducted by Amos and eloped. Billy manipulated the media and transformed the gaudy Roxie into a Lovely and beautiful lady, this episode is embodied by Billy manipulating Roxy like a puppet. Roxy's dance skills also made the experts nod and approve - this kind of dance is a test of physical expression. For example, Jennifer's performance is quite good, there is no extra small movement, and the joint rotation is jerky and rigid, which is better than before. The same arias I have seen are more convincing.

"We Both Reached the Gun" is also a very classic song. Billy sang very well and performed well. The scene even dropped a lot of red lines, and the performance of the supporting dance reporters was remarkable. The dance elicited some spontaneous applause, but soon the audience quieted down and got back into the story.

Billy's packaging was a big success, and Roxie became popular overnight in the city, and even the country. Her used items were auctioned for a high price, and Billy got his own reward of five thousand dollars, the full amount, a penny Not less. And Roxie's net worth is even more plentiful than before she was imprisoned. She received letters from fans, accepted interviews from newspaper reporters, and completely became a star in the women's prison, completely comparing Wilma. Now, the media's interest has turned entirely to Roxy, and no one is paying attention to Velma. In Roxy's view, she has finally had a blessing in disguise, and her day of fame is just around the corner.

"Roxie" is a solo that appeared in this context. Roxie, who thought she had come to the end of all hardships, leaned against the prison door, chatting with the warden's mother, who just offered to arrange for her to participate in the tour, "You know , I once dated a rich smuggler. He kept bragging to me about how rich he was - ugly people do that."

Just like Jenny used this solo dance to conquer Agata, as Roxy giggled and took off her prison uniform, revealing the silver dance skirt underneath, the hearts of the audience were firmly attracted to her. Before this scene, Jenny was not wearing prison uniforms, pajamas, or conservative clothes of good women. This was the first time she wore a revealing/revealing/sexy short dance skirt, showing her slim figure to the fullest. Everyone watch.

In the strong light, people seem to be taller than usual, but she is thinner than ordinary people, so the body shape is almost perfect, and although the face cannot be seen clearly, the strong beauty has left an impression on people , They clearly know that what they are watching is a very beautiful actress—a very beautiful, ignorant, vain, and vicious beauty snake with dreams of becoming famous.

For the audience, beauty is justice. Even though Roxie killed people, looked down on her husband Amos, and even used his sexual performance as a joke to please the audience, they still had to be dissipated by her. Impressed by the strong charm. What's even more rare is that in this scene, Roxy treats the audience in the audience as imaginary audiences. She tells them jokes, expects them to laugh, and pleases them. To put it vulgarly, she just yells at them. Switching back and forth between delirium of the self and attention to the audience's reaction. This is not only Roxy's daydream, but also the first time that she has directly interacted with the audience so far.

When she was immersed in the world of the character, she was already very charming. Now, Roxy's charm is concentrated and shot towards the audience. Her dance is lazy, confident and arrogant, just like It's like she's the queen on high, and the entire audience should be swooning over her and cheering her on. She twisted her waist in the 'Roxie' whispered by the backing dancers. Through the strong light, people can vaguely see the movement of the red lips, and imagine what is on that charming face. A Tao Ran expression. In their imagination, Roxie's performance tends to be more perfect, her beauty is more moving, as if captured by Roxie's delusion, a trace of annoyance emerged 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's not long since it started, and it's already coming to an end?

The surrounding lights dimmed, and the spotlight focused on Roxie. She opened her hands from bottom to top, as if to engulf the world, she closed her eyes in a high-pitched voice, and her singing became more and more high- — "Roxie!"

With a bang, the lights dimmed, and the stage fell into darkness. The whole audience seemed to be in a very brief shock: they were so involved in the play that the disappearance of the lights startled them.

Brantley suddenly realized that he had opened his mouth to watch the whole process just now. Not only did he blush a little, but he looked around indistinctly: Fortunately, no one noticed him. Otherwise, he must look like a dead, fat, pig who is so absorbed in his tongue that he is so obsessed with beauty—this is exactly the audience group that Roxy is targeting, the vulgar and lustful middle-aged obese man.

He blinked a few times, trying to draw a conclusion on Roxie's performance just now, but found it very difficult: this is a relatively difficult jazz solo dance, and there is not enough time to sing and dance while talking. It is very difficult to get off the stage dominance, and it is also the most difficult point in the audience to test Roxy's skills. As a critic, of course he should observe her performance with a harsh eye, find the bright spots and flaws——

But... he completely forgot just now. Brantley took out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat: He had to admit that he was completely fascinated by Roxy just now and became a mere spectator.

The author has something to say: updated

The income is still 15 yuan away, so there is no second watch tonight, and there should be one tomorrow XD