Thursday, May 8, 2014

A Conflation of Time: Frozen, Into the Woods and Libby



Maybe it is because Idina Menzel is a Broadway actress.  Maybe it is because the songs - when you listen to the cd - sound like they were meant for Broadway.  Maybe it is the fact that after seeing the movie my dad commented, “I won’t be surprised if Frozen ends up on Broadway.”  But somehow, somewhere along the line time completely collapsed and now the past comes rushing forth in tiny portals found throughout the soundtrack. At very specific moments when Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell are harmonizing the present melts away completely and I am standing at sixteen in my best friend’s bedroom listening to the soundtrack for Into the Woods for the three hundred and forty-fifth time.  Oh, how Libby loved that play, and her love and excitement was so infectious that I easily got swept up in it.  Into the Woods for months was our own little world into which we would retreat every morning before school and then again when we got home.  

We didn’t see the play on Broadway.  We watched a taped version of the play on PBS because our religion teacher at St. Francis Prep assigned watching it for homework.  I have no memory of why the play was assigned or what sort of class discussion followed.  But none of that really matters anyway. What matters is the added bond the play forged between two very good friends. The night it was on, Libby came over to my house to watch it.  The moment it started, she sat completely transfixed.  She had never before seen a Broadway show and at first she seemed shocked that the cow on stage wasn’t real.  The differences between theater and film totally intrigued and captivated her but by intermission her love of the theater had been solidified.  Not only that, she fell in love with the actor who played the Baker.  Pictures of Chip Zien suddenly graced her bedroom walls alongside of posters and newspaper clippings of Patrick Swayze and Bruce Willis.  

Within days of having watched the play, her mother bought her a cassette of the soundtrack which she played over and over again to the point where we both had the words for all of the songs memorized.  But memorizing the songs wasn’t the end of it.  Spontaneously, while walking down the street or making iced tea or playing catch she would break out into song and begin acting out various parts of the show.  I admit I was somewhat partial to the witch, Bernadette Peters, and as a result I would fall in line with Libby pretending that I was the witch, although I can’t sing to save my life.  I suppose that’s one sure sign of a good friend, someone who doesn’t judge even when the rest of the world would stuff their ears with their fingers to block out the awful noise that somehow in your own head passes for music.  We had some great times because of our love of Into the Woods which now thankfully account for many fond memories of the moments Libby and I spent together.  Even though her passion for the show eventually waned and her crush on Chip Zien became overshadowed by an even greater crush on Davis Gaines after she saw the Phantom of the Opera, today I cannot listen to a song from Into the Woods or even read a fairytale to my son without thinking of her.  

Into the Woods was the last time I ever had the entire script a of a show memorized, the last time I knew the songs so well I heard them in my dreams and the last time I ever saw someone so animated with enthusiasm their eyes sparkled each time a song played.  The last time that is until the Frozen obsession reached my home.  Yes, the movie was spectacular – the best animated film I’ve ever seen – but my fixation on the film has just as much to do with the link it offers to my childhood and the friend who died too young.  When I see my son singing along to the opening song, “Frozen Heart,” and pretending to cut through the ice I am a kid again myself pretending to cast a spell on Libby in whatever role she happened to be mimicking at some moment oh so long ago.  After nearly a quarter of a century, I once again nearly have an entire script memorized, the songs from Frozen play continuously in my head even when the soundtrack is turned off and my son’s eyes twinkle with delight every time I agree to put the movie on one more time.  Only now, when I try to sing along my son will sometimes put his hand over my mouth and say, “Please stop. You don’t sing well.”  But he is right, so can’t get too upset.  So yes, I love the movie but now you know a little more as to the reason why.  It’s not just about a brilliantly crafted story where love prevails; it is about a memory – a person, the sister I never had.  Yes, that’s it, that’s the key, the prominent link between my present and past.  I did not have a sister, but I had Libby and while being immersed in a movie about sisters, how can I not think of her?

Sometimes I wonder if Libby had lived, would she have had children and if so would they have been around the same age as my son?  If she were around today with young children, what would my Frozen fixation look like?  Would I even have made such a giant subconscious leap from present to past?  Or would her being alive have somewhat altered my memories, my motives and my desire to hear the songs or watch the movie again and again?  

While writing this, I learned that the movie version Into the Woods has already been filmed and is due to be released on Christmas of this year.  I’m not a big movie fan, but you can bet I’ll be there in the theaters shortly after it gets released.  And when I go, I have no doubt that Libby’s spirit will find me and sit right down beside like Libby did all those years ago when we watched the play for the very first time.




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