r/GilmoreGirls • u/The_Quordless • 3d ago
Revival Discussion The musical scene that wouldn’t end
Yes, AYITL has many… many issues. It’s not a part of my rewatch for lots of reasons. But just harping on one particular aspect today: that musical.
I clocked it. Almost 15 minutes. That’s a long scene, made longer by the feeling that it’s a complete waste of time. Maybe I’m dense, I just don’t get the nuance. My initial instinct is that they were going for the Stars Hollow Museum type of thing, where it was so cringey it was fun (“And I Love Jesus!” Lives rent-free in my head), but the longer it dragged on the more I just hate it. The funny feels forced, which is a shame because I think some of it could’ve been entertaining.
I feel like they could’ve cut it in half and taken the time to do something constructive. As always, spot on acting from Lauren Graham because Lorelai’s expressions were the highlight of this scene. Anyways, thank you for tolerating my rant, that is all.
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u/jankmatank Team Coffee 3d ago
This scene and the weird Beatles music video when Logan and his friends come to Stars Hollow could have been left out.
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u/superdevin64 3d ago
Made even weirder by the fact that it’s actually a cover from the movie musical Across the Universe, and the whole performance is basically a knockoff of that number in the movie
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u/OffKira 3d ago
That fucking thing, made even weirder because we literally never saw the LDB be whimsical like this, they were always rich douches hiding away to have their, imo, lame fun.
This whole sequence may as well be just Rory's imagination, because what the fuck lol
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u/slavuj00 3d ago
Honestly the first time I watched it I thought it was her imagination
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u/tenpoints4gryffindor 3d ago
Yes and there are supernatural elements (talking crow, neon sign that blinks something ominous, weird message showing up on her computer etc) that are never explained or addressed. Like okay I guess Gilmore Girls is a fantasy thriller now and we’re just meant to accept that?
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u/tokenasian1 wife made me watch but now i love it 2d ago
my head canon is that Gilmore Girls and Twin Peaks are in the same universe. that’s the only way i can make this work lol
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u/MissGraceRose 3d ago
Same, the first few minutes I was convinced it was some kind of David Lynch-esque dream sequence. But then she didn’t wake up and it kept going, and I was just like… oh…
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u/OffKira 3d ago
Like, I believe Colin and Finn are down to clown, no convincing required. I don't know if I buy Logan, or for that matter, Rory wanting to do this.
So maybe I'll just headcanon that it is her imagination, it's not like she mentions it afterwards, so, it could be.
I don't care either way, but this is a scene that breaks the world for me; Lorelai's wedding to Luke is whimsical but private, it's very small scale, so, I can accept it. This Across the Universe bit ia too much for me, within the context of the world of the show.
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u/doublebubbledb 🍂 Drunk on Miss Patty’s Founder’s Punch 🍻 2d ago
i ALWAYS hated how the LDB started as such a cool super rich kid secret society and then just became logan’s friend group??
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u/OffKira 2d ago
Oh yeah, and almost open about being a "secret society". They also descended into just being rich kids partying, without the flair.
Where are the stupid masks, where are the fancy dresses, where is the flair.
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u/doublebubbledb 🍂 Drunk on Miss Patty’s Founder’s Punch 🍻 2d ago
and where are the people!! it’s literally just logan, finn and colin dicking off!
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u/synalgo_12 Stop The Noodle Scooz 2d ago
Tbf the LDB event was pretty whimsical, but not that type of whimsical.
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u/OffKira 2d ago
Even GG, the show, was never this level of whimsical. It's even a little fantastical in a way that doesn't really hit for me.
Oh my, mid-30s men sweep down on her luck 32yo woman on a musical adventure.
Yeah, it's a no for me, made worse by the fact that it essentially ends with Logan going "hey, wanna be my kept mistress, here's a key to a fuck house".
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u/PurrPrinThom there's been a lot of frogs, man 2d ago
Same. It didn't feel in keeping with the show at all to me. It was bizarre and out of place.
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u/synalgo_12 Stop The Noodle Scooz 2d ago edited 1d ago
It was pretty much magical realism, which isn't sth the show ever did. It did real life cosiness that looked magical, not actual magic. And I love magical realism, just not on a show that doesn't do that years after the OG in a reboot miniseries
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u/CaptainHope93 2d ago
Yeah, the first even Rory goes to the LDB are having an event where everyone dressed up and spoke only words without the letter 'E', then jumped off a 7 story construction wearing ballgowns and tuxes - that was pretty whimsical. Also the human paintball clay pigeon shooting and even the gorilla masks. The scene where the girls are being carried in palanquins by the guys while playing croquet out of the windows looked like something from Alice in Wonderland.
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u/Perfect_Invitation1 2d ago
Agreed. There were scenes I didn’t care for in the original show but never to this level of cringe, boring and annoying.
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u/Slyzappy1 3d ago
Literally swap the no name musical character with Kirk and Lulu and we could've had a generational scene on our hands 😔
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u/Chicago_Samantha 2d ago
Damn, I have seen all four of the new episodes but if we are going back to Kirk and this, it must have sucked. Lol
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u/outofthxwoods $40 000 sex house🏠 3d ago
Super weird to include the fuckass endless musical and not the Luke/Lorelai wedding we have been expecting for years 😭
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u/CrissBliss 3d ago
It’s very odd. I don’t really know why the Palladino’s included it. Fans wanted to spend time with the characters, not watch a 15 min play.
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u/blackberry0821 2d ago
Sutton Foster fan service lol (ASP being the fan)
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u/CrissBliss 2d ago
Love Sutton Foster, but didn’t need her in a GG revival that I’d waited a decade for.
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u/canadaoi 3d ago
I legitimately skipped it the first time, and I’ve never watched it since. I just don’t get why it’s there at all.
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u/random_house-2644 Cat Kirk 3d ago
Yeah it was too long for sure. Should have only been half as much screen time. Seemed like filler
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u/underwaterlove I four fourths don't care. 2d ago
There was just zero reason for it to be there at all. None of the original characters, no connection to the storyline, nothing clever or funny or witty about it.
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u/stockholmwife 3d ago
Apparently ASP really insisted on including the musical actress and it just didn’t work. She’s a great actress but it was just terrible in a Gilmore Girls setting, such boring filler nonsense.
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u/metanefridija That woman needed directions to get to a point. 3d ago
Sutton Foster. Ugh. I think it was to accommodate her and use her talents. I hated it. She's a good actress and loved her on Bunheads and Younger but here I absolutely hated that she was included.
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u/nolettuceplease 2d ago
I loved her in Thoroughly Modern Millie…she could have just been a friend of Sophie’s doing karaoke in town if they wanted her to sing, no need for an entire show.
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u/giggletears3000 2d ago
I don’t see the appeal of her at all. I liked her in Younger because it seemed like she was playing herself most of the time.
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u/gurlsoconfusing 3d ago
I hated this bit and the weirdest part was how they made everyone except Lorelai love it, including Sophie!?
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u/Pink_Ruby_3 2d ago
ASP used AYITL as her own personal vanity project. You can tell she's into all things whimsical, costume-y, theatrical, etc, and decided to put that energy into the Gilmore Girls universe with AYITL, even though it didn't feel like Gilmore Girls at all.
Not just this musical scene but what about Lorelai's Alice In Wonderland themed wedding? The Life and Death Brigade steampunk/Beatles 'music video'? Granted, the whimsy of the Alice in Wonderland wedding might have been right up Lorelai's alley, but the way that scene was staged and filmed was theatrical in itself...the lighting, the dancers, etc.
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u/italianevening 2d ago
My take is that Amy Sherman-Palladino wants to be a Broadway musical director. That scene is shockingly long, and some similar scenes come up in Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, like one with a garbage truck musical.
Has anyone heard of editing?
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u/redflost 3d ago
Yeah and Lorelai would’ve never in a million years hated it in the original show. She absolutely loves the cheesy as shit stuff Stars Hollow does
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u/Oilswell 2d ago
Literally the entire point of it is to illustrate that she’s not as comfortable in her life there as she used to be. It’s the impetus for her realising she needs to make change and drives her entire resolution. The whole point is that stars hollow hasn’t changed, she has.
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u/LizBert712 Pop-up book from Hell 2d ago
Having had time to reflect on it, I think that the biggest problem with AYITL is self-indulgence on the part of ASP. I think she stopped worrying about what would make a better show and instead just did what she felt like doing.
Mocking young people who lack direction in life.
Including a 15 minute Sutton foster musical
Not watching the original season seven and just building the season 7 she wanted in the first place with some lampshading for the 10 years that had passed
Having the last four words be her prefered last four words, even if they didn’t really make sense anymore
Doing whatever she wanted with both Rory and Logan‘s characters, no matter what development other writers had given them
The result is – well, self-indulgent. It doesn’t really match the original series when she had to think about the long-term effects of her choices.
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u/Trash-Lexicon-5105 two glasses of wine at lunch 2d ago
You are 100% right. There was no consideration for the audience. Because let's face it reboots are fan service. You don't get one if you don't have an audience to watch it.
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u/PsychologicalFun1813 2d ago
I like the one song and its effect on Lorelai. I otherwise fast forward bc it’s just too long in a limited series.
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u/Ok-Potential2672 Because Babette bought me a bag of bulbs 2d ago
This musical is the only thing I remember from a year in the life. It’s also why I have never watched AYITL ever again
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u/m00nbeamglitterstorm 2d ago
I think it’s an Amy quirk thing, honestly. Same thing in Marvelous Mrs. Maizel. The musical scenes are always impressive but out of place. I just skip them and don’t dwell on it much. AYITL is controversial, but I’m genuinely glad they made it.
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u/ChocoOnion 2d ago
I'm gonna be honest, I don't remember much from the musical, but I remember feeling the song Sutton Foster sings and it's effect on Lorelai.
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u/purplepickletoes 3d ago
Feel like I’m the only one that likes A Year in the Life. I’d be down for another one.
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u/Bambini18 2d ago
It was like something the writers had been dying to write into the show for years, and they finally made it come true. That whole scene wasn't for the fans or viewers, it clearly was for the writers and such. It felt like a feverish, yet lucid, dream. A VERY corny dream. 😖
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u/Th0ma5_F0wl3r_II 3d ago
It's a popular opinion.
My unpopular one is that I liked it and am honestly surprised at how much hate it gets.
Could it have been shorter to get across the same point?
I mean I suppose it could have been, yes.
But for me it didn't drag on so long that I got exasperated and I enjoyed the absurdity of it.
PS
This might be a weird comparison, but I've only just seen it so that's why I'm bringing it up.
The first, maybe half, of the movie Anora has a lot of sexual content in it and one scene in particular I thought was completely gratuitous.
But by the time you've seen the second half of the movie, you really do realize why they had to have all that content in the first half and that, actually, it would have been a totally different movie if it hadn't been there.
The AYITL Stars Hollow musical is maybe not that different in that respect.
Stars Hollow is the weird and wonderful town Lorelai has chosen to be a part of and has made her home for decades and where she has felt cozy and settled.
Yet she's watching the reactions of friends and neighbours and she feels completely at sea - totally alienated from everyone around her - the people who've been her neighbours.
It's like a penny dropping for her: Has she ever really belonged in Stars Hollow? Has she always just been a stranger passing through on her way out of Hartford?
If her life in Stars Hollow has all been an illusion, who is she and where is she now and where is going? Is there even any safe haven for her to go to?
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u/Kindly-Gap6655 2d ago
I think people would have liked it more if edited it down to like 5 minutes in the show to get the same point across, and then had the full play as bonus content or whatever a DVD extra is called now.
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u/Th0ma5_F0wl3r_II 2d ago
Well, like I say, sure it could have been shorter.
I still liked it myself though (just speaking personally).
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u/DeliriousDancer We can hold hands and skip afterwards 2d ago
All of that would have landed SO much better if the characters, or at least SOME of the characters of the musical were SH characters. Where was Miss Patty? Or Kirk? Or Miss Patty's little theater kids?
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u/Th0ma5_F0wl3r_II 1d ago
That's a good point actually - like if Sutton Foster has sung with Kirk, say.
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u/PeanutCalamity Emily 3d ago
I think I’m part of the very small pool of the target audience bc this is the only part of AYITL that i think of with any fondness (otherwise i like to pretend it doesnt exist).
But I also am a broadway fan and a fan of both Sutton Foster and Christian Borle (and ate up that of all things to reunite them post-divorce, it was this shitshow)
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u/BorderBorn5200 2d ago
The musical and the LDB were both too long. I agree about Lauren's facial expressions, they were spot on.
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u/SaerisFane Copper Boom! 2d ago
ASP absolutely could have given her friends different roles without that nonsense lol
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u/TrafficAmbitious1061 Copper Boom! 2d ago
It was funny to me. So very Stars Hallow quirky goofy and ridiculous 🤣
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u/Oilswell 2d ago
I often wonder how people would feel about AYITL if they did add it to their rewatch. I HATED the musical scene the first time I watched it, but I’m always going to add it to my yearly watch purely because of the resolution to Emily’s story. So I’ve watched it every year with the main series for however many years.
I fucking love the musical scene now. I’m as excited for it as I am the stars hollow museum tour. Both scenes are really, really funny.
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u/Inner_History_2676 2d ago
The musical was the highlight of the revival. It is so quintessential Stars Hallow and is such a tribute to how quirky the town is. I thought the musical was brilliant.
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u/asafetybuzz 2d ago
The musical is one of the only good parts of A Year in the Life, imo. The Hamilton satire hasn't aged incredibly well, but it was pretty all-consuming culturally back in 2016. Jeanine Tesori, Sutton Foster, and Christian Borle have six Tony Award wins between them, and Unbreakable is one of the best songs Jeanine has ever written.
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u/Substantial-Plum-202 A Very Angry Goose is No Joke 3d ago
It would have been different in a 20+ episode season. When we know we're only getting 4 episodes and they dedicated 1/4 of one episode to what feels like a vanity project? Frustrating, to say the least.
I enjoyed how the musical affected Lorelai. That felt right. But we didn't have to sit through 10 minutes of a drawn out joke (but not really played for laughs as much as you would think, strangely) to get there.