#jinks would obviously make his about singing because he's talked about how that's what he lives for many times

[anteakwa]

tootsie isn’t a bad show: an essay by tumblr user phantom-evil-nightshade (with proof!)

ever since it opened, tootsie the musical has been getting a lot of hate from broadway fans. kind of sad, in all honesty—it truly isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. i’ve watched both the movie and saw the broadway show, so allow me to explain youtube-commentator style why this show is very not transphobic or misogynistic or whatever and why everyone thinks it is. feel free to debate with me in dms, reblogs or replies, but if you make it obvious that you didn’t read this then i will only ignore you.

to kick things off, we’ll be going in chronological order. so let’s go way back to the original movie from 1982. the movie “tootsie”, starring dustin hoffman, is about a man named michael dorsey who disguises as a woman to get a job. cue the high jinks as michael finds himself in very sticky situations, including men wanting to kiss him, his friend getting upset because she was trying to get the role he got, and his inability to ask out the girl he likes because she sees him as a woman.

seems problematic, right?

well, not exactly. the funniest scenes in tootsie (both the movie and the musical) are caused because of michael’s own mistakes. it’s acknowledged throughout both versions that what michael’s doing is bad. hell, there’s a whole song in the musical (“jeff sums it up”) where he says “you fucked it up-you really fucked it up” like ten times.

now, let’s discuss further the two versions together. i saw the movie in preparation for the musical, but when i saw the musical, a lot was changed—from the obvious to the subtle, it’s near impossible to call the musical problematic if you’ve seen it. by “seen it”, i don’t mean “just read one or two reviews and decided you knew everything”. i mean actually saw the musical live, or a bootleg of it. because here are some things the reviews DONT tell you (in the musical):

when jeff (michael’s roommate) finds out about what he’s doing, he tells him that it could be really harmful to certain groups of people. i couldn’t remember all of it, since he was speaking kinda fast, but i do remember he said “gay women, straight women, trans women” right at the end. the show openly acknowledges that michael’s actions aren’t good, and are fueled by his own selfishness.

another gem from our boy jeff is from the same scene as the one above, i believe, as it also ties into what point was made there. jeff tells michael that he just stole a job from a woman, and went on about misogyny in not just the theatre industry, but the working industry in general. and by the way, this and the thing above weren’t meant to be jokes—although it is a comedy, this scene was serious (some people even clapped for jeff).

the woman michael falls in love with is NOT A LESBIAN. this seems to be a super common misconception in the tootsie hate playgroup. she isn’t a lesbian in either the movie or the musical. she literally has a song in the musical where she sings about how she met a guy she loved, but he left her because he wanted a wife and kids, but she wanted to pursue an acting career and just didn’t have the time to be a housewife (“there was john”). i’ll explain it in further detail here—at the very end of act 1, julie kisses michael (as dorothy) on the cheek, and he kisses her back, but impulsively on the mouth as a lover would. they both get super flustered and julie runs off, and michael mad at himself. now, i can see where the lesbian misconception comes from—there’s a scene in act 2 at julie’s house where julie asks dorothy if they can date. i didn’t understand this scene a lot, but i personally believe it’s because julie mistook kindness for love, and also thought dorothy loved her because of the kiss before and wanted to make her happy. however, there was some dialogue here which pretty much speaks for itself:

dorothy: i’m not a lesbian!

julie: neither am i.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD MICHAEL WASNT INSTANTLY FORGIVEN. everyone was pissed at him. he was immediately fired, there was a whole two minute long scene where sandy was destroying michael’s stuff while jeff watched in amusement, and julie was incredibly angry. the last scene reminded me a lot of that of dear evan hansen. michael finds julie in a park and tries to explain his actions. he tells her that he only did it for the work, and that he wants to make it up to her. he tells her that he wants to try and learn how to be dorothy, but without the wig and dress (since dorothy was someone julie could trust and feel comfortable around). julie tells michael that being a woman was so much harder than anything he experienced as both himself and dorothy, and he understands completely. she doesn’t quite forgive him, but she’s obviously willing to try.

another thing that i see a lot of is controversy around one line in the show taken vastly out of context. after michael reveals he’s a man, he says something along the lines of “being a woman is not the job of a man” (forgive me if the wording is a bit wrong). this quote was taken out of context and was spread with the intention of making people think that it was an attack against trans women. but, let me repeat: it was taken out of context. you had to hear how passionately he said it to understand fully, but when he said it, he meant it in the sense that was mentioned earlier: how he stole a job from a woman. the audience clapped after he said that. it’s hard to completely explain, but again, everything he said was about him being sorry for taking the job (he was talking to sandy), and it took me a couple seconds after he finished it to even think “hey, that quote sounds familiar”.

that’s all i can think of for now. as said at the beginning, i’m open to civil debates and questions about anything i could’ve possibly missed. will add anything more if i think about it in a reblog.

[billxharry]

In which I write the majority of Mamma Mia! 3

@nilo2207 had sent a wonderful question about unused Abba songs that made me think of Bill and Harry, and mentioned liking to re-imagine them singing previous songs that didn’t belong to their characters, which I also love to do. I love this question, because I have actually given this some thought before (*way* more than I should have, admittedly, as you’ll see) and because I can’t just associate the songs with them, I have to imagine them being relevant to a plot with them singing them, so because of that I have *large* parts of the third movie all planned out in my little mind. Someone hire me immediately. 🤣

I will put a song list here, and if you’d like, under the read more cut, I will painstakingly explain the context I imagine them in.

(Firstly, apologies to Colin and Stellan, the second movie didn’t give them anything to really sing, so in my lovely imaginary movie, I do the exact opposite.😁 They get more songs than they would ever want.)

Songs we haven’t seen (technically, I am aware two appear on the soundtrack of the second movie, but were cut from the film, so if the scenes are released, I suppose those will get moved to songs I would like re-imagined.) 

I Wonder (Departure)- Harry

Head Over Heels- Bill (this song would be reworked pronoun wise and a few lyric adjustments to fit with Bill)

 I Know Him So Well (it’s technically from Chess but it can count, right?) Harry and Rosie

The Day Before You Came- Harry (and a new verse at the end written for Bill) 

 Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)- Bill and Rosie 

The Way That Old Friends Do- Bill, Harry, Sam, Tanya, Rosie and Donna (in spirit, the same vein the second movie used her)

As for the songs I like to imagine Harry and Bill signing that went to other characters, I’ve fit them into my narrative, as a medley of sorts, calling back to the first movie-

Take A Chance On Me- Bill

Honey, Honey- Harry (one of my biggest needs is Harry singing this song about Bill, okay.)

Mamma Mia!- Bill,Harry,Sam,Tanya,Rosie and Donna 

I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do-Bill,Harry,Sam,Tanya,Rosie and Donna

Waterloo- Bill and Harry, Rosie and Tanya 

When All is Said And Done- Bill,Harry,Sam,Tanya,Rosie and Donna

Dancing Queen- The entire cast

Songs that aren’t theirs, that I like to imagine them singing that I didn’t fit it to my narrative- Um, almost every song because everything revolves around Bill and Harry at this point in my mind😆

The original version of I’ve Been Waiting For You (I still really want this one, but the second movie made the reworked version so personal for Donna and Sophie that I can’t actually use it in my never to exist movie. )

The Winner Takes It All if I am feeling particularly angsty

I think that’s the songs, now on to plot. This post is already so long, this read more is going to make it ridiculous. Feel free to skip this. It’s literally fanfiction written in synopsis form? It’s odd. 

Sophie needs help running the hotel. It’s become a stellar success after the re-opening, and new offers have come her and Sky’s way. She is finally at a place of peace with the hotel, knowing Donna would be proud, and is ready to take on new opportunities of her own, but with her having Donnie (I am not sure which way they spell it, Donnie or Donny?)she struggles to travel, take on new endeavors, run the hotel and raise a family. She asks Sam for a little extra help at the hotel, and when Sam mentions it, of course Bill and Harry vow to join him.(Dad hi-jinks with the three of them abound, of course, but I also like to think there’d be some depth to this plot, too.)

Yes, it’s your basic cheesy plot, but its Mamma Mia!, okay. I feel that’s acceptable. In this horrendously thought out summary, I will focus mainly on Bill and Harry’s plots, since this blog is focused on them and that’s what the question was in regaurds too. And let’s be honest, I’ve given them the majority of thought.

To actually get on to answering the questions, re: songs, if you’re still with me...

Harry has yet again gone back to his hum drum business world, but as we have seen in the first movie, and even more so in the second, he’s feeling more and more disconnected from that world, and as he ponders going to the island to help with the hotel, which he originally only planned to do for a week or so, he thinks of Sophie, and Donnie (Donny?) and Sam, and an extra emphasis on Bill (and here we’re clued in that Bill and Harry have indeed been together numerous times through out the years, but they’ve never broken up, because they’ve never officially been together) and after giving everything serious thought, Harry decides he doesn’t plan on coming back to London, to his lifestyle, for a good while this time, he wants to be where his family is. This is his spontaneous adventure. He is of course apprehensive, it’s Harry, but he decides it’s a risk worth taking, and he sings I Wonder (Departure) as he prepares to leave. 

When we see Bill, also preparing to go to the island, we see he is in the opposite mind set of Harry. He’s not looking at this trip as a risk or an adventure, but rather the opposite, a chance to actually be grounded for a time. We discover he and Rosie have broken up yet again, but this time without Bill being at fault. He has no regrets about how their relationship went this time around, and thinks they can still be great friends. However, he sings a re-imagined version of Head Over Heels, subtly voicing his growing weariness of his lifestyle, and how he’s treated Harry. (His man is one I admire, He's so courageous, but he's constantly tired. Each time that he speaks his mind, He pats his head and says that's all very fine, Exert that will of your own, When we're alone, Now we better hurry. And with no trace of hesitation he keeps going.) Bill vows he will stay at the island longer than the week he had planned. 

(Rosie and Tanya will certainly factor into this story too, of course. Sophie and Sky who are in New York, meet Tanya at Rosie’s launch of her new cook book, and after hearing some of the things Sophie had left in charge of the men (deciding how to a crucial suite would be remodeled, being in charge of food for a very prestigious event, the design plan of a new expansion, etc.) Tanya and Rosie decide it’s crucial to join them. Sophie argues in her dads’ favour, “But Harry has great taste.” “Bill is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to food!” “Sam literally designed the hotel in the first place!” But ultimately she realizes that Tanya and Rosie just want to be included, the hotel means a lot to everyone, and Rosie is obviously tired from the book tour, and Tanya occasionally shows the occasional crack in her usual demeanor. Sophie concludes that it would be best if they joined them, knowing they could all use the some of the magical atmosphere the island seems to offer.)

Things, despite getting off to a bumpy and highly amusing start, are actually going pretty well now for the Dads. There’s plenty of moments that showcase that instant friendship the three of them had, as they work through the mishaps, it’s obvious to see, especially in Bill and Harry, the contrasting and yet somehow complimentary way they work together. Harry’s particular ways of solving problems come into play during this time, much to everyone’s confounded amusement. After a particularly good day of being together, Bill decides to confide in Sam, who has somewhat of an idea as to what’s going on, that he wants to give a relationship with Harry a serious go.

As it happens, Harry of course overhears a part of the conversation, but misunderstands, as Harry and Bill so often do, knowing each other so well but somehow being so wrong, he falsely assumes Bill is certainly talking about the newly arrived Rosie. Rosie, who initially did think her and Bill would reunite, also manages to hear parts of the conversation, and concludes Bill is talking about someone else, and Harry and Rosie sing I Know Him So Well about Bill.  

When Bill later tries to talk to Harry, he is uncharacteristically nervous, and is having a hard time saying everything he wants to say. Harry further misinterprets it to be about Rosie, and hurt, he confesses how much Bill means to him by singing The Day Before You Came, which Bill sings his own verse of to explain Harry had changed his life too, but Harry doesn’t hear it, as he’s already walked away. 

Bill, who is now certain this is what he wants, berates himself for being a coward, when he and Harry had obviously wanted the same things. Now more determined and excited than ever to embark on this brand new adventure, he asks to talk to Rosie to clear the air once and for all. She confronts him about being in love with someone else, and when he confesses, she surprises him by asking if it’s Harry. He admits it is, and she admits she’s always thought there was something between them. Bill never opened up to her as easily and quickly as he had Harry, and never looked at her, or any of the girls she had seen Bill with, quite the same way as he had Harry. 

He apologizes to Rosie for never being able to give her the life that she deserved, and she she admits she thinks she forced their relationship on Bill. They sing Dance (While the Music Still Goes On), and after they dance, Rosie chides him, Bill Anderson, of being afraid of anything, let alone Harry Bright of all people. Bill remarks he sees something in Tanya and Rosie that’s perhaps similar to Harry and himself. Rosie agrees that Tanya would be preferable to carbs and they laugh, this time parting amicably, as good friends with a kiss on the cheek.

As well as things have been going at the hotel, things suddenly seem to crash all at once, causing strain on all of the relationships. Bill is upset as Harry is now avoiding him, and as he snaps at Sam over something completely unrelated, somewhere in evolves into an argument with Bill stating Sam wasted most of his lifetime with Donna, something that Sam still struggles with. Tanya, who also knows about Bill and Harry (she told Harry she had seen the sexual chemistry from the beginning, and Harry, feeling she was a close friend, hadn’t felt the need to lie to her) makes a comment to Harry along the lines about there being other lays in the sea for him, and Harry chastises her about there being more to life than sex, especially at their age, something Tanya has secretly been acknowledging herself. Upset, she turns to Rosie and criticizes her for wanting to get back with Bill, not knowing they had broken up for good. The fights come to a head when Harry, once again having awful timing, had witnessed Bill kiss Rosie’s cheek, affirming everything he had thought to be true, at least in his mind, and his frustration at never being a factor in Bill’s life culminates in a huge disagreement between the two, despite Bill trying to tell him otherwise.

  The usual magical feel of the island suddenly feels void, it feels no different than the reality all of them had been coming to Kalokairi to escape. Sophie and family return to find low spirits and everyone, despite their promises, planning to leave. Sophie pleads for them to reconsider, reminding them that they had all come to the island for something, and they needed to remember what it was. She leaves with the parting words that the magic never was the island itself, it was all of them finding each other and forming the family that they had. Her mom had brought all of them together, and she didn’t want to have that change just because Donna was no longer there to hold them together. 

As they sit and look at one another across the room, they know that Sophie is right. Together they sing The Way That Old Friends Do. During the song Bill and Harry entwine their fingers, Rosie lays her head on Tanya’s shoulder, and Sam sings to the spirit of Donna.   

As the song ends, and they all share quiet smiles, Rosie catches Bill’s eye and nods, encouraging him to go on. Bill takes a breath and begins to sing Take A Chance On Me. Despite reluctance at the very beginning from Harry, Bill can see the smile forming and Bill’s confidence grows as he continues to sing, knowing Harry is about to let loose. As as Bill sings, Harry transitions to taking over singing Honey, Honey with gusto, with Rosie and Tanya (and even Sam) joyfully jumping in as his back up girls. The group transitions to Mamma Mia!, the previous feel good feeling back in full force. Bill takes the transition again, changing the tune to I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, with their friends encouraging Harry to say yes to Bill’s proposal. Harry doesn’t need any encouragement at all, he is just trying to get his I do! in but the chorus and Bill keep interrupting him. He eventually grabs Bill and silences him with a very telling kiss, which leads to the transition of Waterloo, as they’ve finally surrendered to their fears and couldn’t be happier. As the joyous notes end, we get a final, touching moment of the beloved group singing the reprise of When All Is Said and Done, the song mimicking where all of the characters now stand. Sam sings to and with the spirit of Donna, who may be gone but the love, and the family, she gave to Sam remains strong, despite their short time of getting to be together and he doesn’t regret any of it. Rosie is no longer in a hurry to force a relationship, and she smiles at Tanya, knowing her best relationship will always be the one with her. Tanya, slightly worn but always dignified, acknowledges she can have her rousing lifestyle but have actual love as well. (And of course she is not too old for sex. She gets a whoop from Rosie, a suggestive eyebrow movement from Bill directed at Harry, and a bright blush and chuckle of acknowledgement from Harry.) Harry, ever the anxious man, is for once calm, and Bill, ever the man on the move, has no desire to run.  

The end comes with the entire cast singing an encore of Dancing Queen, as it’s being danced to at Bill and Harry’s wedding, and a comment about how they are going to need to change the lyric of “only seventeen” to “only seventy” if they plan to continue singing that song is uttered.