Ahh He’s A Terrible Person Who’s Done Terrible Things But Like??? He Keeps People Around For What

Morgana absolutely wasn’t and she never let him forget

thinking about how arthur was a virgin for 4 seasons

Currently feeling feelings over Peter’s Denial

We now shift outside the high priest's house to an apostle in trouble. This is "Peter's Denial."

I've grown less self-conscious about repeating myself with recordings, so here again is the live Australian cast from 1973 with an interesting, string-laden, fast-paced take on this little scene.

You know the drill...

The Lyrics

MAID BY THE FIRE I THINK I'VE SEEN YOU SOMEWHERE I REMEMBER YOU WERE WITH THAT MAN THEY TOOK AWAY I RECOGNISE YOUR FACE

PETER YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN LADY I DON'T KNOW HIM AND I WASN'T WHERE HE WAS TONIGHT NEVER NEAR THE PLACE

SOLDIER THAT'S STRANGE FOR I AM SURE I SAW YOU WITH HIM YOU WERE RIGHT BY HIS SIDE AND YET YOU DENIED

PETER I TELL YOU I WAS NEVER EVER WITH HIM

OLD MAN BUT I SAW YOU TOO IT LOOKED JUST LIKE YOU

PETER

(ad lib shout)

I DON'T KNOW HIM

MARY MAGDALENE PETER DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE SAID YOU'VE GONE AND CUT HIM DEAD

PETER I HAD TO DO IT DON'T YOU SEE OR ELSE THEY'D GO FOR ME

MARY MAGDALENE IT'S WHAT HE TOLD US YOU WOULD DO I WONDER HOW HE KNEW

The Plot

He ran away from the scene of the arrest, but he couldn't bear not knowing what was happening to his teacher. Small surprise, then, that Peter followed the arresting party to the house of Caiaphas. Unable to enter himself, he warmed up by a campfire outside.

Not the world's smartest decision. Three onlookers (a maid, a soldier, and an old man) all recognize Peter as one of the men who were with Jesus earlier. Each time he vehemently denies his association, just as Jesus said he would, to the dismay of Mary, who wonders how Jesus knew that would happen...

The Analysis

Aside from the soldier becoming a generic "Solo from the Mob" in the currently licensed score, everything has stayed the same in this scene, lyrically and dramatically, since 1970, so time to once again chart the recurring motifs musically.

We've got:

Peter denying Jesus three times (as predicted), to the main theme from "Strange Thing, Mystifying," which originally accompanied Judas' criticism of Jesus' relationship with Mary -- thereby connecting Peter musically with Judas, both of them now betrayers of Jesus, and...

...when Mary points out that Peter did as Jesus said he would, she sings this to the betrayal motif from the Last Supper, even further underscoring Peter's betrayal.

Let it never be said Andrew Lloyd Webber didn't have a purpose in choosing a cyclical nature for these melodies!

Mildly Unrelated Op.-Ed.

In marked contrast to how he's described in the Bible, Peter kind of gets the short end of the stick in JCS. He doesn't have a lot to do as a solo vocalist, aside from "Peter's Denial" and "Could We Start Again Please?" He's pretty much just "one of the boys" in any staging; it's usually hard to even identify who Peter is unless he's singled out from the start, until his big moments in the second act.

Audition notices, no doubt building on what scripture makes him out to be, tend to describe him in terms like "gentle" or phrases along the lines of "slow to find his strength, but when he does, he becomes a stabilizing force among the apostles." But I gotta tell ya... I don't see it. There's not enough material there on paper to cover that ground.

When I've contemplated directing the show over the years, I've begun to pay special attention to the roles of Simon Zealotes and Peter. Simon's sole major appearance is in Act I, and Peter's couple of big scenes are in Act II, both without set-up or real follow-through. Can you see where I'm going with this?

Taking my cue from the recent European tour featuring Ted Neeley, I've thought of casting one performer to play both parts, billed separately due to contractual obligation but essentially a single role. It cuts costs (remember, I'm a producer first and foremost), creates a useful character arc out of two thankless ones without changing a word or note, and as long as there are twelve bodies (and one Jesus) around the table in Act II, those in the audience versed in the source can simply infer that Simon became Peter over the show's course, just like the notoriously temperamental Peter was originally called Simon in the Bible.

Let me go back to that second thing for a moment: "creates a useful character arc out of two thankless ones without changing a word or note." I want to unpack that to further sell my point.

What is Simon, really? He's exuberant, he's militant, someone who clearly jumps in before he really understands what's going on. He calls on his master to overthrow the Romans, only to be told he doesn't get the picture. Maybe, like Judas in The Last Temptation of Christ ("...only you understand it? Well, you'd better make me understand it too!"), he decides to wrestle with that, but he's not quite there yet. When the cops break up the scene, he reverts to form, only to be told, "Dude, not only are you wrong, it is way past the time what you're offering would be helpful. Don't quit your day job." How do you react to that? Maybe you discover you're not the Zealot you thought you were, and when the chips are down, out of both frustration and self-preservation, you deny you even know the guy when cornered by the opposition. And you still cling to the faint hope that this will change: "Alright, you've made your point. Time to unleash the fury, right? ...RIGHT???" Very powerful, fully-realized character there.

It's worth a thought, anyway...

Coming Up Next:

They said "take him to Pilate," and that's where he's headed for a showdown: "Pilate and Christ."

My something was a toothbrush...

Do you ever accidentally break something and regret it but also secretly think you're stronger than you ever knew possible???

Happy Halloween!!! Love spooky month <3

holy shit i just took a look at the wikipedia page for “Jack-o’-lantern”

this is literally the first picture

you can always tell who has 0 critical reading skills/has never known or known anyone that’s experienced trauma when they complain that the ages for the characters in SOC are unbelievable. like, the entire point of them being so dark and so mature at such young ages is because all of them have gone through things that have forced them to mature. in some way or another the adults in their lives have failed them.

wylan’s dad abused him, jarl brum used matthias’ pre-existing trauma from having his family die against him, kaz was failed by both pekka rollins (scamming 2 lost kids in a city, what a piece of shit) and to an extent jordie due to his naivete & irresponsibility (kaz even admits this). in a sense zoya failed nina by being so harsh on her nina had little qualms about running off from her, colm forced jesper to hide an important part of himself for so long it basically irreversibly changed him for the worse, and inej was absolutely failed by tante heleen, who stole her innocence at a painfully young age. all these factors forced the main characters to grow up fast even when they didn’t want to.

and as someone who has experienced trauma at the hands of people who were never supposed to hurt them, who were supposed to do the opposite and be there for them let me tell you: that shit forces you to mature. because you realize then that the people who look after you aren’t doing that, so you need to look after yourself. you become your own parent, but something is always off with how you raise yourself because it was never supposed to be that way in the 1st place. you adapt to whatever circumstances you need to, its hardly even living. kaz became ruthless because he knew you had to be to survive, nina knew that her beauty and powers were considered her strongest assets in the barrel so she made them seem like they were who she was, etc etc.

(also, and this is small but still important imo: you can see the main characters really act their age once they all interact with colm fahey. nina giggling that jesper is in trouble, jesper tattling on nina to matthias, the kaz/jesper fight being broken up by colm, etc.)

TL;DR if you think the SOC kids are too young to be acting how they do you need to: gain some critical complex reading skills and also read further in the book to understand why these characters are the way they are, and see them act their age.

You know the Grimm version of Snow White makes more sense than most versions if only because in that version Snow White was like 7 years old.

a few days ago a coworker asked me to explain Hanukkah and I asked her if she knew what a menorah was. She said, “like the Northern Lights?”

I’m simultaneously haunted by and wild about this concept now. instead of aurora borealis, menorah borealis. menorah borealis

It isn't letting me comment, so I'll reblog with my answers. To be clear, I'm not an expert of any sort in folklore, Jewish or otherwise, but I have some sources that might be helpful.

If you're looking for non-fiction, I would start with Rootsmetals, an instagram activist/educator. Her recent posts are all I/P focused and I think she is incredibly biased, so I wouldn't cite her on anything like that, but her earlier posts about Judaism on her website can provide a good starting point to help you figure out which parts of Jewish folklore you like best and want to research more. Here are some:

https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/ancient-jewish-magic?_pos=14&_sid=7224c01f1&_ss=r

https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/judaism-vampires?_pos=6&_sid=7224c01f1&_ss=r

https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/judaism-witches?_pos=2&_sid=fe71083eb&_ss=r

https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/the-jewish-soul?_pos=22&_sid=bf015af62&_ss=r

https://www.rootsmetals.com/blogs/news/a-history-of-jewish-dance?_pos=2&_sid=d8de33d9b&_ss=r

Once you have more specific topics in mind, you can hopefully do some digging on those!

If you're looking for fiction, she also has a book of Jewish fairytales (https://www.amazon.com/Witches-Escaz%C3%BA-Other-Jewish-Fairytales/dp/B09JVFR7R2). I also highly recommend Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes, especially the stories "Among the Thorns," "Lily Glass," and "Burning Girls," although these stories are all pretty dark, so be careful, especially if violent antisemitism is triggering for you. This author also has a page of other fiction books of Jewish folklore (https://electricliterature.com/stories-books-about-jewish-magic-folklore-mythology/).

And of course, feel free to message me or send me an ask if you want any help researching :)

I’m a Jew who is interested in learning more about Jewish folklore and Jewish folk practices, as I am super interested in Jewish spirituality and mysticism but am not at a point in my life where it would be appropriate to do anything with Kabbalah. Does anyone have any good resources for that? I’ve been trying to avoid sources that are basically Jewish things repackaged as new-age/pagan.

(In case it’s relevant for FOR, I am Ashkenazi)

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til chopsticks (the piano tune) was written by a teenage girl

statler and waldorf aka the two old gay men from the muppets but what if they were old jews following me around and heckling me when I'm late for shabbat

is this anything