Bloom has a remarkable knack for deflating tropes of all sorts, deconstructing the ideas we take for granted in our fiction, and it’s never more apparent or more relevant than when she turns her talents to chronicling what it’s really like to be a woman in song.
Through giggle-inducing, hilariously relatable, I-can’t-believe-that-got-by-the-censors levels of detail, songs like “ The Miracle of Birth,” “ Heavy Boobs,” and “ The Sexy Getting Ready Song” turned sexist tropes into songs that are laugh-out-loud funny for how explicitly, uncomfortably awkward and real they are. In fact, Crazy Ex-Girfriend’s best use of music is often its funniest. That’s not to say that it’s all angsty introspection. It’s in the revelation that these characters are us, but with musical numbers. The joke isn’t in how ridiculous and exaggerated these characters are.
While its men benefit from this too - Nathaniel and Greg both got infinitely more complex the more they sang - the music is, more often than not, about the inner realities of being a woman.
GALAVANT LETS GET LYRICAL TV
Where other musical TV shows try to subvert or tweak this very classical formula, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend exploits this structure, paired with a witty, often casual lyrical voice, to give shading and nuance to its characters. There’s a rule in musical theater about when to put something in song instead of in spoken dialogue: you do it either when you need something flashy and entertaining with a vague theme and lots of energy, or, more crucially, when there’s a significant emotional moment.
GALAVANT LETS GET LYRICAL FREE
And she’s not the only one: songs ranging from Paula’s “ After Everything I Have Done For You” to Heather’s “ The Moment Is Me” let characters break free of their assigned roles and reveal bits and pieces of their interiority that, together, form full, human characters. Rebecca’s wildly manipulative early-season antics could make her firmly unlikable - until we hear her singing “ I’m A Villain In My Own Story” and “ You Stupid B*tch” and realize that she hates herself more than anyone else ever could, and suddenly, we sympathize with her. It’s a testament to the fact that this is a show that’s only interested in tropes in relation to how they can be gleefully subverted.īut ultimately, it’s the music that provides the greatest insights into these characters and their inner thoughts, because it’s the soundtrack inside their heads. On most shows, Valencia and Rebecca would never have had a relationship that didn’t revolve around Josh, their shared ex on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, their friendship moves way beyond that former rivalry pretty quickly, and lasts long after either one’s relationship with Josh. Every time we think we’ve figured something out about a character or a plotline, the show zips in the opposite direction. Part of that is the trope-subverting nature of the show overall. But slowly, without any flashy “aha” moments, these four characters became complicated, three-dimensional, and shockingly realistic. All four of its main women began as stereotypes: Valencia (Gabrielle Ruiz), the sexy mean-girl romantic rival Heather (Vella Lovell), the maybe-stoner cynic Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin), the supportive “team mom” and Rebecca (Rachel Bloom), well, it’s right there in the title. So as much as I’ll miss Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s on-point parodies of my favorite Broadway shows (an entire episode dedicated to mercilessly mocking Cats? Yes please!), what I’ll miss the most is the way the show used its musical moments not just for laughs, but to build the most eloquent, moving, and realistic depiction of a female ensemble on TV today.Įven without its musical elements, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend became an unusually rich depiction of female characters over the course of its four seasons. But while other musical TV shows had their own unique takes on the genre, none of them fully figured out the connection between their music and the inner lives of their female characters: Glee and Rise both chose, inexplicably, to focus on unlikable male protagonists, while the female leads on Nashville and Empire spent a lot of time acting out soapy clichés. It's something that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has been explicitly aware of from the get-go, and its on-point parodies of musical genres and tropes have been part of the show's calling card from day one. From Glee to Rise, from Nashville to Empire, the tradition of the musical TV show is a rich one.
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