Matthew Chow

Professor Lobell

FIQWS 

In the first half of “Snow” Ella has a pessimistic undertone in her voice when talking and replying to P. She speaks in a monotone voice about snow describing all the negatives. On the other hand, P sings in an upbeat tone, portraying a joyful and eager attitude for the snow to come. The moment P sings about tasting the snow and if it was clean and bright, Ella bluntly states, “No it’s[snow] dirty and sometimes yellow”. Ella disregards the experiences that the first performer expects, in an attempt to bring down the P’s mood about snow. Ella makes it obvious that she is tired of snow due to living around snow so often, “this was the only place I could come […] Why this place? It’s for shit”. She makes it apparent she did not desire to be in the area that was given to her. In contrast, P wished to be there, “well this was my first choice”. 

In the second half of “Snow”, there begins a switch in how when P sings, “I can only imagine how it falls out of the sky. Ping ping ping”, this creates a turning point for Ella. She states how that is how real snow is from where she is from, remembering the beauty she once forgot. This shift brings back Ella’s childish side and begins to sing instead of simply talking. Ella starts to reminisce on the times with her late mother and the memories they had together with snow. The memories that Ella tells P demonstrate a sense of vulnerability, “one time my nima and I carved our names in the snow. It was the best time I ever had”. Ella, originally not agreeing with anything that P had imagined, now talks about playing with each other in the snow, creating new memories. Ella, only holding good memories about the snow with her deceased mother, lends an invitation for her new friend to create some more. Ella and P, establish their new found friendship and sing, “We will play the snow. Dance the snow. Sing the snow […] together”. The singing emphasizes an acceptance of P from Ella, now doing the things that P dreamt of together. As Ella is now singing, she interacts with P joyfully, instead of being cold and unwelcoming like at the start.

The overall shift in character in Ella allows for a deep connection and understanding with Ella, allowing for the audience to empathize for her loss and reasoning for not opening up at the start. Audiences at the start of the song are able to feel that coldness Ella gives off, shunning P’s attempts to romanticize the snow that they will experience. After Ella’s new acceptance and established friendship that develops with P, the audience feel more welcomed and are able to gain more information about Ella’s life. The slight but significant alteration from talking to singing is able to create this sensational experience for the audience, allowing them to truly immerse themselves into the musical play. 

In essence, the shift in speech, from talking to singing, creates an important change in character of Ella, altering the way she interacts with P. The way she speaks allows for the audience to understand and connect with how Ella feels in both the first and second half of the song. As Ella originally was cold to P, now becomes a best friend wanting to experience the snow P had never encountered before. The audience are able to realize the shift in emotion based off her singing and truly feel this new connection between P and Ella. The utilization of Ella’s speech makes the play an effortless and enjoyable musical to understand, while incorporating depth in the character.