Specifically, the great song.
Disney's Encanto was the last classic of the second wave of the Disney Renaissance.
And this was its big hit song.
A hit song perhaps unlike any other.
I just came from a video about the '6 levels' of polyphony, though I don't think they call it that, in Broadway musicals.
Bruno is Level 3.
Level 1 is singing in a round. That simple.
Level 2 is a classical fugue. Level 3 is independent melodies held together by the accompaniment.
After that, we introduce things like different genres- the same melody in rock vs. swing, that kind of thing.
Thing is, this actually makes the polyphony much easier.
It's far easier to tell apart the different parts when one is swing and the other is rock.
The Fugue and the Level 3 is where it gets hard.
They found but one vocal fugue in all the Broadway musical literature.
And then, you look at the Level 3's.
There are a few.
Play 'Confrontation' from the mighty Les Miserables.
Play it. Go ahead. It's a great number.
And then go back to 'We Don't Talk About Bruno'.
Even against the mighty Les Mis, Bruno is just in another class altogether.
I mean, this is the equivalent of a f'n Bach fugue!
As the hit song in a Disney Renaissance movie!
Can we get an applause for the rediculous compositional skills of Lin Manuel-Miranda?!
Because that is just epic!
Just wanted to point that out!
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson