This is the last paragraph of Paul's monologue:
"We were working the Apollo Theatre on a Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Street. Doing four shows a day with a movie. It was really tacky. The show was going to go to Chicago. My parents wanted to say goodbye and they were going to bring my luggage to the theatre after the show. Well, we were doing this oriental number and I looked like Anna May Wong. I had these two great big chrysanthemums on either side my head and a huge headdress with gold balls hanging all over it. I was going on for the finale and going down the stairs and who should I see standing by the stage door ... my parents. They got there too early. I freaked. I didn't know what to do. I thought to myself : "I know, I'll just walk quickly past them like all the others and they'll never recognize me." So I took a deep breath and started down the stairs and just as I passed my mother I heard her say : "Oh, my God." Well... I died. But what could I do? I had to go on for the finale so I just kept going. After the show I went back to my dressing room and after I'd finished dressing and taking my makeup off, I went back down stairs. And there they were standing in the middle of all these ... And all they said to me was please write, make sure you eat and take care of yourself. And just before my parents left, my father turned to the producer and said : "Take care of my son..."; That was the first time he ever called me that... I... ah... I... ah...." This is, in my opinion, the most moving section of the musical. The monologue states out with having Paul explain "Once my cousin said to me, "You'll never be an actor" and I knew she was telling me this because I was such a sissy. I mean, I was terribly effeminate. I always knew I was gay, but that didn't bother me. What bothered me was that I didn't know how to be a boy."
Not knowing how to be a boy and then finally having his father call him his son is a moving moment for Paul and the audience alike.
It kind of sounds like Peter Paddington and how he feels that his dad must be embarrassed of him, as he doesn't play sports and he's in home ec, or in other words is not a typical boy. I think those are some of the most moving moments of Fruit, too, as its just so upsetting that Peter feels like he's disappointing his dad, even though his dad could be perfectly fine with Peter's way of expressing his gender.
ReplyDelete