Please respond and comment on the play Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel.
You may wish to comment on the characters, the theme, the plot, the use of the third actor, the staging, or the writing. What major dramatic question is being asked? Is the play satirical or political? What human lesson are we to learn from reading (or seeing) this play? What surprised you, what interested you, what did you learn about playwriting from reading this play? Etc.
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The Baltimore Waltz is meant to be satirical of the world and it's seriousness. Everybody takes everything way too seriously all of the time and not enough fun is poked at it. Its that or ATD is actually a serious issue that I'm unaware of in which case it serves as a valuable PSA.
I felt that it was a good work, but because of the readers emotion was drained from it and not shown efficiently. However, if it were performed by a set of professional acotrs I feel it would be somewhat enjoyable to watch.
At the very beginning, the play was a bit confusing--it goes from Carl's diagnosis to Anna's "ATD" very quickly. I thought it was interesting how Vogel set everything up to be revealed as some sort of dream/fantasy--what with the obviously fake illness, and the fact that all characters but Carl and Anna were played by the same actor--making these characters run together and seem less distinct, and more like in a dream, where it is often hard to distinguish between individuals. Also helping to create this effect were the far-fetched situations that were, to a certain extent, (because of the characters) almost believable.
Zoe J.
Paula Vogel wrote The Balitmore Watlz after the death of her brother Carl from AIDS. Even as the play is making fun of the AIDS hysteria (describing a disease that can be contracted from sitting on toilet seats), the reader is reminded of the serious nature of the inspiration for the play. I was confused by this play; I think all of the absurdist business with Carl's rabbit and Anna's affairs distracted and muddied Vogel's message for me. However, Vogel's decision to put Anna in a position where death is breathing down her back, it of course makes the characters and the audience consider the meaning and purpose of our lives. Should we let go of all seriousness and do whatever our impulses dictate (as demonstrated by Anna's sex spree) or should we consider the serious aspects of life such as love (possibly demonstrated by Carl's search for comfort in his stuffed rabbit).
I think that "The Baltimore Waltz" was really a play about the author's relationship with her brother, surrounding his disease. At the very end of the play, when Anna (who in the play probably represents both Paula Vogel and her brother, because of the character's roles as both the sick sibling and the surviving sibling) tries to wake up her dead brother, Carl, he does not come alive, except to suddenly waltz with her for a minute, and then fall back onto the bed, dead. This was the most touching part of the play to me. I think it shows Ms. Vogel's sadness and despair over her brother's death -- she is desperate to wake him up and stand him; this is perhaps represetnational of her real wish that he was still alive and that they could have gone on a real trip together to Europe. The waltz at the very end of the play really shows Ms. Vogel's love for her brother. Although he is dead, she still wants to waltz with him, literally and figuratively -- she wants to have fun with him and go to Europe with him and still be alive with him, and none of that will ever be true. The play is a way for Vogel to make her wish happen -- it's the trip that she wished she could have taken with him when he was still alive.
I liked this play because of it's satirical nature it has on AIDS and it lightheartedly follows Anna and Carl in Eastern Europe in short parts and the letter in the beginning helps to set up the story, even though it is a little bit flip-turned.
The characters in "Baltimore Waltz" are extremely strange yet likeable. Both Anna and Carl are a little bit weird and easy to judge, but at heart they're good people. The third actor almost acts as a narrator to sort out what's going on for the audience. The staging is simple but specific, so that it's easy to perform this play on pretty much any kind of stage. The MDQ is what is this play about? What is the significance of the rabbit? I thought it was very good, and it interested me a lot.
The Baltimore Waltz was an interesting play. In writing this play Paula Vogel explores through major themes that are currently big in todays society. Some of the themes are: AIDS (Carl has), infectious disease (like the ATD or the Aquired Tiolet Disease which Anna gets), death and dying (Carl is dying with AIDS) and family relationships (Carl and Anna are brother and sister and they share a close bond with one another.
The MDQ or the Major Dramatic Question in The Baltimore Waltz was
"Is Carl going to die?" It is established in the beginning of the play that Carl has AIDS. Being that this information was given to the audience so early it makes them want to continue reading or watching to find out if Carl is going to die or will there be a miraculous break through in the fields of medical science.
The play Baltimore Waltz was very interesting. I mostly like how the characters where developed. If i was an actress i would want to play the character of the Third Man because he had many different people he had to portrey and each character was different from the rest.I think this play was a little satrical because it was poking fun ATD. The big question or Dramitic question to me was which character was going to die, Carl or Anna?
The play was very good, it taught me that when your dieing have fun with your life.lolz the character devleopment was very intersting. It surpise me that the writer made Anna a whore and not depressing because she was dieing. The play was well written and i want to read it again
Baltimore Waltz was an odd play. I really liked the way it was written though. It was as if their was a lesson in every act. I think the MDQ is, Will Anna ever get her sickness cured? Or What is her relationship with her brother? Which was really strange by the way. Anna was a bit of a very weird character and her brother was probably weirder. They're relationship was suppose to be brother and sister but when I read it I felt as if they were more like a married couple. I'm not sure if that was Ms. Vogel's point but..yeah probably. My favorite character would have to be the use of the third actor. That part would be so much fun! But very, very difficult. A person with a lot of energy would be best for that part.
Sharliery
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