Good point, although if I'm not mistake, a few of the productions indicate her as educated in England, yes?

I'm sure it says somewhere that she is a British citizen...
I've probably got confused with something else and completely made it up but I'm almost certain I remember a reference to England somewhere.

Why else would Anatoly seek refuge in Britain? Why not go straight to America? If Florence is American it's not going to help his case much.

"Hey look here's a piece that some idiot's done on you" "Florence Vassy, Petite, Hungarian-Born, English-Woman" was changed to "Hungarian-Born, Personal Assistant" in the concert. I think that was the only reference besides her and Anatoly moving to England.

It's quite possible she's a citizen of the country each adaptation is most based on- London or America, based on the plot quirks in each and their import on her predicament.

Well yes...when it shifted to broadway they made her an american citizen.

I need to ask Cadriel why he is so enamored with "He couldn't wait to join you up here / Maybe he walked, cable cars scare him."

What am I missing? Feels like the thinnest of replacement lines from the concept album that could have been imagined. Please explain why this is such an improvement.

This is one of the many "English translations" from Concept -> RAH that seem to re-enforce the belief Rice has that people just aren't smart enough to appreciate this masterpiece of a musical.

While I think he's taking the wrong perspective on the problem (it's not the masses' fault they're average; that's the job of the masses), I do think he re-wordings present much more simple, one-dimensional meanings that take some of the fun out of it for me.

Jon

Well the only reason why I like the line is because it is witty, and it also bring a lot of character to all of the principal parts. Florence is nervous and uses cheap tricks that may be used against Freddie to keep Anatoly put till Freddie arrives. Anatoly's reaction tell us a lot about him. What does he think? Is he going to use it? Does it matter to him at all? It is very interesting to observe. As for Freddie, if the line really is true, I think it give us some more insight in how childlike he actually is. He is sort of childish and playful through the show, and this line really get the point across, I think.

Fascinating; I hadn't seen the character dynamics the same way you do at that point in the plot.

To my eye, at the point of Mountain Duet, Florence is actually still trying to do her job in earnest (70%) while of course interested in the prospect of bumping into Anatoly (30%). And, this is not as sinister as it might seem (esp. in the original script) since she has no sexual relationship with Freddie. So, why not explore romantic options, right? Of course, the sinisterness of it is that Anatoly married, and that's not really a good thing to do -- poaching men from married relationships.

So, with that, the cable cars scaring him didn't indicate to me an effort to make Freddie look stupid... I thought she was being honest. And, if so, it's a weird thing to add to the script.

But maybe you're right; maybe Flo is more sinister than I make her out to be at that part of the plot. Any other thoughts out there?

I always thought it was just a tension breaking joke. It doesn't matter if it's true or not...she's just trying to make Anatoly smile. Btw the original script does imply Freddie and Florence have a sexual relationship. It's the broadway script that changed that.

Really? Do tell! To be fair, I was actually talking about the lyrics based on the concept album... I don't have access to the West End book.

From the concept album lyrics, it certainly seems as though Freddie and Flo are colleagues and friends; not lovers.

hmm I always assumed. The London production had "Commie Newspapers" in which the director actually had many innuendos to sex in terms of blocking ("Elaine Paige straddling Murray Head on the rowing machine in his hotel room). Molokov also referred to her as Freddie's "second and lover" at one point. I wish I still had my video of that. Murray Head sucked, but the production itself was quite a sight and many predicted (including ALW) that it would win best musical instead of Phantom.

Interesting... and I wonder how much the lens affects the interpretation. For instance, if we look at F&F as friends and not lovers, then the straddling could be more of a sister-move in that Freddie is rowing away, callously, and Florence -- in a sisterly/friend way; yet still clearly of the opposite gender -- "attacks" him by straddling him to give him a 'speaking to.' You get my drift?

Now... "second and lover" is a very clear indication that F&F are lovers in my view, if that was indeed uttered in the production.

I will remain steadfastly quasi-certain that in the concept album, Freddie was likely more a-sexual than anything, and Florance was committed to him professionally, but that's it. In my mind's eye, I saw Freddie as a bit of a schlep -- not very good looking, not very well-kept, but an amazing brainiac chess player with poor social skills and an angry-genius vibe. Whereas Anatoly has style and presence (and savvy) that just trumped Trumper in the areas of charisma, charm and life-skills. I think Freddy's poor social skills are what led his father to think he was 'probably queer' and why in One Night in Bangkok he gets his kicks above the waistline, sunshine.