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Deleted line(s) 19 (click to see context) :
* BassoProfundo: The actor who plays the Dryer and the Bus is traditionally a bass.
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Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:
Caroline Thibodeaux is a maid working for the Gellman family in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1963. Struggling to support her four children with her weekly pay of $30, Caroline is exhausted and adrift as the [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement Civil Rights Era]] swirls around her. Meanwhile, Noah Gellman, the family's eight-year-old son, has become attracted to Caroline in the wake of his mother's death from cancer. When Noah's stepmother institutes a rule that Caroline can keep any money that Noah loses in the wash, the relationship between Caroline and Noah begins to drastically change...
to:
Caroline Thibodeaux is a maid working for the Gellman family in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1963. Struggling to support her four children with her weekly pay of $30, Caroline is exhausted and adrift as the [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement Civil Rights Era]] swirls around her. Meanwhile, Noah Gellman, the family's eight-year-old son, has become attracted to Caroline in the wake of his mother's death from cancer. When Noah's stepmother institutes a rule that Caroline can keep any money that Noah loses in the wash, the relationship between Caroline and Noah begins to drastically change...
undergoes a drastic shift...
Deleted line(s) 17 (click to see context) :
* ArcWords: "Change" is one for the musical as a whole. Caroline's songs in particular often bring up the idea of "underwater" and "consequences."
* ArcWords: "Change" is one for the musical as a whole. Caroline's songs in particular often bring up the ideas of "underwater" and "consequences."
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* CentralTheme: Change - in both the literal, dollars and cents sense, and the metaphorical.
to:
* CentralTheme: Change - in both the literal, dollars and cents sense, and the metaphorical.metaphorical and societal senses.
Changed line(s) 42,43 (click to see context) from:
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Ruthlessly averted in the case of Noah, who knows ''exactly'' how much his words will hurt Caroline when he finally loses his temper after she refuses to give back the twenty-dollar bill.
* InterclassFriendship: Noah ''desperately'' wants one with Caroline.
* InterclassFriendship: Noah ''desperately'' wants one with Caroline.
to:
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Ruthlessly averted in the case of Noah, who knows ''exactly'' how much his words will hurt Caroline when he finally loses his temper after she refuses to give back the twenty-dollar twenty dollar bill.
* InterclassFriendship: Noah ''desperately'' wants one with Caroline. The feeling isn't mutual.
* InterclassFriendship: Noah ''desperately'' wants one with Caroline. The feeling isn't mutual.
Changed line(s) 54 (click to see context) from:
* OhCrap: Noah has a ''big'' one when he realizes that he left the twenty-dollar bill in his pants pocket, and that Caroline is likely to find it.
to:
* OhCrap: Noah has a ''big'' one when he realizes that he left the twenty-dollar twenty dollar bill in his pants pocket, and that Caroline is likely to find it.
Changed line(s) 57 (click to see context) from:
* ParentalSubstitute: Caroline, for Noah. The feeling isn't mutual.
to:
* ParentalSubstitute: Caroline, for Noah. The feeling isn't mutual.Noah views Caroline as one of these.
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Changed line(s) 72 (click to see context) from:
* WellDoneSonGuy: Noah, who is alienated from his grieving father and distrustful of his new stepmother. It's why he forms such an attachment to Caroline.
to:
* WellDoneSonGuy: Noah, who is alienated from his grieving father and distrustful of his new stepmother. It's why he forms such an attachment to Caroline.Caroline.
----
-->''And I am mean, and I am tough\\
But thirty dollars ain't enough...''
----
-->''And I am mean, and I am tough\\
But thirty dollars ain't enough...''
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* EvilSoundsDeep: The foreboding Dryer is traditionally played by a bass.
--->'''Noah''': Did God make the dryer?
--->'''Caroline''': No, the Devil made the dryer. Everything else, God made.
--->'''Noah''': Did God make the dryer?
--->'''Caroline''': No, the Devil made the dryer. Everything else, God made.
Changed line(s) 55 (click to see context) from:
* ParentsAsPeople: Stuart's grief and Rose's inadequacy (and jealousy towards Caroline) are both thoroughly explored over the course of the show.
to:
* ParentsAsPeople: Stuart's grief and Rose's feelings of inadequacy (and jealousy towards Caroline) are both thoroughly explored over the course of the show.show.
* PetTheDog: Caroline clearly doesn't think much of Noah, but she ''does'' allow him to light her daily cigarette.
* PetTheDog: Caroline clearly doesn't think much of Noah, but she ''does'' allow him to light her daily cigarette.
* RunningGag: It's minor, but Caroline makes multiple references to a crush on Nat King Cole.
Deleted line(s) 65 (click to see context) :
* PetTheDog: Caroline clearly doesn't think much of Noah, but she ''does'' allow him to light her daily cigarette.
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Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:
Caroline Thibodeaux is a maid working for the Gellman family in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1963. Struggling to support her four children with her weekly pay of $30, Caroline is exhausted and adrift as the [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement Civil Rights Era]] swirls around her. Meanwhile, Noah Gellman, the family's eight-year-old son, has become attracted to Caroline after his mother died from cancer. When Noah's mother institutes a rule that Caroline can keep any money that Noah loses in the wash, the relationship between Caroline or Noah begins to drastically change...
to:
Caroline Thibodeaux is a maid working for the Gellman family in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1963. Struggling to support her four children with her weekly pay of $30, Caroline is exhausted and adrift as the [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement Civil Rights Era]] swirls around her. Meanwhile, Noah Gellman, the family's eight-year-old son, has become attracted to Caroline after in the wake of his mother died mother's death from cancer. When Noah's mother stepmother institutes a rule that Caroline can keep any money that Noah loses in the wash, the relationship between Caroline or and Noah begins to drastically change...
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Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caroline_or_change_7.png]]
->''Nothing ever happen underground in Louisiana\\
Cause they ain't no underground in Louisiana\\
There is only underwater.''
-->-- '''Caroline Thibodeaux''', "16 Feet Beneath the Sea"
''Caroline, or Change'' is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Creator/TonyKushner.
Caroline Thibodeaux is a maid working for the Gellman family in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1963. Struggling to support her four children with her weekly pay of $30, Caroline is exhausted and adrift as the [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement Civil Rights Era]] swirls around her. Meanwhile, Noah Gellman, the family's eight-year-old son, has become attracted to Caroline after his mother died from cancer. When Noah's mother institutes a rule that Caroline can keep any money that Noah loses in the wash, the relationship between Caroline or Noah begins to drastically change...
''Caroline, or Change'' premiered on Broadway in 2004 and was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and won Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Creator/AnikaNoniRose's performance as Emmie. It was revived in 2021 and was nominated for three Tonys, including Best Revival of a Musical. It also won the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical upon its premiere in London.
----
!!Tropes:
* ArcWords: "Change" is one for the musical as a whole. Caroline's songs in particular often bring up the idea of "underwater" and "consequences."
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Several actors in the show play appliances in the Gellman household, including the Washer, the Dryer, and the Radio, which is played by ''three'' actors. Justified in-universe: to keep herself sane during the hot Louisiana days, Caroline imagines them as people.
* BassoProfundo: The actor who plays the Dryer and the Bus is traditionally a bass.
* BittersweetEnding: Caroline gives up on ever being anything more than a maid, and her relationship with Noah is permanently strained, but the final number is sung by Emmie, who reveals that she helped take down the Confederate statue and vows she and her siblings will create a better future.
* BrutalHonesty: When Noah asks, in "Why Does Our House Have a Basement," if he and Caroline can ever be friends again after their falling-out, Caroline simply replies, "weren't never friends."
* BSODSong: "Lot's Wife."
* CallingParentsByTheirName: Noah never calls Rose "Mom."
* CentralTheme: Change - in both the literal, dollars and cents sense, and the metaphorical.
* ChristmasSongs: PlayedWith, as a handful of the songs early in Act II borrow melodies from old Christmas carols.
* CondescendingCompassion: Whether it's actually this (in Rose's case) or if it comes from a more genuine place (in Noah's, at least initially), Caroline views every attempt by the Gellmans to help her as this.
* CrisisOfFaith: Caroline has one during "Lot's Wife"; Stuart gave up on his Judaism after his first wife passed away.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: In "1943," the audience learns that Caroline's husband became an abusive drunk after his experiences in World War II.
* DeepSouth: Mr. Stopnick has nothing but contempt for everything south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and he isn't shy about it either.
* DistantDuet: "Moon, Emmie and Stuart Trio."
* DoesntKnowTheirOwnChild: Stuart has grown so distant from Noah in his grief that he can't even remember how old he is, or that he gave up playing the cello over a year before the show began.
* TheDogBitesBack: "1943" reveals that Caroline eventually fought back against her abusive husband and left him black and blue. She still regrets it.
* DontYouDarePityMe: Caroline refuses to accept handouts from the Gellman family - neither Rose's offers of food, nor Noah's "accidentally" forgotten pocket change. When Rose tells Caroline she can keep any money she finds in Stuart's clothes, Caroline snaps and threatens to hit her with her iron.
* EitherOrTitle: One which hints at the double meaning "change" has within the show.
* TheElevenOClockNumber: "Lot's Wife."
* TheGenerationGap: Emmie's growing political consciousness causes no small amount of friction between her and Caroline.
* GriefSong: Almost all of Stuart's numbers are these.
* ImagineSpot: "Caroline Takes My Money Home" and "Roosevelt Petrucius Coleslaw" are Noah's imaginings of a dinner at Caroline's home.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Ruthlessly averted in the case of Noah, who knows ''exactly'' how much his words will hurt Caroline when he finally loses his temper after she refuses to give back the twenty-dollar bill.
* InterclassFriendship: Noah ''desperately'' wants one with Caroline.
* ItsPronouncedTroPay: Rose never pronounces Caroline's name correctly, which is a subtle way of showing her bigotry and lack of understanding.
* IWantSong: "I Hate the Bus" for Emmie.
* LargeHam: Mr. Stopnick, Rose's father, especially during "A Twenty Dollar Bill and Why"
* {{Leitmotif}}: Caroline has one in the form of the melody she hums at the beginning of the show; it's heard again in "Why Does Our House Have a Basement," played on Stuart's clarinet.
* LocationSong: "16 Feet Beneath the Sea" helps set the time and place of the musical for the audience.
* MassiveMultiplayerEnsembleNumber: "Roosevelt Petrucius Coleslaw," which features Noah, the Moon, and the whole Thibodeaux family, and "The Chanukah Party," which features the Gellman family, Caroline, Emmie, Lottie, Stuart's parents, and Rose's father.
* MeaningfulName: The Gellman's house is located on 913 St. Anthony Street, and Saint Anthony, among other things, is the patron saint of the poor, which certainly connects to Caroline's plight.
* MemorialStatue: A statue dedicated to a Confederate general (referred to in the show as "that ol' copper nightmare man") stands outside the courthouse in Lake Charles. It's torn down in Act II.
* MusicalChores: The first few songs in the show are sung as Caroline does laundry for the Gellmans.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: "Lot's Wife," where Caroline realizes that the laundry money had done nothing but cultivate greed and hatred within her, and begs God to release her from her earthly desires once and for all.
* OhCrap: Noah has a ''big'' one when he realizes that he left the twenty-dollar bill in his pants pocket, and that Caroline is likely to find it.
* OneManBand: In some productions, the actor playing Stuart also plays his clarinet in real time, rather than miming along with the orchestra.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Stuart more or less says this during "There Is No God, Noah."
* ParentalSubstitute: Caroline, for Noah. The feeling isn't mutual.
* ParentsAsPeople: Stuart's grief and Rose's inadequacy (and jealousy towards Caroline) are both thoroughly explored over the course of the show.
* RageBreakingPoint: Noah and Caroline both reach theirs in, fittingly, "Caroline and Noah Fight," leading both to say unforgivable things to the other.
* ReplacementGoldfish: A lot of the tension between Noah, Caroline, and Rose is that Noah views Caroline as a replacement mother figure, and not his new stepmother.
* ReligionRantSong: "There Is No God, Noah" is a ''very'' muted example of this.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Mr. Stopnick, an old-school Jewish socialist, insists that nonviolence won't get the civil rights movement anywhere. Emmie challenges him on this, but Mr. Stopnick takes it in stride, saying that their debate was the first real conversation he's had since he got to Louisiana.
* SmallNameBigEgo: A more innocent example than most in the case of Noah, who believes he's as important to Caroline as she is to him. "Caroline Takes My Money Home" is an ImagineSpot where the Thibodeaux family thanks Noah over dinner for the money he keeps leaving in his clothes.
* SettingIntroductionSong: "16 Feet Beneath the Sea."
* StrugglingSingleMother: Caroline, who is trying desperately to raise her four children on just $30 a week.
* ToppledStatue: In Act II, it's discovered that the Confederate statue which stood outside the courthouse has been torn down by protestors, who included in their number Emmie Thibodeaux.
* PetTheDog: Caroline clearly doesn't think much of Noah, but she ''does'' allow him to light her daily cigarette.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: It's up to interpretation how much Rose is aware of what her new rule will do, but her decision to let Caroline keep any money she finds in the laundry is the source of much of the conflict between Caroline and Noah.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Tony Kushner, who wrote the lyrics and the book, has said that the show is based on "an incident from [his] childhood, grounded in memories of [his] early life."
* WellDoneSonGuy: Noah, who is alienated from his grieving father and distrustful of his new stepmother. It's why he forms such an attachment to Caroline.
->''Nothing ever happen underground in Louisiana\\
Cause they ain't no underground in Louisiana\\
There is only underwater.''
-->-- '''Caroline Thibodeaux''', "16 Feet Beneath the Sea"
''Caroline, or Change'' is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Creator/TonyKushner.
Caroline Thibodeaux is a maid working for the Gellman family in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1963. Struggling to support her four children with her weekly pay of $30, Caroline is exhausted and adrift as the [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement Civil Rights Era]] swirls around her. Meanwhile, Noah Gellman, the family's eight-year-old son, has become attracted to Caroline after his mother died from cancer. When Noah's mother institutes a rule that Caroline can keep any money that Noah loses in the wash, the relationship between Caroline or Noah begins to drastically change...
''Caroline, or Change'' premiered on Broadway in 2004 and was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and won Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Creator/AnikaNoniRose's performance as Emmie. It was revived in 2021 and was nominated for three Tonys, including Best Revival of a Musical. It also won the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical upon its premiere in London.
----
!!Tropes:
* ArcWords: "Change" is one for the musical as a whole. Caroline's songs in particular often bring up the idea of "underwater" and "consequences."
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Several actors in the show play appliances in the Gellman household, including the Washer, the Dryer, and the Radio, which is played by ''three'' actors. Justified in-universe: to keep herself sane during the hot Louisiana days, Caroline imagines them as people.
* BassoProfundo: The actor who plays the Dryer and the Bus is traditionally a bass.
* BittersweetEnding: Caroline gives up on ever being anything more than a maid, and her relationship with Noah is permanently strained, but the final number is sung by Emmie, who reveals that she helped take down the Confederate statue and vows she and her siblings will create a better future.
* BrutalHonesty: When Noah asks, in "Why Does Our House Have a Basement," if he and Caroline can ever be friends again after their falling-out, Caroline simply replies, "weren't never friends."
* BSODSong: "Lot's Wife."
* CallingParentsByTheirName: Noah never calls Rose "Mom."
* CentralTheme: Change - in both the literal, dollars and cents sense, and the metaphorical.
* ChristmasSongs: PlayedWith, as a handful of the songs early in Act II borrow melodies from old Christmas carols.
* CondescendingCompassion: Whether it's actually this (in Rose's case) or if it comes from a more genuine place (in Noah's, at least initially), Caroline views every attempt by the Gellmans to help her as this.
* CrisisOfFaith: Caroline has one during "Lot's Wife"; Stuart gave up on his Judaism after his first wife passed away.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: In "1943," the audience learns that Caroline's husband became an abusive drunk after his experiences in World War II.
* DeepSouth: Mr. Stopnick has nothing but contempt for everything south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and he isn't shy about it either.
* DistantDuet: "Moon, Emmie and Stuart Trio."
* DoesntKnowTheirOwnChild: Stuart has grown so distant from Noah in his grief that he can't even remember how old he is, or that he gave up playing the cello over a year before the show began.
* TheDogBitesBack: "1943" reveals that Caroline eventually fought back against her abusive husband and left him black and blue. She still regrets it.
* DontYouDarePityMe: Caroline refuses to accept handouts from the Gellman family - neither Rose's offers of food, nor Noah's "accidentally" forgotten pocket change. When Rose tells Caroline she can keep any money she finds in Stuart's clothes, Caroline snaps and threatens to hit her with her iron.
* EitherOrTitle: One which hints at the double meaning "change" has within the show.
* TheElevenOClockNumber: "Lot's Wife."
* TheGenerationGap: Emmie's growing political consciousness causes no small amount of friction between her and Caroline.
* GriefSong: Almost all of Stuart's numbers are these.
* ImagineSpot: "Caroline Takes My Money Home" and "Roosevelt Petrucius Coleslaw" are Noah's imaginings of a dinner at Caroline's home.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Ruthlessly averted in the case of Noah, who knows ''exactly'' how much his words will hurt Caroline when he finally loses his temper after she refuses to give back the twenty-dollar bill.
* InterclassFriendship: Noah ''desperately'' wants one with Caroline.
* ItsPronouncedTroPay: Rose never pronounces Caroline's name correctly, which is a subtle way of showing her bigotry and lack of understanding.
* IWantSong: "I Hate the Bus" for Emmie.
* LargeHam: Mr. Stopnick, Rose's father, especially during "A Twenty Dollar Bill and Why"
* {{Leitmotif}}: Caroline has one in the form of the melody she hums at the beginning of the show; it's heard again in "Why Does Our House Have a Basement," played on Stuart's clarinet.
* LocationSong: "16 Feet Beneath the Sea" helps set the time and place of the musical for the audience.
* MassiveMultiplayerEnsembleNumber: "Roosevelt Petrucius Coleslaw," which features Noah, the Moon, and the whole Thibodeaux family, and "The Chanukah Party," which features the Gellman family, Caroline, Emmie, Lottie, Stuart's parents, and Rose's father.
* MeaningfulName: The Gellman's house is located on 913 St. Anthony Street, and Saint Anthony, among other things, is the patron saint of the poor, which certainly connects to Caroline's plight.
* MemorialStatue: A statue dedicated to a Confederate general (referred to in the show as "that ol' copper nightmare man") stands outside the courthouse in Lake Charles. It's torn down in Act II.
* MusicalChores: The first few songs in the show are sung as Caroline does laundry for the Gellmans.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: "Lot's Wife," where Caroline realizes that the laundry money had done nothing but cultivate greed and hatred within her, and begs God to release her from her earthly desires once and for all.
* OhCrap: Noah has a ''big'' one when he realizes that he left the twenty-dollar bill in his pants pocket, and that Caroline is likely to find it.
* OneManBand: In some productions, the actor playing Stuart also plays his clarinet in real time, rather than miming along with the orchestra.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Stuart more or less says this during "There Is No God, Noah."
* ParentalSubstitute: Caroline, for Noah. The feeling isn't mutual.
* ParentsAsPeople: Stuart's grief and Rose's inadequacy (and jealousy towards Caroline) are both thoroughly explored over the course of the show.
* RageBreakingPoint: Noah and Caroline both reach theirs in, fittingly, "Caroline and Noah Fight," leading both to say unforgivable things to the other.
* ReplacementGoldfish: A lot of the tension between Noah, Caroline, and Rose is that Noah views Caroline as a replacement mother figure, and not his new stepmother.
* ReligionRantSong: "There Is No God, Noah" is a ''very'' muted example of this.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Mr. Stopnick, an old-school Jewish socialist, insists that nonviolence won't get the civil rights movement anywhere. Emmie challenges him on this, but Mr. Stopnick takes it in stride, saying that their debate was the first real conversation he's had since he got to Louisiana.
* SmallNameBigEgo: A more innocent example than most in the case of Noah, who believes he's as important to Caroline as she is to him. "Caroline Takes My Money Home" is an ImagineSpot where the Thibodeaux family thanks Noah over dinner for the money he keeps leaving in his clothes.
* SettingIntroductionSong: "16 Feet Beneath the Sea."
* StrugglingSingleMother: Caroline, who is trying desperately to raise her four children on just $30 a week.
* ToppledStatue: In Act II, it's discovered that the Confederate statue which stood outside the courthouse has been torn down by protestors, who included in their number Emmie Thibodeaux.
* PetTheDog: Caroline clearly doesn't think much of Noah, but she ''does'' allow him to light her daily cigarette.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: It's up to interpretation how much Rose is aware of what her new rule will do, but her decision to let Caroline keep any money she finds in the laundry is the source of much of the conflict between Caroline and Noah.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Tony Kushner, who wrote the lyrics and the book, has said that the show is based on "an incident from [his] childhood, grounded in memories of [his] early life."
* WellDoneSonGuy: Noah, who is alienated from his grieving father and distrustful of his new stepmother. It's why he forms such an attachment to Caroline.
