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Caroline, or Change features singing household appliances: a Washing Machine, Dryer, Radio (played by a Supremes-esque trio of women), as well as a city Bus and the Moon. In giving these objects bodies, emotions, and behaviors, writers Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori have utilized two literary devices: symbolism and anthropomorphism.

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Why Does the Washer Sing?

Anthropomorphism is the ascription of human characteristics to nonhuman objects. Anthropomorphism comes from the Greek words “anthropos” (human) and “morphe” (shape or form). People from all cultures ascribe human consciousness and motivations to nonhuman things: trees, animals, deities, computers, and more. Anthropomorphic characters are common in children’s literature. Musical theatre, too, has a long tradition of anthropomorphic characters, from the singing felines of Cats to the cursed household objects Lumière, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast.

Research suggests that there are two main reasons humans anthropomorphize. The world, both natural and man-made, is fraught with mystery, uncertainty, and risk. In order to understand it and decide how to move forward, humans use what they know best—themselves—to explain what’s going on and predict what might happen next. Ascribing human behavior to a forest, for example, can reduce uncertainty and fear about that environment. Anthropologist Steward Guthrie suggests that all religion is built on anthropomorphism: the attribution of human characteristics and behavior to nonhuman events such as weather or crop failure leads to an understanding or construction of the divine and its relationship with mortals.

Secondly, anthropomorphism reflects humans’ need for social contact. Studies have shown that the experience of loneliness can trigger the same physiological pathways as physical pain. Humans are hard-wired for socialization, and in the absence of relationships, see human qualities in objects and use them to invent new social connections.

Looking at Caroline, or Change from this perspective suggests that Caroline, isolated and alone, has turned to conversation with the objects in her world to alleviate her loneliness. In anthropomorphizing appliances like the Gellman’s Washer and Dryer, Kushner and Tesori allow for Caroline—a naturally taciturn and emotionally distant character—to share her innermost feelings with the audience in a way that is consistent with her personality. The objects are played by Black actors, based on an idea from George C. Wolfe, director of the original production, that the ghosts of enslaved people who had lived in the area had come to inhabit the machines. Times had changed, but the source of manual labor remained the same. Caroline, struggling to move into the future, is in constant conversation with the past.

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Why Does the Moon Sing?

Objects on stage are often symbols: rather than just being what they are, they can also stand in for a value or an idea. For example, Laura’s glass animals in The Glass Menagerie symbolize her fragility. Lena’s plant in A Raisin in the Sun symbolizes her dreams for her family and of owning a home with a yard.

Similarly, the moon, known for its ever-evolving shape in the night sky, symbolizes change for all of Caroline, or Change’s characters. In Caroline, or Change, the moon is used as a universal symbol that conveys the same message to all the characters. She represents change—change in the seasons, change of day into night, and on a broader scale, the social changes Caroline, Dotty, Emmie, Noah, and the Gellmans are experiencing through the civil rights movement and the steady march of progress in the late 20th century. It is the Moon who vocalizes one of the show’s principal motifs: “Change come fast and change come slow,/ but change come…” Her presence is a signal for the audience that a shift is coming, and helps to cement the salient theme of change as an important part of the show.

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Why is the Radio a Trio of Women?

The Radio is played by a trio of women singing close harmony, much like the “girl groups” that dominated American music in the early 1960s. The “girl group” sound emerged as a blend of barbershop quartet and rhythm and blues, and was made popular in Vaudeville in the 1920s by the Three X Sisters, a trio of white women from Maryland and Brooklyn. In the late 1940s, doo-wop, a style of popular music in which a small group of backing vocalists use nonsense words or syllables to support a lead singer, was developed by teenagers in Black communities. Girl groups of all races quickly adopted elements of the doo-wop sound.

The first Black girl group to go mainstream was The Bobbettes, a group of young teenagers from Harlem, New York. Their 1957 hit “Mr. Lee” was about a math teacher they disliked. Soon, The Shirelles, a girl group from New Jersey, hit number one on the pop charts with “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” written by Carole King. Producers Barry Gordy—the founder of Motown Records—and Phil Spector began searching for and developing their own girl groups. By 1963 the radio waves were dominated by groups like The Crystals, The Ronettes, and The Marvelettes. The most successful of these was The Supremes, who went on to release 12 U.S. number one hits between 1964 and 1969.

The trio of women singers has made many appearances in musical theater over the years. Other examples include Crystal, Ronnette, and Chiffon in Little Shop of Horrors, The Dynamites in Hairspray, the Dreamettes in Dreamgirls, and the Schuyler Sisters in Hamilton.

In this production of Caroline, or Change, director Michael Longhurst and choreographer Ann Yee have conceived of the Radio trio as a Greek chorus. The Greek chorus is one of the oldest techniques in theater and originated in the Classical tragedies of Ancient Greece such as Oedipus RexAntigone, and Medea. It often stands in for the people, delivering judgments and sharing their opinions on a play’s action. Here, the Radio is paying homage to both 1960s girl groups and Ancient Greek theatre. This marriage of musical and theatrical traditions fits in exactly with Caroline, or Change’s tone and style.

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REFERENCES
Deane, Nora. “Leaders Of The Pack: A History Of Girl Groups: UDiscover.” UDiscover Music, Universal Music Group, 11 Mar. 2021.

Epley, Nicholas, et al. “On Seeing Human: A Three-Factor Theory of Anthropomorphism.” Psychological Review, vol. 114, no. 4, 2007, pp. 864–886., doi:10.1037/0033-295x.114.4.864.

Gaither, Larvester. “Girl Groups: Women in Motown.” OUPblog, Oxford University Press, 20 Jan. 2015.

Guthrie, Stewart E. “Anthropomorphism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 Apr. 2008.

MacDonald, Geoff, and Mark R. Leary. “Why Does Social Exclusion Hurt? The Relationship Between Social and Physical Pain.” Psychological Bulletin, vol. 131, no. 2, Mar. 2005, pp. 202–223., doi:10.1037/0033-2909.131.2.202.

Penny, D.K. The Bobbettes, Community Graphics of Detroit, 28 Dec. 2020.

Religion as Anthropomorphism.” The Religious Studies Project, Religious Studies Project Association, 19 July 2020.

V&A · The Story of The Supremes.” Victoria and Albert Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2008.