there are a lot of instances in tbv where it’s obvious that there’s a thorn in the side of tewfiq and dinah’s growing appreciation of each other, and that thorn is the character of sammy. from dinah’s muttered “ben zona” in the cafeteria to the awkward exchange tableside to the pinnacle of their conflict at the park, we see that sammy and dinah are pretty much not on good terms. “tell me,” sammy shouts in hebrew to dinah in the park (tewfiq uncomprehending, confused and, i daresay, more than slightly agitated), “are you normal?…what do i care how you feel? you’re the embarrassing one here!”
so it is apparent to the audience, even without the translation, that sammy is an antagonist in this story. but why, then, would this antagonist sing, “in my dreams, my beloved lies beside me / when the sun lights the room, i find it’s only me” in answer me?
it is confusing to take this line literally from this character in the context that we as the audience have. does he still harbor feelings for dinah? not likely, considering how willing he was to blow up in her face in front of her and her companion, in a language said companion would not understand.
but here’s an idea - how about we abandon taking this line literally?
it’s a pretty big given that one of the themes in tbv is that of loneliness and the subsequent desire for connection. “in my dreams, my beloved lies beside me,” sammy sings. perhaps “my beloved” is not a person. perhaps “my beloved” is an idea of one. so many times, outside of this narrative, we hear of people lamenting their broken relationships with others, with an assertion that “i fell in love with the idea of them, not so much with them.” maybe “my beloved” is the idea of someone who can fill the gap that loneliness leaves within a person, can fill the need and desire for connection.
maybe for sammy, the idea of “my beloved” was, at one point, dinah.
“when the sun lights the room, i find it’s only me.” the sun lit the room. something changed. (dare i say, something different came about?)
and now, the relationship between sammy and dinah is what we see in the musical.
however, sammy is not the only character singing this bridge. he takes the first half as a solo, but another voice joins for the second half - zelger.
now this is interesting for some reasons, and not necessarily good ones.
it has been put forth by, i believe, sharone (i don’t have the exact quote on me so i can’t link a source but i know i reblogged something about it awhile ago) that anna, her character, is a representation of dinah as a young woman. if that is true (and i have interpreted it correctly), perhaps zelger is a younger version of sammy. we see zelger and anna interacting quite passionately during the rink scene, and we can assume that this is zelger’s idea of an attempt to drain the moonlight, to end the dark, to do away with loneliness for a night, for a life.
perhaps, since he is joining sammy in this line, he is likely to become like sammy.
well, as dinah so put it, “you can see for miles, but it all stays the same.”
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