Breakdown of the "Rewrite the Stars" performance from The Greatest Showman. This post has more pictures than usual because it relies so heavily on the choreography of the scene. Some pictures have the lyrics on them due to the fact that i grabbed them from the lyric video Fox released, but they actually help out a bit.
Let’s start with the beginning of the scene, before the singing starts. Phillip is passionately trying to convince Anne to forget about what people think. Remember, this is after his apology (via theater tickets) for caring about what people think himself. He even proudly shows her off to his parents, and she has just run away, back to the circus after his parents’ cruel, public rejection. Now, its Phillip’s turn to tell her that she shouldn’t care what people think. However, Anne is less passionate and more resigned, as she buries herself in her trapeze practice. She has been dealing with this her whole life, and even reminds Phillip that he has never felt what it’s like to be in her position. She walks away from him, and thus begins the song.
He sings to her about how he wants her and she him. She claims it can’t happen, but who can stop them? She sets up the ropes in the stage as he sings and walks over to her. Once he is in front of her she quickly moves away from him to the next rope. As she works, he continues to force her to look at him, resulting in a little dance of this repetition. She’s doing what she’s always done- forever being the trapeze artist in the freak show. Nothing can change that. But he is forcing her to look at him and hear his words that things can change. They can “rewrite the stars”.
Then, right when it seems like she’s given in as they stand face to face, she yanks the rope and shoots into the sky, leaving him on the ground. Her being in the air as he watches from the ground is more than just her position as a trapeze artist; it represents their separation. They can never be together because their positions in society are as different as earth and sky. Anne confirms this as she slowly lowers herself on the hoop and asks him, “you think it’s easy?” She expresses that she would like to just run to him but “there are mountains and there are doors that [they] can’t walk through”. Because of the greatness of their separation in society, it’s not a simple fix. She then rises on the hoop, back up into the sky, as he hangs on to it with one hand. He dangles for a minute, and then falls back to the ground, proving her point.
As she continues, claiming that “no one can rewrite the stars”, she swings across on the rope. He tries to stop her, but instead causes both of them to crash and fall to the ground. She yanks the rope and shoots back up again. This won’t work. She can’t lift him up herself (hanging on to the hoop) or he will fall back to the ground. He can’t try and stop her (swinging on the rope) or they will both crash and fall.
But Phillip won’t have this and grabs the rope to stop it. She then brings herself down to him (in that cool roll move) and they both express how they want each other.
Right when they sing “all I want is to fly with you” the rope, still in Phillip’s hand, brings them both in the air as he holds onto Anne. However, it’s not that easy. Right when they sing “all I want is to fall with you”, Anne falls and is now the one dangling by her hand as Phillip tries to hold on to her. They both desire to be together, but they’re both struggling to find a way.
She brings him down to her and they suddenly both have two separate ropes in hand, swinging and singing together. In sync, and on equal grounds, but not quite together yet.
Their ropes are intertwined, but as they both swing away, Anne continues in the air and Phillip goes back to the ground. He’s not a trapeze artist. He doesn’t know how to do this. She can’t meet him on the ground, and he can’t stop her from being in the air. So how do they do it? How does someone on the earth meet someone in the sky? He climbs. He scales the walls of the building to reach her. I love the symbolism of this moment. Because they have already established that it’s not easy for them to be together and trying to change her (bringing her to the ground with him) will only make them both fall. So, Phillip does the work to be with her, without bring her down. He climbs. And he jumps onto the rope with her, and suddenly they are together on a single rope as one, singing about how they can rewrite the stars.
As much as I think that the sky and the ground represent Anne’s position vs. Phillip’s position, I also think they represent the safety of the circus (“having your head in the clouds” is an example of living in a dreamworld) vs. the reality of the outside world (“bringing someone back to earth” is an example of taking someone out of a dreamworld). Anne even mentions this in the beginning, when she says “I know you’re wondering why, because we’re able to be just you and me within these walls. But when we go outside, you’re gonna wake up and see that it was hopeless after all”. So of course, the music slows and quiets down as they slowly float back to the ground; back to the reality of the outside world. Anne sees this, and she tells Phillip that she does want him; but it’s not possible. And she gently removes his hands from her waist and walks away, leaving him alone, back to where he was.
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