Rose Petal Place - Cartoon Retrospective (Part 7)
Rose Petal Place: The Record ("A Concert at Carnation Hall")
We're finally at the end, my beautiful fairies. The last stop on this 7-part journey. The last piece of media of Rose Petal Place. It's certainly been an interesting adventure, full of highs and lows, but all good things must come to an end (and thankfully, this is also true for bad things). “A Concert at Carnation Hall” was an album released by Parker Brothers in 1984 with 10 original songs all based on Rose Petal Place. Marie Osmond reprises her role as Rose Petal, however none of the other actors from the animated specials return. Instead, we have actress Evalyn Baron as Nastina, famous for the musical Quilters, with all the male characters now voiced by Russell Horton, most famous as the voice of Trix rabbit (yes, the cereal mascot). The album was also was produced by two of the three Chapin brothers, Steve and Tom, sons of American jazz drummer Jim Chapin, though all three boys have gone on to become singers and songwriters in their own rights. How odd, but I’m used to odd. But how odd will this album be?
Our first song is “Elmer’s Song”, a song about our favorite demonically-possessed tree living his life in Rose Petal Place and once again detailing the origins of Rose Petal and her friends. It’s a song mixed with narration, but you can’t really tell where the singing stops and the narration starts, as transitions are very clunky and the singing itself is pretty flat.
Elmer: (singing) “You wouldn’t believe it, but this old house used to be beautiful, full of life and laughter. Families made it their home. But families come, and then they’re gone. They stay a while, and then move on. But I will stand here tall and strong my whole life long.”
Despite the tediousness, I do appreciate attempting to give this Nightmare on Elm Street more depth as a character rather than just a narrator, with the implication he loves Rose Petal Place so much because the friends there will stay forever rather than leave like every human family of the house does. And to be fair, while the opening is weak, the song does pick up in energy later down the line. It’s not a bad song for an introduction piece, albeit it has a very weak beginning and pauses for dialogue a lot. What I do appreciate is giving more depth to Elmer beyond exposition, implying a character made stubborn through loneliness and abandonment who longs for a forever family, eventually getting it in the flower lesbians. Which honestly makes his character a lot more sympathetic and less terrifying.
Elmer: (singing) “Her tears fell on her flowers, and as she walked away, something amazing happened. Her flowers began to walk and talk, laughing and playing in the sun. And now, they’ve become my family, and the happiest, most beautiful of all is Rose Petal.”
Singer: (singing) “Rose Petal Place is a magic world, full of love and grace…”
Yeah, we’re in the next song now. The songs here don’t really end to allow a new song to play, all the songs are connected and transition into each other, which I actually think is really cool. Unfortunately, the next song, “A Special Place”, is a lot less introspective and a lot more generic than “Elmer’s Song”. The melody is good and the singing is nice, it’s bouncy and friendly, but the lyrics are rather insipid.
Singer: (singing) “Just come along the garden path, that gently winds and bends, and bring your smile and stay a while with Rose Petal and her friends.”
It also doesn’t tell us anything new or interesting about the world or characters, with such essential information as, “Hey did you know Rose Petal sings purty?” Yeah, sounds good on the ears, but a very shallow and forgettable number.
Singer: (singing) “Rose Petal Place is a magic world, full of love and grace, where a little girl- just like you- finds that dreams can come true. A friendly place, Rose Petal Place… Rose Petal Place… Rose Petal Place.”
The next song actually has Sunny Sunflower and Orchid suggest to Rose Petal that she should do a concert at Carnation Hall. I like the jaunty tune, as Rose Petal sings as lovely as ever, but I also think this one is rather drab. I like all the other flower lesbians joining in eventually, being all abuzz about the concert, later on in the song though.
Rose Petal: (singing) “There’s a dream I have dreamed from an early age, to play for my friends on a great big stage. So tomorrow at noon, I invite you all to Rose Petal’s concert at Carnation Hall.”
As much as I don’t like the music generally, I do like the album having a continuous story where every song technically serves a purpose to tell a tale of these characters putting on a show. It flows very nicely and it’s more engaging as a listener rather than having contextless musical pieces everywhere. It’s charming and cute for what it is, even if the songs themselves are rather mediocre. Our next song is our villain song, usually my favorite song in any musical. And hey, we finally get solid and spelt-out motivations for Nastina.
Narrator: “Nastina hated three things: beauty, love, and Rose Petal. She wanted to be the star of the garden, so whenever she heard the flowers singing, she got furious.”
"She hates beauty, love, and Rose Petal?" Yeah, no. She's projecting. If Nastina gets anymore queer-coded and head-over-heels for Rose Petal, she could be her own separate letter in the LGBTQ+ community.
I’d say you two should get a room, but I’m not falling for your beard routine. And we get a song all about Nastina’s beauty, which previously she was stated to hate (but I guess her beauty is okay).
Horace: (singing) “I know what you mean.”
Nastina: (singing) “Such beauty is rare to see, it ought to win a prize, and the world should realize that I am Nastina the beauty queen. As shapely as-”
Horace: (singing) “A lima bean!”
Yeah, the lyrics are corny as Hell, but it’s kind of adorable. This is a cheesy little buddy-duet between the villains, the delivery is upbeat and manages to sing out these pretty childish lines as peppy as they can be. It’s a song not meant to be taken seriously, with Horace’s constant sarcastic remarks and dynamic with the ignorant and arrogant Nastina whose motivations are built upon jealousy and her own self-importance, and that’s alright. Also, unlike Nastina’s song in the first animated special, this Nastina is actually singing rather than just yelling rhymes to a music track. It’s probably my favorite song so far because it has the most personality, even if it is very silly.
Nastina: (singing) “The most bewitching creature on the scene.”
Horace: (singing) “If you got for witches that is…”
Nastina: (singing) “Nastina the beauty queen!”
Nastina, during the song, remarks how she should be the star of the concert instead of Rose Petal. Horace goes off to make that happen, or else Nastina will eat him or something (I dunno spiders eat flies, this is probably a toxic relationship). To be fair to Horace, he actually goes up to the flower lesbians and asks rather politely for his standards for Nastina to be in the concert. So here, it actually makes sense for Rose Petal to be nicer to Horace and accepting of Nastina when they’re not being sneaky or malicious.
Horace: “Alright girls, heard about your little production, and my boss Nastina the Spider wants to sing in the show!”
Flower Lesbians: “What?”
Horace: “A piece of the action, so to speak.”
Rose Petal: “Well, I don’t know.”
Horace: “Come on, add some excitement to the show. She’s gangbusters! Listen, you can’t beat the price!”
Rose Petal: “Well, okay. You know? I think it’s a wonderful idea. Tell Nastina that she’s welcome.”
Horace: “Ha ha, you’re doing a good thing, kid!”
Her friends show their concerns, making reasonable worries of her ruining the show, but Rose Petal thinks if they show Nastina a bit of love, she’ll be their friend, with a number called "Little Bit of Love”.
Thankfully, this is another song I like, my second favorite so far. The song conveys a good message about second chances and optimism without making Rose Petal seem too stupid or naïve. The whimsical melody and the moral of every creature having some good inside them- behind every frown is a smile and all that- is a sweet one.
Rose Petal: (singing) “It’s a beautiful life we live, and everyone has a little bit of love to give!”The next song is "Rehearsal Song", when Seymour J. Snailsworth insists he doesn’t need to rehearse because he never makes mistakes- adding some more character traits and flaws onto another forgettable side character. Unfortunately, the song itself is (ironically enough) rather forgettable.
Rose Petal: (singing) “We need to practice our part in the show, so that every note’s gonna sound just so. Tomorrow we’ll feel better about the songs we play, if we take the time to rehearse today.”
But I do like how Rose Petal’s practice overlaps with Nastina’s, and the song has both their perspectives as Nastina has Horace pump her organ as she desperately tries to one-up Rose Petal. It gives the song the personality it desperately needs.
Horace: (singing) “I’m already sore!”
Nastina: (singing) “It’s fly paper, Horace, if you don’t pump more!”
Horace: (singing) “Eight arms and legs and she still can’t play!”
Nastina: (singing) “I gotta take the time to rehearse today!”
I like the moral and I like it when Rose Petal and Nastina harmonize by the end, but I’m overall not a big fan of this song. But Nastina realizes that Rose Petal, in her world-bending-to-her-will powers, will always be the star no matter how much she slays that organ. She, big shock, wants to sabotage the show and has Horace go out and destroy Seymour’s piano by stuffing it with tin cans and trash. The next song, "Coral Bells", is a twee and uninspired number about calling everyone to the concert. The twinkling sound is very obnoxious and gets old fast. The lyrics are mostly just “ringing and tingling” over and over again with no extra depth or characterization.
Singers: (singing) “Come from the farthest fence, up from down the wells, let us all gather together, singing, they’re ringing the coral bells!”
The concert starts and Nastina goes on. Despite the fact she has tried to kill them multiple times, the crowd cheers as she walks on the stage. Nastina wants to show off and intends to play the organ, sing, and recite poetry she wrote herself. Too bad the poem and the song, titled “Amazing”, is false advertising.
Nastina: (singing) “Why are spiders snugly while flowers are so ugly? It’s an amazing mystery of life. And why does a fruit fly taste better than a French fry? It’s an amazing mystery of life.”
The lyrics stink and the singing sounds like it has a disease, but I guess that’s the point. It’s meant to be awful, but it’s still not fun or funny to listen to. It’s funny that the singer is making herself sound bad on purpose for the song that’s meant to be sung on stage within the story, but her other songs actually have her sound a lot better. Thankfully, she steps up her game when she notices the crowd’s aren’t amused and the song gets slightly better.
Nastina: (singing) “Hear the mighty organ roar, I’m what you’ve been waiting for! Nastina, Nastina, the prima ballerina, she’s a dynamite spider, she’s the audience exciter! Sit back in your seats and watch the flying feet while I- WOW- put the pedals to the metal!”
Notice I said “better”, and not “good”. But hey, she starts juggling and playing multiple instruments while jamming her organ, which makes me feel that Nastina actually would be a strong talent if her ego and envy didn’t get in the way of it all.
Horace: “They’re leaving it!”
Nastina: “No, no wait, wait! SPOONS! 8 songs at once! Woo! Tap dance!”
Horace: “Boss!”
Nastina: “Tap dance, Horace! Set off the fireworks, release the doves! Should I show them my legs?”
Horace: “NO!”
Yeah, I know one person Nastina would show her legs for… All things considered, I wish the story didn’t have the sabotage subplot in it and the story instead had Nastina learn that there’s too much of a good thing and focusing on making the best of something rather than just a good something can only lead in an overstuffed, overstimulating disaster. It also could be a unique time where Nastina doesn’t fail because she does something evil, but because she’s too over-passionate and has her motivations to perform in the wrong place. The spider queen is so exhausted that Horace has to carry her away, even though I don’t trust what Horace does with unconscious women. Thankfully, Rose Petal comes on with Seymour. His piano is broken due to the trash inside, so Rose Petal asks the crickets and all her friends in the audience to play their own music to accompany her in the song “Look Inside”.
Rose Petal: (singing) “Some days everything goes wrong and you want to burst into tears… Elmer, would you play your flute? You stand up ready to sing your song and your courage disappears.”
While the idea and creativity of the song with all the characters pitching into play is a good one, I sadly don’t love this one, as good as the singing is and as solid as the lyrics are. I’m just not a fan of this melody, but the message of courage is nice at the very least.
Rose Petal: (singing) “Look inside, if you just look inside, you’ll find your courage twinkling. Where you look like a penny in a brook. Too shiny, bright, and bold to hide so look inside.”
So the concert is saved, with the villains sulking in the background.
Horace: “I thought you were great, boss.”
Nastina: “Oh, those insensitive twits.”
Horace: “Oh, sometimes artists are ahead of their times.”
Nastina: “They don’t know good art when they see it.”
And Rose Petal ends by singing the familiar full tune of "If You Have Love In Your Heart", which is probably my third favorite song and is relatively iconic in this franchise. It’s a lovely flow with a sweet instrumental, fantastic singing, and the corny lyrics still maintain a sense of elegance.
Rose Petal: (singing) “That if you have love in your heart, the birds will all sing for you, the flowers will grow. There’s no better place in the world you can start, if you have love in your heart. The birds will all sing for you, the flowers will grow. There’s no better place in the world you can start, if you have love in your heart. If you have love in your heart.”
And that was the concert album. It was actually kind of charming as a cute children’s novelty, with a handful of good songs, but only a few- a lot of these songs are very forgettable and some are even unpleasant. As much as I enjoy the simple and continuous story and all the songs being connected to that story, the actual execution of the music is rather dull with a few great exceptions. A very mixed bag to put it kindly. It will probably make a few kids happy, it is engaging enough, there’s just better children’s albums out there.
And there’s better children’s franchises in general out there, which leads into the final main issue I believe led to Rose Petal Place’s failure: It could’ve been great.
Rose Petal Place has a lot of charisma for a simple little girl’s cartoon; it’s very corny and of its time, but the aesthetics are quite appealing, the music is mostly solid, and there’s definitely a whimsical 1980s nostalgia to it. It’s a sweet little series, but really only exists as a novelty. It was adorable, but it was in a competitive scene and didn’t take advantage of its strengths enough to become a major franchise like My Little Pony or Strawberry Shortcake. It was these five flaws I feel held this series back from reaching bigger potential.
1. Rose Petal is an uninteresting character
2. Doesn’t use its theme of art and music
3. Side characters are a waste
4. Waste of potential when it comes to setting
5. Blandness and unoriginality hold back a potentially strong series
The characters are boring and never really get much depth aside from rare instances in books or in songs, and Rose Petal herself is rarely challenged and has no flaws to make her compelling. The villain is kind of fun and genuinely threatening at times, but all her potential for strong motivations get muddied into a confusing mess of vague ideas for driving factors for her villainy, from mindless destruction to petty jealousy. She’s very ill-defined, and she’s one of the lucky characters compared to all the other flower friends and animal buddies that get next to nothing when it comes to purpose or characterization. The music and art and aesthetics are good, but it needed more substance. Themes of art triumphing over oppression, envy ruining talent, styles changing with time, and the responsibility of leadership were all there to add uniqueness and depth to the world, making this garden truly feel like its own special place. But it just didn’t blossom. There’s a lot of flaws, from downright disgusting unfortunate implications, to bland melodies muddling otherwise solid songs, and a lot of conflicting ideas and tones clashing with each other. But this series did have its highlights. My favorites of this series are the second animated special as it actually helped highlight the themes of the characters being artists, Lily Fair Learns a Lesson for having a moral directly tied to the themes of creativity, and the album which used its music to tell an endearing story. But these ideas sadly suffocate under stereotypical saccharine blandness that ruined a lot of cartoons with strong premises in the 1980s.
This franchise could easily be reinvented in modern times, maybe a story about these young artists being brought to life in this strange garden realm from a girl’s tears, trying to rejuvenate a creatively stagnant forest with their passion and talent. All as an old and bitter former diva tries to maintain her lost glory, fueled by a delusional sense of stardom, refusing to change or evolve her craft, and trying to squash any potential threats to her already-fading legacy. Heck, I’d be interested in rebooting this series if I had the chance. There’s so much to use here! A franchise that can be whimsical fantasy with magic tears and spider queens or a fun slice-of-life story about artists. I’m honestly sad this one didn’t get rebooted or continued in some way, because there is a lot to admire underneath all those hokey frills and ribbons.
But as it was, Rose Petal Place was simply a cute but ultimately forgettable relic of its time. Interesting to look back on and with a style that’s wonderful for the eyes, nothing necessarily harmful for kids, but nothing spectacular either. It just didn't use the tools it had hard enough. There was a lot of effort put into this project and a ton of talent worked hard on it, so don’t take this as mockery of the artists and actors. The good news is that these people didn’t waste their creativity and wallow in their failures, and they didn’t give up after a failed project like this one. Keep shooting for the stars, you’re bound to reach one. And I agree that at the end of the day that this is silly entertainment that isn’t meant to be that seriously analyzed, I simply do this because I enjoy diving deep into the media I consume. These reviews are entertainment itself, animation discussion/preservation, and general writing advice: finding out what works and what doesn’t work and how things can be changed or improved. I want no ill-will to any fans of this property or people involved with making it. We’re all here for a good time, but I do want to be honest and clear in my opinions regarding the media I talk about.
And I say this from the heart: I want Rose Petal Place to come back in some way. This could be the next My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with just the right amount of love and care. So many good ideas just begging to be elaborated on and explored. For now, this rose remains a relic in a forgotten garden of many others like it. A beautiful flower, but one where roots run shallow under the stem. But I’m still holding onto hope that one day, I can visit Rose Petal Place again, with new ideas blossoming and greater things growing.
Marie Osmond is here for one last round! But the rest of the cast got replaced? Huh... I will say, hearing them sing together is definitely lovely. Nastina's new voice... when I first heard her, it sounded weirdly a lot like Muttley from The Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley. It's the kind of voice that sounds a little too weird for my ears, but also makes me wanna laugh out loud...but when she starts to sing... yeah, the song is corny but fun at the same time. Horace's new voice makes him sound like a weaker character, however... you really weren't kidding about how weird this album is.
ReplyDeleteI totally enjoyed this visit to this forgotten garden, and I'm so glad you chose it as your first blog project. Your descriptive commentary brought humor as well as a sense of thought into how and why it slipped into obscurity. Plus, your dedication to finding any and all merchandise really shows the full scale of its history and how much of a thing it was (or tried to become) in the brief time it had. There was fascination in its' pros and cons, and consideration for the ways it could have been better, all with help from your special kind of magic, like the Clairy Godmother I know in love!
'I know AND love!' Oops! Typo!
DeleteIt's certainly a very strange album, but not a completely worthless experience. It's a cute story with some charming bits here and there, even if it's nothing special at the end of the day. But I'm mostly proud of finally wrapping up this monstrous 7-part project! I forgot how much fun I had writing blogs and making reviews of cartoons, and I hope to continue doing it in the future. It was fun to research, crack jokes, give writing advice, and generally explore all this franchise had to offer. But of course, the majority of praise goes to readers like YOU, Rebecca. Without you and all my other beautiful fairies, this would just be a mad woman's ramblings. But it's you who truly brings the magic to this blog.
Delete