June Rae Wood | |
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Born | 1946 (age 76–77) Versailles, Missouri, U.S. |
Occupation | Novelist |
Genre | Realistic fiction |
Notable works | The Man Who Loved Clowns , Turtle on a Fence Post, When Pigs Fly, About Face, On Her Way: Stories and Poems About Growing Up Girl, and A Share of Freedom. |
June Rae Wood is an American author. One of her books, The Man Who Loved Clowns , won the Mark Twain Award and William Allen White Award in 1995.
June Rae Wood grew up in Versailles, Missouri, with seven siblings. Her brother, Richard, who had Down syndrome, was her inspiration for The Man Who Loved Clowns . June's other brothers and sisters had to protect Richard from other people who would be mean to him. Many people would laugh and stare, but Richard thought this was a compliment.
"Send In the Clowns" is a song written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1973 musical A Little Night Music, an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night. It is a ballad from Act Two, in which the character Desirée reflects on the ironies and disappointments of her life. Among other things, she looks back on an affair years earlier with the lawyer Fredrik, who was deeply in love with her, but whose marriage proposals she had rejected. Meeting him after so long, she realizes she is in love with him and finally ready to marry him, but now it is he who rejects her: He is in an unconsummated marriage with a much younger woman. Desirée proposes marriage to rescue him from this situation, but he declines, citing his dedication to his bride. Reacting to his rejection, Desirée sings this song. The song is later reprised as a coda after Fredrik's young wife runs away with his son, and Fredrik is finally free to accept Desirée's offer.
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