I agree with Mario about the intensely musical foundation of this play.

Barring Gypsy, an actual musical, it is the most musical work weve read this
semester. And the music serves a number of different purposes in the play.
For instance, Grandpop is constantly playing Bach on the flute. Not only are
Bach passacaglias some of the most pleasant and agreeable music, the flute
is also incredibly delicate, providing a stark juxtaposition to the horrors of
war. Additionally, the moments of repetition, as in 1. Fugue with the lists
interspersed with military code, establishes a strict military cadence from
which the rest of the show can veer. The choice to structure the piece like a
fugue is two pronged, with both the obvious musical element and the
psychological element. As Grandpop says in 8. Prelude, the fugue is like an
argument. It starts in one voice. The voice is the melody, the single solitary
melodic line. The statement. Another voice creeps up on the first oneThey
tangle together. They argue, they become messy. But there is also a
psychological connotation to this, as a fugue state indicates the loss of
ones identity due to separation from ones usual environment. This duality
is most obvious in the difference between the end of 1. Fugue and 6. Fugue.
In 1. Fugue, the three men perform a beautiful counterpoint of music that is
intertwined closely with their identity: Elliot raps a Nas song, Pop sings an
altered military cadence, and Grandpop plays a Bach passacaglia. Then in 6.
Fugue, we see Pop and Elliot kill the first men they were able to see, and
Ginnys repetition of green supplies a musical accompaniment to the
moment in which Pop and Elliot are farthest from themselves.