Mthr 3143 – 1950s Notes.docx

MTHR 3143 – 1950s Notes Guys and Dolls (1950)  Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser o Credited for writing the best character lyrics of any musical  “The characters sing just like they speak”  Major contribution to the modern musical  Libretto by Abe Burrows  Source Material by Damon Runyon o A series of short stories o About a bunch of low-rent hoods, gamblers, crime families, etc.  Language of short stories is written in an unusual dialect (Runyon-esque) o Speak in an exaggerated New York accent  No contractions, beautiful vocabulary, formal sentence structure (similar to Shakespeare)  Writers are trying to be more sophisticated in their writing style 

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“Runyon Land” o Located in Time’s Square, New York o Scamming people o Illegal horse racing bets  Finding clues and tells about who to bet on o Battle of the sexes  Women changing their looks to get men’s attention o Everyone has a plan/scam/etc. “If I Were a Bell” o Talking about her state of being, without being explicit; metaphorical o A sophisticated version of an “I Am” Song o NOT in Runyon-esque, not in slang; spoken in normal English “Adelaide’s Lament” o Miss Adelaide o Figuring out that her cold is not really a cold, but psychosomatic symptoms o A Charm Song: Does NOT forward the plot; usually a comedy song; is not imperative to the story; a song meant to make you laugh or feel something for a certain character. If you had to cut it, you’d still understand what the show is about o “The best Charm Song ever written” o Talks about being sick of being single Frank Loesser = music and lyrics o 2nd Generation Composer o How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1960s) o Known as one of the best lyricists in Broadway history

My Fair Lady (1956)  Known as “The Perfect Musical”  music by Fritz Loewe  Lyrics and libretto by Alan Jay Lerner o Partner Duo: Lerner & Loewe  Source Material: George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” o About a statue that comes to life o A British professor of phonetics meets a poor (uneducated, lower class) woman selling flowers o The professor makes a bet with a friend of his, to teach the girl how to speak, and turn the girl into a lady (princess)  He learns that he thinks that this might elevate her status in society  A play/musical about language, and class o NO CENTRAL LOVE STORY  Rodgers and Hammerstein gave up on writing My Fair Lady o Makes us understand that “just because I speak well, doesn’t mean that I belong up there”  The lyrics are as literate as Shaw’s text from “Pygmalion”  Starts the musical with NO SONGS 

“Why Can’t the English?” o Performed by Professor Higgins (actor: Rex Harrison) o Thematic Song:  Central Theme: Why don’t the English speak English, rather than all of these odd dialects? o Marrying the text with the lyrics  Integrating spoken word with song o Rex Harrison  The first great Speak Singer on Broadway  Helps the integration of making it feel like a play with music

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“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” o Performed by Eliza (actor: Audrey Hepburn) (singer: Marni Nixon) o Written in the cockney accent o She is not asking for richness, love, or any typical fantasy young girl desires  She wants warmth, chocolate, and someone’s head resting on her knee  She wants the basic essentials o Sets up the conflict for the musical o The idea of the song comes from stage directions  Reused tea bag, lit up stove with one piece of coal, cleaning a tiny table in her cold-water flat o Originally played by Julie Andrews on Broadway

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Embassy Ball o Hungarian Ambassador thinks she’s actually a Hungarian princess o “You Did It” The Emotional Center of the Play: o An event or discovery that changes/shifts everything that has happens before it, and sends the play hurdling towards the end o One or two of the characters comes to discover something hugely emotional o ‘A game changer’  Eliza feels that she has been used as a pawn in Higgin’s male vanity  Eliza returns the jewelry and gets ‘kicked out’  “I respect him… but he doesn’t respect me.” o Irony of the play:  My Fair Lady: even though she is a poor girl who sold flowers on the street, she is kind, considerate, and is a lady in every respect, but she doesn’t have the money and the class  The complexity of the issue makes a love story irrelevant The last scene is left ambiguous (nothing is tied up in a bow) o That’s good writing; because at the end of the day, our stories/relationships are not tied up in a neat little bow.  We don’t know what happens to Eliza and Henry Higgins o A non-love song Love Song  “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face”  A soliloquy o Higgins realizes how he feels about Eliza o Eliza comes back and speaks to him in cockney  “I am who I am; take me or leave me” o Henry Higgins  ‘Eliza, where are my slippers’  “I am who I am; take me or leave me”  They both end the play, as their true character’s selves Integrated Musical idea of the 1950’s o The lyrics never brought attention to themselves, they are true to their character, they complement the music without losing the idea that this is a play with music.

The Music Man (1957)  Opened the same year as West Side Story  Won the Tony for Best Musical  Music, lyrics, AND libretto by: Meredith Willson o From a small town in Iowa

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The story of a con artist, who comes to a small town in Iowa to scam simple-minded folks out of their money o He is a thief  Goes to each town as a traveling salesman  Train traveling was new, automobiles were upcoming o He sells a ‘boy’s band’ to the town  Teaches kids how to play instruments and sells them uniforms  Will keep the kids out of trouble o There is no real system  He takes the money and leaves town o The local librarian finds out the Harold Hill is a con artist  Harold tries to woo her, so that he can continue his scam long enough to keep the money and leave town  She changes him The music springs out of the town o The music grows organically out of the world  Organic score from the world “Rock Island” (Opening Number) o A rap; rhythmic speech o Using the rhythm of the train o Using their speech to imitate the sound of the train Robert Preston o Plays the character of Harold Hill o Speak-singer o “Ya Got Trouble” “The Piano Lesson/If You Don’t Mind Me Saying So” o The melody comes from Amaryllis playing the piano “Goodnight, My Someone” o An “I Want” Song o Marian wants to be in love  She sings a song about saying “goodnight” to a partner that she doesn’t have “Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You” o Double Hook  Barber shop quartet sings a tune, Marian sings a tune, then they both sing together