AND Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe: A Snake in the Grass Villain songs are fun to hear and to perform. I suspect they are fun to write too. These two—minor blips in a major career—have a delicious playfulness that I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I do. “Fiasco” is from Coco (1969). The […]
Read MoreOne of the joys of my work on The Complete Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner was getting to know Love Life and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, fascinating, flawed shows that don’t have original cast albums. Both are concept musicals with brilliant songs, unusual structures, and pointed social critiques.
Read MoreToday’s song is one of my favorite ballads. It’s from the 1951 movie musical Royal Wedding, which is not a great film. Lerner later said his own contributions made him cringe. But a score that has “Too Late Now,” “You’re All the World to Me” (to which Fred Astaire danced on the ceiling!) and the audacious “How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You, When You Know I’ve Been a Liar All My Life” is not chopped liver.
Read MoreIf Alan Jay Lerner wrote nothing except My Fair Lady, he would have justly earned his place in Broadway’s pantheon. It was a magnificent artistic achievement and an enormous popular success – smashing all box office records. Among his other beloved Broadway and Hollywood musicals are Brigadoon, Gigi and Camelot, each giving decades of pleasure to audiences and performers.
Read MorePerhaps you’ve heard that 2018 is the centennial year of a major musical theatre writer. But did you know that Leonard Bernstein was not the only Broadway legend born in August 1918? This week I invite you to celebrate lyricist, librettist and screenwriter Alan Jay Lerner.
Read MoreThis is absolutely my favorite musical theater lyric of all time. Every rhyme, every word, each consonant and vowel is full of action and rich with subtext. The song shifts between 3/4 time, with understated and seemingly solicitous lyrics, and 6/8 time, at which point the emotions of the lyric are more articulate and fiery. […]
Read MoreEarlier this week, I expressed my love for a repeated lyric that evolves throughout a song and takes on new meanings. One of my favorite examples of this is “I’ll Be Here” from Adam Gwon’s musical Ordinary Days.
Read MoreThe theme of the day is ‘puns.’ Good puns in song lyrics are certainly on the decline
since the first half of the 20th century and it’s a shame! “And Her Mother Came, Too”
was first performed in A-Z, a 1921 British Musical Revue.
One magic trick performed by great musical theater lyricists I find particularly impressive is when a repeating lyrical hook, often found in the title, evolves throughout a song and takes on new meanings. Rather than just the usual redundant repetition, the same phrase progresses based off the goings-on of the verse, and it continues to shed light on a situation. I am always awestruck when a musical theater writer reaches this level of lyrical complexity. Usually an actor is left to come up with his or her own intention for each repeated lyric; in this case, the lyricist has made his intents obvious and draws a clear arch for the actor.
Read MoreWords mean more to me than just about anything. I’m always researching some piece of text, either for work or pleasure. So it seemed natural for me to focus on lyrics as I make my contributions to The Song of the Day. I’ve dedicated much of my time in NYC to the development of new musicals, and I’ve gotten to know many of the form’s contemporary writers, including Sam Carner and Derek Gregor.
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