| re: Once Upon a Mattress Tonight | |
| Posted by: TimmyTune 11:32 pm EDT 08/08/24 | |
| In reply to: re: Once Upon a Mattress Tonight - Chazwaza 02:11 am EDT 08/07/24 | |
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| Lyricist/book writer and dramaturg here, and I would like to respond to something in this thread regarding “Shy”, its composition, and the final lyric. “Shy” is truly about the challenges a person faces when seeking romance, particularly when they are shy. (Anyone who knows about Mary Rodgers or has read her book can see that she, with Barer’s help, was writing about herself). The set-up to “Shy” is that Fred can’t wait to be considered as a potential match for Dauntless. She is so eager, in fact, that she swims the moat in excitement and haste. Immediately we are given this context: AGGRAVAIN: You swam the moat?! WINNIFRED: All right, I was a little anxious. My friend, Sir Harry - he’s still out there - he told me you were looking for a princess. ANY princess! And I figured: The early bird…Anyway, here I am! Who’s the lucky man? Winnifred has already established her intentions: She is there to snag a huz and is chomping-at-the-bit to do so. In terms of the lyric, yes, she describes herself as shy but this isn’t the entire reason she is singing the song nor is it all that we learn from it. Her impetus is getting married, the conundrum is her situation of being shy and the challenges she has faced in attempting to do so. It’s this juxtaposition that creates the comedy and complexity of the character and the song. (These are the fantastic layers of characterization and commentary, as Winnifred represents free-will and free-love in stark contrast to the sexually-repressed and smothered kingdom under the Queen’s rule. ) From the start she sings with energy: WINNIFRED: Hey, nonny, nonny is it you?… Someone’s being bashful - That’s no way to be, Not with me. Can’t you see that I am just as embarrassed as you? And I can understand your point of view. She urgently expresses the fact that she is eager but shy, and that the prince shouldn’t feel intimidated to offer himself up because they are the same. She continues on to describe herself in this way for the first two verses. (It’s interesting to note that she protests her outward appearance as contradicting her inward “demure” personality - a smartly drawn self-awareness for the character and a foreshadowing of her ultimately being tested for “sensitivity”.) Fred continues through the entire bridge (“Though a lady may be dripping with glamour… “) to speak of how, despite some peoples’ confidence, they often “stumble and stammer when suddenly confronted with romance”. Again, she draws it back to the matter at hand: romance and finding a partner. Here, though, she engages us in the idea that “as often as not” even an outwardly confident person might struggle in this journey. WINNIFRED: I’m goin’ by fishing for a mate! I’m gonna look in ev’ry brook! But how much longer must I wait with baited breath and hook? A clever lyric that plays with her watery-swampiness and illustrates her longing and current impatience/frustration with finding a mate. “But how much longer must I wait…” implies this isn’t the first time she has had this urge. After the dance break, she exclaims- And that is why - though I’m painfully shy, I’m insane to know Which sir? You, sir? Then who, sir? Where, sir? And when, sir? I couldn’t be tenser! So let’s get this done, man. Get on with the fun, man. I am one man shy!” She quite literally concludes the song with a recapitulation of the song’s meaning. It couldn’t be more clear and clever. Yes, she is shy (don’t judge a book by its cover!) but that shyness isn’t going to stop her from taking every chance she can to find her ideal mate and be married. In her free-society of the marshlands, this is her choice and her dream. It’s important to realize that Fred not-so-subtly represents the emergence and embodiment of sexuality. Again, this is very reflective of the writers sensibilities and the underlying commentary on societal norms and attitudes towards/taboos regarding sex that the play employs. (The original play is dripping in innuendo and subtext, something the current revival has gutted, scrubbed clean, and replaced with cheap schtick and tired jokes in its efforts to modernize. Oh, the irony.) What a brilliantly plotted and crafted characterization in one incredible opening solo - full of wordplay and character-driven viewpoint. A perfectly charming, quirky, upbeat, “I want” song! A truly great theatre lyric scans and falls on the ear like it’s simple but is packing far more upon investigation. Anyone finding fault with the set-up of the final lyric or claiming that Rodgers and Barer could’ve “done better” might reflect on the fact that this show has endured and resonated for 65 years and shall continue to do so. Fewer shows than not can tout that at all, let alone with such impeccable craft and superbly clever wit. Most of the shows written within our lifetimes will likely be forgotten in that amount of time. |
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| Previous: | re: Once Upon a Mattress Tonight - Chazwaza 02:11 am EDT 08/07/24 |
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