If I could change just ONE word in a play or musical- Page 2

[KCW]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 6:10pm

Most of the "mistakes" in Hamilton are stylistic choices, or uses of archaic words. Not completely relayed but in Shakespeare's language a meant the, or something like that.

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 7:38pm

TheGingerBreadMan said: In Les Mis, Little Cosette sings "There is a room that's full of toys, there are a hundred boys and girls". This has always bothered me because if they swapped around "boys" and "girls" it would rhyme properly. 

I find the song cloying, but that really is the only choice.  "There is a room that's full of toys, there are a hundred girls and boys" sounds really strange on the music since that's not the end of the verse. Look at the last verse in the song that fits the same melody:

"I know a place where no one's lost

I know a place where no one cries

Crying at all is not aloud

Not on my castle on a cloud"

 

Lines A and B don't rhyme - just like in the "toys/girls" line.

That one never really bothered me because of that. 

The lyric that always bothered me is one that I know is a good lyric but I don't understand how women sing it without tripping up on it: "Yes, my clothes are not Paris fashions" from Follies ALWAYS trips me up and I want to say "Yes, my clothes are not Faris passions." EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

[Michael Kras]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 7:45pm

I know many of my plays feature deliberately ineloquent language. Imperfectly chosen words, unfinished thoughts, run on sentences. It's how people speak. And then, when a character knows precisely what to say, it carries more by contrast.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 7:57pm

girlonbroadway said: "There's another in Hamilton, in Satisfied when Angelica sings "I introduce him to Eliza, now that's his bride". It should be "now she's his bride""

 

The simple fact is "that's his bride" flows much better than "she's."

[JBroadway]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 8:01pm

I adore In the Heights and think it's damn-near perfect in almost every way. The only lyric that always bothered from it is during Alabanza when Usnavi uses the phrase "pieces of bread crumbs." You can pieces of bread. Or you can have bread crumbs. How does one have pieces of bread crumbs? They must be VERY small pieces.

 

There are actually a fair number of word-choices in Hamilton that bother me. I think the show is brilliant, but I've never found it to be quite as flawless as others find it.

[kdogg36]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 9:08pm

Sondheim wouldn't have made that mistake.

 

He has Little Red sing "nice is different than good," while prescriptivists prefer from. 

 

However, as dramamama has pointed out, this isn't a mistake but a choice appropriate for the character.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 9:38pm

^^^ Likewise, "If Mama was married" rather than "If Mama were married". Sondheim knows little girls who don't attend school don't learn subjunctive mood.

[Alex M]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 11:40pm

Rent has some of my favorite lyrics in it but in the song "You'll see boys" the line "Think twice before you Poo-Poo it" has annoyed me so much. Why cant the line be "Think twice before you don't do it"? It would make sense. 

Updated On: 12/6/15 at 11:40 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 11:47pm

wrong thread!

Updated On: 12/6/15 at 11:47 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 1:03am

I love "Live Is," but the accents can make even a respectable lyric odd. "Hungry for the pilaf in someone else's pot" to my adolescent (and later still older) ears always sounded like "Hungry for the feel of someone else's butt."

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 1:14am

Ever since you mentioned that when ZORBA was at Encores I haven't been able to unhear.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 4:41am

Alex M said: "Rent has some of my favorite lyrics in it but in the song "You'll see boys" the line "Think twice before you Poo-Poo it" has annoyed me so much. Why cant the line be "Think twice before you don't do it"? It would make sense. 

 

"

That's not exactly what. poo poo it means.   It IS a colloquialism.

[macnyc]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 4:50am

It's spelled pooh-pooh. And it means to express contempt for something. 

[Dave19]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 6:54am

In the current Miss Saigon Revival Ellen and Chris sing in the confrontation:

 

Kim is smart, she'll understand.

 

It used to be: The girl is smart, she'll understand.

 

"The girl" fits the music better, and it is much more partronizing and hurtful as Chris is downgrading their past by not mentioning her name in front of Ellen at that moment of decision.

 

 

 

Updated On: 12/8/15 at 06:54 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/7/15 at 9:53am

The one that comes to mind is a musical number from a non-musical movie.

Mel Brooks sings "High Anxiety, it's always the same.... ooh.... 'xiety, it's you that I blame"  Huh?

When it might be "High Anxiety, it's always the same.... so... ...ciety, it's you that I blame"?

But I'm happy to leave well enough alone (and can easily see why Brooks, if he thought of this, might have resisted the impulse).

Updated On: 12/7/15 at 09:53 AM

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 12/8/15 at 4:56am

Brooks is mocking Sinatra in this particular song, and the "oooh...'xiety" is a rather specific parody of one of Frank's mannerisms. 

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 12/8/15 at 9:39am

"Tomorrow, tomorrow,  ......  you're ALWAYS a day away!"

 

Well, if you're ALWAYS a day away, we'd never get there, would we?

 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/8/15 at 11:13am

TimesSquareRegular said: ""Tomorrow, tomorrow,  ......  you're ALWAYS a day away!" Well, if you're ALWAYS a day away, we'd never get there, would we?"

Annie changes this from only a day to always. always does have a sense of desperation to it.

Updated On: 12/8/15 at 11:13 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/8/15 at 11:55am

"Brooks is mocking Sinatra in this particular song, and the "oooh...'xiety" is a rather specific parody of one of Frank's mannerisms."

Absolutely, ChairinMain, which is why it's terrific just the way it is.  It did take me a while to catch on to that though.