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

[morosco]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 12:59am

A Chorus Line (leading into "At The Ballet"

SHEILA:  I wanted to be that lady, that redhead.  And then when she saw I really had to dance, she said: "You cant do it until you're eight."  Well by then, I was only six... and I said "but I've got to dance."  I mean, anything to get out of the house.

I would replace that last line with: I mean anything to get out of that house.

The difference in meaning between saying anything to get out of the house and any thing to get out of that house is huge relative to what she's saying especially since Zach immediately picks on on what she's really saying.  It's always bugged me but then again what the f do I know?

[catmandoo]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 1:25am

The Little Mermaid in "She's in Love"

"She barely sticks a toe in down at the tidal pool."

At that point, she's a mermaid and does not have toes...

 

Why couldn't it have been something like "She barely sticks her tail in" or something!?

 

I realize that is 2 words, but... always bugs me.

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 9:21am

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. 

[macnyc]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 9:40am

In Hamilton, when Aaron Burr sings, "I'm the damn fool that shot him," I always think it should be, "I'm the damn fool WHO shot him. "

 

And of the 3 million words in the show, that's the only one that rankles!

[girlonbroadway]

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

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"

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 10:22am

macnyc said: "In Hamilton, when Aaron Burr sings, "I'm the damn fool that shot him," I always think it should be, "I'm the damn fool WHO shot him. "

 

 

 

And of the 3 million words in the show, that's the only one that rankles!

 

"

I would guess it's harder to be understood with the same vowel sound in FOOL followed by WHO.  Lyrics need to be understood, too.

 

I'd change the third THE in Act II, Scene 3 of  BOM to the word A.  It would be more logical.

Posted: 12/6/15 at 10:24am

wow Hamilton has a lot of mistakes.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 10:31am

They aren't mistakes, they are choices.  (And two = a lot?)

Posted: 12/6/15 at 10:35am

It's still a mistake.

[another sloe eyed vamp]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 10:43am

In The Speed Test, from Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mr. Graydon sings:

 

   "... Outrageous correspondence
   Which I don’t intend to actually mail
   To the respondents"

 

and every time I hear it, I wonder why they didn't use send, which would make a nice internal rhyme with intend, and fit in better with correspondence and respondents. And make every bit as much sense.

 

 

[Scarywarhol]

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

"That's his bride" really bothers me too. It's that way to be closer to a rhyme with "satisfied," but who calls her sister "that"?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 11:43am

Alas, "that" is used colloquially for "who" all the time now.  

 

Admittedly it's extremely rare for hip hop artists to use improper English, most use the queen's English, as in  The Weeknd's big single right now:

 

Your husband is on the road, he's doing promotional activities of some type,
You said, "Keep our business on the discreet side"
I'm just trying to get you out of the friend zone
Because you look even better than the photos
I can't find your house, please send me the information, such as address and directions
Driving through the gated residential development
When you found out I was coming, you sent your friends home
You keep on trying to hide it, but your friends know

[tmcgriff]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 11:48am

Okay so this isn't necessarily a word change. But something that bothers me is when the word "there'll" is pronounced "they'll."

Most Elphaba's sing "But I swear someday they'll be a celebration throughout OZ...." and it drives me insane! When you sing that you are a say "But I swear someday they will be a celebration throughout Oz..." and that makes no sense.

This is also an issue in Next to Normal "But they'll be no more crying. Not for me..."

and Frozen

"For the first time in forever, they'll be music, they'll be light." 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 12:00pm

Aida Revival said: "It's still a mistake.

 

"

Only if you're grading  paper.  Is it grammatically correct, no, but a mistake implies an unintentional error. These are carefully thought out choices. Big difference.  If you are writing the dialogue of a toddler, would it make sense for the child to speak perfectly?  Of course not.

Posted: 12/6/15 at 12:14pm

Sondheim wouldn't have made that mistake.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 12:30pm

Aida Revival said: "Sondheim wouldn't have made that mistake."

Stop trolling. Your a mistake.

Posted: 12/6/15 at 12:33pm

*You're

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 1:58pm

In La Cage aux Folles, for Albin's big act one closing number, I'd change "am" to "is" so Paula Deen can perform it.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 2:04pm

"How do you solve a problem like glaucoma?"

 

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 2:17pm

Aida Revival said: "wow Hamilton has a lot of mistakes."

 

Shut your mouth.

[The Glenbuck Laird]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 2:48pm

The Caretaker, Aston's monologoue. The pause before the last sentence. Always played as four seconds when it is at least a five second pause.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 3:07pm

My comment is more a case of changing back one word to its' original lyric. In ZORBA THE GREEK I always disliked the fact that they changed the word in "Life is what you do WHILE you're waiting to die" to "Life is what you do TIL the moment you die." Not sure if it was changed back in last spring's ENCORE performance. Anyone know?  

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 3:27pm

The difference in meaning between saying anything to get out of the house and any thing to get out of that house is huge relative to what she's saying especially since Zach immediately picks on on what she's really saying.  

 

But it what else would he think she was saying?  

 

[morosco]

Posted: 12/6/15 at 5:47pm

Saying anything to get out of the house would imply one is bored.  Cabin fever.  Saying anything to get out of that house implies something more specific and sinister.

[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.