Loverly:The Life and Times of My Fair Lady (Broadway Legacies) McHugh, Dominic (snow like ashes series txt) đ
Book online «Loverly:The Life and Times of My Fair Lady (Broadway Legacies) McHugh, Dominic (snow like ashes series txt) đ». Author McHugh, Dominic
The same goes for âJust You Wait,â Elizaâs next song. It features a strong martial aspect, depicting Elizaâs fury at Higginsâs sadistic treatment of her, and the freedom of form Loewe uses in the number is equally striking. After the opening refrain in C minor, Loewe writes an episode in D-flat major in which Eliza dreams of fame and fortune. She imagines gaining the kingâs attention and requesting that Higgins be beheaded. A transition in B-flat major (ââDone,â says the KingâŠâ) leads back into the opening material. This time it is rendered in C major, and the music portrays Higginsâs march to the firing line (âThen theyâll march you, âenry âiggins, to the wallâ). Therefore, while the opening passage has the overall trappings of the 32-bar song (abbreviated to 30 due to the melodic diminution of the return of the A section at the end), the number as a whole also follows a similar form in macrocosm, namely a long opening section in which the character lays out her position, a contrasting section about three-quarters of the way through, and a return to the opening material. Also, in spite of its modal contrast to the opening section, the D-flat major passage retains its links to the main âJust you waitâ theme by starting each phrase with a similar three-note ascending pick-up (âOne day,â âOne eve[ning],â âAll the peo[ple]â and so on). Along with the ominously understated fermatas when Eliza declares she wants Higginsâs head and the jubilant trumpet line when the king gives his order, this is one of several aspects of the number that show how Lerner and Loewe make even a short song into a complex musical scene.
Ex. 5.1. âWouldnât It Be Loverly?â bars 27â28.
Lerner states that âJust You Waitâ was one of the first songs he tackled with Loewe, and names it as one of those that he played for Mary Martin during their first meeting about the show.9 This is supported by Outline 1 (chap. 3), in which âJust You Waitâ is one of the few songs referred to by title; Eliza sings it in the upstairs bathroom, âwet and shaking like a drowned rat.â By Outline 3, a montage of lessons has been introduced, but the song is not explicitly referred to. Only Outline 4 confirms its final position: it takes place in Higginsâs study and is the âSecond Songâ after a first âSong: Montage of lessonsâ (surely âThe Servantsâ Chorusâ). At this stage âJust You Waitâ was to be preceded by a refrain of âThe Servantsâ Chorus,â but in the published show Elizaâs song comes first, allowing her to vent her frustration before the servants illustrate the passage of time during the lessons. The rehearsal script shows an intermediate structure: âJust You Waitâ is immediately followed by a blackout, a verse of the servantsâ song, another blackout, then the lesson about âThe rain in Spain.â The published script, however, misses out this instance of the âChorusâ and goes straight to the lesson.
This illustrates how Lerner and Loewe operated on both the local and the broader level. Originally, the song allowed Eliza to express her humiliation at being stripped of her clothes, forced to have a bath, and compelled to wear Higginsâs bathrobe. But by changing it to express Elizaâs frustration about her lessons rather than about being treated inhumanely, Lerner softened the dislikeable part of Higginsâs personality. âJust You Waitâ isolates the tension between the two so that it tells of a discouraged pupil who does not know how to fulfill the expectations of a perturbed teacher, who in turn does not know how to give his student what she needs. Language, not misogyny, is the subject of the song, even though the lyric is outwardly a hyperbolic description of Elizaâs imagined retribution.
The lyric underwent one major change and one minor alteration. The major change involved the complete recasting of the third and fourth verses, which were originally as follows:
Oooooo âŠâenry âiggins!
Have your fun but âenry âiggins you beware.
Ooooo âŠâenry âiggins!
When the shoe is on the other foot, take care!
You wonât think it such a farce
When I kick your bloominâ arse!
This version appears on a lyric sheet in Levinâs papers and is also used in a copyistâs score held in the Warner-Chappell Collection.10 These sources also contain a small alteration in the lyric of the penultimate stanza of the song (the kingâs imaginary lines): âAll the people will celebrate all over the land; / And whatever you wish and want will be my command.â was modified to âAll the people will celebrate the glory of you, / And whatever you wish and want I gladly will do.â Though the big change was made in the rehearsal script and Bennettâs orchestration, both contain the kingâs couplet in its original form.
However, the composerâs manuscript is again difficult to place. It is certainly not Loeweâs âoriginalâ score for the number, because Rittmannâs hand is unmistakable in the writing of the clefs, time and key signatures, and most of the piano part. Loewe wrote out the lyric, vocal line, and tempo markings, but since Rittmann did not join the team until late 1955 (whereas we know the song was conceived much earlier), the manuscript must be a fair copy prepared for the copyist and orchestrator. On the title page, Loewe wrote âAtt. Franz [Allers, the conductor]: Julie may be E flat? Please try.â The copyistâs score follows Loewe in every respect including the use of the key of D minor and does not make this transposition, but a note at the top reads: â1 tone lower.â Since this score was intended for Bennettâs use, it is no surprise that the orchestratorâs full score is
Comments (0)