Word: songs
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...There are at least a dozen ways of spelling the Prime Minister's name, all of them pronounced Pea Bun Song...
Possibly the only quarrel I have with the structure of the Gondoliers is the absence of a prominent and clever patter song. The defect is, however, somewhat covered by numerous biting lines that can add considerable sharpness to the action between songs, and the cast is quick to find the comedy in many of them. Yet others are lost because, as in the first act, the dialogue has been paced too rapidly and the punch line is buried under the heavy dirgue of the following speech. If Director Richard Smithies had applied his talent in developing the humor with...
...cruelty and cynicism give added dimension to numbers like "The Ballad of Survival" and "The Ballad of Dependency." Bronia Sielewicz, as the prostitute Jenny, will make even the most sentimental viewer forgive her for replacing the familiar German accent of Lotte Lenya. "The Pirate Jenny" and "The Solomon Song" are two of the best examples of Weill and Brecht's art and Miss Sielewicz gives them at least their due. Sara-Jane Smith plays Polly Peachum with a fine veneer of innocence and propriety barely covering Polly's lusty nature. Miss Smith, with the entire cast, seems completely to understand...
...winnowing out a set of passages simultaneously suited to the theatre and representative of the book, belongs to Mary Manning, who selected and organized the scenes as well as ably directing the production. It would be quite impossible to distill Joyce's monolith into two hours of speech and song and still retain all the thematic complexities, with their continual restatement in terms of almost everything in myth and history. Miss Manning has been wise in not attempting this, for the result could only be tedious and disastrously confusing. Her arrangement retains a circular form, opening and closing with...
Especially in folk music an artist must be judged on the merits of his performance. In your editorial you stated that "Seeger himself, during his performance, noted that his were 'propaganda songs'." Rather, Seeger emphasized the anyone can write folk songs, but the songs that last must have something to say (his concert included a Polynesian wedding song, some South African work songs, and an American union song). He spoke of his trips around the country, noting that every different racial and cultural group has "something to say." If an acquaintance with customs and beliefs of the people of American...