Little Mary Sunshine - Song Annotations

Song Annotations

The songs in Little Mary Sunshine allude to earlier shows, their songs, and their characters.

• The Forest Rangers is a parody of "Tramp, tramp, tramp", from Victor Herbert's Naughty Marietta, although it also alludes less directly to the whole genre of "gallant warriors" songs, notably "The Mounties", from Friml's Rose-Marie; "Stout Hearted Men", from Romberg's The New Moon; "The Riff Song", from Romberg's The Desert Song; "Song of the Vagabonds", from Friml's The Vagabond King; and arguably even "March of the Toys", from Herbert's Babes in Toyland. The line "For there's always one more hill beyond the hill beyond the hill ... " apes the title of "There's a Hill Beyond a Hill", from Kern and Hammerstein's Music in the Air (Mandelbaum, CD 10). "The Forest Rangers" also echoes the Boy Scout Law ("A scout is trustworthy...") by giving the rangers nine of the twelve Scout Law attributes: "He's thoughtful and he's courteous and kind. He's reverent and brave. ... He's clean in soul and body and mind. He's cheerful, honest, thrifty and obedient."

• Little Mary Sunshine mimics the title song from Rose-Marie. Both songs are title songs, and both use the name of the play's heroine as the song title.

• Look for A Sky of Blue alludes to "Look for the Silver Lining", from Jerome Kern's Sally. "When e’er a cloud appears" is the first five words of both the first line of the chorus of "Sky of Blue" and the second line of the chorus of "Silver Lining".

• You’re the Fairest Flower alludes particularly to two operetta songs with "Rose" in their titles – the title song from Friml's Rose-Marie and "Only a Rose", from Friml's The Vagabond King – but also alludes generally to other boy-serenades-girl love songs, such as the title song from Romberg's The Desert Song; "Serenade", from Romberg's The Student Prince; and "Yours Is My Heart Alone", from Franz Lehár's The Land of Smiles.

• In Izzenschnooken on the Lovely Essenzook Zee pays tribute to "In Egern on the Tegern See", another tune from Kern and Hammerstein's Music in the Air (Mandelbaum, CD 10, also notes that it alludes generally to nostalgia songs like "Golden Days", from Romberg's The Student Prince; "Will You Remember", from Romberg's Maytime; "I’ll See You Again", from Noel Coward's Bitter Sweet; and "When I Grow too Old to Dream", from Romberg's The Night is Young.

• Playing Croquet + Swinging + How Do You Do? alludes to counterpoint songs in Irving Berlin and Meredith Willson musicals. Sung first separately, then with the first two combined, and finally with all three sung simultaneously in fine harmony, Besoyan's songs display counterpoint one-upsmanship. Counterpoint, in the context of popular music, is the simultaneous singing of separate songs, each with its own lyrics and each designed to harmonize with the other(s). Berlin's "Play a Simple Melody", from Watch Your Step, and "You’re Just in Love", from Call Me Madam, both have an initial tune and an untitled counterpoint tune that are sung simultaneously after first being sung independently; so does Willson's "Lida Rose" + "Will I Ever Tell You?", from The Music Man. Rick Besoyan salutes Berlin and Willson by doing them one better: combining three songs.

• Tell a Handsome Stranger alludes generally to boy-meets-girl songs such as "Kiss Me Again", from Herbert's Mlle. Modiste; "I’m Falling in Love with Someone", from Herbert's Naughty Marietta; "Marianne", from Romberg's The New Moon; and "Make Believe", from Kern's Show Boat; but the number particularly alludes to "Tell Me Pretty Maiden", from Leslie Stuart's Florodora (Mandelbaum, CD 10), the 1899 British musical comedy that moved to Broadway in 1900. A prominent feature of both numbers is the "walkaround" ritornello; a similar passage in the same "strolling" tempo occurs in "Half-past Two", a number from the popular Edwardian musical comedy "The Arcadians" (1909). The line "I'm falling – I’m falling in love with you" once more suggests Herbert's "I’m Falling in Love with Someone." The words "Oh, joy!" reflect the song "Oh Joy, Oh Rapture Unforeseen", from Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore. And the words "You make my little heart go pitty-pat" closely paraphrase the words "Your heart goes pitter-patter", found in the counterpoint verse of Berlin's "You’re Just in Love", from Call Me Madam.

• Once in a Blue Moon alludes to the Romberg operetta The New Moon and to its song "Lover Come Back To Me." The antecedent tune's opening lines are "The sky was blue, and high above, the moon was new, and so was love." "Blue Moon" not only rhymes with "New Moon", it incorporates the word "blue" from the lyrics of "Lover Come Back to Me." And both songs display the theme of interrupted love. Viewed from the comedy perspective, "Once in a Blue Moon" evokes the lyrics of "All Er Nuthin", from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!. Both lyrics have two lovers – secondary characters – arguing about the girl's flirtatious ways.

• Colorado Love Call alludes to "Indian Love Call", from Rose-Marie.

• Every Little Nothing alludes to "Every Little Movement", from Karl Hoschna's Madame Sherry. The first five notes (sung with "ev-ry lit-l moe/nuth) of both songs are identical. The later words "every little moment" reinforce the parallelism by substituting "moment" for "movement" – a play on words.

• Such a Merry Party alludes to "This Was a Real Nice Clambake", from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel; and perhaps also to "Drinking Song", from Romberg's The Student Prince.

• Say "Uncle" is primarily a parody of "Call Me Uncle" from Friml's operetta The Firefly, although it also close parallels with "Every Day is Ladies' Day with Me' from Victor Herbert's "The Red Mill": the rhythms are the same and all three are confessions of an old roue who can't help spending money on pretty young girls, or "the dimpled darlings". There are also echoes of "Uncle" Drosselmeyer from The Nutcracker, a ballet.

• Me a Heap Big Injun alludes to "I'm An Indian, Too" from Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun. Billy appears in "Indian" costume to sing how he always wanted to grow up to be an Indian Brave. Close parallels are evident: both songs lampoon "stage Indians" played (without much conviction) by white people, including perhaps the "Indian" characters in this very show. Both songs satirise racial stereotyping of Native Americans, although (especially in the case of "Heap Big Injun") this is done rather crudely and occasionally causes offence.

• Naughty, Naughty Nancy has a title that alludes to the title of Victor Herbert's operetta Naughty Marietta. The content and tone is similar to many operetta soubrette's numbers.

• Mata Hari is related to "Cleopatterer", a Jerome Kern song from "Leave It to Jane" ( 1917). Nancy describes Mata "doing this-a and that-a"; in "Jane", Flora sings " It simply use to knock them flat, When she went like this and then like that". Other "man-hungry soubrette" songs that Besoyan probably had in mind include "I Cain't Say No", from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, and "Life Upon the Wicked Stage", from Kern's Show Boat.

• Do You Ever Dream of Vienna? is another nostalgia song like "Izzenschnooken." Besoyan's song pays homage to "Vienna Mine", from Emmerich Kalman's operetta Countess Maritza - although a number in praise of Vienna is not uncommon in operetta generally! It also seems to hint at "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" from Burton Lane's Finian's Rainbow.

• A Shell Game (pantomime) alludes to the Victor Herbert operetta Babes in Toyland, which includes pantomime, but is similar generally to the full range of Broadway pantomime, the best example of which is the dream ballet sequence from Oklahoma!, danced to the song "Out of My Dreams."

• Coo Coo refers to another "bird-call" song, "Whip-Poor-Will" by Jerome Kern ( lyrics by B.G. DeSylva). It first appeared in the unsuccessful "Zip Goes a Million" ( 1919), but was resurrected in 1920 when sung by Marilyn Miller in "Sally". The second and third notes of the bird-call ( "poor-will") are identical to the cuckoo call. There may also be an allusion to "Bluebird of Happiness", a 1934 non-Broadway song popularized by Metropolitan Opera tenor Jan Peerce. Both title birds, according to their songs’ lyrics, bring cheer to sad listeners.