Whats interesting is that Alan Jay Lerner keeps being held up as a major librettist and lyricist - which I would argue is far from the truth. His masterpiece is indeed MY FAIR LADY - thanks mostly to Bernard Shaw who supplied 99% of the good dialogue, and lots of song ideas, and great characters and structure.
BRIGADOON has a good score, but the book is from a simpler time, and not great even by those standards. PAINT YOUR WAGON is even a weaker book, and the wind has a name and the trees talk. GIGI (the film) was quite good, inarguably IMHO Lerner's only other very good show.
The book of CAMELOT is endless and tedious, but there are some good lyrics for great Fritz Loewe tunes.
And then? WHATS UP, THE DAY BEFORE SPRING, LOVE/LIFE, ON A CLEAR DAY, 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, CARMELINA, and DANCE A LITTLE CLOSER |
