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re: Quick point: just on the grammar...
Posted by: peter3053 05:36 pm EDT 04/02/21
In reply to: re: Quick point: just on the grammar... - BroadwayTonyJ 02:48 pm EDT 04/01/21

Has anyone yet pointed out Higgins' failure to invoke the subjective in "A Hymn To Him"

"If I was a woman / who'd been to a ball...."

should be

"If I were a woman / who'd been to a ball..."

Sondheim made a virtue of the subjunctive in Act Two of A Little Night Music:

"If she weren't so awfully perfect
It would have been wonderful!"
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re: Quick point: just on the grammar...
Posted by: AlanScott 02:10 pm EDT 04/05/21
In reply to: re: Quick point: just on the grammar... - peter3053 05:36 pm EDT 04/02/21

I just saw your post here. I responded about that matter elsewhere in this discussion but perhaps you missed that. That is Harrison's fault, not Lerner's. Lerner had it t as were. Harrison did it as was and later so did Ian Richardson, who changed it every time from Lerner's were to was. Harrison at least did it as were the other times in the song.
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re: Quick point: just on the grammar...
Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 06:41 pm EDT 04/02/21
In reply to: re: Quick point: just on the grammar... - peter3053 05:36 pm EDT 04/02/21

I haven't pointed it out here, but I've noticed it! I believe that, at various points on the various recordings and in the film of MFL, various actors sometimes correctly say (or sing) "If I were...." and sometimes incorrectly say (or sing) "If I was...."
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