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| re: Higgins' grammatical "mistakes" | |
| Posted by: Billhaven 12:00 pm EDT 04/06/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Higgins' grammatical "mistakes" - StanS 11:53 am EDT 04/06/21 | |
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| I'm reminded of Ruth Sherwood's "One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man". When her beau tells her "You're the one to who I give my heart" she responds "I'm afraid you've made a grammatical error. It's not 'to who I give my heart,' it's 'to whom I give my heart.' You see, with the use of the preposition 'to', 'who' becomes the indirect object, making the use of the word 'whom' imperative, which I can easily show you by drawing a simple chart." Ruth has missed the point of the moment. I feel, Michael, that you have, as well. |
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| re: Higgins' grammatical "mistakes" | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:14 pm EDT 04/06/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Higgins' grammatical "mistakes" - Billhaven 12:00 pm EDT 04/06/21 | |
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| Of course, I don't feel I've "missed the point" at all. As I stated in my very first post on this matter, I think it's instructive and facinating to acknowledge and comment on flaws in great works of art, just as it's instructive and interesting to acknowledge and comment on moments of brilliance in works that most people would consider to be......less than great. And when people are unable or unwilling to do this, I would say that shows a lack of critical thinking on their part. A new thought: If anyone today were to write lyrics for a new musical with one or more characters who should be expected to speak with perfect grammar, and if those lyrics contained not one, not two, not three, but multiple grammatical errors, I expect that lyricist would be excoriated by many of you who either don't acknowledge or choose to disregard the errors in the lyrics of MY FAIR LADY simply because you're so familiar with those songs and probably didn't notice the errors until they were pointed out to you. |
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| re: Higgins' grammatical "mistakes" | |
| Posted by: Billhaven 10:53 am EDT 04/07/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Higgins' grammatical "mistakes" - Michael_Portantiere 11:14 pm EDT 04/06/21 | |
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| There haven't been many lyricists in the past 40 years (outside of Sondheim and Lin-Manuel Miranda) who have delighted me as much as Alan J. Lerner. I look at Miranda's verbal brilliance and creativity first, I don't care if the rhymes aren't perfect (neither does he) or the grammar is not impeccable. These are not legal briefs or academic exercises. They are artistic expressions that are crafted like poetry. In any event, I wouldn't "excoriate" improper usage. I might make a note of it and question it but I would look at the piece in its entirety. | |
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| re: Higgins' grammatical "mistakes" | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 04:57 pm EDT 04/07/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Higgins' grammatical "mistakes" - Billhaven 10:53 am EDT 04/07/21 | |
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| Of course, the fact that the rhymes aren't perfect and the grammar is not impeccable in Lin-Manuel Miranda's lyrics has nothing to do with discussion of Lerner's lyrics for MY FAIR LADY, as the style and intent of those two sets of lyrics is completely different according to the characters and the styles of the musicals in question. | |
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