I think Dominic McHugh squashes this through his painstaking reconstruction of the evolution of THE MUSIC MAN’s drafts. “My White Knight” first appears (with its basic melody) in a draft from likely April-May* 1956 in a duet version (Harold enters after one refrain, singing “The Sadder But Wiser Girl” in counterpoint). In the next versions, from June 1956 to the completed script of April 5, it’s clear Willson tried developing it into an extended soliloquy for Marian. The duet notion was discarded, this was Marian’s moment to shine.
McHugh provides drafts (including a typed sheet of early lyrics with red ink annotations and melodic sketches of the early duet versions and later drafts). It seems Willson started with a ballad, expanded that to include a near-operatic section, and ultimately, in tryouts, cut it down to just the ballad. Willson relates this himself in BUT HE DOESN’T KNOW THE TERRITORY: how the number had to be “simplified,” and he cut two pages, but Barbara Cook had captured the audience from the start, so the loss of what he called “his favorite song” didn’t matter. It was what was best for the show. Part of that discarded section was reused in “Being in Love.”
The song is Willson’s, unless Frank Loesser was hovering over him, dictating those changes in pencil and red ink, and typing different drafts of lyrics.
Laura |
