One thing that's particularly hard about "Shy" is making the last joke of the song land. We're all so focused on the high note that the pun "the lady is one man shy" never really reads the way I wish it would. Is it perhaps a fault in the writing? That said, it's not the world's greatest joke lol, but it also never really gets a chance.
Speaking of the lyrics in the show, I have a fond memory of a production I did some years ago where the director and I had a big debate over the ending of "Opening For A Princess." The lyric as written is "none of the ladies are having any fun." My director friend insisted that it really should be "none of the ladies IS having any fun," because "none" (i.e. "not one") is the subject. I agreed with the reasoning, but I think that the way the lyric is written, the word "ladies" gets the main focus musically, and "ladies are" sounds better than "ladies is." We left the lyric as is (not as are, lol), but it was an interesting debate. |
