The Boy From...

Last updated
"The Boy From..."
Song by Linda Lavin
Released1966
Genre
Songwriter(s) Stephen Sondheim
Mary Rodgers

"The Boy From..." is a song with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and music by Mary Rodgers, originally performed by Linda Lavin in the 1966 Off-Broadway revue The Mad Show . [1]

The song is essentially a parody of "The Girl from Ipanema" [2] and bossa nova style in general. The melody and lyrics are relatively close to the original, and Lavin's original delivery of the song was reminiscent of Astrud Gilberto's simple, breathy style.

The song's context differs from the original in that it is sung in reference to a male character. Though both songs are about unrequited desire for the title character, the humor of "The Boy From..." stems partly from the fact that the narrator is completely unaware of her crush's blatant homosexuality, [3] as, for example, illustrated in the song's second bridge: "Why are his trousers vermilion? / Why does he claim he's Castilian? / Why do his friends call him Lillian? / And I hear at the end of the week, / he's leaving to start a boutique."

The other humorous aspect of the song comes from the fact that every verse ends with a repetition of the extremely long name of the title character's hometown (hence the title), a fictional village called "Tacarembo la Tumba del Fuego Santa Malipas Zacatecas la Junta del Sol y Cruz" ("Cruz" pronounced as "cruth" with distinción): with the narrator becoming slightly more out-of-breath with each verse. This is only enhanced by the ending, where the narrator laments that her beloved is "moving to Wales / to live in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch."

Sondheim wrote the song's lyrics under the pseudonym of "Esteban Ria Nido", which Sondheim described as "a part-translation and part-transliteration of my name." [4] In The Mad Show's playbill, the lyrics were credited to "Nom de Plume". [5]

"The Boy From..." was also featured in the 1976 revue Side by Side by Sondheim , [6] performed by Millicent Martin.

In 2020, Linda Lavin performed "The Boy From..." as part of Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration . [7] [8] [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musical theatre</span> Stage work that combines songs, music, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance

Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar Hammerstein II</span> American librettist, lyricist, theatrical producer, and director of musicals (1895–1960)

Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and director in musical theater for nearly 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for vocalists and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Sondheim</span> American composer and lyricist (1930–2021)

Stephen Joshua Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. With his frequent collaborators Harold Prince and James Lapine, Sondheim's Broadway musicals tackled unexpected themes that ranged beyond the genre's traditional subjects, while addressing darker elements of the human experience. His music and lyrics are tinged with complexity, sophistication, and ambivalence about various aspects of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Rodgers</span> American composer of songs and Broadway musicals (1902–1979)

Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music.

Mary Rodgers was an American composer, screenwriter, and author. She wrote the novel Freaky Friday, which served as the basis of a 1976 film starring Jodie Foster, for which she wrote the screenplay, as well as three other versions. Her best-known musicals were Once Upon a Mattress and The Mad Show, and she contributed songs to Marlo Thomas' successful children's album Free to Be... You and Me.

Adam Guettel is an American composer-lyricist of musical theater and opera. The grandson of musical theatre composer Richard Rodgers, he is best known for his musical The Light in the Piazza, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Original Score and the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations.

<i>Do I Hear a Waltz?</i> Musical

Do I Hear a Waltz? is a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Richard Rodgers, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It was adapted from Laurents' 1952 play The Time of the Cuckoo, which was the basis for the 1955 film Summertime starring Katharine Hepburn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Lavin</span> American actress and singer (born 1937)

Linda Lavin is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing the title character in the sitcom Alice and for her stage performances, both on and off-Broadway.

Martin Charnin was an American lyricist, writer, and theatre director. Charnin's best-known work is as conceiver, director, and lyricist of the musical Annie.

The Mad Show is an Off-Broadway musical revue based on Mad Magazine. The music is by Mary Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim, the book by Larry Siegel and Stan Hart. The show's various lyricists include Siegel, Marshall Barer, Steven Vinaver, and Stephen Sondheim.

"Mad About the Boy" is a popular song with words and music by actor and playwright Noël Coward. It was introduced in the 1932 revue Words and Music by Joyce Barbour, Steffi Duna, Norah Howard and Doris Hare. The song deals with the theme of unrequited love for a film star. It was written to be sung by female characters, although Coward also wrote a version which was never performed, containing references to the then-risqué topic of homosexual love. The song gained new popularity in 1992 when Dinah Washington's rendition was used in the Levi's television advertisement "Swimmer", directed by Tarsem Singh.

<i>Side by Side by Sondheim</i> Musical revue featuring the songs of Stephen Sondheim

Side by Side by Sondheim is a musical revue featuring the songs of composer Stephen Sondheim. Its title is derived from the song "Side by Side by Side" from Company.

"Cool" is a song from the 1957 musical West Side Story. Leonard Bernstein composed the music and Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics. This was the first song they wrote together, and Sondheim later recollects that Bernstein must have written the opening line since he himself was not prone to writing melismatically. This song is known for its fugal treatment of a jazz figure, described by one writer as "possibly the most complex instrumental music heard on Broadway to date". In the 1957 musical, the song is performed by Riff as he advises the Jets to stay cool before entering the Rumble. This is however changed in the 1961 and 2021 film adaptations.

"Being Alive" is a song from the musical Company with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The song appears at the end of act two and is sung by Robert, a 35-year-old bachelor at the center of the show, who "...realizes being a lone wolf isn't all it's cracked up to be ... he declares that he wants to take the chance, be afraid, get his heart broken—or whatever happens when you decide to love and be loved."

Paul Gemignani is an American musical director with a career on Broadway and West End theatre spanning over forty years.

"America" is a song from the 1957 musical West Side Story. Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics and Leonard Bernstein composed the music.

<i>Sondheim on Sondheim</i> 2010 musical revue of songs by Stephen Sondheim

Sondheim on Sondheim is a musical revue consisting of music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim for his many shows. It is conceived and directed by James Lapine. The revue had a limited run on Broadway in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody</span> 1919 song by Irving Berlin

"A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin in 1919 which became the theme song of the Ziegfeld Follies. The first verse and refrain are considered part of the Great American Songbook and are often covered as a jazz standard.

"I'm Still Here" is a song written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1971 musical Follies.

Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration was a virtual concert celebrating the 90th birthday of Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim. The event also served as a fundraiser for Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP).

References

  1. ↑ "'Mad Show'" Sondheim Guide, accessed July 3, 2011
  2. ↑ Suskin, Steven. "Stephen Sondheim" Show Tunes, Oxford University Press US, 2010, ISBN   0-19-531407-7, p.266
  3. ↑ Banfield, Stephen. Listing Sondheim's Broadway Musicals, University of Michigan Press, 1995, ISBN   0-472-08083-0, p. 28
  4. ↑ The Almost Unknown Stephen Sondheim. Rilting Music, Inc. 2016. p. xi.
  5. ↑ Rodgers, Mary; Green, Jesse (2022). Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. p. 36.
  6. ↑ "'Side by Side by Sondheim' listing" Sondheim Guide, accessed July 3, 2011
  7. ↑ Willman, Chris (April 27, 2020). "Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Audra McDonald and More Salute Stephen Sondheim in Birthday Tribute". Variety . Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  8. ↑ McNulty, Charles (April 27, 2020). "Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday bash reminds us why his music remains so radical". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  9. ↑ Brantley, Ben (April 27, 2020). "Review: For Sondheim's 90th Birthday, a Collage of Aching Voices". The New York Times . Retrieved May 1, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.