Adelaide's Lament
"Adelaide's Lament" is a
In the song, Adelaide alternates between reading sentences aloud from a
In a 50th-anniversary
Here's a girl who's got a cold all through the play and she says she has a cold 'cause somebody isn't going to marry her. That's a very rich comic notion. And she's got these hilarious punch lines. You know, "if she's getting a kind of
his; if she's tired of gettin' the fish eye from the hotel clerk." Every line in it is worth something. It means something; has impact. It has vitality. It has humor and charm and appropriateness. And I don't know how you can get much better than that.— Lyricist Fred Ebb[3]
In his book on Loesser, Thomas L. Riis wrote that "the number is filled with verbal dexterity, alliterative and assonantal rhymes at every possible point, and unexpected pollysyllabic insertions ('psychosomatic' and 'streptococci')." Riis compared the song's rhythmic pattern with "a blues plaint's emotional honesty. Audiences don't just laugh at Adelaide, they cheer her tenacity and passion".[4]
Recorded versions
- Vivian Blaine (1950, 1955)
- Norma Donaldson (1976), Broadway revival cast album (all-Black cast)
- Julia McKenzie (year unknown), 1980s London revival
- Barbra Streisand (1985), The Broadway Album
- Faith Prince (1992), 1992 Broadway revival cast album and Broadway: My Favorite Leading Ladies live recording
- Mandy Moore (2002), Broadway's Best on Bravo television special[5]
- Debbie Reynolds (1963), Sinatra's Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre
Notable live performances
- Imelda Staunton, 1996 London Revival
- Jane Krakowski, 2005 London revival cast
- On the 25th annual Tony Awards in 1971, Vivian Blaine appeared as a guest performer and sang it, providing a visual recording of her performance for posterity.[6]
References
- ISBN 978-1442235052. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
- ^ "Vivian Blaine," Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
- ^ Scott Simon (host). "Creation of the musical Guys and Dolls, Weekend Edition Saturday, National Public Radio, November 25, 2000
- ISBN 978-0-300-11051-7.
- ^ Elysa Gardner. "Pop Goes Broadway" (review), USA Today, March 4, 2002, p. 3D.
- Internet Movie Database