Happiness walks in on tiptoe... then falls on its ass

Tonight, I saw for the first time the musical Flora, the Red Menace. By Kander and Ebb, the team who wrote Cabaret and Chicago, the original 1965 production earned Liza Minnelli her first Tony Award. I was excited to see this rarely produced show. The production, by Lyric Stage in Irving, TX, had received glowing reviews.

All I thought I knew about the show was its connection to Liza and the one gorgeous ballad, "A Quiet Thing." I've heard many a cabaret artist tackle this gem of a song, not to mention Barbra Streisand, and it is truly one of my favorite Broadway ballads. The lyrics are among the most beautiful show lyrics I know, expressing surprise at finding one's dream come true...

"When it all comes true
Just the way you planned
It's funny, but the bells don't ring.
It's a quiet thing.
When you hold the world
In your trembling hand
You think you'd hear a choir sing.
It's a quiet thing..."

I watched the first two thirds of the first act with eager anticipation, waiting to see how the drama unfolded, how the romance bloomed, leading us to this sweet, glorious expression of hushed awe when "happiness walks in on tiptoe." I was ready to swoon, even if our heroine had fallen for a stammering Commie organizer-slash-muralist.

Imagine my surprise to discover that the song is about getting a job at a department store.

Granted, the play is set in the Depression, and landing a job was important, and it was a good job...who wouldn't want to become a fashion illustrator moments after joining the Communist party to impress a boy?

But wow. Just... wow. You have no idea how depressed I am to have learned that it's a song about gainful employment. The story in my head all these years not knowing the show was so much...better.

Comments

[Dana]

Wow, that bummed me out, and I wasn't even familiar with the song.

[Cheap Sunglasses 2011]

If God created the world, and set nature into motion, and in what way is God responsible or irresponsible. This is suspect.