Explore the spellbinding world of Wicked in this three-part series devoted to the Broadway musical that reimagined the Land of Oz. Discover how Wicked turns a familiar tale upside down, explores friendship, identity, prejudice, power, and the cost of challenging authority, and delivers unforgettable songs including “Defying Gravity,” “Popular,” and “For Good.” Each installment offers a deeper look at the creative choices, emotional moments, and enduring appeal that have made Wicked one of Broadway’s most beloved and successful productions.
All who register for this course are able to attend two other Stephen Schwartz classes FREE of charge on Godspell and Pippin.
All five classes are offered Tuesdays in September at 7 pm ET on Zoom, running from September 1 to September 29 (see calendar below). Each class is one hour long and will contain different material. Registration $36 (but the class is FREE for Broadway Maven Members).
On today’s marquee: A) A video about a vital but lesser-known kind of rhyme, the “mind rhyme,” with plenty of examples; B) a student review of a production of Something Rotten!; C) a set of aptagrams for the names of Broadway shows; and D) a Last Blast about Annie Get Your Gun.
Have you ever laughed at a lyric the songwriter never actually wrote?
That’s the magic of the mind rhyme—a clever lyric-writing technique that leads the audience to mentally supply a missing word or phrase.
This video explores some of the funniest and most ingenious examples from musicals, movies, and comedy songs. It looks at classic examples from:
• The Lion King (”Hakuna Matata”)
• Shrek (”Welcome to Duloc”)
• West Side Story (”Gee, Officer Krupke”)
• Sweeney Todd (”The Worst Pies in London”)
• Follies (”Can That Boy Foxtrot?”)
• Kiss Me, Kate (”Brush Up Your Shakespeare”)
• South Park (”Wendy’s Audition”)
• The classic novelty song “Shaving Cream”
Along the way, the video shows how writers like Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, and Trey Parker use mind rhymes to create jokes the audience finishes themselves. Can you think of other mind rhymes? (There are a few in Schmicago!) Cite them in the comments.
STUDENT REVIEW: Well, it’s a musical! Something Rotten!, now playing at The Muny in St. Louis, follows the Bottom brothers struggling to write the next big play of the 1590s. Boisterous Nick Bottom (vibrant Tony winner Matt Doyle) is tired of always being considered a notch below Shakespeare and is eager to see the Bottoms be “on top” for once. Nick hires soothsayer Nostradamus, who tells him that musicals are going to be the next big thing. So, the brothers attempt to create the world’s first musical, which they call Omelette (a twist on Hamlet) Filled with apt references to various showtunes and Shakespeare quotes, Something Rotten! kept the audience around me laughing constantly.
The applause between songs and at curtain call was some of the longest that I have witnessed in theatre. The crowd especially refused to stop cheering at the end of the showstopper “A Musical,” causing Nostradamus to wait much longer than average before continuing on to the next lines. And speaking of breaks in the dialogue, boy, this cast not only knew when to tap but also how to tap! Also noticeable was the inclusion of dance moves prevalent in the late 1980s and early 1990s, such as the Hammer time dance and the Kid ‘n Play dance. These dance moves, along with Shakespeare’s rock-star personality, contributed to the show’s running gag about being set in the new age of the ‘90s. The costumes transported the audience to the Renaissance era, including stagehands in Renassance wear to help the occasional set transitions look natural and almost invisible.
So why watch this musical? To quote Nostradamus: “Because! It’s entertaining!” Something Rotten! runs through Sunday, August 23rd (visit Muny.org for tickets).
—Jill Hamill, Maven Scholar (Jill is a music teacher specializing in strings).
AUGUST APTAGRAMS: Unscramble these names of Broadway shows. Answers at the end of the issue, under the Last Blast.
• CRUDEST HOPER (Show whose main character is a low-life with a wild plan)
• LOST FATES (Show with a character whose untimely death shatters relationships)
• A SWANKY-THIGHED PROGENITURE (Show whose second act descendant moves among the rich)
• SEE WINS (Show with a labor movement that has a victory at the end)
• ELLE LONG BADLY (Show in which the lead character strongly desires her ex-boyfriend)
Join The Broadway Maven! See nine of our faculty in action in the video above. Nowhere else online brims with this much Broadway content, and certainly not for so little (Membership is $25 a month for 5-15 compelling classes). Purchase a monthly or an annual plan. Cancel at any time. Sign up here:
Broadway Maven Members get the Friday Blast once a week filled with Members-only goodies. It’s the easiest way to get links for upcoming classes. In this week's Friday Blast: links to the upcoming classes on Into the Woods; a recording of David Armstrong's Broadway in the 1970s class; a Broadway Blast from the Past on A Chorus Line; a YouTube highlight about Sondheim's Best Lyrics; and the Archive clips reel of the week on Barbra Streisand's Musicals.
SPECIAL OFFER: Through September 1, new Members who sign up for a year get one month FREE!
One month FREE Broadway Maven Membership
• Tuesday, August 25 Into the Woods with David Benkof and Asher Shectman, Noon and 7 pm ET, ($50 for a 16-part course, register HERE)
• Monday, August 31 Jule Styne with Steve Bell, 7 pm ET (MEMBERS ONLY)
• Tuesday, September 1 Godspell, 7 pm ET ($36 for five Stephen Schwartz classes, register here)
• Monday, September 7 Cabaret with UW Prof. David Armstrong, Noon ET (MEMBERS ONLY)
• Tuesday, September 8 Pippin, 7 pm ET ($36 for five Stephen Schwartz classes, register here)
• Monday, September 14 Oklahoma! with Ted Chapin, Noon ET (MEMBERS ONLY)
• Tuesday, September 15 Wicked, 7 pm ET ($36 for five Stephen Schwartz classes, register here)
LAST BLAST: Annie Get Your Gun is a strange title. Why “get” your gun? Annie already has a gun, and she certainly knows how to shoot it. So what exactly is she supposed to get? The answer may lie in a literary device called metonymy, where an object stands in for a person. Think of “the Crown” for a monarch or “the White House” for a president. In Annie Get Your Gun, the gun may stand for Frank Butler himself. After all, Frank is the show’s legendary gunman, a man whose identity is inseparable from his rifle. Suddenly the title becomes less about marksmanship and more about romance. Annie doesn’t spend the show learning to fire a gun. She spends it trying to get Frank. The gun was the gunman all along.
SOLUTION TO APTAGRAMS: The Producers, Falsettos, Sunday in the Park with George, Newsies, Legally Blonde
The Broadway Maven is a vibrant educational community that helps its members think more deeply about musical theater. We offer 5-15 classes a month for just $25. We also foster enthusiasm for Broadway through the FREE weekly Substack newsletter MARQUEE and host an expansive YouTube channel. It’s your home for Broadway appreciation. Contact The Broadway Maven at DavidBenkof@gmail.com.
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