Guys and Dolls - About the Music
The Music of Frank Loesser - Composer and Lyricist
The work of Frank Loesser fits firmly into the post-war new-wave of 'all-American' musical theatre. Along with Bernstein, Blitzstein and Kurt Weill, Loesser was determined to bring the musical into the city and its music into the range of popular music that was fashionable in the 40s and early 50s.
The cynical, hard-bitten personalities of the characters that appear in each of Loesser's shows are closely reflected in the music he wrote for them. Each character has his or her own style to suit not so much their social background (even his penniless waitresses sing operatically at times!) but the complexity of their feelings Loesser was intrigued by 'psychology', which is probably why the characters in Runyon's stories appealed so much.
Song after song
The first Loesser song to be published appeared in 1931 - 'In Love With The Memory Of You'. Following this, he moved to Hollywood, writing songs for films in collaboration with Burton Lane (known for Finian's Rainbow), Hoagy Carmichael, Frederick Hollander and Joseph Lilley - these included the hits 'Two Sleepy People', 'See What The Boys In The Back Room Will Have' and 'Jingle, Jangle, Jingle'. His collaboration in 1942 with Jule Styne produced a number one hit 'I Don't Want To Walk Without You'. Also in 1942 Loesser wrote his greatest hit - the first song for which he also penned the words - 'Praise The Lord, And Pass The Ammunition'. Over the next two years a series of patriotic American war songs followed, plus a party-piece written for his wife (but later, to her disgust, sold to MGM) - 'Baby, It's Cold Outside'.
In 1948 Loesser hit Broadway with his highly successful musical Where's Charley? (based on the play Charlie's Aunt). This was followed two years later by Guys and Dolls.
1952 saw his greatest Hollywood success - the musical score for Hans Christian Andersen, written for Danny Kaye (including several award winning hits - 'The Ugly Duckling', 'Inchworm', 'Copenhagen' amongst others).
In 1956 The Most Happy Fella completed the set for Loesser when he wrote not only the music and lyrics for the show, but its book as well. This show and Greenwillow that followed it in 1960 are critically reckoned to be Loesser's best works (Greenwillow scooped seven Tony nominations) but much of their music is very operatic in style (quite akin to Kurt Weill in places) and, as a result, has never been so popular with audiences or amateur companies - (Greenwillow only ran for 95 performances compared with Guys and Dolls' 1,200).
In 1961 Loesser ended his Broadway career with a real masterpiece - a spoof send-up of the 'American Dream' of success and specifically of the self help manual How To Succeed In Business. Loesser added the words Without Really Trying to this title, and brought the full power of his cynical humour into play - to brilliant effect.
Style
So - what exactly is Loesser's style? The answer is - amazingly varied! (Arguably second only to Cole Porter's versatility and delight in trying out different idioms and techniques to suit different characters and occasions.) Like Porter, the writing of his own lyrics greatly added to the humour and 'punchiness' of Loesser's songs, (his cynical, witty way with words was to be copied by Sondheim, amongst others).
LOoesser showed great skill in writing for ensembles - duets trios, chorus plus solos, quartets - realy at his best when mixing two or more vocal lines - the neatness of the overlapping parts is cleverly worked out. Sometimes the overlapping lines are similar ('Fugue for Tinhorns') and sometimes contrasting ('Sue Me').
Chorus is used infrequently, but when it is Loesser preferred to keep the genders apart - none of his shows mixes male and female voices en masse much at all.
Loesser did not accept boundaries - he mixed and matched genres and styles within shows, and even within songs ('Take Back Your Mink'). In The Most Happy Fella, heavily operatic songs appear next to trivial numbers such as 'Standing On The Corner'.
Guys and Dolls
Loesser seems equally at home in each style he used, but in Guys and Dolls the overriding style is 1940s jazz and swing - relaxed, with an unmistakable beat.
He emphasises the contrast between the seemier side of Broadway (strip clubs and gambling) and the missionary zeal of the salvationists. He did this by limiting the mission to one irritatingly repetitive march in the style of Sankey and Moody hymns ('Follow The Fold'). Whilst the music of the gamblers is exciting, energetic and very syncopated, the Hot Box Club's music is trite with a simple beat and mimics the high-pitched chorus-girl voices of the time (Monroe style!)
Many songs have extended introductions, explaining the feelings of the character ('My Time Of Day', 'Adelaide's lament, 'Guys and Dolls', 'I'll Know' and the missing 'Travellin' Light').
The bustle of city life is brilliantly portrayed in 'Runyonland', with many contrasting threads loinking together (reminiscent of Gershwin's An American in Paris and Porter's opening scene in Kiss Me Kate).
Loesser's romantic songs are beautifully crafted with soaring melodies with much use of wide leaps (sixths, sevenths and ocaves), contributing to the expression of yearning, none more so than 'I've Never Been In Love Before'.
As already mentioned, the more complex the character, the more complex the song, so it is no surprise that the most changeable, discordant (almost atonal) and emotionally disturbed music belongs to Sky Masterson. 'My Time of Day' moves through six time changes in the space of 30 bars (!) and runs the full gamut of dynamics and speeds from pp to sfz, from 'slow' to 'con moto'.
The incompatibility of Adelaide and Nathan is portrayed in their duet where Adelaide's dogged determination accusingly jabbers away over Nathan's sarcastic off-hand 'Sue Me' each with a different time signature!
By contrast, the perfect harmony ending 'I'll Know' and 'I've Never Been In Love Before' bodes well for the future of Sky and Sarah.
Surprisingly, in 'Marry The Man Today' Sarah and Adelaide are shown to have more in common than might be expected as their conspiratorial suggestions alternate in almost pantomime style.
Gospel music is the other style played with by Loesser. In Guys and Dolls we have the brilliant 'Sit Down You're Rockin' The Boat', echoed very closely by 'The Brotherhood Of Man' in How To Succeed In Business (earlier works also include such pastiches) - walking a fine line, Loesser managed to make fun of the genre while paying tribute to it at the same time - quite an achievement.
Loesser's jewish sense of humour shines out in all his writings, his neat turns of phrase in both music and words and a brilliant matching up of one to the other. So - we can sit back and enjoy this wonderful mixture as it appears in Guys and Dolls - so much a product of its time and yet somehow always fresh and alive.
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