Pirates of Penzance meets Thoroughly Modern Millie ?

[musicman_17082]

This fall I saw a regional production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. One of the highlights of the night was the song (don't know the title) which went something like "My eyes are fully opened to this awful situation so I'm writing you a letter...etc...sincerely Trevor Greydon!" (The lyrics are ridiculously fast and highly entertaining!)

A full six months later I was just cast in a regional production of "Pirates of Penzance." I got the movie (which is awfully strange btw) and was completely thrilled/confused to find a song with the exact same melody... "My eyes are fully open to this awful situation...." Basically it is the exact same song in both shows just with slightly different lyrics!

Am I mistaken? How rare is something like this to occur? Where else has it been done? Do shows often "borrow" other shows' songs???

hmmm...

[Fenchurch]

Actually the song is from Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore, which was borrowed for the Joseph Papp version of Pirates of Penzance and then borrowed again by the creative team of Millie.

While I thought it was clever, I would have preferred they kept the priceless Baby Face sequence from the film instead.

[neddyfrank2]

Millie didn't steal it- it was a joke.

[StephanietheStar]

It's a patter song. the above person is correct.




It's my goal to know all of the lyrics to one of those versions of that song someday...lol

[Jon]

Well, here are the original lyrics from Ruddigore:

ROBIN:
MY EYES ARE FULLY OPEN TO THE AWFUL SITUATION
I SHOULD GO AT ONCE TO RODERICK AND MAKE HIM AN ORATION
I SHALL TELL HIM I'VE RECOVERED MY FORGOTTEN MORAL SENSES
AND I DON'T GIVE TUPPENCE HAYPENNY FOR ANY CONSEQUENCES
NOW I DO NOT WANT TO PERISH BY THE SWORD OR BY THE DAGGER
BUT A MARTYR MAY INDULGE A LITTLE PARDONABLE SWAGGER
AND A WORD OR TWO OF COMPLIMENT MY VANITY WOULD WOULD FLATTER
BUT I'VE GOT TO DIE TOMORROW SO IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER

TRIO:
NO IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER, MATTER, MATTER... et cetera

MAD MARGARET:
I'VE I WERE NOT COMPLETELY MAD AND GENERALLY SILLY
I WOULD GIVE YOU MY ADVICE UPON THIS SUBJECT WILLY NILLY
I WOULD SHOW YOU IN A MOMENT HOW TO GRAPPLE WITH THE QUESTION
AND YOU'D REALLY BE ASTONISHED AT THE FORCE OF MY SUGGESTION
ON THE SUBJECT I SHALL WRITE YOU A MOST INTERESTING LETTER
FULL OF EXCELLENT SUGGESTIONS WHEN I FEEL A LITTLE BETTER
BUT AT PRESENT I'M AFRAID I AM AS MAD AS ANY HATTER
SO I'LL KEEP 'EM TO MYSELF, FOR MY OPINION DOESN'T MATTER

TRIO:
HER OPINION DOESN'T MATTER, MATTER, MATTER...et cetera

DESPARD:
IF I HAD BEEN SO LUCKY AS TO HAVE A STEADY BROTHER
WHO COULD TALK TO ME AS WE ARE TALKING NOW TO ONE ANOTHER
WHO COULD GIVE ME GOOD ADVICE WHEN HE DISCOVERED I WAS ERRING
WHICH IS JUST THE VERY FAVOR WHICH ON YOU I AM CONCURRING
MY STORY WOULD HAVE MADE A RATHER INTERESTING IDYLL
AND I MIGHT HAVE LIVED AND DIED A RATHER DECENT INDIVIDDLE
THIS PARTICULARLY RAPID UNINTELLIGIBLE PATTER
ISN'T GENERALLY HEARD, AND IF IT IS, IT DOESN'T MATTER

TRIO:
IF IT IS IT DOESN'T MATTER, MATTER, MATTER... et cetera.

[Hank]

The song is "The Speed Test" (Music by Arthur Sullivan, lyrics by Dick Scanlan), a big, tap-happy show stopper, with hysterical costumes.

Jon, thanks for posting the Ruddigore lyrics.

[Fenchurch]

Mind you, if the song had not been in the public domain, it would indeed have been stealing, I guess. although I think that whole system is flawed and silly anyway.

[Spayer]

The short answer to your question is:  not rare at all.  Use of other music and/or songs, as a joke, or an homage, is very common.  One needs only to look as recently as "Something Rotten", to see a show that is chock-full of musical references, or as long ago as "Kismet" to find a show that was entirely written to the music of a classical composer (Borodin).  In fact, the use of classical music in modern compositions is also very common...I can think of a number of Rock songs taken from Tscaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Chopin (Barry Manilow famously set out to use a Chopin prelude to base a song from..."Could it be Magic?"  

[newintown]

Millie used a combination of new songs and old (with adapted lyrics); also (in addition to the Arthur Sullivan piece) in the score is "Mammy" (retitled "Muquin"*), Victor Herbert's "I'm Falling In Love With Someone," Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker themes, and the title tune and "Jimmy" from the film.

Personally, I felt that the show gained nothing by using the old tunes (although "Mammy" was rather funny), and would have preferred an entirely new score (which may have necessitated a new title as well). However, I imagine that integrity was less a priority with the writers than profit.