Preview
Identifier
Revue Program_Page_14
Creation Date
4-23-2021
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Theatre and Performance Studies
Description
DRAMATURGY - “WHEN YOU LOVE, LOVE, LOVE”
“When You Love, Love, Love” is a song from the 1903 Broadway musical The Wizard of Oz. With lyrics by the original author L. Frank Baum and music by Paul Tietjen, the song helped to make the musical a Broadway hit. The original version has Niccolo Chopper, the Tin Woodsman, singing about love and his lack of a heart. His first stanza addressed Cynthia Cynch, Niccolo’s former lover, who has been searching for him. This stanza was cut when the song was adjusted to a trio including Dorothy and the Scarecrow, so Dorothy could be given a comically cynical verse.
“Cynthia, Cynthia, I’ve been thinking, what an awful thing it was, To be without a heart, but now I’ll get it from the Wizard of Oz!”
Although the musical was a transition from operetta, The Wizard of Oz takes much of its music style from the comedic opera duo, W.S Gilbert (dramatist) and Arthur Sullivan (composer). Therefore, the music was intended to elaborate on the dialogue rather than further the storyline.
Overall, the musical production was seemingly a success, touring until 1909, but continuing its popularity far after with many stock companies putting on the production. The musical is largely what made The Wizard of Oz a household name and why it is considered to be one of the favorite fairy tales of a nation. It wasn’t until the 1939 film adaptation--which contained a completely different soundtrack and story--that the Broadway musical started to lose popularity.
Publisher
Arkansas State University
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Theatre Program
Keywords
musical, compliation, retrospective, medley
