Each month, Jason Fortner spotlights one or more musical theatre composers and/or lyricists, offering his own unique perspective on the songwriting legends of musical theatre. Send your comments/questions on this column to happgood@aol.com.

Return to Main Songwriters Archive Page

The phrase what's in a name has been passed down for centuries, even serving as the musical "button" for the duet I Don't Know His Name from the musical SHE LOVES ME. When Ilona and Amalia sang that duet at the Eugene O'Neill Theater they probably never thought of all the times names have had a prominent position in show tunes.

This month we look at some of the many ways names get featured billing in Broadway musicals.

First off is the name "Joe". We can hear that Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe from CABIN IN THE SKY or hear it in triplicate in THE MOST HAPPY FELLA as the song Joey, Joey, Joey. There's Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo in DAMN YANKEES and the infamous flop WHOOP-UP was based on the book STAY AWAY, JOE.

If you see SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET you get to hear three different songs titled Johanna, although the Judge's self-flagellating version is often listed as Mea Culpa. For more ladies we can learn How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria in THE SOUND OF MUSIC or we can just sing about the lovely Maria in WEST SIDE STORY. (In rehearsal the creative team of WSS worried whether so many repeated Maria's would sell to an audience…they needn't have worried!) Of course, if you go away out west in PAINT YOUR WAGON you have to pronounce the name in a different way, for there They Call The Wind Maria.

Speaking of WEST SIDE STORY, the original working title of the piece was GANGWAY. This soon evolved to EAST SIDE STORY (featuring a Jewish/Irish love affair straight out of ABIE'S IRISH ROSE and then evolving further to become the classic we know and love.) And let's not forget that OKLAHOMA! started rehearsals as AWAY WE GO (even printing now rare sheet music under that moniker) but even multiple name changes couldn't bring BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (aka HOLLY GOLIGHTLY) or BUSKER ALLEY (aka BUSKERS and as STAGE DOOR CHARLEY) into town.

A lot of people get title tunes in their shows, everybody from Kay in Gershwin's OH, KAY!, Jane in LEAVE IT TO JANE, and even Nanette in NO, NO NANETTE! (And yes, there was an ill-fated YES, YES YVETTE that came after!) Irene was a little bit of salt and sweetness in 1919's IRENE while SALLY, SUNNY, and even ROSE-MARIE had songs about them. George M. Cohan wrote about a lot of ladies, but it was Mary that brought him the most fame. There was even a show in 1923 called SALLY, IRENE & MARY, cashing in on the success of all three past show's with these three women's names attached!

Jerry Herman loved for his ladies to get titular songs, so everybody sang the praises of Mame in MAME, they exclaimed Look What Happened To Mabel for a few weeks in MACK & MABEL and said HELLO, DOLLY for years! (Just think if the original title had stuck, we might have sung DOLLY, A DAMNED EXASPERATING WOMAN instead!)

In later years we had ANNIE, complete with red dress, red wig and a title song to boot. Roxie Hart got to sing a song about her name in CHICAGO while many a leading man has asked for a kiss from Kate in KISS ME KATE. In DAMN YANKEES we learned that Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets while Fanny got a title song in FANNY and GIGI did too. In ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER we got a song about the elusive Melinda but not one about the ever-present Daisy. (Although the original title of the show, back when it was to have been a Richard Rodgers/Alan Jay Lerner collaboration was I PICKED A DAISY.)

Of course, love often causes a young man or woman to sing about their significant other, real or unrequited. Once we know WHERE'S CHARLEY? we learn that Once In Love With Amy you are always in love with her. Eddie Cantor told us that If You Knew Susie like he did you'd be a happy guy while the guys in I LOVE MY WIFE lusted over the womanly wiles of Monica.

In HAIR we learn the sad story of a girl's love for Frank Mills, while Julie sings a torch song about Bill every night in SHOW BOAT. The coolly seductive Phyllis Stone sang about her secret split personality in FOLLIES' The Ballad of Lucy & Jessie while Sugar dreams of becoming "Sugar Shell" in the number Hey! Why Not from SUGAR.

In DESTRY RIDES AGAIN everybody posed the question Are You ready, Gyp Watson while the title character of the ill-fated HAZEL FLAGG dreamed of becoming Laura De Maupassant. In SHE LOVES ME, Stephen Kodaly sings a song of seduction to Ilona while Starbuck spins a fanciful tale of Melisande in 110 IN THE SHADE.

Of course if you want to drop a lot of names you can't beat Drop That Name in BELLS ARE RINGING, where everybody who was anybody is listed from Barney Baruch to King Farouk! Comden & Green took another turn through the Name Game in FADE OUT - FADE IN, where newcomer Hope Springfield is transformed to Hollywood's Lila Tremaine and in the song lists several Hollywood moniker makeovers. (Mary Pickford was Gladys Smith.)

All in all, names have proven great inspiration for the creators of Broadway musicals and shall continue to do so. While this list is merely the tip of the iceberg, I hope it proves a bit of insight into this topic.