point.^8 It blossoms into an ensemble number, with the gamblers
and the mission workers all dancing and singing together—and
this is what matters, the ensemble elaboration of a point al-
ready established by the book, an episode of elation in formal
song-and-dance terms.
“Marry the Man Today” is the other number, and in this
case there truly is a recognition scene within the time of the
number. The two heroines have introduced themselves to each
other and they realize they share a problem. Adelaide has
discovered that Nathan really was going to a prayer meeting,
so she can forgive him and get him to marry her. Both hero-
ines are a little worried that they are in love with unreliable
men, gamblers. Then they break into a lyric about shopping
for clothes and groceries when they are really thinking about
shopping for husbands, and as the number develops they come
to agree that the gamblers can be married first and reformed
later. The drama of the number is not that point, which is or-
dinary, but the performance of the duet, which brings the Mis-
sion Doll and the Nightclub Doll into exact coordination with
each other and lets them show their combined control over
the situation. The singing of the duet is the meaning of the
episode. This is the same principle as the earlier one, where
the singing of the ensemble is the meaning. Musical perfor-
mance has a dramatic meaning as performance. A duet has sig-
nificance as a duet. A chorus has significance as a chorus.
My Fair Lady,West Side Story
Two outstanding musicals of the mid-1950s, My Fair Lady
(1956) and West Side Story(1957), add reversal or turning point
scenes to the plays on which they are otherwise based, Shaw’s
Pygmalionand Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. My Fair Lady
THE BOOK AND THE NUMBERS 47
(^8) A second turning point occurs when Sarah tells her lie about whether the
gamblers held their game in the Mission the previous night. This is also book
dialogue. Lt. Brannigan breaks into the scene just as the number is beginning.
Perhaps the number keeps him from making arrests, but there are no arrests to
be made anyway. This is a prayer meeting!