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For Sondheim Nerds

Sondheim nerds, I have to say a few things about the opening of "Mirror, Mirror":

Who's that woman? I know her well,All decked out head to toe.She lives life like a carousel:Beau after beau after beau.Nightly, daily,Always laughing gaily,Seems I see her everywhere I go.Oh--Who's that woman?I know I know that woman,So clever, but ever so sad.Love, she said, was a fad.The kind of love that she couldn't make fun ofShe'd have none of.Who's that woman.That cheery, weary womanWho's dressing for yet one more spree?Each day I see her passIn my looking-glass--Lord, Lord, Lord, that woman is me!

The song is about having insight into one's flawed condition--without having the will to change that condition. It's like a sequel to "The Ladies who Lunch," where Elaine Stritch seems to *understand* that she is an embittered, drunken jokester, while also wishing not to change her reality.

Do you notice that the opening of "Mirror, Mirror" is a three-act play? Act One: A woman appears, and she is laughing gaily, having a grand time. Act Two: We realize there's a sad undercurrent in this woman's life. Though she has a veneer of cheeriness, she actually pushes people away by being relentlessly superficial. ("The kind of love that she couldn't make fun of-- she'd have none of.") Act Three: Pondering this woman, the speaker has a shock. "Actually, I'm talking about myself! The things I find pitiable or objectionable in others? Those are things I find in myself!"

So smart. And a few brilliant details. "Beau after beau after beau" actually reproduces the sensation of watching a carousel. The stressed syllables--"beau, beau, beau"--seem to replicate the moment in the rotation where the carousel horse pops up. The unstressed syllables--"after, after, after"--replicate the moment when the horse is down close to the floor. And at the end of the verse, three consecutive stressed syllables--"Lord! Lord! Lord!"--indicate that we've reached our climax. And the line "on reflection, she'd agree" -- has a double meaning. The character is "reflecting" on her problem. But--also--she is "reflected." She is shown *to herself* -- via the mirror.

Genius!

OK. That's all. Thank you for bearing with me!
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