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Sondheim’s Humor

A favorite bit of Sondheim farce: Ms. Sara Jane Moore, who will go on to try to kill President Gerald Ford, sings to us about her firearm.....

I got this really great gun!
Shit....Where is it?
No, it’s really great!
Wait!
Shit....Where is it?
Anyway, it’s just a thirty-eight....
But....with a gun...
You can make a statement...
Even if you fail....
This one was on sale!

 Moore realizes she is holding a shoe, and not a gun. But--“actually”--the shoe was *also* on sale. You feel like you know Moore; you know someone who is as scatterbrained as she is. And character is established through action: What would someone so troubled end up doing? She would lose her gun in her purse, and become distracted by memories about her shoe.

Hilary Mantel has said, when she is having trouble inventing a scene, she imagines the protagonist entering her office and sitting in a chair. Something about that act--dreaming up the physical steps involved in entering a room and sitting in a chair--helps Mantel to slip into her imaginary world. It seems like that’s what Sondheim is doing here, as well.

“Fail/sale” isn’t as flashy--as a rhyme--as “precis/lacy,” but it’s one of my favorites. I don’t know if anyone else could dream up the Moore scene......

P.S. Sondheim often talks about letting content dictate form--and you see that principle at work here. Sara Jane Moore uses short, childish exclamations, and she continuously interrupts herself--in "Assassins." Yes! That's how this particular character would speak. For example, it's how she would (try to) tell us about her gun.

P.P.S. There's also something heartbreaking and needy in Moore's speech. She really wants our attention. "NO, IT'S REALLY GREAT! WAIT!!!!" (She makes me think of Rose, in "Gypsy": "You either got it....or you ain't....and....BOYS....I GOT IT!!!")
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