 LadyInque
Captain
Joined: May 20, 2005
Member#: 10281
Posts: 2224
Location: Eastern Massachusetts
    
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 Posted:
Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:59 am Post subject: "Be Our Guest" = "Please Hello" = what? |
 
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Okay, I'm calling upon the collective trivia knowledge of this website to help me with something.
Everyone knows that the character of Lumiere, played by Jerry Orbach in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, is a pastiche of Maurice Chevalier. The song, "Be Our Guest," is sung in the style of the latter. (If you don't remember, samples are here.
Fair enough. Now, i am also a fan of an obscure Sondheim musical called Pacific Overtures. In one of the numbers from that show, "Please Hello," The American, British, Dutch, Russian and French naval admirals threaten the Japanese to open their ports. It's a long number and can be seen/heard here. I recommend it; the pastiches are quite clever.
The French admiral shows up at 6:45 on this recording, and his song sounds a lot like "Be Our Guest," especially when he starts singing about detente.
So my question is, do these two songs, "Be Our Guest" and "Please Hello" have some common antecedent in the Chevalier oeuvre, or is their incredible similarity simply a coincidence? Does anyone have any idea? |
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