Today’s prompt is to write about a favorite song. The song I am writing about is called “Take Me to the World,” from the musical “Evening Primrose,” by Stephen Sondheim.
“Evening Primrose” is a short musical that was shown on television exactly one time, in 1966. I didn’t know about it until years later, when I was taught the song to sing in a music school recital. I fell in love with the song because it shared my longing for love and for companionship and for someone to explore the world with me.
Take me to the world that's real
Show me how it's done
Teach me how to laugh, to feel
Move me to the sun.
The girl who sings the song was accidentally left in a department store when she was a child. She became part of a secret group of people who pretend to be mannequins during the day and who come alive at night. In that small world, she grows up and her dreams of the outer world grow up with her.
Let me see the world that smiles
Take me to the world
Somewhere I can walk for miles
Take me to the world.
Ella, who sings the song with Charles, who has experienced the real world, talks about her longing and her hope that the big world is so much more than the artificial world of the department store.
Ella’s hopes and dreams remind me that it’s okay to keep hoping and dreaming, even when it seems as if they will never be realized.
Here is a link to a youtube video of the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5zd1XLZCsM
I didn’t know Sondheim wrote a musical that aired only once on TV, and a group of people pretending to be mannequins by day and coming alive at night is such an interesting idea for a story. I like that you learned the song for a recital years later and it ended up saying exactly what you were feeling at the time. Your reminder that it’s fine to keep hoping even when a dream seems unlikely is a good one to carry into the week.
Thank you, Paul. I truly believe that there is a song for every occasion and every feeling. I really appreciated today’s prompt because I love music that much.
Sounds like a beautiful song! You’ve reminded me of a song I heard while watching a TV interview with Bernadette Peters. She sang a Broadway song and I immediately fell in love with it. It’s called Unexpected Song and some of the lyrics are…
I have never felt like this
For once I’m lost for words
Your smile has really thrown me
This is not like me at all
I never thought I’d know the kind of love you’ve shown me
Now no matter where I am, no matter what I do
I see your face appearing
Like an unexpected song, and unexpected song
That only we are hearing
Can’t even tell you how much I love that song and I have done so since I was 11 years old or so, furiously writing down the lyrics into my notebook, as she sang them!
Ooh, thank you, Jeanine! I’m listening to the song right now!
I love Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music!
But I didn’t know this one!