Tennessee Ernie Ford feat. Kay Starr & Les Paul - ‘You’re My Sugar’ (1951)

K: “Well next day I sent you neck ties; did ya like the ties you got?”

T: “How come you tied those neck-ties honey, like a hangman’s knot?”

K: “Huuuuuh?” 

Officially the opening song to my screwball comedy play.

The play itself is set in mid to late 16th century Milan (where the source material folktale originated from) but it’s pretty intentionally anachronistic with influences all over the place.

The lead in the play, Stella Diana, her dream is to join a Commedia dell’arte troup in-story and both her and the male lead, Basilio intentionally mirror Columbina and Arlequino (Harlequin) roles to some degree as instigators and assist the Innamorati (The Lovers) characters. There is a big scheme in act II that has them have to dress as Commedia personalities and put on a show.

The opening song between the two takes place before the actual narrative starts in Commedia costume and is more metaphorical, both alluding to their archetype and establishing the type of love-hate relationship they have as seen in the coming story. The hope is that it helps the audience figure out where they are.

I decided though as seen by my song choice, whenever there are characters dressed or actively “performing” Commedia dell’arte on stage they’re actually just performing 1950’s honky-tonk musical numbers. Inaccurate, but funny. I also want an electric slide guitar being used in a traditional madrigal performed in act I just as I also would want other Rennaisance era instruments implemented in this song too.

During intermission I want two smaller characters to hand out peanuts while singing the aptly named 1960’s Japanese duo The Peanuts’ song ‘Nankimame Uri’ a cover of the 1928 standard ‘El Manisero’ or ‘The Peanut Vendor’. That probably reveals way too much about my general creative state and what makes me happy though.

I immediately counter the scene with another scene of gratuitous slapstick violence with a character’s former mistress slapping him repeatedly for not telling her that their bastard son (one of the lovers in said previous scene) is alive and has been alive for the past nineteen years outside of her knowledge.

I really enjoy good sentiment and tenderness when done well, and applaud writers who stir emotional reactions with non-contrived sweet romantic scenes when they are done well, but my god romance… get it away…

Writing grammatically correct Shakespeare Early Modern English and regular Modern English…hell just writing in general  is a huge pain. Kudos to the historical fiction and fantasy writers and all these historical SexyViolentTudors! type TV series’ screenwriters that soak this Renaissance and grammar stuff up and make legitimate serious fare with such language or that can actually pass as such. I still judge your uses of wyverns and hot elves though.

Thank god I’ve decided this play breaks the fourth wall a lot so the language comes and goes with the quips and characters drop it constantly but craaaap

Everyone is so damn witty. Innuendo everywhere.

Really the dialogue  from deadpan to frothy is developing very quickly and so is the plot, which is nice for a change as conflict has never been my strongest suit, I’d rather just make people laugh. Being given a  framework to work with according to the original folktale helps there, but I’ve already decided there will be some plot flourishes that differ from the original tale. Not so straightforward. I’m very much inspired by Much Ado About Nothing , Taming of The Shrew and by extension Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate for this, and I guess in a way it’s going to be a send up of such Shakespeare “dramedies” or my modern take on it, and if I can make fun of Romeo & Juliet in the process I will.  I haven’t had this much fun writing in a while though, and that’s what is appealing to me the most about it. It’s fun.