Aiming to Please ...

"I am happy, very often, in all given circumstances to supply a little flattery when e'er allowed the chance ..." So sings Mr. Collins.

Last night, I completed the new arrangement of Mr. Collins song "I Aim to Please". The song itself is a patter song --heavily influenced by Gilbert & Sullivan-- and was composed so Mr. Collins could expound on his own worth in song. It was one of the original character songs presented at the 2002 Annual General Meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America and has always remained as one of the pillars of the show's construction.

In the original workshop production at Eastman School of Music in 2004, Mr. Collins sang three songs. They were: "I Aim to Please", his proposal to Elizabeth and then a song with Charlotte called "It Suits Us Very Well". Over the development of the work, the other two were removed and remain in the older versions of our show. I particularly love "It Suits Us Very Well" because we had Mr. Collins holding a long, high note as he exited the stage on one side and entering on the other still singing it. The remembrance of this staging still makes me laugh out loud.

Sometimes people ask us if we regret the removal of a song. For us, the answer is "No!" And, while creating a song is a labor of love and takes a great deal of time, it also has a "job" to do. If the song cannot or does not do the "job" for the storytelling, we would much rather it be removed so that the story can speak. Also, even with the song "cut", the process of writing it has made us examine the character, the scene, the story in a new light and provides us with greater understanding of our source material.

Over the years we have had many songs go in and out of the show. For example: Mrs. Bennet used to sing about Jane going to Netherfield in a song called "Oh, Jane!" and she had a reprise in Act II. She also once had a duet with Mr. Bennet where they sang about Mr. Collins coming for a visit. Now she has her one fabulous "My Poor Nerves" that was expanded and now has an absolutely hysterical musical panic attack in the bridge.

Here are few other examples: The Bennet family once sang a song about going to the Netherfield Ball called "If Only It Were Today". This song is now the melody that Mary Bennet sings at the Netherfield Ball and we took some of Shakespeare's words from a sonnet and "bastardized" them so that Mary could sing something positively awful! Lady Catherine also once sang advice to Charlotte about chickens ... and we had Mr. Bennet lament that he didn't have a son. One of the funniest scenes we EVER wrote included a song where we imagined a scene where Bingley and Darcy play a drinking game! In the scene, Darcy is not supposed to utter four-syllable words and Bingley is not to mention "Miss Bennet". Of course, they both get drunk and they get into a brawl during a training session with their boxing coach ... Yes! It's true! We really wrote a song about it.

In Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, A Musical, the process of editing (cutting out and adding to) is and always has been guided by what could be or is not important to the storytelling ... and through this process, we gained new insights about Jane Austen's story and fell more in love with her characters than ever. Jane Austen's work is genius.

"I like to offer up my compliments as gently as the breeze .... I AIM TO PLEASE!"