Reprising a song is the easiest way to communicate information in a musical, because the audience has already heard much of this information previously. A familiar melody or accompaniment takes a listener back to the scene they first heard it in, thus supplying the new scene with a similar mood and dramatic context. But for a reprise to truly evoke the original, it's necessary to reuse not only the melody and accompaniment, but the lyric structure, scansion, and rhyme scheme as well. However, writing new lyrics to fit preexisting constraints can present challenges.
In Beauty and the Beast, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman reprise the film's opening number "Belle" and use it as the titular character's "I Want" song. In this opening number, the audience learns that Belle is ostracized by her town for being different and unsatisfied with provincial life. Thus, when she sings "Belle (Reprise)," the audience already understands the isolation and boredom that lead her to proclaim "I want adventure in the great, wide somewhere."
Choosing the song to reprise is easy, but writing the lyrics that follow is more challenging. In the original song, Ashman sets up every A Section identically: An opening line, a line ending in an "-ell" rhyme, a third line with a separate internal rhyme, and a closing line ending in "Belle."
Look, there she goes that girl is strange, no question.
Dazed and distracted can't you tell?
Never part of any crowd, cause her head's up on some cloud.
No denying she's a funny girl, that Belle.
This pattern is as much a part of the song's identity as the musical components. By ending every A Section with her name, Ashman makes clear that while Belle does not sing much, it is her song.
"Belle (Reprise)" is also her song, and like most reprises it should follow this same lyrical structure. But how does she sing a line ending in her own name without awkwardly speaking in third person? Ashman solves this problem once previously in "Belle" during the one A Section that she actually sings. Before Belle reaches the end of the A Section, the baker interrupts her with "Good morning, Belle!" completing her line, fulfilling the rhyme scheme, and preventing her from speaking in third person.
There goes the baker with his tray like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell
Every morning just the same since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town. Good morning, Belle!
This is a clever tactic, but Ashman can't use the same trick twice. Nor would he want to have another character interrupt our protagonist in an intimate, reflective "I Want" song like "Belle (Reprise)." It might seem like the only choice would be to use an alternate "-ell" rhyme, or abandon the "-ell" rhyme scheme altogether. But instead, Ashman chooses to write this.
In Beauty and the Beast, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman reprise the film's opening number "Belle" and use it as the titular character's "I Want" song. In this opening number, the audience learns that Belle is ostracized by her town for being different and unsatisfied with provincial life. Thus, when she sings "Belle (Reprise)," the audience already understands the isolation and boredom that lead her to proclaim "I want adventure in the great, wide somewhere."
Choosing the song to reprise is easy, but writing the lyrics that follow is more challenging. In the original song, Ashman sets up every A Section identically: An opening line, a line ending in an "-ell" rhyme, a third line with a separate internal rhyme, and a closing line ending in "Belle."
Look, there she goes that girl is strange, no question.
Dazed and distracted can't you tell?
Never part of any crowd, cause her head's up on some cloud.
No denying she's a funny girl, that Belle.
This pattern is as much a part of the song's identity as the musical components. By ending every A Section with her name, Ashman makes clear that while Belle does not sing much, it is her song.
"Belle (Reprise)" is also her song, and like most reprises it should follow this same lyrical structure. But how does she sing a line ending in her own name without awkwardly speaking in third person? Ashman solves this problem once previously in "Belle" during the one A Section that she actually sings. Before Belle reaches the end of the A Section, the baker interrupts her with "Good morning, Belle!" completing her line, fulfilling the rhyme scheme, and preventing her from speaking in third person.
There goes the baker with his tray like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell
Every morning just the same since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town. Good morning, Belle!
This is a clever tactic, but Ashman can't use the same trick twice. Nor would he want to have another character interrupt our protagonist in an intimate, reflective "I Want" song like "Belle (Reprise)." It might seem like the only choice would be to use an alternate "-ell" rhyme, or abandon the "-ell" rhyme scheme altogether. But instead, Ashman chooses to write this.
Here, Ashman ends the last line prematurely, avoiding the problem spot where one would expect the word "Belle" to appear. In doing so, it never reaches a Perfect Authentic Cadence and never fulfills the "-ell" rhyme scheme set up with "tell," leaving the song unresolved in terms of melody, harmony, and rhyme.
For a song to end unresolved is uncommon, especially in musical theater where a clear, resolved ending is necessary for cuing the audience to applaud. Though "Belle (Reprise)" may never get a standing ovation, the irresolution is justified because it mirrors the same unresolved nature of Belle's hope and dreams. She wants adventure, but at this point in the story she doesn't believe she'll ever have it. Unlike many "I Want" songs that end optimistically with the character reinvigorated in their pursuit, "Belle (Reprise)" is decidedly grounded and realistic. As such, it doesn't deserve the triumphant ending that a Perfect Authentic Cadence or properly resolved rhyme scheme might grant.
While the song doesn't need such an ending, it is still important that it have some sense of finality lest it sound truly awkward and incomplete. Though Ashman does not fulfill the "tell" rhyme, he is still able to end on the rhymed word "planned," extending the internal rhyme pair into a triple rhyme. If the final line instead ended with "I want so much more than they expect," the fact that the "-ell" rhyme is never answered is more obvious. But by ending with "planned," Ashman draws the attention away from the unanswered "tell," and allows the audience's ears to gravitate locally to the "-and" rhymes. Though the listener might not actively register that the "-ell" rhyme scheme is incomplete, the irresolution can still be perceived subconsciously for the previously mentioned dramatic effect.
The word "planned" stands out for another reason beyond simply being a bonus rhyme to the expected rhyme pair. Unlike "grand" and "(under)stand" which occur on a downbeat, the word "planned" occurs on the relatively weaker beat 3. In this case, the reason is less to do with rhyme and more with the song's harmony. Just as it's important for the rhyme scheme to have some sense of finality, so must the chord progression. If Ashman wanted this final line to end on the same beat as the previous two, he could have omitted "so much," resulting in "I want more than they've got planned." But by extending this line two beats, Ashman allows the melody to end a V chord and reach a Half Cadence. While this is less resolved than ending on a Perfect Authentic Cadence, ending on a cadence of any sort still sounds more complete than ending midway through a chord progression on a IV chord. Again, the writers are going for unresolved, not incomplete. They want to musically reflect Belle's yearning, not pull the rug out from under the audience.
This may seem like intricate planning for a one minute song, but it's this attention to detail that made Menken and Ashman so successful in not only writing good songs, but writing dramatic ones. Even more, "Belle (Reprise)" is a testament to their problem-solving skills. While it would be easy to shoehorn in an awkward use of third person or abandon the rhyme scheme altogether, Menken and Ashman saw this challenge as an opportunity. Rather than try to brush a potentially awkward musical moment aside, they embraced it and use it go to a place that the original song didn't go to. For while it's important for a reprise to be reflective of the original, it's these occasional points of deviation that truly make a song worth hearing again.
For a song to end unresolved is uncommon, especially in musical theater where a clear, resolved ending is necessary for cuing the audience to applaud. Though "Belle (Reprise)" may never get a standing ovation, the irresolution is justified because it mirrors the same unresolved nature of Belle's hope and dreams. She wants adventure, but at this point in the story she doesn't believe she'll ever have it. Unlike many "I Want" songs that end optimistically with the character reinvigorated in their pursuit, "Belle (Reprise)" is decidedly grounded and realistic. As such, it doesn't deserve the triumphant ending that a Perfect Authentic Cadence or properly resolved rhyme scheme might grant.
While the song doesn't need such an ending, it is still important that it have some sense of finality lest it sound truly awkward and incomplete. Though Ashman does not fulfill the "tell" rhyme, he is still able to end on the rhymed word "planned," extending the internal rhyme pair into a triple rhyme. If the final line instead ended with "I want so much more than they expect," the fact that the "-ell" rhyme is never answered is more obvious. But by ending with "planned," Ashman draws the attention away from the unanswered "tell," and allows the audience's ears to gravitate locally to the "-and" rhymes. Though the listener might not actively register that the "-ell" rhyme scheme is incomplete, the irresolution can still be perceived subconsciously for the previously mentioned dramatic effect.
The word "planned" stands out for another reason beyond simply being a bonus rhyme to the expected rhyme pair. Unlike "grand" and "(under)stand" which occur on a downbeat, the word "planned" occurs on the relatively weaker beat 3. In this case, the reason is less to do with rhyme and more with the song's harmony. Just as it's important for the rhyme scheme to have some sense of finality, so must the chord progression. If Ashman wanted this final line to end on the same beat as the previous two, he could have omitted "so much," resulting in "I want more than they've got planned." But by extending this line two beats, Ashman allows the melody to end a V chord and reach a Half Cadence. While this is less resolved than ending on a Perfect Authentic Cadence, ending on a cadence of any sort still sounds more complete than ending midway through a chord progression on a IV chord. Again, the writers are going for unresolved, not incomplete. They want to musically reflect Belle's yearning, not pull the rug out from under the audience.
This may seem like intricate planning for a one minute song, but it's this attention to detail that made Menken and Ashman so successful in not only writing good songs, but writing dramatic ones. Even more, "Belle (Reprise)" is a testament to their problem-solving skills. While it would be easy to shoehorn in an awkward use of third person or abandon the rhyme scheme altogether, Menken and Ashman saw this challenge as an opportunity. Rather than try to brush a potentially awkward musical moment aside, they embraced it and use it go to a place that the original song didn't go to. For while it's important for a reprise to be reflective of the original, it's these occasional points of deviation that truly make a song worth hearing again.