Fri 3 Aug 2007

The Problem With Entertainment In The Parks

Songs from Mary Poppins and Les Miserables sound wrong when sung with American accents. Native US speakers were a very under-represented group in both revolutionary-era France and London. Yes, musical numbers and flying nannies were similarly under-represented in those periods, but that's not the point! I've just been subjected to some Americanised versions of some popular numbers. Oh dear. Does tradition count for nothing in this place? To be fair, the lady singing the Mary Poppins lines had quite a pasable English accent in her songs, however I suspect the guy singing about empty chairs at empty tables was thinking of his ranch back in Texas, rather than the cafes of Paris.

Topics: travel/New York