A Few Tricks - #Variety #Burlesque #Musicals

 Image by dublingirl10

Let me entertain you.

Let me see you smile.

Let me do a few tricks,

Some old and then some new tricks;

I'm very versatile.

- Stephen Sondheim, from Gypsy

I grew up singing musicals. When I was still in grade school, I knew most of the lyrics from "My Fair Lady", "South Pacific", "West Side Story", and "The Sound of Music". We had all the records (LPs, of course). My mom, in particular, used to play them while she was doing housework. I've always picked up songs and verse, without really trying. So I can still sing "On the Street Where You Live", "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" and "Tonight", as well as dozens more classics.

One of my mother's favorites was "Gypsy". I can see why, now—she was a bit like Gypsy Rose Lee's mom, flamboyant and stage struck. (It was her idea, for instance, for me and my two siblings to perform on a local TV amateur hour.) As for me, I was fascinated with the character of the famous burlesque star. I must have known even at that young age that there was something naughty about Gypsy's vocation. (I've always had instincts about that sort of thing!) Anyway, I would belt out "Let Me Entertain You" while I was doing the dishes, in between renditions of "Have an Eggroll, Mr. Goldstone" and "If Mama Was Married".

As I was thinking about a post for today, I realized that the song above could be my author-ly theme. I don't write to become famous (it'll never happen) or to contribute to the canon of great literature (despite my fantasies). For the most part, I write because I want to entertain my readers - and myself. And like Gypsy, I'm very versatile. I write in a wide range of different styles and genres, depending on my mood.

Want serious BDSM romance? Try The Gazillionaire and the Virgin. Steampunk fantasy? I can recommend Rajasthani Moon. Do you like M/M stories? Pick up a copy of Necessary Madness or Quarantine. For lesbian erotica, sample The Witches ofGloucester. If vampires are your thing, there’s Fire in theBlood, my M/M/F vampire ménage set in Jamaica. Speaking of ménage, my backlist includes Truce of Trust (M/F/M with a touch of BDSM), Monsoon Fever (M/M/F historical), and WildAbout That Thing (M/F/M contemporary) among other titles. I’ve written paranormal, suspense, science fiction, and hard core BDSM erotica. About the only genres I haven’t tackled are Western (though my short story “Spank Me Again, Stranger” is set in cowboy country) and sweet romance (though I’ve been tempted to try the latter, just to see if I could keep my nasty streak under control).

I've noticed that many authors seem to specialize, to carve out a niche and stick to it. Not me. I'm easily bored, I guess. Or presenting myself in a more favorable light—I like to challenge myself by attempting to write in new genres. At the moment I have one WIP that's paranormal (vampire and shifter), one that's a lesbian historical, and one that’s dark BDSM. If that's not versatile, I'm not sure what you’d call it.

There's another song from "Gypsy", sung by several of Gypsy's fellow strippers, called "You Gotta Get a Gimmick":

You can pull all the stops out

Till they call the cops out,

Grind your behind till you're banned

But you've gotta get a gimmick

If you wanna get a hand.

You can sacrifice your saccro
Working in the back row.
Bump in a dump till you're dead.
Kid, you gotta have a gimmick
If you wanna get ahead.

I sure hope that this isn't true. I'm too busy exploring to figure out a "gimmick". My stories have some common features and themes, I guess, but they are all quite different. That's both good and bad. A reader who has experience with one of my books doesn't really know what to expect from the next. On the other hand, for a reader who likes surprises... well, I can show her a few tricks.

(Maybe I should write a story that revolves around musicals...!)

Saturday Seven: Favorite Musicals - #musical #lyrics #SaturdaySeven #LASR

I grew up with music. My father was a jazz musician who played clarinet and sax in bands from the time he was eleven. My mom had an amazing singing voice (and was also a dancer) and played piano. And I’ve always had an exceptional memory for tunes and lyrics.

I know dozens of the 1940’s torch songs my mom liked to sing. I also picked up my parents’ love of musicals and comic opera. (They took me to my first Gilbert and Sullivan concert when I was only five years old!)

So here are seven of my favorite musicals—many of which I know by heart!

My Fair Lady – Lerner and Loewe

I have often walked down this street before,

But the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before.

All at once am I several stories high,

Knowing I’m on the street where you live.

This may have been the first musical I ever heard. My mother loved to play the record (yes, the vinyl record...!) and sing along. Pretty soon I was doing that too.

This classic tale of the snotty, sexist Professor Henry Higgins and the alluring Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle was an early introduction to romance.

Gypsy – Style and Sondheim

You can sacrifice your sacro

Working in the back row,

Bump in a dump till you’re dead,

But you’ve gotta get a gimmick

If you wanna get ahead

“Gypsy” was another family favorite, though it’s hard to imagine a plot or tone more different from “My Fair Lady”. This wonderful musical is based on the life of legendary burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee, who started out as a child performer managed by her bossy mother.

I still remember most of the lyrics, though it has been almost sixty years. I guess I identified a bit with Louise (as Gypsy Rose was originally named). My own mother had show business aspirations for me and my siblings. We even appeared as a singing trio on TV!

Camelot – Lerner and Loewe

It’s May, it’s May, the lusty month of May,

That gorgeous month when everyone goes

Blissfully astray

As a kid I loved to read tales of King Arthur’s knights. This musical offers something of a different view! I didn’t hear this at home, but saw the movie with Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet and Richard Burton (the original Broadway cast) and was hooked. I don’t know all the songs from this play, but I’ve always viewed “The Lusty Month of May” as something of a theme song!

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical – Ragni, Rado and MacDermot

Harmony and understanding,

Sympathy and peace abounding,

No more falsehood or derision,

Loving living dreams of vision,

Mystic crystal revelation

And the mind’s true liberation

Aquarius...

We marched against the Vietnam War. We wore flowing skirts, love beads, flowers in our hair. We repudiated the hypocrisy of our parents’ generation, determined to build a new society based on love, peace, nature, sensuality... “Hair” gave us our anthems.

The Age of Aquarius didn’t quite turn out the way we’d hoped, but the music still captures the ferment and the optimism of my teen years. Meanwhile, the vibrant sexuality of this musical definitely influenced my future development as a woman and an author.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show – Richard O’Brien

It’s astounding

Time is fleeting

Madness

Takes its toll.

The Rocky Horror film came out while I was in graduate school. In one week, I went to see it three times. Silly, sexy, exuberant and irreverent, the story struck a chord. I’ve listened to the sound track hundreds of times since then; I don’t seem to get tired of it.

Erotic visions without any measure,

And sensual daydreams to treasure forever...

Another influence on my writing, I guess, and very likely a source of my enduring interest in gender-bending characters.

The Phantom of the Paradise – Brian De Palma

Our love

Is an old love, baby;

It’s older

Than all our years.

I see in strange young eyes

familiar tears.

My lover/Master introduced me to this rather obscure musical film early in our relationship. It’s a peculiar mash-up of The Picture of Dorian Grey, Faust and the Phantom of the Opera. Actually, I’ve never seen the film; I’ve just listened to the haunting song “Old Souls”, again and again.

Once More With Feeling – Joss Whedon

Apocalypse -

We’ve all been there,

The same old tricks,

Why should we care?

Unlike most of America, I never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer on TV, but years after the show ended, a friend loaned us the full series on DVD, and I was hooked.

“Once More With Feeling” is one episode of the series, in which the major and minor characters all burst into Hollywood-esque songs under the influence of a demon. I was impressed enough by the music (Joss Whedon is a multi-talented genius) that I got the soundtrack. Now I listen to it frequently. When I’m not singing it, that is!

By the way, all the lyrics in this post are from memory, so they might have errors. However, I’ll bet there aren’t many.

Be sure to check out the other Saturday Seven posts today. You'll find the links at Long and Short Reviews.


 

Let Me Entertain You

Let me entertain you.

Let me see you smile.

Let me do a few kicks,

Some old and then some new tricks;

I'm very versatile.

- Stephen Sondheim, from Gypsy

I grew up singing musicals. When I was still in grade school, I knew most of the lyrics from "My Fair Lady", "South Pacific", "West Side Story", and "The Sound of Music". We had all the records (LPs, of course). My mom, in particular, used to play them while she was doing housework. I've always picked up songs and verse, without really trying. So I can still sing "On the Street Where You Live", "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" and "Tonight", as well as dozens more classics.

One of my mother's favorites was "Gypsy". I can see why, now—she was a bit like Gypsy Rose Lee's mom, flamboyant and stage struck. (It was her idea, for instance, for me and my two siblings to perform on a local TV amateur hour.) As for me, I was fascinated with the character of the famous burlesque star. I must have known even at that young age that there was something naughty about Gypsy's vocation. (I've always had instincts about that sort of thing!) Anyway, I would belt out "Let Me Entertain You" while I was doing the dishes, in between renditions of "Have an Eggroll, Mr. Goldstone" and "If Mama Was Married".

I realized recently that the song above could be my author-ly theme. I don't write to become famous (it'll never happen) or to contribute to the canon of great literature (despite my fantasies). For the most part, I write because I want to entertain my readers—and myself. And like Gypsy, I'm very versatile. I write in a wide range of different styles and genres, depending on my mood.

Want serious BDSM romance? Try Raw Silk, The Understudy, The Ingredients of Bliss, or one of my D&S Duos books. Do you like M/M stories? Pick up a copy of Necessary Madness, Quarantine or Crossed Hearts. If vampires are your thing, you might enjoy Fire in the Blood, my M/M/F vampire ménage set in Jamaica, or Fourth World, a collection of dark paranormal stories. Speaking of ménage, if threesomes get you going, check out Wild About That Thing (M/F/M), Truce of Trust (M/F/M with a touch of BDSM), Coming in Costume (M/F/M with a lot of BDSM) or Monsoon Fever (M/M/F historical). Are shape shifters your favorite genre? Let me entertain you with my cat shifter tale The Eyes of Bast or my Mayan paranormal Serpent's Kiss. How about steampunk? Get a copy of my outrageous multi-genre tale Rajasthani Moon.

(You can find buy links for all of these books at my website: http://www.lisabetsarai.com/books.html. Check out the covers in my cover gallery or browse my categorized index.)

I've noticed that many authors seem to specialize, to carve out a niche and stick to it. Not me. I'm easily bored, I guess. Or presenting myself in a more favorable light—I like to challenge myself by attempting to write in new genres. In addition to erotic romance, I also write literary erotica, stories that don't necessarily focus on a single relationship or have a happy ending. Some poetry, too.

There's another song from "Gypsy", sung by several of Gypsy's fellow strippers, called "You Gotta Get a Gimmick":

You can pull all the stops out

Till they call the cops out,

Grind your behind till you're banned

But you've gotta get a gimmick

If you wanna get a hand.

You can sacrifice your saccro
Working in the back row.
Bump in a dump till you're dead.
Kid, you gotta have a gimmick
If you wanna get ahead.

I sure hope that this isn't true. I'm too busy exploring to figure out a "gimmick". My stories have some common features and themes, I guess, but they are all quite different. That's both good and bad, I guess. A reader who has experience with one of my books doesn't really know what to expect from the next. On the other hand, if you're the sort of reader who likes things fresh and new, you might want to check me out. And if you're not ready to buy, check out my extensive collection of free stories and poems.

Meanwhile, I'll go back to working on a few tricks for my next books.

Maybe I should write a story that revolves around musicals.