Utopia, Limited

Our company’s staging of Utopia, Limited, in 2008, was a wonderful success, due, to a large extent, to the substantial revisions our company had made to the operetta.

The following alternate lyric, written by Holly Windle, detailed and celebrated those revisions. It should be noted that the song makes passing reference to Lesley Hendrickson, our Stage Director and Marina Liadova, our Music Director for this production, as well as a reference to what was our pending 2009 production of Ruddigore.

It was performed at that show’s Last Gasp Cast Bash, by Waldyn Benbenek, accompanied by a chorus which included Timothy James, Jim Ahrens, Isaiah Waid, Victoria Valencour, Stephen Hage, Jim Brooks, Dave Ekenrode and Richard Rames.

King Paramount:

Society has not forgotten Pirates or Mikado,
And grade schools tackle Pinafore with laudable bravado.

Chorus:

But very few have taken on Utopia.

King Paramount:

We did it twenty years ago; it wasn’t quite successful.
Some tunes we loved, but on the whole, long-winded and too stressful.

Chorus:

It’s a problem with unwieldy old Utopia.

King Paramount:

The Company continued to produce the shows selected,
But one in the rotation was avoided and neglected,
Until we faced the problem and addressed the script concretely.

Chorus:

In short, the rewrite process has transformed the show completely
Completely, completely.
It really is surprising
What revising and excising
Can accomplish: our Utopia’s quite another show.
In her fascinating sections,
You can see the fine corrections
We have beautifully crafted for the world to know.

King Paramount:

We set about it logic’ly, not slashing willy-nilly.
A song of Paramount’s was cut – unpleasant, poor and silly.

Chorus:

No silliness allowed in our Utopia.

King Paramount:

The long first act finale we have suitably bombarded,
For Blushington’s a woman now and Dramaleigh discarded.

Chorus:

That’s progress for our “Flowers” in Utopia.

King Paramount:

The work of clever editing was handled by committee,
Who cut a lot but also added lines succinct and witty.
So doing the original means singing obsoletely.

Chorus:

In short, the rewrite process has transformed the show completely
Completely, completely.
It really is surprising What revising and excising
Can accomplish: our Utopia’s quite another show.
In her fascinating sections,
You can see the fine corrections
We have beautifully crafted for the world to know.

King Paramount:

We rearranged the second act, which used to rather bore us,
And started off with something that’s delightful for the chorus.

Chorus:

And Lesley helped a bit with the direction.

King Paramount:

The score revised, we labored then to print it and prepared it.
The orchestra and cast performed with noticeable merit.

Chorus:

And Marina strived to bring it to perfection.

King Paramount:

And Lesley kept us all in line. She says, “You little dickens!”
Whenever we display our not-so-intellectual chickens.
If one appears in Ruddigore, it better be discreetly.

Chorus:

In short, the rewrite process has transformed the show completely
Completely, completely.
It really is surprising
What revising and excising
Can accomplish: our Utopia’s quite another show.
In her fascinating sections,
You can see the fine corrections
We have beautifully crafted for the world to know.