Written several years ago–this one’s older than my children, actually–but with Into the Woods in movie theaters, it seemed worth digging out of the trunk…might have to record this one at some point…

Could I compose an original song?
Am I still able to?
Why have I chosen to fracture a fairy tale,
Maybe a fable, too?

Parody! Of a recognized style,
A pattern you capture with which to enrapture
A Sondheimophile!

I’ll write for the stage without going flat.
Or shall I diminish it?
Why am I left contemplating this hat?
Why can’t I finish it? A-a-a-a-augh…

Parody! Which exhibits your wits
(bits by bits)
And you put it together with
(myth by myth)
Such unlikely couplets.
(groan)
Parody! Far more silly than this,
(with its faults)
Filching a threnody, filking the melody with artifice.
(do I hear a waltz?)

If I could hope to infuse
Ev’ry line with confusing, internally rhyming,
Sublimely amusing connections of words,
I’d be ev’rything Broadway could wish for–
Then why no–
Do I know?
Jujamcyn’s gone mad.
I know something of madness,
From the moment I open their letter and think it gets better,
But it’s a rejection of stylish confection, a-hahahahahaHAHAHAHA

Parody! Mockery! Though
Bon mots flow readily,
Unless you’re Alessandrini,
You’re unlikely to work steadily…

Parody!
(keep it short!)
Maybe more curt…than vile…
I may be here awhile…