Minimum familiarity: None
A reprise in a musical occurs when we hear a song that we’ve already heard before, often in a new context and with modified lyrics. And the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a “re-prize” as “The word you’ve entered isn’t in the dictionary.” Which means I can define it here however I want.
A Definition
Re-prize ri-ˈprīz
- A reprise worthy of acknowledgement and praise
I don’t want to get deep into the etymology, but you can safely assume that very few people have ever used this word, and that it first entered the lexicon circa the publication date of this post.
This is the first post in an ongoing series of Re-Prizes, where we will acknowledge reprises in musical theater that stand up to or, on occasion, surpass the original song. Composers employ several tactics to create reprises worthy of re-prizes:
- Turning it on its head – Tweaking the music and/or lyrics of the original song to derive new meaning
- New material that elevates the original song – Creating verses or choruses with different lyrics than the original, or introducing more characters to chime in on the ideas presented in the original
- Same ideas, different voice – Sometimes reprises find a new character having the same realization that another character had earlier. Similar musical ideas between both realizations tell the audience that this character is having a similar thought process to one we’ve heard before
I should note that it is difficult to win this award without the original song having some strength to it. Repeating a bad song rarely turns out well. Maybe we will one day introduce pre-prizes to celebrate those songs as well, but that day is not today.
Bonnie & Prize
Bonnie & Clyde did not exactly receive rave reviews during its Broadway run, to the point that it ended up closing after only 69 performances.1 Despite that commercial nosedive, the show contains some very catchy songs by Frank Wildhorn (music) and Don Black (lyrics).
The penultimate number of Act I, “Raise a Little Hell,” finds our antihero Clyde deciding that the only way to cope with his difficult experiences in prison is to start killing people.
This number starts off quietly. Clyde’s in prison, and he contemplates having a guard kill him so he can escape his misery. We move out of the intro section around 1:25, as Clyde boldly lays out his plan: instead of succumbing to the injustice, he’s going to “raise a little hell” and start murdering people. The last minute of this song hits hard, and features one of Jeremy Jordan’s all-time vocal performances.
As you may anticipate at this point, the winner of the first Re-Prize is the reprise of “Raise a Little Hell.” Congratulations to all involved.
The reprise comes in Act II, and it’s well-positioned as a similar “growth” moment for Clyde to the original number. This version feels more confident, with groovier orchestrations and Clyde more confident in his (still objectively dubious) logic.
This song’s work as a reprise is particularly effective because it also introduces an additional voice, that of Ted Hinton, a sheriff who’s trying to take Clyde down. Starting around 1:05 we hear Ted express a similar sentiment to Clyde’s lust for blood in Act I, in a segment that concludes with Ted singing “I won’t rest until I finally see Barrow die.” Certainly strong words for a lawman, but definitely the appropriate sentiment to bring back in the context of this reprise.
Is Ted’s moment in this song that important to the plot? I have no idea; like most people I’ve never seen this show. Does it give the composers an excuse to bring Clyde’s and Ted’s voices together at the end for an epic moment? It sure does. Around 1:33, Clyde comes back in, and his impressive vocal performance soars over wailing electric guitar, chaotic drum fills, and runs from the horn section.
It’s intense, it’s catchy, and it’s a perfect complement to the music and character development of the original “Raise a Little Hell.”
- One review highlight from Terry Teachout in The Wall Street Journal: “[Bonnie & Clyde] is…quite sufficiently bad enough to qualify for the finals of this year’s What-Were-They-Thinking Prize.” ↩︎
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