High Society 2

No it's not a sequel but I went for a second time to a performance of High Society because I was a volunteer. I sold raffle tickets and when everyone sat down I could sit down too and enjoy the performance. So I can now tell you more about the French connections. The first and main connection is that in America of the 1950s French is seen as the language to speak if you want to be part of high society. There are lines in the musical like tu veux jouer avec moi and c'est vrai absolument. There is a question quelle chanson? The answer is tu sais bien. In the song 'I love Paris' there is some French. I couldn't find it on the internet yesterday but I heard a last line something like parce que mon âme est là.

There were two other French references that I noticed. One character had been thinking and there was a comment about Rodin's thinker Le Penseur along with a Bruce forsyth type gesture. Finally one character is surprised and says 'my...' the next word starts as a rhyme with class but changes to eye. I cannot remember ever hearing the expression 'my eye' used in context as an expression of surprise and disbelief. The French use this expression in exactly the same way. They say mon oeil but they also pull the skin down below one of their eyes with their index finger. In fact they don't need to say anything as the gesture is enough.

A bientôt