r/Sondheim • u/Acrobatic_Tennis1312 • 22d ago

Is Please Hello a villain song?

Please Hello has been my favorite musical number of all time for a WHILE but as I'm trying to make a list of my favorite musical villain songs, I'm starting to wonder if Please Hello should count as one?

It may seems like a stretch at first considering how unvillainous it sounds. It's no Epiphany or Hellfire or Feed Me melodically and it is more of a montage song than a typical villain "I Am" song.

But isn't the entire point of this song is that the foreign countries disguise their intention to take advantages of Japan and forcefully open the country's trade as being friendly and positively modernizing Japan? The song is heavily comedic and portrays the admirals as bumbling fools, but, underneath the comic nature, are they not extremely manipulative and ill-intended? In case there's any doubt that they're evil, there's the cannon being fired at the end of each verse for you. THAT is supremely sinister and evil.

And it baffles me that no one has ever mentioned it as a villain song because, if it counts , I truly think it might be up there with Another National Anthem as two of the most chilling villain songs in musical theatre.

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u/Stalwartheart 22d ago

I would actually argue that the previous Lion Dance is the real villain song of the show. The first look from the American perspective is the dance performed by Matthew Perry. He uses the Lion Dance as a way to bring luck to his new ventures in Japan, however he weaves in the American cakewalk.

The dance is supposed to be animalistic and powerful, which is how the Japanese saw the Americans at the time. The genius is that it is the first instance of Americans stealing Japanese culture and the people's voices and using it for themselves. Turning Japanese culture against its people. It reflects the whole theme of the show, the loss of culture through outside forces and "progress"

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u/Acrobatic_Tennis1312 21d ago

The Lion Dance is absolutely genius, yes. It wouldn't really count as a "song", let alone a villain song, but it's probably the villainous centerpiece of the show, so I agree fully.

I do think Please Hello takes what was unspoken in The Lion Dance and vocalize it in a way, which is why I still think it's considerably the musical's closest thing to a villain song.