Song Character Analysis Worksheet - The University of North ...

“hero”) and the piano player (the ingénue heroine), though neither he nor the audience
has yet to see her. 61
The first meeting of Magnolia and Gaylord occurs through the duet, “Make
Believe.” This scene establishes several of Magnolia’s character traits and ambitions:
she wants to be an actress so that she can be an exciting “character,” she has a maturity
“beyond her years,” and she has fallen hopelessly in love at first sight. 62 She is socially
presented as a traditional Southern Belle and her stage role as the traditional ingénue is
reinforced in both her vocal line and the instrumental underscoring from the earlier piano
leitmotiv.
By Act II, Magnolia has become a lovely lady type as dutiful wife and mother. In
this role she is part of a dramatic trend in the late 1920s in which the older woman hero-
ine is responsible for much of the plot development. She also portrays a new type of
leading feminine character, described as “one who doesn’t dominate the stage . . . but
whose dramatic purpose is to inspire the leading masculine character.” 63 In the first
scene of Act II, Magnolia and Gaylord sing the only new original song of the second act
(“Why Do I Love You?”). The song begins as a cute, young lovers’ waltz but fore-
shadows a deeper meaning and eventual plot turn as Gaylord’s gambling affects the
family, evidenced in these lyrics:
61 Swain, 32.
62 Swain, 34, 38.
63 Klein, 71-72. I discovered a curious point regarding Kern’s treatment of melodic characterization
for Magnolia: she sings only duets until she is abandoned by Gaylord and then must sing solo for a
living. Thus begins Magnolia’s literal and figurative independence.
78