Half A Sixpence

It's Christmas Eve, and you know what that means... yeah, me neither. Gotta give you something, though, so let's bring back everybody's favorite parlor game What the Hell's This Musical About Then? Haven't played it in ages, so quick refresher of how it works. I listen to the original cast recording of a musical i've never seen and try to guess the plot, or at least mumble through the gist of it. 

How's about this one? They call it Half A Sixpence, which is just Thrupence if my knowledge of old timey British money math is to be believed. Truth be told, i'd much rather check out the offerings of Australian Alt-Indie-Dancetronica artist Thrupence, but i've committed to this serving of beans on toast. Luckily i also haven't read the H.G. Wells novel it's based on, so this'll be a real shot in the dark. 

Oh, well if you're gonna just tell us it's about a guy who literally broke a coin in half, then i guess i don't have to try very hard, now do i? Nice overture though. 

System! 'Ficiency! Economy! I don't think they like their boss all that much. 

Lovers' tokens. All he has is sixpence, so he breaks it in half and gives half to his girlfriend. I'd like to think i could have figured that out all by myself, but we'll commence figuring the rest out after they dance around a little. 

He'd buy a banjo. Sure, why not? Kind of an upside down symbol of unlimited wealth and leisure given the history and nature of the Banjo, but interesting. 

12,000 pound a year? Are we still daydreaming or did he actually receive a windfall? The collected works of Karl Marx, huh? If nothing else it's a familiar story of upper/lower class dynamics. 

Hmmm. Is this girl who's too far above him the same girl from earlier? 

Don't get me wrong, i have no clue what this musical is actually about, but at least the songs are clearly about actual plot points. 

Please don't rain on the day in the place where i've got a date. Still not sure how many girls are involved, it has a real Romeo & Juliet what happened to your crush on Roseline vibe to it. 

Ann? She did actually love him? Ok, i think i got it. The opening song was a kind of joke, one of those if we're not married by the time we're 50 things. 

Maiwage! Take our photos, good sir! Intentional Romeo & Juliet reference. Silly song with appropriately British innuendo. I like it. Stick it in your what? I literally can't understand that word. 

K, so now they're upper crust, but she's a simple girl and this all feels fake and unpleasant. 

Did their house get blown away? Are they poor again? It's got a real nice Everybody Wants To Be A Cat vibe to it. 

If the Rain's Got To Fall and Half A Sixpence reprises as the finale? I guess the moral is love is what's actually valuable. Sure, it's a musical, that's fine. 

I guess the moral is that I started with nothing and i've still got most of it left. I know that's Seasick Steve's 3rd album, and it's been attributed to everyone from Michael Davis to Tom Waits to Groucho Marx, but i think it's actually an evolution of the actual Grouch Marx quote "I've worked my way up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty." 

Regardless, i think the plot is pretty clear here. Poor working class guy, gets rich, gets not rich again, marries Ann somewhere in there, and the moral is that wealth and influence aren't actually important. How'd i do? Let's check the synopsis. 

K, no draperies were mentioned, so no way i could guess they were apprentice drapers. 

Childhood sweethearts, but they don't see each other often because she's a house servant. The half a romance thing makes more sense now. Inherited fortune, i mentioned that as a possibility. 

Oh, he joins a "Workers Evening Class" and falls in imposter syndrome love with Helen. Sunday is the regatta where she'll decide to marry him or not. Never mind, he doesn't like that world and tuns back to Ann. They get married, but the house they were about to build can't be built because the fortune has been lost. 

Alright, i'd say i did pretty good, but really that just means the songs actually make sense. Good job David Heneker, making me look like i'm not a complete moron. 

Actually, if you have to listen to a musical, you could totally do a lot worse than Half A Sixpence. If you're anything like me though, i think you'll find the random works of Jack Vanzet as Thrupence a much more enjoyably rewarding listening experience. That's your real Christmas present: 

thrupence.bandcamp.com 

Enjoy.