The Rake's Progress

Tom Rakewell marrying a loathly one-eyed lady in a "church of ill repute"

I went to see The Rake's Progress tonight in St. Paul. It was a very, very good show, one particularly suited to A., I thought. A. is like Tom Rakewell in some ways, a "shuttle-headed boy" who is neither completely good nor bad, as we all are, which is quite touching.

I feel like reading over the entire libretto again, as it is the first one that has ever really sung as poetry to me. The attached name, W. H. Auden, certainly provides impetus to this effect, but it was the characteristic use of the English language which makes this show work so well. I copied down one sentence that was both witty and so touching it almost drew a tear from me, this from the pathetic Baba the Turk:

I'm quite perplexed and a little vexed.

Poor Baba. You were fated to aid in the reinvention of sarcasm and also other, more complex forms of satire.