Secco Recit

It somewhat recently came to my attention that three of Disney’s most recent breakout protagonists, Anna, Elsa, and Moana, have not yet been inducted into the official Disney Princess lineup. (This despite appearing alongside the eleven official Princesses in Wreck It Ralph 2 .) This really calls focus to the seemingly arbitrary criteria Disney uses to select their Princesses. The official lineup is, in order of induction, Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, and Merida. But what criteria do these eleven meet that Anna, Elsa, and Moana fail to? Not to mention, Esmeralda and Tinkerbell (both of whom were part of the official lineup at some point before being kicked off), as well as Megara, Jane Porter, Alice, and Wendy Darling (who are sometimes assumed to be part of the lineup), and even getting into such obscure characters as Eilonwy and Kida. And, of course, Vanellope Von Schweetz, whom the official eleven (plus Anna, Elsa, and ...

As I've mentioned before , the German Reed Entertainments are a curious little lot. A series of short "musical entertainments" produced and performed by Thomas German Reed, his wife Priscilla, and assorted others, from about 1855 to 1895. These were, for the most part, not grand spectacles of great significance, and little care was taken to preserve most of them. Today, they are all but forgotten. All but six, that is. A half-dozen which retain historical interest, because their libretti were created by William Schwenk Gilbert, who has gained enough fame and historical regard that even his less significant works are considered worth preserving, if only for the sake of maintaining a complete archive. It is certainly interesting, years after the fact, to read through these musical entertainments to see how Gilbert began to explore the themes and devices he would later more fully develop. Our Island Home  would give way to H.M.S. Pinafore  and The Pirates Of Penzance . Ele...