Piano,Vocal,Voice - Digital Download SKU: A0.556054 Composed by Robert J. Sherman. Arranged by Original Piano/Vocal Arrangement by Robert J. Sherman. Broadway,Instructional,Musical/Show. Score. 6 pages. Sherman Theatrical Entertainment Ltd. #165526. Published by Sherman Theatrical Entertainment Ltd. (A0.556054). The Sharpest Smile is from the musical Love Birds. This song pays homage to “Honey Bun” from the classic 1949 Rodgers & Hammerstein musical: South Pacific. Like its forerunner, “The Sharpest Smile” represents a “show within a show” moment. Both “Honey Bun” and “The Sharpest Smile” derive their comedy from the age-old, vaudevillian gimmick of a girl pretending to be a boy and vice versa. In the context of the Love Birds script, “Vera” (a female parrot) is costumed as a 1920s (male) gangster talking to “his” gangster friends. “The Gangster” character explains that “he” has met a wonderful girl (named “Pearl”), so don’t expect to see “him” around as much; or lyrics to that effect. Later in the number, we learn that “Pearl” is in fact a hungry crocodile dressed in a lady’s bikini costume (i.e. two coconuts strung together for the top – also an homage to “Honey Bun”). Pearl constantly tries to take a bite out of the Gangster Parrot who is blissfully unaware of the threat. This is a comedy song about mismatched relationships, but it also serves as meta-commentary on the dangers that pursuing such relationships can pose. In other words, “Pearl” is “Peril” (at least according to the thinking of the time). Despite the implicit risk, this unconventional love story seems to work out in the end. When printing, please scale to fit for standard US Letter and A4 size.
