Daisy Buchanan, a primary demonstration of the correlation between Mo Money, [causing] Mo Problems, is beautifully represented in Paper Mill Playhouse’s musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby by Eva Noblezada. As such, on September 28th of this year, the first press release of her solo song “Beautiful Little Fool” was released, showing a mezzo-soprano/alto Daisy’s relation to the popular phrase. As a woman who has always been very well financially stabilized, she articulates her desire (which she hopes to pass on to her daughter) of being a beautiful little fool. I have found it relatively hard to transcribe the lyrics, however, I’d love to use this blog post to analyze the bits that I have definitively been able to transcribe.
To start, Daisy opens her song, pondering to her audience (assuming it’s either Jay Gatsby or a fourth wall break), with the lines, “Do you know what I did when my baby was born? You don’t” (BroadwayWorld 0:14-0:20). As the audience, I feel as though we also don’t really know what she did when her baby was born, as it was only briefly mentioned in the novel to my knowledge. From this opening line, we can gauge that this song is going to give more of an insight to her relation to her child, which is crucial to the analysis of this song. She proceeds to give answers to the question she prompted but mentions that “Tom was god… knows where” (BroadwayWorld 0:27-0:33). Although the lyrics are “god knows where,” there is a deliberate pause in her vocalization between “god” and “knows where,” which corresponded to my idea that while Daisy finds herself battling with her lust for Gatsby, she also holds Tom with a respect as though he is her god. At this point in the musical, I’m assuming the song takes place before she decidedly sides with Tom over Gatsby, so this little pause could truly be foreshadowing of her actions in the future.
The song continues with her referencing the birth of her daughter, opening up the next part of the song with the lines “I pray that my beautiful child could be a fool that I could never be” (BroadwayWorld 0:56-1:06). With this, we can see Daisy attempting to live her own dreams through her daughter. As seen in the novel, Daisy’s wealth allows her to act as though she is a “beautiful little fool,” even though she knows exactly what she’s doing with respect to luring Gatsby for his money. She projects all of her own actions onto her dreams for her daughter, which prompts sympathy from the audience, but by fully knowing her character prior, I can deduce that this song is all simply just an act. She proceeds to sing her wish “that the choices she makes in this life are never hers” (BroadwayWorld 1:13-1:26). This line is especially alluring as it shows Daisy’s wish to refuse to take accountability for her own actions and hopes her daughter can fall under the same mindset. The choices one makes typically are always of their own volition and being a wealthy “beautiful little fool” does not excuse such actions, especially in Daisy’s case. I find this portrayal juxtaposing elegance with ignorance, with attempts to mask said ignorance with beauty. Eva Noblezada’s vocal performance is phenomenal and seems to manipulate the audience into feeling sympathy for her blatant ignorance, which I find especially intriguing.
Finally, for the last minute of the song, Daisy continues to emotionally belt the lines, “the best thing a girl can be in this world is a beautiful little fool” (BroadwayWorld 1:45-2:32). The beautified, continued repetition of this phrase truly hammers the audience with the dilemma of either believing Daisy’s emotional wishes or accrediting her message as a manipulative tactic. While in the book, we know Daisy ends up following her own wishes of becoming a manipulative, destructive, and careless “beautiful little fool” herself, this song gives the audience the idea that she herself only wishes that for her daughter. Just as she claims, she ends up fulfilling “the best thing a girl can be in this world” herself, all the while hoping her daughter fulfills the same. By projecting her own wishes/reality onto the emotional uprising of her daughter, she continues to reject her own accountability, allowing such manipulation to continue to be masked by beauty. Overall, the beauty of the song truly evokes sympathy for Daisy’s character, but we as the educated audience especially know not to trust a wealthy “beautiful little fool,” as this fool serves to be nothing but detrimental to whomever she latches on to.
BroadwayWorld. “Take a first look at Eva Noblezada in #TheGreatGatsby at @Paper Mill Playhouse!” TikTok, 28 September 2023, https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8MCjtQe/.