Gigi Lyrics – All Songs from the Musical

"Gigi" – The Musical Guide & Song Meanings

Review

What happens when a score built for a camera has to confess itself to a pit orchestra, under stage lights, in front of people who can cough? “Gigi” answers with charm, and with a faint anxiety that becomes part of its meaning. Alan Jay Lerner’s lyrics are often written like social behavior: sentences you say because you are expected to say them, until the wrong person believes you. Frederick Loewe’s music leans Viennese and operetta-adjacent, then breaks into café sparkle. That tension is the show.

The central lyrical theme is training: training a girl to be “presentable,” training a man to be “serious,” training everyone to pretend that a transaction is romance. When the lyric lands, it lands because Lerner can make a pretty phrase carry a threat. The show’s famous wit, the polished rhymes, the smile in the consonants, all sit next to an older story about grooming and status. Modern productions either sand that down or stare at it. Both choices change what the songs mean in your mouth.

How it was made

“Gigi” begins as Colette, detours through a successful 1958 MGM film musical, then returns to the stage in 1973 with Lerner writing the book and lyrics and Loewe providing the score. The Masterworks Broadway album notes outline how producer Edwin Lester kept pushing for a stage version, and how the team added new songs to fill out the evening. They also document a messy, very human development process: songs written, songs cut, songs rewritten, and casting troubles that forced the material to mutate. One telling detail: Lerner replaced Gigi’s opening song “(I Don’t Understand) The Parisians” with “The Earth and Other Minor Things” during revisions, searching for sympathy and clarity rather than brittle sophistication.

The same notes describe how “The Contract” survived as the new material that truly earned its place, partly because it turns business into theatre, and partly because it frames the story’s moral question without blinking. This behind-the-scenes record also captures how the production struggled financially, yet still walked away with a Tony Award for Best Original Score under eligibility rules that would later tighten. The result is a musical with a paradoxical legacy: short Broadway run, long afterlife in licensing and recordings.

Key tracks & scenes

"Thank Heaven for Little Girls" (Honoré)

The Scene:

Honoré holds court in turn-of-the-century Paris, a boulevardier narrating the city like it belongs to him. The light is warm and public, like late afternoon on a terrace. The song plays as a social toast, not a confession.

Lyrical Meaning:

It is a lullaby with teeth. The lyric turns “adoration” into ownership, and it is meant to be charming. That is the point. Many modern stagings reframe it as character evidence: the grin stays, but the audience is invited to hear the cost.

"It's a Bore" (Honoré and Gaston)

The Scene:

Gaston’s boredom is staged as luxury fatigue: beautiful rooms, expensive habits, and nothing that feels like a pulse. The lighting often cools here, because the song is about emotional temperature dropping.

Lyrical Meaning:

Lerner writes ennui as a status symbol. The rhyme scheme lands like a shrug. This is the first sign that Gaston will treat people the way he treats amusements, until the story forces him to name what he feels.

"The Earth and Other Minor Things" (Gigi)

The Scene:

Gigi is still a girl with grass on her shoes, resisting lessons in composure. The space is domestic, watched over by older women, and the feeling is restless, like a bird tapping at glass.

Lyrical Meaning:

This is Lerner giving her an inner life early. The lyric makes room for curiosity and stubbornness. It is a small manifesto, and it quietly argues against the role she is being trained to play.

"She’s Not Thinking of Me" (Gaston)

The Scene:

Gaston is alone, or as alone as a rich man can be, realizing that a girl he treats casually has become the center of his attention. The staging tends toward stillness here, because the song is a private admission.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric’s power is its wounded vanity. He is not saying, “I miss her.” He is saying, “How can I not be the sun?” It is a character flaw sung beautifully, which is classic Lerner.

"The Night They Invented Champagne" (Gigi, Gaston, Mamita)

The Scene:

A glittering public night, often staged at or evoking Maxim’s, where celebration doubles as display. The number is full of motion and chatter; it can feel like the room itself is tipsy.

Lyrical Meaning:

On the surface, it is joy. Underneath, it is a rehearsal for social performance. Gigi is learning the rules in real time, and the lyric’s fizz becomes a mask for a story that is about being presented, judged, and priced.

"The Contract" (Alicia, Mamita, lawyers)

The Scene:

Paperwork becomes drama. A negotiation plays like a miniature operetta, with social laughter covering moral ugliness. Many productions light it sharply, almost clinically, because the scene is about terms and leverage.

Lyrical Meaning:

The song says the quiet part out loud: romance is being itemized. Critics have pointed out how directly this moment frames the transactional core of the plot, even when a revival tries to soften the edges.

"I Remember It Well" (Honoré and Mamita)

The Scene:

Two older lovers revisit the past, correcting each other, flirting through faulty memory. The atmosphere is gentler, often staged away from the crowd, with softer light and slower breath.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric treats memory as performance. They are rewriting their own legend together, and the comedy hides tenderness. It is one of the score’s great structural gifts: it offers love that is chosen, not arranged.

"In This Wide, Wide World" (Gigi)

The Scene:

A late-show widening of perspective. Gigi looks beyond the room she has been trained to occupy. The staging often clears space around her, a visual version of finally having air.

Lyrical Meaning:

This lyric is yearning with boundaries. It argues for a life that is not purely defined by who pays attention and who pays, full stop. In some later revisions the song becomes shared, which changes it from self-definition into negotiation.

Live updates

As of current public listings, “Gigi” does not have an active Broadway run or a major touring production announced for 2025 or 2026 in the major outlets that track Broadway openings and transfers. The practical “now” of “Gigi” is licensing: the title remains available for stage rights through Concord Theatricals, which is the main reason it continues to appear in community, educational, and regional seasons.

The most recent high-profile American staging was the 2015 Kennedy Center-to-Broadway revival, and its cast recording remains widely available on streaming platforms and digital storefronts. If you are tracking the show for professional reappearances, the most reliable signals tend to be licensing announcements, festival programming, and producer interviews rather than rumor-driven ticket pages.

Notes & trivia

• The original Broadway run opened Nov 13, 1973, and closed Feb 10, 1974, after 103 performances.
• IBDB’s song list for the 1973 Broadway production includes “I Never Want to Go Home Again,” yet the Masterworks Broadway album notes explain that some material did not make the original cast recording, reflecting how much the show shifted in tryouts and revisions.
• The Masterworks Broadway notes describe Lerner and Loewe writing multiple new songs for the stage version, with “The Contract” emerging as the most durable addition.
• The same notes recount casting upheaval: pop singer Terese Stevens was replaced by standby Karin Wolfe during the pre-Broadway period, after the material was reworked to suit the role.
• Agnes Moorehead withdrew due to illness after opening and was replaced by Arlene Francis; Moorehead died in 1974.
• The show won the 1974 Tony Award for Best Original Score, even though much of the music was known from the film, because of the eligibility rules at the time.

Reception

In 1973, “Gigi” arrived with a famous brand name and left quickly, which is often what happens when a familiar property meets the harder physics of stage storytelling. Yet the score’s sophistication kept pulling people back. Later critics and scholars have tended to split the difference: admiration for Loewe’s musical language, discomfort with the plot mechanics, and fascination with how revivals try to manage that discomfort.

“Can you reinvent champagne? Yes you can, but it may come out tasting just a little more like New York State than Veuve Clicquot the second time around.”

“Too bad about the story… This is some very flat champagne.”

They haggle “over the terms of Gigi’s employment contract” and what Gaston will barter “for her virginity.”

Quick facts

• Title: Gigi
• Broadway year: 1973 (opened Nov 13, 1973)
• Type: Musical comedy
• Book and lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner
• Music: Frederick Loewe
• Based on: Colette’s novella and the 1958 MGM film musical
• Original Broadway theatre: Uris Theatre (now Gershwin)
• Selected notable placements: “Thank Heaven for Little Girls,” “I Remember It Well,” “The Night They Invented Champagne,” “The Contract”
• Original cast recording: “Gigi – Original Broadway Cast Recording 1973” (Masterworks Broadway listing notes first LP release on Dec 1, 1973)
• Rights and availability: Stage licensing listed through Concord Theatricals
• Later major revival: 2015 Kennedy Center and Broadway revival with a new cast recording

Frequently asked questions

Who wrote the lyrics for “Gigi”?

Alan Jay Lerner wrote the book and lyrics, with music by Frederick Loewe.

Is the musical the same as the 1958 film?

The stage version is based on the same story and uses many of the film’s most famous songs, but the 1973 stage adaptation added material and went through substantial revisions in tryouts.

What is “The Contract” actually about?

It is the show’s bluntest scene: the adults negotiate the terms of Gigi’s future as a courtesan, turning romance into clauses and benefits. Many modern analyses treat it as the moment the show reveals its true stakes.

Did “Gigi” win any major awards?

Yes. The 1973 Broadway production won the 1974 Tony Award for Best Original Score.

Is there a current tour or Broadway revival planned?

There is no widely reported major tour or Broadway engagement currently announced for 2025 or 2026 in the main Broadway tracking outlets. The show remains active primarily through licensing for new productions.

Which cast album should I start with?

If you want the historical artifact, start with the 1973 original Broadway cast recording. If you want a modern studio sheen and revised book context, try the 2015 Broadway cast recording.

Key contributors

Sources: IBDB; Masterworks Broadway; Concord Theatricals; The Guardian; The New Yorker; Variety; The Washington Post; Playbill; Ovrtur.