Who sings the number in the Broadway song list?

IBDB credits Fay Apple, J. Bowden Hapgood, and Boys, which matches how the scene is staged as flirtation with a surrounding frame.

Does Hapgood believe she is really French?

No. Masterworks Broadway notes he discovers the act but chooses to answer her invitation anyway.

Where can I find the original cast-album track listing details?

Masterworks Broadway lists it on the Original Broadway Cast Recording as track 7, timed at 3:22, with the album's first LP release date given as April 17, 1964.

Is there a complete recording that places it within the full Act II sequence?

Yes. A complete-recording release lists it after "The Lady from Lourdes," which clarifies the run-up into the seduction scene.

Why is the duet styled like a French film?

Because Fay is trying on a role that permits desire and play. The style is her method.

Come Play Wiz Me Lyrics — Anyone Can Whistle

Come Play Wiz Me Lyrics

FAY:
Docteur, Docteur, vous ?tes charmant,

HAPGOOD:
Mademoiselle, vous aussi.

FAY:
You like my hair, yes? My lips, yes?
Ze sway of my-How you say? - Of my hips, yes?
You wish to play wiz me?
Okay wiz me,
Come out and play wiz me.

HAPGOOD:
Mademoiselle, vous ?tes jolie.

FAY:
Docteur, Docteur, si gentil.
You like my style, yes ? My brand, yes ?
Ze lay of my-How you say?-Of my land, yes ?
You wish to play wiz me?
To stray wiz me,
Come out and play wiz me.

HAPGOOD:
Mademoiselle, vous ?tes timide.

FAY :
Docteur, Docteur, you're so right.
I like your-How you say?-
Imperturbable perspicacity.

It isn't how you say, it's what you see!
We have ze lark, yes? Ze fling, yes?
Ze play is ze-How you say? -Is the thing, yes?
If you will play wiz me,
Mon cheri,
Though we may not agree
Today,
In time-
Mais oui! -
We may.

HAPGOOD:
I like your hair-

FAY:
Yes?

HAPGOOD:
Your lips-

FAY:
Yes?

HAPGOOD:
Ze sway of your-How you say? - Of your hips, yes?

FAY:
Yes?

HAPGOOD:
Come up and play wiz me.

FAY:
Come out and play wiz me.

BOTH:
Come on and play wiz me.

FAY:
Docteur, Docteur, let's play, Docteur...

HAPGOOD:
Mademoiselle, you're not well!
But I like your style-

FAY:
Yes?

HAPGOOD:
Your brand-

FAY:
Yes?

HAPGOOD:
Ze lay of your-How you say?-Of your land-

FAY:
Yes?

HAPGOOD:
I like your-How you say?-
Unmistakable authenticity!
It isn't how you say, it's what I see!

BOTH:
We have ze lark, yes? Ze fling, yes?
Ze play is ze-How you say?-Is the thing, yes?
If you will play wiz me,
Mon cheri,
Though we may not agree
Today,
In time-
Mais oui! -

HAPGOOD:
We may.

FAY:
Maybe-

HAPGOOD:
B?b?-

FAY:
Mais oui! -

BOTH:
We may!
Last Update: February, 12th 2026

Song Overview

Come Play Wiz Me lyrics by Lee Remick and Harry Guardino — Fay and Hapgood flirt like they have been waiting for permission to misbehave.

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

Work: Act II duet from Anyone Can Whistle (Broadway, 1964).
Who sings it: Fay Apple, J. Bowden Hapgood, and Boys (production song list credit).
Where it lands: Early Act II, after the town has been reorganized by Hapgood's scheme and the chase energy has reset.
What it sounds like: A sly comic-seduction number that uses style as costume.
Why it matters: Fay experiments with freedom by inventing a persona, and Hapgood responds because he recognizes the play-acting as truth-telling.

Scene from Come Play Wiz Me by Lee Remick and Harry Guardino — The duet runs on timing: tease, dodge, counter-tease, then a sudden softening.

Anyone Can Whistle (1964) - stage musical - non-diegetic with diegetic attitude. In the story, Fay is disguised as "Ze Lady from Lourdes" and uses flirtation as camouflage while she carries records that expose the town's fraud. Masterworks Broadway describes Hapgood discovering she is not really French, then choosing to answer her siren call anyway, which tells you the dramatic engine: the seduction is a chess move, but it is also a rare moment when both characters enjoy the game.

Creation History

The show opened April 4, 1964 at the Majestic Theatre and closed quickly, yet the cast album locked the score into circulation. The Masterworks Broadway cast-album page lists "Come Play Wiz Me" on the original recording with Lee Remick and Harry Guardino, timed at 3:22, and notes the album's first LP release date as April 17, 1964. Later projects kept returning to this scene, including the 1995 Carnegie Hall concert recording and a "first complete recording" release that documents Act II sequencing with the number placed after "The Lady from Lourdes."

Song Meaning and Annotations

Lee Remick and Harry Guardino performing Come Play Wiz Me — Video moments that reveal the meaning: Fay hides in plain sight, and the hiding becomes a door.

Plot

Act II has the town marching in Hapgood's two groups. Schub runs off to warn Cora, leaving Fay alone in disguise. Hapgood returns, clocks the act, and still plays along. They flirt in the style of a French romantic film, and Fay tries to recruit him to expose the miracle scam. He refuses to crusade, but the encounter forces Fay to articulate what the disguise does for her: it lets her act like a person who can want things.

Song Meaning

This duet is not only about attraction. It is about permission. Fay, who is usually methodical and guarded, tests a character she can inhabit without apology. The lyric is full of wordplay and split-language flirtation, and the effect is that the number behaves like a mask that reveals. New Line Theatre calls it sophisticated and sexy, and that fits: the sophistication is in how the song makes role-playing feel like the first honest thing either of them has done all night.

Annotations

He discovers that Ze Lady is not really French. But he does not mind and answers her siren call.

That summary matters because it defines Hapgood's choice. He is not fooled. He is consenting to the fiction, which turns the duet into a pact rather than a con.

"Come Play Wiz Me" is a sophisticated, sexy song, full of witty lyrics, puns, and playing the French lines against the English.

When the languages rub against each other, the scene gains a second rhythm: translation as foreplay. Fay is translating herself, too, from nurse into someone capable of risk.

Driving rhythm and comic mechanics

The number keeps its footing by treating flirtation as a pattern of short moves. The tempo feels built for physical staging: a step in, a step away, then a well-timed glance that says more than the rhyme.

Emotional arc

It starts as camouflage, peaks as game-playing, then tilts toward something gentler. The duet does not resolve the plot. It changes what the characters believe is possible for themselves.

Symbols and persona

The wig and accent are not just disguise props. They are Fay's experiment with a self that can be frivolous without guilt. In a show obsessed with who is sane, she tries on a version of sanity that includes pleasure.

Shot of Come Play Wiz Me by Lee Remick and Harry Guardino — A quick slice of the duet: wit on top, need underneath.

Technical Information (Quick Facts)

Song: Come Play Wiz Me
Artist: Lee Remick and Harry Guardino (Original Broadway Cast recording crediting)
Featured: Fay Apple; J. Bowden Hapgood; Boys
Composer: Stephen Sondheim
Producer: Goddard Lieberson (cast album)
Release Date: April 17, 1964 (first LP release date for the original cast recording)
Genre: Musical theatre
Instruments: Vocal duet with orchestra
Label: Columbia Masterworks; Masterworks Broadway (reissues and catalog)
Mood: Flirtatious; sly; lightly dangerous
Length: 03:22 (cast-album listing)
Track #: 7 (cast-album listing)
Language: English (with brief French-style lines and phrasing)
Album (if any): Anyone Can Whistle - Original Broadway Cast Recording; Anyone Can Whistle - Live at Carnegie Hall 1995; Anyone Can Whistle - First Complete Recording
Music style: Comic seduction duet with split-language wordplay
Poetic meter: Conversational scansion built for quick repartee

Frequently Asked Questions

Who sings the number in the Broadway song list?: IBDB credits Fay Apple, J. Bowden Hapgood, and Boys, which matches how the scene is staged as flirtation with a surrounding frame.
What is Fay's disguise during the scene?: She appears as "Ze Lady from Lourdes," a French-styled persona that lets her move through the town without being recognized.
Does Hapgood believe she is really French?: No. Masterworks Broadway notes he discovers the act but chooses to answer her invitation anyway.
Why is the duet styled like a French film?: Because Fay is trying on a role that permits desire and play. The style is not garnish, it is her method.
Is the song mostly comedy or mostly romance?: It is comedy with a romantic charge. The wit keeps the scene airborne while the subtext moves toward trust.
Where can I find the original cast-album track listing details?: Masterworks Broadway lists it on the Original Broadway Cast Recording as track 7, timed at 3:22, with the album's first LP release date given as April 17, 1964.
Is it on the 1995 Carnegie Hall concert release?: Yes, the concert recording includes the scene and preserves additional connective material around Act II.
Is there a complete recording that places it within the full Act II sequence?: Yes. A complete-recording release lists it after "The Lady from Lourdes," which clarifies the run-up into the seduction scene.
What is the song's dramatic job in one sentence?: It lets Fay turn disguise into agency and lets Hapgood reveal interest without pretending he is fooled.

Additional Info

Act II of this musical is where the show stops apologizing for its own oddness and starts weaponizing it. In that context, this duet is a crooked little jewel: it is not just two people flirting, it is one person inventing herself in order to speak. Masterworks Broadway, in a blog piece about second acts, describes the moment as Remick vamping Guardino before Fay drops the facade in the title song. That is the through-line. This number is the last time the mask feels like fun, before the mask becomes confession.

New Line Theatre points to the lyric's split-language play and its punning texture, which is helpful as a staging clue. The song should not be played as smooth seduction alone. It should have the slightly desperate brightness of someone discovering that acting is easier than living, until it is not.

Key Contributors

Entity	Type	Relationship
Stephen Sondheim	Person	Wrote music and text; built the duet around wordplay and persona as dramatic action.
Arthur Laurents	Person	Book writer; set the disguise-and-seduction scene as a pivot into Fay's self-revelation.
Lee Remick	Person	Originated Fay Apple; credited performer on the cast recording track.
Harry Guardino	Person	Originated J. Bowden Hapgood; credited performer on the cast recording track.
Goddard Lieberson	Person	Cast-album producer; credited with insisting the recording be made despite the short run.
Internet Broadway Database	Organization	Lists the production song credit: Fay Apple, Hapgood, and Boys.
Masterworks Broadway	Organization	Publishes cast-album track listing and Carnegie Hall scene summary for the duet.
Jay Records	Organization	Released a complete recording with the track placed in Act II sequence after "The Lady from Lourdes."
Majestic Theatre	Venue	Broadway opening venue for the 1964 production.
Carnegie Hall	Venue	Hosted the 1995 concert performance that preserved additional material around Act II.

Sources

Sources: Masterworks Broadway cast album page for Anyone Can Whistle Original Broadway Cast Recording, Internet Broadway Database production listing, Masterworks Broadway Carnegie Hall album page, Masterworks Broadway blog Second-Acting Your Cast Albums, New Line Theatre Anyone Can Whistle analysis, Cherry Red listing for Anyone Can Whistle First Complete Recording (Jay Records), Wikipedia Anyone Can Whistle synopsis

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