Dave Malloy
Charming
[HÉLÈNE]
Oh my enchantress
Oh you beautiful thing
Charming, charming
Oh, this is really beyond anything
These dresses suit you
This one, “metallic gauze”
Straight from Paris
Anything suits you, my charmer

Oh how she blushes, how she blushes, my pretty!
Oh how she blushes, how she blushes, my pretty!
Charmante, charmante!
You are such a lovely thing
Oh where have you been?
It’s such a shame to bury pearls in the country
Charmante, charmante, charming

Now if you have a dress
You must wear it out
How can you live in Moscow and not go nowhere?
So you love somebody, charming
But that’s no reason to shut yourself in
Even if you’re engaged
You must wear your dress out somewhere
My brother dined with me yesterday
But he didn’t eat a thing
Cuz he was thinking ’bout you
He kept sighing about you

Oh how she blushes, how she blushes, my pretty!
Oh how she blushes, how she blushes, my pretty!
Charmante, charmante!
You are such a lovely thing
Oh where have you been?
It’s such a shame to bury pearls in the country
Charmante, charmante, charming

Now a woman with a dress
Is a frightening and powerful thing
You are not a child
When you’re draped in scarlet and lace
Your fiancé would want you to have fun
Rather than be bored to death
Alliez dans le monde
Plutôt que de dépérir d’ennui!

My brother is quite madly in love
He is quite madly in love with you, my dear

Oh how she blushes, how she blushes, my pretty!
Oh how she blushes, how she blushes, my pretty!
Charmante, charmante!
You are such a lovely thing
Oh where have you been?
It’s such a shame to bury pearls in the country
Charmante, charmante, charming
Such a shame to bury pearls in the country
Charmante, charmante, charming
[NATASHA]
What once seemed so terrible
Now seems simple and natural
She knows that I’m engaged
And still she talks so frankly
So it must be all right!

[HÉLÈNE]
There is a ball at my house tonight
You must come
Oh your wide-open, wondering eyes!
You will be the prettiest there!
How the thought of throwing them together amuses me!
You must come

[NATASHA]
I will come