Q: The instructions "a la Laura Lyros" begin the musical number "Bless the Lord" in Godspell. I've done a web search and come up with nothing. Could you help?

A; "Laura Lyro" is an old, irritating typo, which would be funny if it weren't so embarrassing. It stems from the days when I did not proofread published music of mine carefully on the naive assumption that it would be done correctly; I have since learned to proofread at least twice. In any event, the direction should read "a la Laura Nyro" -- Laura Nyro was of course the famous singer/songwriter of the late 60's and early '70's whose hits included "Stony End", "Stone Soul Picnic", "Eli's Coming", and songs like "Wedding Bell Blues" and "Save the Country", the feel of which were very influential on me as a writer and particularly on "Bless the Lord". If you don't know her work, do yourself the favor of getting a copy of her classic album "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession" on Columbia Records. Also good are her eponymous first album, "Laura Nyro" and the third album "New York Tendaberry." Thanks for the question and the opportunity for me to clear this up; I'm going to take the liberty of posting this reply on the bulletin board, lest others misunderstand the same typo. Yours truly, Stephen Schwartz