Playlist for Sunday, January 5, 2013: Too Bad, You Can't Go Back to Moscow!

2 on the Aisle experiences a slight list to the Movie Musical side this Sunday, what with selections from Cabaret (the film), Singin' in the Rain, Silk Stockings, etc., but they're just so good!  Not to fear, however, because there are still some iconic Broadway items in the line up, from the likes of The Pajama Game and Bells are Ringing, plus a few quirky also-rans, like My Ol' Kentucky Rock N' Roll Home from Oil City Symphony. 

That latter one was co-written by Mark Hardwick, an incredible musician (keyboards, accordian, composer and lyricist) who also wrote Pump Boys, and Radio Gals...he had a cameo in Woody Allen's Danny Rose (he played the blind accordianist) and was in a few other movies, before he died at the age of 39. So we're playing 3 of his songs this Sunday...a great talent. 

And to top it off, two comedic "Russian" perspectives...whatta country! 


Sunrise Melody (Ensemble, Radio Gals)
My Ol' Kentucky Rock N' Roll Home (Mark Hardwick, Oil City Symphony)
Drinkin' Shoes (Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, Pump Boys and
                                   Dinettes)
Bells Are Ringing (Ensemble, Bells Are Ringing)
Seven and a Half Cents (Ensemble, The Pajama Game)
Mein Herr (Liza Minelli, Cabaret)
Maybe this Time (Liza Minelli, Cabaret)
All I Do Is Dream Of You (Ensemble, Singin' in the Rain)
Obrien to Ryan to Goldberg (Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, Take Me
                                   Out to the Ball Game)
Well, Did You Evah? (Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, High Society)
Coffee Shop Nights (David Hyde Pierce, Karen Ziemba, Curtains)
When You Meet a Man from Chicago (Sheila Smith, Sugar)
Nitchevo (Ensemble, Tovarich)
Too Bad (Fred Astaire, Jules, Munshin, Peter Lorre, Silk Stockings)

So in Love!

Patricia Morrison and Alfred Drake, in Kiss Me Kate, 1949.

Carol Channing, as Lorelei Lee

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1949.  Carol's debut on Broadway, back when she had her own hair.

Puttin' on the Ritz...

Shuler Hensley as the Monster, and Roger Bart as Dr. Frankenstein....Mel Brook's Broadway take on Young Frankenstein. 

Merry Christmas! Annnnnd a new playlist: Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013

As I write this, the living room is awash with ribbons, wrapping paper, visiting cats dangerously close to the Christmas tree, and dinner preparations guilting me from the kitchen...BUT time, tide and playlists wait for no man!!

This Sunday, the last one of 2013, we'll begin with Puttin' on the Ritz, that Irving Berlin steal, mano a monster, from Young Frankenstein, the Musical.  Other favorites from Kiss Me Kate, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Gigi, and Good News...and we have a couple of "new to show" items, like The Man I Used to Be, from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Pipe Dream, one of their few disasters...based on John Steinbeck's Cannery Row (he even wrote the book for the show). John Steinbeck...musicals...a weird juxtaposition in my book!

And Mandy Patinkin makes an appearance (oh, how I wish IN PERSON!!), from the concert version of Follies, in which he sings a trio as a solo...Buddy's Blues. Bring on the schizophrenia!

Merry merry to you all...and see you on the flip side of this holiday!


Puttin' on the Ritz (Roger Bart, Shuler Hensley, Young Frankenstein)
Use What You Got (Sam Harris, The Life)
Purlie (Melba Moore, Purlie)
Were Thine That Special Face (Alfred Drake, Kiss Me Kate)
It's All Right With Me (Peter Cookson, Can Can)
That's Him (Mary Martin, One Touch of Venus)
Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend (Carol Channing, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
Dance With Me/Tonight at the Mardi Gras (Louisiana Purchase, The New York
                                                         Voices)
By The Sea (Angela Lansbury, Sweeney Todd)
Buddy's Blues (Mandy Patinkin, Follies)
The Man I Used To Be (William Johnson, Pipe Dream)
I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore (Alfred Drake, Gigi)
You're the Cream in my Coffee (Wayne Bryan, Claire Gerig, Good News)
Naughty Baby (Michele Pawk, John Hillner, Crazy for You)

Angela, doing her MAME thing.

Hard to imagine that under all that mink is our Mrs. Lovett! 

Turkey Lurkey Irritating-ness

Okay, it does have Donna McKechnie, but I still find this Promises, Promises number annoying!

Snow!

Why don't they make train travel like this anymore? In the club car with Bing, Rosemary, Danny and Vera.

Allan Sherman...

Yup, he did try his hand at writing a Broadway musical, but we'll sample "The Twelve Gifts of Christmas," one of his hit singles, on Sunday.

That red dress!

Liza with a Z...1972, and Ring them Bells!

Those DARK Christmas lyrics!

As promised, here are those original lyrics to Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, that Judy Garland and her director (soon to be husband), Vincent Minelli asked to be changed:

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas
It may be your last
Next year we may all be living in the past
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Pop that champagne cork
Next year we may all be living in New York."

Yeah, little Margaret O'Brien would have had nightmares with this version!  

Playlist for Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013: We Need a Little Christmas

I guess you could call this the Holiday Edition of 2 on the Aisle...about half of the show will be Christmas Broadway (or Christmas Hollywood, because we WILL have some movie musicals added in as well!).  Be A Santa from Subways are for Sleeping, We Need a Little Christmas from Mame, and Turkey Lurkey Time from Promises, Promises are some of those holiday goodies we'll hear.

On the Hollywood side...Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, from Meet Me in St. Louis.  The lyrics of that song (written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane) were rewritten for Judy Garland's character, because focused as they were on World War II, Judy found them too dark to sing to little Margaret O'Brien.  Sinatra asked for them to be changed a second time, when he covered the song...so Hugh had to keep lightening them up. Guess I'll have to wiki those original DARK lyrics!!!

Hard Candy Christmas, from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, is a real favorite, tho I'm not sure if you could actually call it a Christmas song.  Sung by Miss Mona, the owner of the "Chicken Ranch," and her "staff," it was originally sung by Carlin Glynn, and later in the movie version, by somebody named Dolly Parton.  Ring any bells?

Merry Christmas, Broadway-philes!


Happy Holidays/Let Yourself Go (Jeffry Denman, ensemble, White Christmas
                                                           the Musical)
12 Days 'til Christmas (Ensemble, She Loves Me)
We Need a Little Christmas (Angela Lansbury, Mame)
Be a Santa (Sydney Chaplin, Subways are for Sleeping)
Turkey Lurkey Time (Ensemble, Promises Promises)
Snow (Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, "Vera Ellen," "Rosemary Clooney," White
                                                            Christmas, the film)
I Got Rhythm (Gene Kelly, An American in Paris)
Slap That Bass (Fred Astaire, Shall We Dance)
Sister (Cass Morgan, Debra Monk, Pump Boys and Dinettes)
Hard Candy Christmas (Carlin Glynn, Ensemble, The Best Little Whorehouse in
                                                             Texas)
The Twelve Gifts of Christmas (Allan Sherman, For Swingin' Livers Only!)
Ring Them Bells (Liza Minelli, Liza with a Z)
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Judy Garland, Meet Me in St. Louis)

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

I don't???  Celeste Holm and Frankie, dissing High Society.

Judy...

Ms. Garland.  On the playlist for this coming Sunday (12/15/13)

Wouldn't It Be Lovely?

Julie Andrews and her Cockney gang...My Fair Lady.

Playlist for Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013: Movie Musicals? Isn't that Cheating?

So, as promised, 2 on the Aisle will sneak out of those aisle seats for a few "numbers" this week, grab some popcorn and dash into the movies!  Just for three songs, so don't hyperventilate; we'll be back to Broadway soon enough.  Judy Garland's "The Man Who Got Away," and that Sinatra/Holm rendition of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" are worth it.  Due to my staged musical obsession, I have a ways to go in collecting these movie musical gems, but I am happy to begin...and as I get 'em, you'll hear 'em!

Along for the ride will be two selections from The Rothchilds, a musical from 1970, with music by that Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick team. They were fresh from their success with Fiddler on the Roof back then, and supposedly turned down writing The Happy Time, figuring that writing about a French Canadian family was too close to that Jewish family out there in Anatevka...so they waited and picked The Rothchilds, which is all about that Jewish banking family in Frankfurt.  Ahhhh, I see their cunning plan!  Well, not really.  Love the music, but it certainly shares (more than) a feeling with their previous work. 

And hang on for Alice Ghostley singing a beguine!  That'll raise the hairs on the back of your neck!  "See" you on Sunday...


Wouldn't It Be Lovely?  (Julie Andrews, My Fair Lady)
Some People (Ethel Merman, Gypsy)
If My Friends Could See Me Now (Gwen Verdon, Sweet Charity)
I Say It's Spinach and to Hell With It (Jeffry Denman, Meredith Patterson)
I Want to Be Happy (Jack Gilford, Helen Gallagher, No, No, Nanette)
The Man Who Got Away (Judy Garland, A Star is Born)
S'Wonderful (Gene Kelly, Georges Guetary, An American in Paris)
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm, High Society)
One Room (Hal Linden, Leila Martin, The Rothchilds)
Everything (Hal Linden, Leila Martin, Ensemble, The Rothchilds)
Hernando's Hideaway (Carol Haney, Ensemble, The Pajama Game)
Boston Beguine (Alice Ghostley, New Faces of 1952)
Dear Mr. Gershwin (Klea Blackhurst, Radio Gals)
The Song that Goes Like This (Tim Curry, Sara Ramirez, Spamalot)

I'll Go Home with Bonnie Jean

Gene and Van...Brigadoon!

Recorded Show on 12/8/13

The "2 on the Aisle" show this coming Sunday, Dec. 8th, will be a recorded one from the archives.  We'll be back LIVE on Sunday, Dec. 15th, with a new "Movie Musical Corner!"  Have a great week....