Jimmy Cagney....White Heat and then some! Not just an intense, crime-crazed, gangster pigeon-holed actor, but a singer/dancer who learned to tap on the streets of Yorkville (now the "UPPA" East Side of Manhattan, but then an Irish/Jewish section of low repute), hoofing away on the cellar doors and sidewalk pavements of his youth. When tap was king, and doing it was cool. Well, he got to show THAT side of his talents in Yankee Doodle Dandy, a film from 1942...with Walter Huston as his dad, and a bevy of stars who popped in for cameos. From that legendary movie, we'll hear an appropriate theme song for this holiday weekend, and then some.
Ethel Fasten Your Seat Belts Merman makes an appearance, too. A mini-Merm tribute, with Heat Wave, Rose's Turn from Gypsy, and a little known musical called Happy Hunting? What were they thinking? Her co-star for that bagel was Latin Lover Fernando Lamas. The Merm later said that this show was like "a jeep among limosines... if you didn't mind a bumpy ride, it got you there"; at the same time on Broadway ran West Side Story, My Fair Lady and Damn Yankees. "Hunting" was an old-styled book musical, more suited to the 1940s, whose composer (like that character in Bells are Ringing) was actually a dentist, moonlighting as a songwriter. Well, from that we get "Mr. Livingston." I presume.
Along with the usual suspects, we have Urinetown (with Officers Lockstock AND Barrel), Radio Gals, and a whole Dirty Rotten finale, with sleazy saxes and blousy brasses. Those are my favorite. Visions of smoky dance floors, nightclub orchestras, and questionable patrons. And we're right back to Jimmy.
Yankee Doodle Dandy (James Cagney, Yankee Doodle Dandy)
Harrigan (James Cagney, Sally Sweetland, Yankee Doodle Dandy)
Mary's A Grand Old Name (James Cagney, Yankee Doodle Dandy)
Mary (Jacqueline Alloway, George M!)
Give My Regards To Broadway (Colin Pritchard and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra)
A Little Girl From Little Rock (Carol Channing, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
It's High Time (Company, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
Bye Bye Bady (Jack McCauley, Ensemble, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
Mamie Is Mimi (Honi Coles, Cholly Atkins, Anita Alvarez, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
Too Much Exposition (Jeff McCarthy, Spencer Kayden, Urinetown)
Urinetown (Ensemble, Urinetown)
Don't Be The Bunny (John Cullum, Spencer Kayden, Urinetown)
Cop Song (Jeff McCarthy, Daniel Marcus, Ensemble, Urinetown)
Give The Little Lady (Elaine Stritch, Ensemble, Goldilocks)
I Can't Be In Love (Don Ameche, Goldilocks)
I Never Know When (Elaine Stritch, Goldilocks)
Anything You Can Do (Ray Middleton, Ethel Merman, Annie Get Your Gun)
Who Do You Love, I Hope? (Robert Lenn, Kathleen Carnes, Annie Get Your Gun)
I Got Lost In His Arms (Ethel Merman, Annie Get Your Gun)
You're Just In Love (Donald O'Connor, Ethel Merman, Call Me Madam)
Mr. Livingston (Ethel Merman, Happy Hunting)
Heat Wave (Ethel Merman, As Thousands Cheer)
Make It Another Old Fashioned, Please (Ethel Merman, Panama Hattie)
Rose's Turn (Ethel Merman, Gypsy)
Sunrise Melody (Eileen Barnett, Ensemble, Radio Gals)
My Ol' Kentucky Rock and Roll Home (Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Ensemble,
Oil City Symphony)
Catfish (Mark Hardwick, Jim Wann, Pump Boys And Dinettes)
Dear Mr. Gershwin (Klea Blackhurst, Radio Gals)
My Ship (Jill Cooper, Lady In The Dark)
September Song (Lotte Lenya, Knickerbocker Holiday)
The Saga Of Jenny (Charlotte Collingwood, Lady In The Dark)
Dirty Rotten Number (John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
Smash! (Meg Hilty, Bombshell)
Butter Outta Cream (Tom Wopat, Aaron Tveit, Catch Me If You Can)
They Just Keep Moving The Line (Megan Hilty, Bombshell)
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