Playlist for Sunday, July 31, 2016: In France, they'd call it "Fourchette."

Deep Summer. Temps are cookin', and so is my brain. While concocting this week's playlist, in between eating ice and taking cold showers, I found an interesting theme coming to light: If you come to a fork in the road, take it. People you thought did one thing, do another, sometimes at the SAME TIME they're doing the first thing. I'm sure you got that in one read.

Take for instance Zero Mostel, whose first chosen "career" was that of Artist. While marking time in his acting career (specifically when he was denied work due to blacklisting), he painted, calling it one of the best times in his life. His turned his first job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as a guide,  into a comic routine. And then there's Trouble: Robert Preston, Harold Hill incarnate, right? Nope. He played bad guys in westerns and crime movies first. Wouldn't THAT have chilled the parents of River City's youth to the marrow!

John Cariani, late of Something Rotten! (where he played Nigel Bottom, playwright) is in fact a playwright (!) who created Almost, Maine (which is probably playing right down at the end of your block, no matter where you live).  Jessica Molaskey, torch singer YES, Broadway star YES, but also a radio personality of some note, broadcasting Radio Deluxe with hubby John Pizarelli (from "the most deluxe living room from high atop Lexington Avenue"). Needless to say, I'd like that "living room."

And last but certainly not least of these fork-takers, Paul Simon, who back in the 90s insisted on creating and producing his own Broadway show. Pop star, right? Know ANYTHING about Broadway, producing, writing musicals, Paul? His control-freaky mindset did much to tank the show...but again, he took the fork, and decided to do 2 things. One rather badly: Capeman.

I think I need another cold shower. I'm beginning to talk like Yogi. 


Comedy Tonight (Zero Mostel, Company, A Funny Thing Happened On The
        Way To The Forum)
Rock Island (Paul Reed, Ensemble, The Music Man)
Sadder But Wiser (Robert Preston, The Music Man)
Gary, Indiana (Eddie Hodges, The Music Man)
Ya Got Trouble (Robert Preston, Ensemble, The Music Man)
Running In Place (Karen Ziemba, Steel Pier)
Everybody's Girl (Debra Monk, Steel Pier)
Steel Pier (Gregory Harrison, Karen Ziemba, Steel Pier)
Stars And The Moon (Jessica Molaskey, Songs For A New World)
Still Hurting (Jessica Molaskey, The Last Five Years)
Surabaya Santa (Jessica Molaskey, Songs For A New World)
Just One Step (Jessica Molaskey, Songs For A New World)
I Don't Care (Judy Garland, A Musical Anthology)
Bye Bye Baby (Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
Make The Man Love Me (Barbara Cook, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn)
Losing My Mind (Barbara Cook, Follies)
It's All For You (Judy Garland, A Musical Anthology)
Welcome To The Renaissance (Michael James Scott, Ensemble, Something
        Rotten!)
I Love The Way (Kate Reinders, John Cariani, Something Rotten!)
We See The Light (Brooks Ashmanskas, Company, Something Rotten!)
Born In Puerto Rico (Paul Simon, Songs From The Capeman)
No Lullabies For Luis (Ensemble, Runaways)
In The Heights (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ensemble, In The Heights)
I'm Calm (Jack Gilford, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)
Pretty Little Picture (Zero Mostel, Preshy Marker, Brian Davies,  A Funny
       Thing...)
Bring Me My Bride (Ronald Holgate, Zero Mostel, Ensemble, A Funny
      Thing...)
Finale (Zero Mostel, A Funny Thing...)