Playlist for Sunday, May 5, 2019: Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we try to carve a playlist!

This week: Plethora Of Themes! No, that's not the name of a musical. That's just a lot of themes. I can't seem to stay away from them...all these strange connections in my brain, linking Hair with Hairspray (for not the obvious unwashed reasons!), Amelies with Matildas, Cigarettes & Sunbeams, The Bronxville Darby with the petty pilferers of 70, Girls, 70. Somehow all these inter-weavings make sense to me, but be sure NOT to tell me if it confuses YOU! Just pour yourself an early-in-the-season lemonade (gin-laced?) and flow with it. :)

Speaking of gin (or at least the bathtub created kind), I've recently come across a bevy of songs from the 1920s and 30s, thanks to Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, a Netflix series that I'm currently gulping down. Mildred Bailey goodies, Harry Reser's Jumping Jacks, King Oliver, and an Australian jazz singer (say what?) named Frank Coughlan ("Positively!")...These nuggets are either nicely integrated into each episode of Miss Fisher, or played with the credits, and it makes for a "what the hell is THAT song?" moment. Thanks to the internet and Youtube, one can search 'em out, rinse and repeat the experience. So I'm winding up the Victrola NOW for Sunday's sampling.

Plus that Annie Get Your Gun revival of 1999 (which Ben Brantley dissed, but jeez, Ben!), lots of "Good Morning" salutations (which would be annoying without coffee), Kander mit Ebb, Danny Kaye, and Judy Judy Judy...all 3 of them trying to do "Better!" Looking forward to it!



 There's No Business Like Show Business (Tom Wopat, Company, Annie Get
      Your Gun)
Good Morning Baltimore (Marissa Jaret Winokur, Ensemble, Hairspray)
Good Morning (Debbie Reynolds, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Singin' In The
      Rain)
Your Good Morning (Lester James, Fia Karin, Parade)
Good Morning, Good Day (Gavin Kreel, Zachary Levi, Michael McGrath,
      Jane Krakowski, Nicholas Barasch, She Loves Me)
Good Morning Starshine (Caissie Levy, The Tribe, Hair)
Rich Is Better (Marlyn Mason, Fran Stevens, Sammy Smith, Mara Worth,
      How Now, Dow Jones)
Better (Lonny Price, Company, A Class Act)
High Is Better Than Low (Mary Martin, George D. Wallace, Jennie)
The Bronxville Darby And Joan (Jon Richards, Paula Bauersmith, Sail Away)
If Only You Had Cared For Me (Frank Thornton, Ursula Smith, Me & My Girl)
I Remember It Well (Howard McGillan, Victoria Clark, Gigi)
Do We? (Lucie Lancaster, Gil Lamb, 70, Girls, 70)
Positively, Absolutely (Does She Love Me?)(Harry Reser And His Six Jumping
      Jacks)
A Cigarette & A Silhouette (Mildred Bailey, Red Norvo And His Orchestra)
You Were Only Passing Time With Me (King Oliver And His Orchestra)
I'm Sailing On A Sunbeam (Frank Coughlan And The Trocadero Orchestra,
      with Des Tooley)
There Must Be Something Better Than Love (Pearl Bailey, Arms And The Girl)
Better Luck Next Time (Judy Garland, Easter Parade)
Isn't This Better? (Karen Mason, Brenda Pressley, Robert Cuccioli, 
      And The World Goes 'Round)
Times Are Hard For Dreamers (Savvy Crawford, Amelie)
Naughty (Adrianna Bertola, Matilda)
Halfway (Savvy Crawford, Philippa Soo, Amelie)
When I Grow Up (Adrianna Bertola, Lauren Ward, Company, Matilda)
Life Could Not Better Be (Danny Kaye, The Court Jester)
You Better Love Me (Tammy Grimes, High Spirits)
Better With A Man (Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide To Love And Murder)
Who Do You Love, I Hope (Andrew Palermo, Nicole Ruth Snelson, Annie Get
      Your Gun)
My Defenses Are Down (Tom Wopat, Male Ensemble, Annie Get Your Gun)
I Got Lost In His Arms (Bernadette Peters, Annie Get Your Gun)
Anything You Can Do (Bernadette Peters, Tom Wopat, Annie Get Your Gun)
Finale (Company, Annie Get Your Gun)