Playlist For December 5, 2021: Rise!

Everyone and his brother have been posting about Sondheim...so perhaps I shouldn't add to the Overwhelm. The only thing I can say is that, with a couple of exceptions like Peter Pan and Hello Dolly, Sondheim is what turned me into a Broadway nut. And thanks also to him, I don't fall for the bells and whistles, the spectacular smoke and mirrors type of Broadway (that means Phantom and Cats and Miss Saigon's helicopter). Yes, I have been known to thrill at those 17 extra choruses of Jerry Herman's and his glockenspiels, but given the choice, I much prefer emotionally ambivalent, neurotic, smart lyrics, and melodies that you HAVE to listen to several times to appreciate, let alone sing back. That's Pacific Overtures and Sunday In The Park and Merrily. 

 

 

My first Sondheim musical was Company. I'd just moved to New York City and despite living with a boyfriend, and being part of a new-to-town "gang," I spent plenty of time alone in that Hell's Kitchen apartment, delving into somebody else's LP collection. And there I found "Company".  The first time I heard "The Ladies Who Lunch", I didn't even understand it. Who the hell were these ladies? Why was Joanne so pissed off at them? And what about Mahler? (They mentioned him once, and then...? :) This was 1978 so I was way late to the Sondheim game, but then ...but then...A FRIEND (Richard Pugh, a lyric tenor, long since passed) got a part in the chorus in the original production of Sweeney (he also understudied the part of Beadle Bamford!). We (the new-to-NYC rookies, fresh out of SUNYs) went about 17 times. Over and over. We prided ourselves on knowing all the lyrics. We'd quote Sondheim anecdotes over East Side brunches (when $5 got you Eggs Benedict and 2 Mimosas!). He wrote flops and lost money and seemed emotionally scarred. We could relate to that! We smugly referred to him as "Steve." Like we knew him and he knew us. Sondheim connected us to New York City and starting out and screwing up, and I felt as close to being understood (by a Broadway composer?) as I ever would. 

 

 

I ran the Central Park reservoir to strains of "Someone In A Tree" (it's the ripple, not the sea). I detoured thru Grand Central singing "Another Hundred People". I now understood "The Ladies Who Lunch". And cried thru the first act of Sunday In The Park, knowing for the first time that I had just married a man I didn't love. !?!?! Stephen, you mind reader. You heart reader.

I'm not going to find a piano bar to cry in. Or join Lin in Times Square to sing his anthems. This is too personal. But I can salute/mourn/remember (and remember the old me) with his music everyday. Like Sunday. Not an ordinary Sunday. :)

 

Side By Side By Side (Ensemble, Side By Side By Sondheim)

Company (Elaine Stritch, Barbara Barrie, Charles Kimbrough, George Coe, Beth Howland, Steve Elmore, Charles Braswell, Company)

Another Hundred People (Pamela Myers, Company)

Being Alive (Dean Jones, Company)

Lovely (Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum) 

Impossible (David Burns, Brian Davies, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)

Finishing The Hat (Mandy Patinkin, Sunday In The Park With George)

We Do Not Belong Together (Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Sunday In The Park With George)

Take Me To The World (Charmian Carr, Anthony Perkins, Evening Primrose)

Loving You (Donna Murphy, Passion)

Anyone Can Whistle (Lee Remick, Anyone Can Whistle)

My Friends (Len Cariou, Angela Lansbury, Sweeney Todd)

Pretty Women (Len Cariou, Edmund Lyndeck, Sweeney Todd)

A Little Priest (Angela Lansbury, Len Cariou, Sweeney Todd) 

Johanna (Victor Garber, Sweeney Todd)

Someone In A Tree (Mako, Gedde Watanabe, Mark Hsu Syers, James Dybas, Pacific Overtures)

Poems (Isao Sato, Sab Shimono, Pacific Overtures)

A Bowler Hat (Isao Sato, Pacific Overtures)

Our Time (Lonny Price, Jim Walton, Ann Morrison, Merrily We Roll Along)  A Good Thing Going (Lonny Price, Merrily We Roll Along) 

A Good Thing Going (Lonny Price, Merrily We Roll Along) 

Not A Day Goes By (Bernadette Peters, Merrily We Roll Along)

I Remember (Charmian Carr, Evening Primrose)

Every Day A Little Death (Victoria Mallory, Patricia Elliot, A Little Night Music)

No One Is Alone (Bernadette Peters, Into The Woods) 

Broadway Baby (Elaine Stritch, Follies)

Losing My Mind (Barbara Cook, Follies)

Move On (Bernadette Peters, Sunday In The Park With George)

Send In The Clowns (Glynis Johns, A Little Night Music)

 

Playlist For November 28, 2021: The Leftovers Edition

First off, hope you all had the kind of Thanksgiving you wanted.

With: 

a.) Relatives

b.) No relatives (often easier)

c.) Turkey, tofurkey, dump cake, jello molds (mold?), and/or kale au gratin. (Pick 2. Or 7.)

d.) An on-your-own/feet-up/old-movie-binge kinda holiday, with popcorn or pizza or popcorn pizza. (It MUST exist, right?) 

Yup, both kinds exist.

Pizza Popcorn 

ANNNND

Popcorn Pizza.

 

All good. I just hope it was of your OWN choosing, and that you got the perfect amount of relaxation shoe-horned in there somehow. 

I know I did. Like a bit of alllll the above, plus some Xmas planning, cuz that'll be here in about 47 minutes. Plus time for flossing out the popcorn. 

And speaking of leftover kernels, this week's 2 On The Aisle edition will face the rapidly-becoming-questionable LEFTOVERS stockpiled in your fridge. Which gives me a great excuse to play FOOD songs. (Leftovers? you counter. What leftovers? They're all a.) eaten, b.) chucked, c.) given away to Uncle Fester. There is nothing left-for-over!) See, I assume a lot. And yes, it's a total excuse to play Food, Glorious Food songs dealing with Turkey (Lurkey) Spinach (Gotta Eat Your's!), Bananas, Clams, Cakes, and Candy. Yup, they're all grist for the Broadway mill, both classic and absurd.

So listen"fully"! After that, we'll rejoin our composer/lyricist series (I promise), go on diets...and then Christmas Broadway, of course. Then a whole new year. Definitely hoping for brand new Broadway in my stocking. :)

 

Overture/Food, Glorious Food (Ensemble, Oliver!)

Turkey Lurkey Time (Donna McKechnie, Baayork Lee, Margo Sappington, Ensemble, Promises, Promises)

That's The Way It Happens (Isabel Bigley, Bill Hayes, Me And Juliet)

This Was A Real Nice Clambake (Renee Fleming, Company, Carousel)

Apples, Peaches And Cherries (Peggy Lee) 

Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries (Walt Harrah & Friends) 

The Pineapple Song (Lotte Lenya, Jack Gilford, Cabaret)

Two Ladies In De Shade Of De Banana Tree (Enid Mosier, House Of Flowers)

Spinach (Meredith Patterson, Jeffrey Denman, Face The Music)

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off (Matthew Broderick, Kelli O'Hara, Nice Work If You Can Get It)

You've Gotta Eat Your Spinach, Baby (Jack Haley, Alice Faye, Shirley Temple, Poor Little Rich Girl)

Cheese Nips (Brynn O'Malley, Santino Fontana, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater)

The Ladies Who Lunch (Patti LuPone, Don't Monkey With Broadway)

Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm (Bonnie Scott, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying)

What's Inside (Jessie Mueller, Waitress)

What Baking Can Do (Jessie Mueller, Waitress)

The Cake I Had (Mary Louise Wilson, Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens)

Slappin' The Cakes On Me (Dave Frishberg, At The Algonquin)

The Candy Man (Christian Borle, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory)

Beautiful Candy (Anna Maria Alberghetti, Ensemble, Carnival)

No More Candy (Barbara Cook, She Loves Me)

Candy (Johnny Mercer, Jo Stafford, The Pied Pipers)

Hard Candy Christmas (Pamela Blair, "The Girls", The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas)

Vanilla Ice Cream (Laura Benanti, She Loves Me)

Honey Bun (Kelli O'Hara, South Pacific)

Let Me Be Your Sugar Baby (Ensemble, Sugar Babies)

Bruce (Bertie Carvel, Jack Broderick, Matilda)

Let's Have Another Cup Of Coffee (Enric Madriguera And His Orchestra)

40 Cups Of Coffee (Ella Mae Morse)

Tea For Two (Roger Rathburn, Susan Watson, No, No, Nanette)

When I Take My Sugar To Tea (The Boswell Sisters)

Yes, We Have No Bananas (Company, Bullets Over Broadway)

Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch (The Four Tops)

 

 

 

Pass the mashies!

All the "Broadway Best" for your Thanksgiving Holiday!

 The beginning of the big holiday month (plus) of celebrating and gratefulness and social-ness and all things PARTY. Hope you and yours have a wonderful time (with or without blunderbusses)!

Barbara Nichols!

Bette Davis...that bird has be stuffed!

Joan and her chafing dishes...

Angela Green (who?)

Lois Lane, wait...I mean Noel Neill!

Saluting, on point, with a gun...Vera, this is nuts! 

No clue who these dames are...thoughts???

Playlist For Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021: ThanksGIMME Time!

First off, Happy Thanksgiving...but of course you know I can't do a sappy ThanksGIVING show, right? Plus how many Thanks-y Broadway songs are there? Scrooge has one. Annie, maybe a half. There's a "Thank Heaven" in Gigi for Alfred or Maurice to warble. And Bob Hope/Shirley Ross have that "Thanks for the memories" going on...but other than that? Not much in terms of Thanksgiving Carols. Somebody really dropped the ball on this holiday. It's a turkey.

So we're going to drop the THANKS entirely, and just do GIVE. And GIMME. And GOT. How's that for carving a new theme, when the one you're handed is half-baked, or more appropriately, half-roasted? Plenty of Gimmes and Gots on Broadway, right? More than one 2-hour show can handle. I might have to do a Part 2.

 

And BTW, what are you doing on Thanksgiving? A small masked gathering? A Zoomed, virtually-shared feast? A brown-bagged "pick up and get outta here" spatch-cocked version? Or the whole shootin' match, with 50 plus relatives, risk-it-all jello molds and corn casseroles? Do tell. But don't really. I'll probably be a.) trying out a recipe for vegan-friendly Mushroom Wellington, or b.) phoning in a pizza order (hold the cheese, hold the pepperoni, double up on the kale). Definitely watching "A Miracle On 34th Street", re-watching Only Murders In The Building (nice Broadway references there), and maybe Diehard. To get me in the holidaze daze. :)

 

I HAVE ordered a blue aluminum Christmas Tree. A short one, nothing too too, but  I've always wanted one. If I can't go somewhere exotic to celebrate, I'll save thousands of dollars, spend $27.50 on a tacky glow-in-the-dark tannenbaum, some Paula's Donuts ornaments (yes, I have a vision) (see Cheektawaga, NY), and call it a day. The ornaments may double as earrings, so it's a win win there! :) 

Meanwhile, GIVE a hoot (and a side dish), GET a whole lotta love back, and enjoy your tribe, whomever/wherever they might be! XO 'til then.

 

 

Gimme Gimme (Sutton Foster, Thoroughly Modern Millie)

I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Max Von Essen, I'm Old Fashioned)

Give Them What They Want (John Lithgow, Gregory Ybara, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me (Zach Braff, Betsy Wolfe, Bullets Over Broadway)

The Prince Is Giving A Ball (Ensemble, Cinderella)

Give A Little Whistle (Cliff Edwards, Dickie Jones, Pinocchio)

Give The Little Lady A Great Big Hand (Elaine Stritch, Goldilocks)

Give A Man Enough Rope (Keith Carradine, The Will Rogers Follies)

Something's Gotta Give (Jack Jones)

Give Him The Ooh-Lah-Lah (Sutton Foster, Take Me To The World)

Give It All You Got (Susan Johnson, Ensemble, Oh Captain!)

Give A Little, Get A Little (Dolores Gray, Two On The Aisle)

I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Judy Garland, Judy In Love)

If I Could Give You More (Harry Connick, Jr., Blue Light, Red Light)

I'd Give It All For You (Brooks Ashmanskas, Andrea Burns, Songs For A New World) 

Give Up (A Little Friendly Advice)(Moya Angela, Margo Seibert, In Transit)

You Got Me (Nancy Walker, Betty Comden, Cris Alexander, Adolph Green, On The Town)

I'm All I've Got (Michele Lee, Bravo Giovanni)

You Gotta Look Out For Yourself (Tim Walton, Ensemble, City Of Angels)

I've Still Got My Health (Ethel Merman, Panama Hattie)

You've Got That Thing (Tam Mutu, Scarlet Strallen, The New Yorkers)

What Has She Got (Faith Prince, Redhead)

I've Gotta Crow (Mary Martin, Peter Pan)

You've Got Possibilities (Linda Lavin, It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman)

I've Got You To Lean On (Angela Lansbury, Anyone Can Whistle)

I Got It From Agnes (Tom Lehrer, Songs & More Songs By Tom Lehrer)

The Man That Got Away (Judy Garland)

I Got Rhythm (Ethel Merman, Girl Crazy)

Got A Bran' New Suit (Nanette Fabray, Fred Astaire, The Band Wagon)

Ya Got Trouble (Robert Preston, The Music Man)

Use What You Got (Sam Harris, The Life)

You Gotta Get A Gimmick (Alison Fraser, Lenora Nemetz, Marilyn Caskey, Gypsy)

Got To Be There (Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five)

 

 

Playlist For Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021: Sunrise, Sunset, and Schmeers

So this past Sunday, we beamed to Paris. If you missed it, it's hiding in the Jazz90.1 audio vault, along with leftover croissant crumbs and my dirty espresso cup.  Just my way of getting away from it all, musically and frugally. But since then, I've become a little obsessed with fantasy travel plans...

 

So Madeira. It ain't just wine anymore.

 I saw a drool-worthy YouTube vid about mountain biking in Madeira (Talk about a Fantasy Island!). And then a lllloooonnnngggg bike tour skirting the lochs of Scotland. Those images get me hyperventilating (and not because of Nessie). Maybe I've done Paris a-plenty, and it's time to break up with and out of the been-there-done-that SAFE mode. Solo travel calls. Will I pick up? 

 

Nice head (and neck) shot, Ness!

 

Dream on? Or put my money down on a transatlantic flight!?!? 

And what about NYC, to see one of those finally-opened new shows? Six. Mrs. Doubtfire. The new Music Man and Company? Well, thanks to a recently-tweaked bike trail, one can now bike there (as well as in the other direction, to the peaks of the Adirondacks!). Guess I'd have to wait for the spring time change/warmer weather to do that, but it would be sort of fun to eschew Jet Blue and pedal back to my 2nd hometown. BTB...Bike To Broadway! And then I could rendezvous with old friends who I haven't seen in, geez, what?... almost 2 years? And have a real bagel mit schmeer. And all the other no-gots-at-Wegman's digestibles I've "lusted" for!  Breathe the exhaust. Walk fast.

 Meanwhile, here we are. In THIS zip code. Where we've become aces at making the best of things. So we'll try from Morning til Night, 110%, to remain juiced, vertical, flexible... and face the music/dance. And that's our theme, Morning til Night, half and half, with Annie Get Your Gun, Shrek, Anything Goes, Phantom, all things classic (and few arguably NOT!). 

Listen in, and get peppy, perky, and plan-y for 2022! Holidaze are coming, and with them, a whole new year to dream up. :)

I Got The Sun In The Morning (And The Moon At Night)(Bernadette Peters, Annie, Get Your Gun)

Good Morning (Debbie Reynolds, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Singin' In The Rain)

Oh, What A Beautiful Morning! (Alfred Drake, Oklahoma!)

Good Morning, Good Day (Zachary Levi, Laura Benanti, Gavin Creel, Jane Krakowski, Nicholas Barasch, She Loves Me)

Oh, How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning (Irving Berlin, Ensemble, This Is The Army)

Coffee In The Morning, Kisses In The Night (The Gus Arheim Orchestra, featuring Jimmy Newell)

Cooking Breakfast For The One I Love (Annette Hanshaw)

Good Morning Baltimore (Marissa Jaret Winokur, Hairspray)

Dawn (John Lloyd Young, Ensemble, Jersey Boys)

Morning Person (Sutton Foster, Shrek The Musical)

Your Good Morning (Fia Karin, Lester James, Parade)

Early In The Mornin' (Jerry Dixon, Doug Eskew, Milton Craig Nealy, Ensemble, Five Guys Named Moe)

My Own Morning (Leslie Uggams, Hallelujah, Baby!)

Each Tomorrow Morning (Angela Lansbury, Dear World)

But In The Morning, No (Julie Wilson, William Roy)

Morning Glow (John Rubenstein, Pippin)

Tain't A Fit Night Out (Ensemble, Bullets Over Broadway)

A Lovely Night (Julie Andrews, Cinderella)

Night Of My Nights (Richard Kiley, Kismet)

Night And Day (Ginger Rogers)

You And The Night And The Music (Enric Madriguera And His Orchestra, featuring Tony Sacco)

Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland (Judy Garland, In The Good Old Summertime) 

Seven Drunken Nights (The Dubliners)

The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Lebo M., The Lion King)

Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale (Ilene Woods, Cinderella)

Nightlife (Anita Gillette, All American)

All Through The Night (Hal Linden, Barbara Lang, Anything Goes)

Coffe Shop Nights (David Hyde Pierce, Jill Paice, Curtains)

The Music Of The Night (Michael Crawford, Phantom Of The Opera)

Tonight (Jay And The Americans, She Cried)

Tonight Quintet (Company, West Side Story)

Goodnight, My Love (Shirley Temple, Stowaway)

 

 

Playlist For November 7, 2021: Chante-moi de Paris!

Never got to Paris this year. Never got to Paris last year. But lucky me, I have gotten to Paris several times in past years, so at least, in these topsy-turvy times, I have memories of Bateaux Mouches, Le Metro, museums, cathedrals, Le Train Bleu, duck confit, and several glasses of a very decent Bordeaux. The one thing, btw, that you simply MUST do if you find yourself in Paris is to get a haircut! Even if you can't say more than bonjour and merci and c'est tres bon, just drink a glass of vin rouge to marshal your courage, march into a salon, and make scissor motions with your hand. Voila, une coupe de cheveux formidable! Trust me. Take the leap.

Worried! Hair before...

And hair after! :)

But not this year. I think soon we'll be jetting (if cautiously) to other continents, but meanwhile, we have The Paris Edition of 2 On The Aisle. All things French, from Gigi to Follies, from Amelie to The Moderns, from Maurice to Edith to Lucienne to Yves! Just close your eyes and you'll be transported to the banks of the Seine. Or you'll find yourself reclining in the Tuileries, chomping away (stylishly, of course) on a fresh baguette or macarons, all the while artfully scarfed (scarved?). Gotta wear a scarf. 

 

 Dreamy, flippant, sad, goofy, and yearn-y French tunes. I know, some are definitely not Broadway, but they ARE the best! Allow me to veer into another "musical" genre and join me for 2 hours chocked full of Les Chanteuses. Deux chaises pour vous, dans l'allee!

Je Suis Swing (Tatiana Eva Marie, Avalon Jazz Band)

La Valse d'Amelie (Instrumental, Amelie)

Paris Sera Toujours Paris (Maurice Chevalier)

Do You Want To See Paris? (Howard McGillin, Kim Criswell, Karen Ziemba, Ensemble, Fifty Million Frenchmen)

Paris Loves Lovers (Don Ameche, Hildegard Knef, Silk Stockings)

Paris Is Paris Again (Alfred Drake, Gigi)

Ah, Paree! (Lillian Montevecchi, Follies)

Gay Paree (Robert Preston, Victor/Victoria)

Shimmy Like They Do In Paree (Kevin Early, Death Takes A Holiday)

Parlez-Moi D'Amour (Lucienne Boyer)

J'y Suis Jamais Alle (Instrumental, Amelie From Montmartre)

Sous Le Ciel De Paris (Yves Montand)

Besame Mucho (Tatiana Eva Marie, Avalon Jazz Band)

I Got Rhythm (Gene Kelly, An American In Paris)

Dites-Moi (Ensemble, South Pacific)

Times Are Hard For Dreamers (Savvy Crawford, Amelie)

Soir De Fete (Instrumental, Amelie)

Le Moulin (Instrumental, Amelie)

Valse Millieu (Clive Revill, Company, Irma La Douce)

The Last Time I Saw Paris (Noel Coward)

Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup (Django Reinhardt, Jean Sablon)

You're In Paris (Susan Watson, Ben Franklin In Paris)

In Paris And In Love (Zizi Jeanmaire, David Atkinson, The Girl In Pink Tights)

Paris Through The Window (Lonny Price, Ray Wills, David Hibbard, A Class Act)

Paris La Nuit/Selavy (Charlelie Couture, The Moderns)

C'est Si Bon (Eartha Kitt)

C'est Magnifique (Lilo, Peter Cookson, Can-Can)

Si Tu N'Etais Pas La (Frehel, Amelie)

La Valse Moderne (Charlelie Couture, The Moderns)

Les Feuilles Mortes (Yves Montand)

Hier Encore (Charles Aznavour)

La Valse A Mille Temps (Davine, Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris)

Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (Edith Piaf)

Les Jours Tristes (Instrumental, Amelie)