Playlist for Sunday, May 4, 2014: A Frank Loesser Festa

 Frank Loesser has to be my favorite Broadway composer/lyricist, so this "festa" was a pleasure to create.  Frank wrote only 5 musicals (that were produced), but what gems!  From "Where's Charley?" to "Guys and Dolls" to "The Most Happy Fella" to...well, I'll stop now, but with the exception of "Greenwillow"(which no one seemed to understand), they were blockbusters. And literally hundreds of Tin Pan Alley lyrics, movie music, and an Academy award-winning song, "Baby It's Cold Outside."  There's no way an hour-long show can do him justice, of course, but I had fun smushing as many Loesser favorites as possible into my allotted time. 

It was only one show that seemed to make Frank hesitate. It was "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."  It would be a team effort...with Abe Burrows doing the book...and here Frank was, fresh from "The Most Happy Fella" and "Greenwillow" where he called all the shots.  Well, he did it anyway and packed it with lyrics like “the slam-bang tang reminiscent of gin and vermouth.”

A great quote about the way Frank wrote his songs: "Remember, a song is like a freight train moving across a stage. Every boxcar has a word on it. Those people have to hear everything and understand it - fast, because in a minute the car will be gone and they'll never see it again. Make them listen and then lay it in their laps."  Perfect...for Broadway at its Best!


Fugue for Tinhorns (Stubby Kaye, Douglas Deane, Johnny Silver, Guys and Dolls)
A Bushel and a Peck (Vivian Blaine, Ensemble, Guys and Dolls)
Guys and Dolls (Stubby Kaye, Johnny Silver, Guys and Dolls)
The Oldest Established (Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, The Man and
                                 His Music)
Once in Love with Amy (Ray Bolger, Where's Charley?)
Pernambuco (Ensemble, Where's Charley?)
Could've Been a Ring (Pert Kelton, Lee Cass, Greenwillow)
Never Will I Marry (Anthony Perkins, Greenwillow)
Spring Will Be a Little Late this Year (Sarah Vaughn, Sarah Vaughn in Hi-Fi)
Let's Get Lost (Chet Baker, Chet Baker Sings and Plays)
The Most Happy Fella (Robert Weede, Ensemble, The Most Happy Fella)
Standing on the Corner (Shorty Long, The Most Happy Fella)
Sposalizio (Company, The Most Happy Fella)
How To (Robert Morse, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying)
Been a Long Day (Claudette Sutherland, Bonnie Scott, Robert Morse, How to
                                 Succeed)
I Believe in You (Robert Morse, Ensemble, How to Succeed)
Big D (Susan Johnson, Shorty Long, The Most Happy Fella)