Despite the fact that Cy Coleman is one of my most favorite musical composers, this show was tough to come up with, because it meant having to choose WHICH of his delightful songs to fit into this short little hour! From Sweet Charity (which so many folks love) to City of Angels (which I love) to Wild Cat, I Love My Wife, Seesaw, and all the rest...plus, what about the standards Cy wrote, with Carolyn Leigh...surely I should include some of those!? You can see my conundrum.
What I like best about the Coleman "songbook" is the jazz...the slick city feel to his melodies. His music became a perfect Bob Fosse match (who directed and choreographed several of the shows/films Cy did), where there was always a burlesque sleeeeeze going on. And Cy worked with lots of different lyricists, including Dorothy Fields, Comden and Green, Ira Gasman, David Zippel, and others...each one complementing Coleman's music with that ever present syncopated innuendo.
The only musical I chose NOT to include is Barnum, which has none of the slickness Cy's other works do. Sorry, but Join the Circus, with its oompahs and Jim Dale-isms, makes me run the other way.... But I've loaded up the hour with sexy horns, blondes who drape themselves panther-like across the grand piano, and "Witchcraft." You're welcome.
Prologue: Theme from City of Angels (James Naughton, Ensemble, City of Angels)
Hey, Look Me Over! (Lucille Ball, Paula Stewart, Wild Cat)
I've Got Your Number (Swen Swenson, Little Me)
If My Friends Could See Me Now (Gwen Verdon, Sweet Charity)
Big Spender (Ensemble, Sweet Charity)
Welcome to Holiday Inn (Michele Lee, Seesaw)
Seesaw (Ensemble, Seesaw)
Witchcraft (Frank Sinatra, The Best of the Capital Years)
The Best is Yet to Come (Tony Bennett, The Essential Tony Bennett)
I Love My Wife (James Naughton, I Love My Wife)
Mine (John Cullum, Kevin Kline, On the Twentieth Century)
Lost and Found (Rachel York, City of Angels)
Ev'ry Body's Gotta Be Somewhere (Ensemble, City of Angels)
No Man Left for Me (Dee Hoty, The Will Rogers' Follies)
Use What You Got (Sam Harris, The Life)
It's Not Where You Start (Tommy Tune, Ensemble, Seesaw)
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