When the boss makes a request, uh...is it really a request? If the boss in question here were Kevin Spacey, I would definitely use a stronger word than "request" here...So guess what? We're doing it! And "it" is Chicago. I can't play my very favorite number from this show ("Cell Block Tango") due to its language, but I CAN play "When You're Good to Mama" and "I Can't Do It Alone" with minor adjustments...and hey, if it keeps the boss happy, then "it ain't been in vain for nothin'".
And speaking of "Singin' in the Rain," (I'm sure you picked up on that segue...)...I found Judy Garland's version of that song, which totally pre-dates Gene's use of it in the 1952 smash, from Little Nellie Kelly...yup, Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown actually wrote it waaaaay back, for The Hollywood Review of 1929. Ditto "Good Morning," which we'll hear Judy and Mickey Rooney do, from Babes in Arms, 1939. Judy was 17, and working with her (later hated) director, Busby Berkeley. Love this jazzy rendition, tho it IS hard to get Gene and Debbie and Donald overturning that couch out of my head!
And just a little trivia about Applause...When Charles Strouse and his partner in musical crime, Lee Adams, had the insanely brilliant idea to turn "All About Eve" into a musical, they had a problem: Twentieth Century refused to let them use the script or even the title of that Bette Davis movie. They COULD use the short story the movie was based on,"The Wisdom of Eve," but what about all those incredible lines that were now off limits? Armed with Comden and Green to write the book, the quartet began by updating the story to the 1970s, tossing out acerbic Addison DeWitt, adding a gay hair-dresser...and placing the focus on Margo Channing, not Eve Harrington. In the end, Twentieth Century capitulated and let them use the movie script, but by then...Well, they did manage to write "Fasten Your Seatbelts" at the last minute, a line no Margo should ever go without!
Overture & All That Jazz (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago)
Backstage Babble (Ensemble, Applause)
Who's That Girl? (Lauren Bacall, Applause)
Fasten Your Seatbelts (Lauren Bacall, Ensemble, Applause)
Applause (Bonnie Franklin, Applause)
The Slice (Robert Hooks, Ensemble, Hallelujah, Baby!)
My Own Morning (Leslie Uggams, Hallelujah, Baby!)
Feet Do Yo' Stuff (Ensemble, Hallelujah, Baby!)
Talking to Yourself (Leslie Uggams, Robert Hooks, Allen Case, Hallelujah, Baby!)
I Can't Do It Alone (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago)
Nowadays (Rene Zellwegger, Chicago)
When You're Good to Mama (Queen Latifah, Chicago)
Good Mornin' (Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Babes in Arms)
Singin' in the Rain (Judy Garland, Little Nellie Kelly)
We Just Couldn't Say Goodnight (Annette Hanshaw)
Make It Another Old Fashioned, Please (Ethel Merman, Panama Hattie)
A Guy What Takes His Time (Marlene Dietrich)
I'm Tired (Madeline Kahn, Blazing Saddles)
Welcome to the Night (John Lithgow, Ensemble, Sweet Smell of Success)
I Cannot Hear the City (Brian D'Arcy James, Sweet Smell of Success)
Don't Look Now (John Lithgow, Sweet Smell of Success)
Dirt (Ensemble, Sweet Smell of Success)
Why Can't the English? (Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady)
With a Little Bit of Luck (Stanley Holloway, My Fair Lady)
Wouldn't It Be Lovely? (Julie Andrews, My Fair Lady)
You Did It (Rex Harrison, Robert Coote, My Fair Lady)
When You've Got It, Flaunt It (Cady Huffman, The Producers)
Betrayed (Nathan Lane, The Producers)
Prisoners of Love (Nathan Lane, Mathew Broderick, Ensemble, The Producers)
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