Playlist for Sunday, March 19, 2017: Tall Enough To Be Your Mother

This Sunday we get to wallow in Sondheim. It's his 87th birthday this Wednesday, so 'tis the perfect excuse to wallow, and I aim to take full advantage, lemme tell ya. I've invited all the usual suspects to the "party": Elaine and her Stritchy siren, Zero (whose wife actually had to threaten him with bodily harm to get him to do Forum), Angela, Len, Dean, Hermoine, Alexis, Barbara (with a C), Bernadette...the list of Sondheim signature singers (and songs) is de-lightful and de-long. We'll raise our glasses of figurative bubbly, bleat our metaphorical makers of noise, and toast (not toast, but...) this wry musical genius who brought us songs to cry with over our cabernet. Yes, I've played it all before. Yes, I absolutely will again. But maybe each time, the wallowing may bring more insight. And more sophistication. Which I could use, big time.

So while the winter winds continue (March comes in like a lion, sticks around like a lion, overstays it's welcome like a lion...?), let's pretend we're in that Sondheim Turtle Bay townhouse, listening perhaps to the first time he played "Not A Day Goes By" and melt into the divan.

Cheers, Stephen.   

Broadway Baby (Elaine Stritch, Follies)
God, That's Good! (Ken Jennings, Angela Lansbury, Len Cariou, Sweeney    
      Todd)
Finale (The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd)(Company, Sweeney Todd)
The Advantages Of Floating In The Middle Of The Sea (Mako, Company,
      Pacific Overtures)
There Is No Other Way (Yoko Fumoto, Pacific Overtures)
Free (Zero Mostel, Brian Davies, 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)
You Must Meet My Wife (Len Cariou, Glynis Johns, A Little Night Music)
Liaisons (Hermoine Gingold, A Little Night Music)
Sunday In The Park With George (Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters,
      Ensemble, Sunday In The Park With George)
We Do Not Belong Together (Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Sunday In
      The Park With George)
We're Gonna Be Alright (David Kernan, Millicent Martin, Do I Hear A Waltz?)
The Story Of Lucy And Jessie (Alexis Smith, Follies)
I Remember That (Clark Thorell, Andrea Burns, Saturday Night)
In Buddy's Eyes (Barbara Cook, Follies)
Poor Baby (Elaine Stritch, Barbara Barrie, Terri Ralston, Merle Louise, Beth
      Howland, Company)
Another Hundred People (Pamela Myers, Company)
Overture (Instrumental, Merrily We Roll Along)
Now You Know (Ann Morrison, Jim Walton, Lonny Price, Merrily We Roll
      Along) 
On The Steps Of The Palace (Kim Crosby, Into The Woods)
Agony (Robert Westenberg, Chuck Wagner, Into The Woods)
Anyone Can Whistle (Tom Wopat, Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams, Leslie
      Kritzer, Norm Lewis, Erin Mackey, Anyone Can Whistle)
Not A Day Goes By (Bernadette Peters, Merrily We Roll Along)
Losing My Mind (Barbara Cook, Follies)
The Ladies Who Lunch (Elaine Stritch, Elaine Stritch At Liberty)
Side By Side/What Would We Do Without You (Dean Jones, Ensemble,
      Company)