Happy birthday, Buddy! I'm talkin' Buddy (aka B.G. aka George Gard) DeSylva...lyricist of the Flapper and Depression eras, part of that triumvirate of Ray Henderson and Lew Brown, who created all those "Sunny Side Up" odes to positivity. Damn, they cheered you. Just "button up" and remember that the "best things in life are free"...doncha just want to shake Buddy's hand and say...no, I sorta wanna slap him silly and tell him to get real. It certainly was a time of pick yourself up and start all over-ness. Man, I'm somewhere between impressed and sneery.
But Broadway is like that in spades. I mean, it celebrates Heat (Steam AND Waves), Cold, Olive Trees...it sees Bluebirds where they ain't, lights in piazzas (now THERE'S a push!), even melody in a cave in. Sort of like effervescent Buddy and his gang, blowing bubbles at fate. Nay, Kismet!
So listen in. We'll have mini tributes to Audra M. , Joel G. and a set of Adam Guettel goodies. Ethel will yodel at us, Helen will squeak, and a ton o' tangos (bring your own rose) will delight us. We'll get all sunny (if only slightly tempered by cold, acerbic January reality) and smile. For a while. :)
Wilkommen (Joel Grey, Cabaret)
Heat Wave (Ethel Merman, Alexander's Ragtime Band)
Too Darn Hot (Lorenzo Fuller, Ensemble, Kiss Me, Kate)
Some Like It Hot (Instrumental, Some Like It Hot)
Steam Heat (Carol Haney, The Box Boys, The Pajama Game)
Button Up Your Overcoat (Helen Kane)
The Best Things In Life Are Free (Catherine Bartomeo, Mathew
Elliott, Good News)
You're The Cream In My Coffee (Ruth Etting)
Keep Your Sunny Side Up (Craig Richardson, Ensemble, Good News)
Daybreak (Christopher Innvar, Jason Danieley, Floyd Collins)
Is That Remarkable? (Ensemble, Floyd Collins)
The Light In The Piazza (Kelli O'Hara, The Light In The Piazza)
Love To Me (Matthew Morrison, The Light In The Piazza)
Night Of My Nights (Richard Kiley, Kismet)
The Olive Tree (Alfred Drake, Kismet)
Stranger In Paradise (Richard Kiley, Doretta Morrow, Kismet)
Be Like The Blue Bird (Joel Grey, Anything Goes)
My Town (Joel Grey, George M!)
If You Could See Her (Joel Grey, Cabaret)
Wonderful (Joel Grey, Idina Menzel, Wicked)
Wonderful You (Audra McDonald, Build A Bridge
Stars And The Moon (Audra McDonald, Way Back To Paradise)
My Stupid Mouth (Audra McDonald, Build A Bridge)
First You Dream (Audra McDonald, Go Back Home)
Natasha (David Garrison, Peggy Hewett, A Day In Hollywood/A Night
In The Ukraine)
The Great Lover Tango (Monte Markham, Carmen Alvarez, Janie Sel, Irene)
Pick-Pocket Tango (Instrumental, Redhead)
Expose (Karen Murphy, Richard Muenz, Zombie Prom)
Temptation (Instrumental, Singin' In The Rain)
The Beguine (Tamara Long, Steve Elmore, Dames At Sea)
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