We're going to PROM!

 The Prom opened on Broadway just this month (November, 2018),

 with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics Chad Beguelin,
(this team wrote Elf The Musical, BTW)

and a book by Beguelin and Bob Martin

(Bob Martin? Drowsy Chaperone? You guessed it!).

It stars Brooks Ashmanskas (above) as Barry,

Christopher Seiber (below right) as Trent,

and Beth Leavel (below center) as Dee Dee.

Out-of-work, middle-aged actors look to 

"celebrity activism" to jump start their fading careers,

and find a midwest high school that's banned a prom

due to a certain 17-year-old lesbian.

 Jesse Green of the NYTimes:

"As in many of the greatest Golden Age musicals, 

they latch onto a subject of topical importance, 

using its gravity to anchor their satire and their satire to leaven its earnestness. In full “Hairspray” mode, they mostly succeed."

 Here's Beth from The Drowsy Chaperone,

with a favorite beverage,

and with her co-star in that show,

Sutton Foster.

 Two wonderful shows with Brooks:

Above as Brother Jeremiah in Something Rotten!

with Kate Reinders.

And below in Bullets Over Broadway,

with Helene Yorke.

 Bullets' curtain call,

with a much padded Brooks as Warner Purcell.

Brooks (age 49) hails from Salem, Oregon,

graduated from Bennington College,

and his first Off-Broadway success was in

Jason Robert Brown's Songs For A New World...

and Beth (63) is from Raleigh, North Carolina,

with a Broadway debut in 42nd Street (1985).

Since then, Crazy For You, Young Frankenstein,

Bandstand...and so many more!

Playlist for Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018: The Devil Wears Walmart

I feel like crawling into a bread pudding. My version of that dessert includes eggnog and amaretto and panettone, which makes for a warm (if sticky) blanket. Okay, now I don't want that. I just want those vulgar fleecy reindeer PJs. And Swiss Miss with tiny marshmallows. Screw Fashion/Gourmet. I want Cozy.

The wind seems to be whistling INSIDE my house. And it's November. I guess I need to put up my Black, Depressing, Thermal curtains. The funereal ones that keep my leaky old windows from snowing on me. Maybe if I line them with those reindeer PJs, I'll stand a chance at both warmth and better Fashion than off the rack Walmart. 

New tires that climb snowy embankments: Check.
Plowing staff: On speed dial.
Shovel/Rock Salt: Somewhere!
Hats/Mittens/Parkas/Mucklucks: Mismatched, but at the ready
Positive Attitude: Well, it was around here yesterday!!!

I'm just gonna play Broadway. And speaking of that street, I am twiddling- thumbs anxious to receive the cast album of The Prom. Brooks Ashmanskas, Christopher Sieber, Beth Leavel...those people can't allllll be wrong, right? It's gotta be at least decent. I lifted 2 songs off Youtube to sample this Sunday, and the rest will come ASAP, but fingers crossed. Jesse Green of the Times said: "With its kinetic dancing, broad mugging and belty anthems, it makes you believe in musical comedy again." Sounds like Something Rotten!, but you buried that one, Jess.

Otherwise it's themes and Jews and Spam and Babs and tooooo toooo! Survive the week, will ya? And then pounce on 2 On The Aisle, come Sunday. We'll cozy up; maybe the wind and white will cease and we can wear heels and cute jackets again. Think Vogue and Vanity Fair. And burn the Fleece. :)


This Plum Is Too Ripe (Rita Gardner, Kenneth Wilson, William Larsen,
      Hugh Thomas, The Fantasticks)
Barry Is Going To Prom (Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom)
The Lady's Improving (Beth Leavel, The Prom)
As We Stumble Along (Beth Leavel, The Drowsy Chaperone)
We See The Light (John Cariani, Kate Reinders, Brooks Ashmanskas,
      Something Rotten!)
Four Jews In A Room Bitching (Christian Borle, Andrew Rannells, Brandon
      Uranowitz, Anthony Rosenthal, Falsettos)
Miracle Of Judaism (Anthony Rosenthal, Falsettos)
Someone Like You (Jason Robert Brown, Wearing Someone Else's Clothes)
You Won't Succeed On Broadway (David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry, Spamalot)
People (Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl)
Joey, Joey, Joey (Leslie Odom, Jr., Leslie Odom, Jr.)
Never Again/Sail Away (Christine Ebersole, Christine Ebersole Sings Noel
      Coward)
Stop! Wait! What?! (Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman's Guide To Love And Murder)
Stop There (Peter Saide, Desperate Measures)
Can't Stop Talking About Him (Audra McDonald)
Stop (Grey Henson, Kate Rockwell, Mean Girls)
Can't Stop Talking About Him (Betty Hutton, Fred Astaire, Let's Dance)
You Can't Stop The Beat (Company, Hairspray)
Your Feet's Too Big (Ken Page, Ain't Misbehavin')
I'm An Indian, Too (Ethel Merman, Annie Get Your Gun)
Too Charming (Robert Preston, Ulla Sallert, Ben Franklin In Paris)
Too Many Mornings (David Kernan, Side By Side By Sondheim)
It's Never Too Late (Geoffrey Hibbert, Dilys Lay, The Boy Friend)
Too Much Expostion/Urinetown (Jeff McCarthy, Spencer Hayden, Urinetown)
Moving Too Fast (Norbert Leo Butz, The Last Five Years)
Too Good To Be Bad (Bernadette Peters, Carol Woods, The Goodbye Girl)
Too Bad (Fred Astaire, Jules Munshin, Joseph Buloff, Peter Lorre, Silk Stockings)
I Can Cook, Too (Nancy Walker, On The Town)
Too Darn Hot (Stanley Wayne Mathis, Ensemble, Kiss Me Kate)

Answer the phone...it's Birdie!

 Finish off your turkey leftovers 

to Bye Bye Birdie,

the opening number: The Telephone Song.
The original cast included Dick Van Dyke, Chita Rivera
(when Eydie Gorme and Carol Haney refused the Rosie role),
Charles Nelson Reilly, Susan Watson, Dick Gautier, Kay Medford,
Paul Lynde, and Michael J. Pollard.
Direction and Choreography was by at-the-time newbie,
Gower Champion.

This original set design: Robert Randolph...

and of course the great music of Charles Strouse

(below)

and lyrics by...

... Lee Adams, below with Patti Karr and Susan Watson

(Susan was the original Kim).
Audiences loved the show and it won Best Musical of 1961,
but the critics were more discerning.
Said Brooks Atkinson of the NYTimes:
"The audience was beside itself with pleasure,
but this department was able to contain itself.
 Bye Bye Birdie is neither fish, fowl, nor good musical comedy.
It needs work."

 We'll also hear Michael Feinstein

with "Long Ago And Far Away,"

a song originally from Cover Girl (1944),

with the music of Jerome Kern/Ira Gershwin...

this selection released by Michael on his

Romance on Film, Romance on Broadway album.

Another luscious Broadway ballad, "What'll I Do?" was written back
in 1923 by Irving Berlin for one of his many Music Box Revues,
and recorded by Judy Holliday

on her Trouble Is A Man recording of 1958.

 Christine Baranski played Tracey Gardner

in Nick & Nora, 1991, a flop of the first degree, unfortunately.
Music: Charles Strouse and Richard Maltby Jr.

As Nick and Nora Charles, Barry Bostwick and Joanna Gleason.
Reviews were brutal:
Cranky, arbitrary, tedious, ham-handed, and club-footed
were just some of the adjectives employed.
71 previews, 9 performances!

We'll hear "Everybody Wants To Do A Musical"(!?!?)

Another dreamy ballad:  "Goodnight My Someone"
from The Music Man,
performed by the marvelous
Jessica Molaskey on her Make Believe release of  2004.

 And adding classical Broadway panache to this week's show,
the My Fair Lady revival of 2018!
The starring foursome:

Norbert Leo Butz, Lauren Ambrose, Diana Rigg, and 

Harry Haden-Paton.

Lauren was dubbed by Jesse Green "a feral and then luminous Eliza,"
Harry is a "wiley", "baffled and petulant" professor,
and Norbert capable of "philosophical dancing!"

Above, Norbert "getting to the church on time",

a number with male can-can dancers,

and below, rehearsing that "Rain In Spain."

At center, Colonel Pickering as portrayed by Allan Corduner.

Happy Turkey Day!

Doris! 

...and Jimmy! 

Hanley Stanford and Fanny Brice

Howard Keel...

and Jeanne Crain

Shirley...

...and Debbie Reynolds, on Plymouth Rock?

Joan and Judy...

Sally Field...

and Ann Sheridan

More Shirley, and Marilyn!

And the Stooges,

using the recipe I always use!

Playlist For Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018: Tis (Not) the Season!

I actually heard Christmas music today on ANOTHER radio station. On November 20th! Two days before Thanksgiving. Well, I guess it's Thanksgiving's own fault. If it really wanted to be a holiday one paused at (not skipped over), it would have its own music. Damn few Thansgiving-y tunes out there to whistle. Rest assured tho, there will be no Christmas Broadway on THIS program, til the tree gets decorated (and cat-attacked), several eggs are "nogged", and cookie sprinkles/fake snow/confetti festoon my wall-to-wall. Then, and only then, will we Fa La La.

Standards, folks.

And speaking of standards, how 'bout some more of that My Fair Lady revival? And that throwback to the 70s,  Applause? Some sappy ballads and Paris (through the window)? How 'bout Christine Baranski (and Everybody Else) from flops/bagels/pits of despair also-rans? As yummy as figgy pudding...oops! (Darn it all...I slipped!) And remembering when we used to hear telephones ring, and run to answer them, because we might "miss an important call!" It's all here/hear, helping us mark time til it's Santa Baby time in the Rockies.

Enjoy your feast, friends, and save some leftovers for Broadway on Sunday! 


Everybody Wants To Do A Musical (Christine Baranski, Nick & Nora)
Welcome To The Theatre (Lauren Bacall, Applause)
Backstage Babble (Len Cariou, Ensemble, Applause)
One Of A Kind (Lauren Bacall, Len Cariou, Applause)
Fasten Your Seatbelts (Len Cariou, Lauren Bacall, Ensemble, Applause)
Goodnight My Someone (Jessica Molaskey, Make Believe)
What'll I Do? (Judy Holliday, Trouble Is A Man)
Long Ago And Far Away (Michael Feinstein, Romance On Film, Romance On
      Broadway)
Anybody Have A Map? (Rachel Bay Jones, Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen)
Burn (Phillipa Soo, Hamilton)
Answer Me (Adam Kantor, Ensemble, The Band's Visit)
I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face (Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady)
Show Me (Lauren Ambrose, Jordan Donica, My Fair Lady)
Get Me To The Church On Time (Norbert Leo Butz, Ensemble, My Fair Lady)
Paris Through The Window (Lonny Price, David Hibbard, Ray Wills, A Class Act)
An American In Paris (Instrumental, An American In Paris)
Paris Holds The Key (To Your Heart) (John Bolton, Derek Klena, Christy
      Altomare, Anastasia)
Paris Original (Bonnie Scott, Claudette Sutherland, Ensemble, How To
      Succeed In Business Without Really Trying
The Telephone Hour (Ensemble, Bye Bye Birdie)
Bells Are Ringing (Ensemble, Bells Are Ringing)
Telephone Girlie (Bobby Van, No, No, Nanette)
Everybody Says Don't/Yes (Sutton Foster, Take Me To The World)
Poor Everybody Else (Michele Lee, Seesaw)
Everybody's Girl (Debra Monk, Steel Pier)
Everybody Loves Louie (Bernadette Peters, Sunday In The Park With George)
Everybody's Got A Home But Me (Laura Osnes, Pipe Dream)
Everybody Ought To Have A Maid (Lewis Stadlen, Ernie Sabella, Mark
      Linn-Baker, Nathan Lane, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The
      Forum)
If I Were A Bell (Isabelle Bigley, Guys And Dolls)
I Can Hear The Bells (Marissa Jaret Winokur, Kerry Butler, Hairspray)
Ring Them Bells (Liza Minnelli, Liza With A Z)

Anyone can...

 Lee Remick,

making the cast recording of 

Anyone Can Whistle,
which opened on April 4, 1964...and closed 9 days later.
Negative reviews
(Sondheim called the reviews "humiliating" and the audiences "hostile"),
multiple revisions,
and a heart attack for one of its stars (Henry Lascoe).
Guess it was lucky to last 9 days.

Below, more studio shots of Angela Lansbury,

Goddard Lieberson, and Lee.

  Lee was 29 at the time of this production,

and had a long-standing relationship with Sondheim,

later appearing in the concert version of Follies.

 (Barbra Streisand was the producer's first pick

for the role of Fay Apple,

but Funny Girl claimed her.)

 One of "those" poses, 

Lee and Angela "whistling".
Lee died at the age of 55, but Angela storms on, at 93.

 The cast of Baby,

with music by David Shire and Richard Maltby, Jr.

Below, Liz Callaway, Catherine Cox

and Beth Fowler,

who we'll hear sing "I Want It All."

 The movie of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953
(what color!!!)

with Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell,

singing "When Love Goes Wrong,"

written especially for the movie by Hoagie Carmichael and

Harold Adamson,

added to the original Broadway score by 

Jule Styne and Leo Robin.

 There have been plenty of Sondheim revues 

(Putting It Together, and Side By Side By Sondheim, just to name two), 

but I guess the world needed one more...

this one with Sondheim actually providing the narrative

(and some of the scenery).

Sondheim On Sondheim,

called a "multimedia commemorative scrapbook of his life and times",

opened for a limited engagement in 2010,

and featured Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams, Leslie Kritzer,

Tom Wopat and others...

lots of great renditions of those classic SS songs, 

taped interviews, and video footage

(which everyone seemed to enjoy more than the music!).

 

2 Classics and an Also Ran.

Lauren Bacall and Harry Guardino,

starred together in Woman Of the Year,

back in 1981,

a John Kander/Fred Ebb show, 

with a book by Peter Stone.

The NY Times review 

(written by Frank Rich) loved Lauren: 

 " Its creators are most fortunate to have a star who crackles whether they light a fire under her or not."

Harry didn't fare as well:

  "Though Mr. Guardino is skillful, 

his blandness recalls the salad days of Sydney Chaplin (Ouch!). 

Until Sam arrives at a touching Act II ballad, 

we're unclear about why Tess finds him so fascinating."

But fascinating, she did.

Lauren and Harry enjoyed quite the romance 

over the course of the run!

Above, the Woman of the Year tribe:

Book writer Peter Stone, Lauren, Fred Ebb, John Kander,

and Harry.

I believe that's Roderick Cook kneeling center left

(he played Gerald, Tess's secretary).

The 1992 revival of Guys And Dolls,

starring Faith Prince and Nathan Lane,

won 4 Tonys, including Best Revival.

Nathan started life as Joseph Lane,

and changed it early on in his acting career,

inspired by the character of Nathan Detroit.

Faith Prince won for her Adelaide portrayal.

New orchestrations and dance arrangements,

and a great cast,

including Peter Gallagher...

and Ernie Sabella as Harry The Horse (below).

.

 So many wonderful versions of Kiss Me Kate:

Above, Kathyrn Grayson and Howard Keel in the MGM Movie Musical,

and below, Alfred Drake and Ann Morison in the original Broadway production.

 Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell

in the 1999 revival

and below...Michael Beresse and Amy Spanger

at left, as this production's Bill and Lois

and Marin and Brian at right.

 As the gangsters (turned actors),

Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore. 

A third Broadway revival is planned for 2019,

starring Kellie O'Hara and Will Chase!