Playlist For January 5, 2020: Thank you, Jerry

 Well, the holidays are almost over...and things are not quite so jolly. The most immemorial time (January thru March) looms, and to make us even more depressed, Jerry Herman has left us.

Over the top, life-affirming, joyous Broadway, that's what Mr. Herman gave us. The 17 choruses (with glockenspiel), the tap lines, the "full of shine, and full of sparkle" infectious melodies that had us all leading parades. Whether real parades like in "Dolly" or the ones we march in our minds.

 Photo: Joan Marcus

Some insights from the web:

Betty Buckley, who toured in that show said, “‘Before the Parade Passes By’ is like a pep talk to yourself. Dolly decides to come back full throttle to the world of the living. The lesson for me in doing the show — and I owe him a debt of appreciation — was that joy is a choice. It’s not something you wait to happen to you. You choose it, and you work really hard to sustain that commitment.” That's Jerry down to the hangnails.


New York Times theatre critic, Ben Brantley, admitted that "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" (also from "Dolly!") inspired him to leave his little "Yonkers" and move to NYC. He and his sister had pooled their allowances to buy the LP of "Dolly" and he found "Sunday Clothes" to be a siren call...Dolly was exhorting everyone "to dress up and get on the train." He did.

Not exactly but close.

Somewhere there is a photo of me in a blue quilted bathrobe

seated by this, my best Christmas gift.

I've told the story before about how I got a turntable for my 12th birthday, and immediately bought 2 albums...A Glenn Miller "Best Of" (to curry favor with my dad?) and "Hello, Dolly!" I memorized the liner notes and the lyrics, ogled at the photos of Carol and David and Charles and cute little "Minnie Fay" and played it to death. It was my second favorite musical at that point (I'd only heard 2!), right after "Peter Pan." So, yeah, I graduated to Sondheim. But my roots in Broadway were Herman...

Jerry mid-rehearsal for a revival of Mack & Mabel.

Photo: Steve Goldstein for the NYTimes

All this to say, thank you for the Shine and the Sparkle and the Roses. Because you DID send them, Jerry.


Hello, Dolly! (Carol Channing, Company, Hello, Dolly!)
Put On Your Sunday Clothes (Charles Nelson Reilly, Company, Hello, Dolly!)
Ribbons Down My Back (Eileen Brennan, Hello, Dolly!)
It Only Takes A Moment (Charles Nelson Reilly, Eileen Brennan, Hello, Dolly!)
Before The Parade Passes By (Carol Channing, Company, Hello, Dolly!)
Miss What's Her Name (Debbie Gravitte, Miss Spectacular)
Where In The World Is My Prince? (Faith Prince, Miss Spectacular)
Miss Spectacular (Debbie Gravitte, Miss Spectacular)
Show Tune (Company, Parade)
The Next Time I Love (Fia Karin, Parade)
Confession To A Park Avenue Mother (Charles Nelson Reilly, Parade)
Look What Happened To Mabel (Bernadette Peters, Mack & Mabel)
I Won't Send Roses (Robert Preston, Mack & Mabel)
Tap Your Troubles Away (Lisa Kirk, Mack & Mabel)
Time Heals Everything (Bernadette Peters, Sondheim, Etc.)
Marianne (Michael Feinstein, The Grand Tour)
No Other Music (Karen Morrow, Miss Spectacular)
You I Like (Michael Feinstein, Jerry Herman, The Grand Tour)
Bosum Buddies (Angela Lansbury, Bea Arthur, Mame)
My Best Girl (Frankie Michaels, Angela Lansbury, Mame)
If He Walked Into My Life (Angela Lansbury, Mame)
Mame (Company, Mame)
La Cage Aux Folles (George Hearn, Company, La Cage Aux Folles)
And I Was Beautiful (Angela Lansbury, Dear World)
I Am What I Am (George Hearn, La Cage Aux Folles)
Each Tomorrow Morning (Angela Lansbury, Dear World)
I'll Be Here Tomorrow (Jerry Herman, The Grand Tour)
The Best Of Times (George Hearn, Company, La Cage Aux Folles)

Playlist For December 29, 2019: ROAR!

2020 sounds a little science fiction-y, right? Like Lost In Space or I, Robot or something. Like I should be Broadway-broadcasting from Mars.

 These dudes look ready for Broadway!

(Quick aside: I think my cat just ate a mouse. He's been standing guard all morning, watching SOMETHING behind my Meditation Room door. And now he's on my lap, starting to heave. This will not do. Go throw-up on the throw rug. And avoid my RED SHOES!)

(Quicker aside: You think I meditate just because I have a Meditation Room? Surely, Shirley...you jest! I am a Type A if ever there was one.)

 Not my Meditation Room.

Meanwhile, here we are entering The Roaring Twenties 2.0! Time for bathtub gin and bobbed hair (check and check)...and a party! I have a flapper skirt. You have a flapper skirt (well, you should and if you don't, check out TJMaxx or PENNIES???). They'll be all the rage come New Year's Eve, which we'll celebrate on Sunday (yes, come early, stay late!) with Astaire, Bacall, Coward, Garland, and a zillion other merry makers. We'll Put On The Ritz, never go Dry, Fasten Our Seat Belts, and be The Life Of The Party til The Party's Over. Confetti will be tossed. Noise-makers noised. And bubbles imbibed.

Yup, that's a flash-forward to 

this coming Sunday's 2 On The Aisle.
(I'm the one way in the back, trying to push the right buttons.)

I've had a fabulous year with you,"dear listeners"! Thanks for letting me invade your brain with Broadway! Happy New Year! 


It's Today (Angela Lansbury, Mame)
Top Hat, White Tie, And Tails (Fred Astaire, Top Hat)
The Life Of The Party (David Wayne, The Happy Time)
I Went To A Marvelous Party (Noel Coward)
Somebody's Going To Throw A Big Party (Ensemble, Fifty Million Frenchmen)
Such A Merry Party (Ensemble, Little Mary Sunshine)
Dry (Mandy Patinkin, Ensemble, The Wild Party)
Well, Did You Evah? (Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, High Society)
Fasten Your Seatbelts (Lauren Bacall, Len Cariou, Applause)
They Just Keep Moving The Line (Megan Hilty, Bombshell)
With One Look (Patti LuPone, Sunset Boulevard)
Being Alive (Bernadette Peters)
The Way You Look Tonight (Fred Astaire, Swing Time)
I Want To Be Seen With You (Sydney Chaplin, Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl)
Outside Of That, I Love You (Summer Strallen, Tom Chambers, Top Hat)
Shall We Dance (Bobby Short, K-RA-ZY For Gershwin)
Shall We Dance (Gertrude Lawrence, Yul Brynner, The King And I)
Dance With Me (Tonight At The Mardi Gras)(New York Voices, Louisiana
      Purchase)
Tango De Amor (Instrumental, The Addams Family)
Gotta Dance (Gene Kelly, Singin' In The Rain)
The More We Dance (John Lithgow, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
I Could Have Danced All Night (Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady)
There's No Business Like Show Business (Elaine Stritch, Elaine Stritch At
     Liberty)
That's My Boy (Elaine Stritch, Stritch)
You Took Advantage Of Me (Elaine Stritch, On Your Toes)
If (Elaine Stritch, Two On The Aisle)
Puttin' On The Ritz (Clark Gable, Idiot's Delight)
Puttin' On The Ritz (Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Young Frankenstein)
Puttin' On The Ritz (Fred Astaire, Blue Skies)
Puttin' On The Ritz (Roger Bart, Shuler Hensley, Young Frankenstein)
The Party's Over (Judy Garland, Judy Garland Live!)
The Party's Over (Judy Holiday, Bells Are Ringing)
The Party's Over (Leslie Odom, Jr., Leslie Odom, Jr.)
The Party's Over (Elaine Stritch, Elaine Stritch At Liberty)
Last Night Of The Year (Tom Wopat, Consider It Swung)
Auld Lang Syne (Shirley Temple)
Auld Lang Syne (Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians)

A slice of (Mystery) Fruitcake

 Carol Channing a'twinkle!

Not playing Carol on Sunday, but hadda add her to our

rogue's gallery of holiday favorites.

 Stan Freberg will be on hand 

with Daws ("I Ain't Too Sure About Toledo") Butler for

"Christmas Dragnet".

 His Green Christmas album was released in 1958.

Stan is usually credited as being the first person to introduce humor into television advertising,

and for a fun read, try his autobiography, 

It Only Hurts When I Laugh. 

  More interesting trivia:
Daws voiced several cartoon characters back in the 60s,

like Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear!

 This is surprising!

Mrs. Claus smokes and plays cards...what a Dame.

Dame Angela Lansbury, that is.

Above pic is from her portrayal as Santa's dame

in a TV musical called Mrs. Santa Claus, made back in 1996. 

Tho I don't hold high hopes for this, I should really check out the score, 

because it's by Jerry Herman!

(Costumes: Bob Mackie)

We'll hear this Dame in Mame (another Herman "Spectac-a-lah")

on Sunday with

"We Need A Little Christmas".

 Forever Plaid did a Plaid Tidings version with Faith Prince,

from which we'll hear our share of holiday goodies.

(Disclaimer: Above Plaid-ettes are NOT the originals!

There are a lot of Plaids out there and this seems to be a 

faux-tartan group.

Nonetheless, huzzah to Leo Daignault, David Brannen, Jason Heil and Michael Winther in this 2010 production!)

 Gotta have some Christmas Hollywood, too;

 we'll sample several Irving Berlin classics from White Christmas,

and there they are, above in that iconic "nice grouping"...

 Rosemary, Danny, Bing, and Vera.

And I love the "Sisters" paper doll set below!

(Santa, pls deliver!)

 And then of course the staged version of White Christmas,

which starred Brian d'Arcy James and Jeffrey Denman when it 

played Broadway.

The photo above is from a touring company,

and I have no idea whose smiles and RED garb are gracing us here! 

 The most obnoxious song of this edition of 2 On The Aisle

simply has to be "Turkey Lurkey"

from Promises Promises.

Above, Jerry Orbach (top center), who starred in the original production,

and below the frenetic "Turkey" dance

(whew!)

with Donna McKechnie front and center, in red.

 Nope, Miss Shirley never did Broadway,

but I'm a Shirley nut,

so she gets a couple of pics in this Christmas Pudding.

Look at that dress!

What 6 year old wouldn't drool for that?
(Hey, I'm 64 and I'M DROOLING!)

Merry Merry, y'all!

Playlist For Sunday, December 22, 2019: The Christmas Pudding Edition

 Okay, so it is NOW TIME to put on the Santa suit and make merry! And the way the parties and punch have been flowing around here lately, that Santa suit will fit. Gotta start dancing along to all this BROADWAY holiday music while I spin the platters...if that's all the workout time I get! Otherwise the eggnog wins.

Yup, that's me...in front.

Like the belt?

All this to announce that this Sunday (12/22/19) is The Christmas Pudding Edition of 2 On The Aisle! And I say this every year, but there's not as much Broadway Christmas music as one might wish for. You got White Christmas, of course (yup, they staged it on Broadway, a bit on the treacly side), and a song from Mame, and other errant tunes from She Loves Me and Subways and Gypsy...but for the most part, musicals aren't over the moon about tree trimming or sock stuffing. I mean, come on, most of the "Golden Age" composers and lyricists were Jewish; they didn't avoid the holiday, but why make popcorn strings and snow your focal point? Hmmmm...

No worries. I'm here with plenty of filler, like weird candied fruit in the Christmas pudding of life --- The Novelty Song, which can provide Zing! Well, that's my excuse anyway. So along with "We Need A Little Christmas" from Mame (the pudding), we'll sample "I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus" (the mysterious green cherry??). Enuf with the metaphor. Now I need cake.

 Don't break a tooth.

So enjoy! Tune in for some fa la la-ing frivolity this Sunday, raise a nog (or 7) to Broadway, and "Count Your Blessings." I'm just gonna "Be A Santa." XO



Happy Holiday/Let Yourself Go (Brian d'Arcy Jeffry Denman, White Christmas
Overture (Instrumental, Irving Berlin's White Christmas)
We Need A Little Christmas (Angela Lansbury, Mame)
Twelve Days To Christmas (Zachary Levi, Laura Benanti, Ensemble,
      She Loves Me)
Three Wishes For Christmas (Tony Yazbek, Ensemble, Gypsy)
Lovers On Christmas Eve (Joanna Gleason, James Naughton, I Love My Wife)
Be A Santa (Sydney Chaplin, Subways Are For Sleeping)
Five Pound Box Of Money (Pearl Bailey)
Surabaya Santa (Jessica Molaskey, Songs For A New World)
(I'm Spending) Hanukkah In Santa Monica (Tom Lehrer, The Remains Of Tom
      Lehrer)
Sisters (Rosemary Clooney, White Christmas)
The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing (Danny Kaye, White Christmas)
Snow (Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, Trudy Stevens, White
      Christmas)
Count Your Blessings (Instead Of Sheep)(Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney,
      White Christmas)
White Christmas (Company, White Christmas)
Merry Christmas (Ensemble, Plaid Tidings)
Christmas Is My Favorite Time Of Year (Norbert Leo Butz, Aaron, Tveit,
      Catch Me If You Can)
Hard Candy Christmas (Pamela Blaire, Delores Hall, Ensemble,
      Best Little Whorehouse In Texas)
Christmas Day (Ensemble, Promises Promises)
I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Karen Morrow, Bryan d'Arcy James,
      Jeffry Denman, Meredith Patterson, White Christmas)
Holiday Season (Tom Wopat, John Schneider, Home For Christmas)
A Christmas Carol (Tom Lehrer, More Of Tom Lehrer)
The Twelve Gifts Of Christmas (Allan Sherman, For Swinging Livers Only)
Talk Christmas, Cool Yule (Ensemble, Plaid Tidings/Holiday In Plaid)
Nothin' For Christmas (Eartha Kitt)
Turkey Lurkey Time (Donna McKechnie, Margo Sappington, Baayork
      Lee, Promises Promises)
I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Clause (Kip Addotta, Dr. Demento Presents
      The Greatest Christmas Novelty CD Of All Time)
Pine Cones And Holly Berries (Laurence Naismith, Janis Paige, Fred
      Gwynne, Here's Love)
Catered Holiday (Ensemble, Plaid Tidings/Holiday In Plaid)
Christmas Dragnet (Stan Freberg, Daws Butler, Dr. Demento Presents
      The Greatest Christmas Novelty CD Of All Time))
I'll Be Home For Christmas (Leslie Odom, Jr., Simply Christmas)
Christmas Mem'ries (Barbra Streisand, Christmas Memories)
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Bernadette Peters, Sondheim, Etc.,
      Etc. Live At Carnegie Hall, The Rest Of It)
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Judy Garland, Meet Me In St. Louis) 

Playlist for December 15, 2019: And FINALLY FRANK!!!

Well, FINALLY the Frank Loesser show will be aired TOMORROW (December 15, 2019), 2 weeks later than it was supposed to. You can thank the Vicissitudes of Life for that delay. You know the Vicissitudes, right? They're coming for canasta and white wine later in the week.

But I guess it's lucky that it's happening now, because any later and it would have had to be a Christmas Frank Loesser Show, which means like all of 1 song...played over and over. The Victrola would run hot, the audience run cold, and the eggnog wouldn't run at all. SOOOO that means Frank tomorrow, Christmas Broadway next Sunday!

Here I am,

unloading presents for all those

2 On The Aisle Fans. :)

Rats!

Due to a lovely ice/sleet/snow event here in Western NY, today's Frank Loesser show will have to be postponed til December 15th. Sad Face. So today's 2 On The Aisle will be a repeat performance from one year ago. Stay warm INSIDE!

When More is Loess-er!

 This Sunday, More is Less...well, Loesser, anyway!

Yup, the songs and shows of Frank Loesser,

born in 1910, raised on 107th Street in Manhattan.

Frank's father taught classical piano (tho not to Frank!)

and his brother, Arthur, became a concert pianist.

But Frank taught himself the piano (and the harmonica),

got expelled from high school AND college...

and yet it's him we remember. :)

 At first, lyrics were Frank's game;

he collaborated with the likes of Arthur Schwartz,

Hoagy Carmichael, Jule Styne, and Burton Lane

to produce songs like "Two Sleepy People,"

"I Don't Want To Walk Without You,"

and "Heart And Soul."

He would write song lyrics used in over 60 Hollywood movies!

During WWII, Frank was assigned to Special Services,

and he spent his time writing lyrics (and often melodies) 

for army camp songs.

 Above, Frank with his first wife,

Lynne Garland,

with whom he would perform his song

"Baby, It's Cold Outside"

at swanky parties...

"That song kept us in caviar and truffles" Frank would later state.

He sold the song to MGM, for use in the movie, Neptune's Daughter;

it won an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1949,

 but garnered him no such awards from Lynne.

 Frank with Wife #2:

Jo Sullivan,

who played Rosabella, in The Most Happy Fella.

Yup, Lynne was ditched during the course of that musical,

even tho she was an executive producer of the show.

 Frank's first over-the-top Broadway smash:

Guys And Dolls, 

Best Musical of 1951.

Above, Robert Alda and Isabel Bigley,

below, Vivian Blaine and Sam Levene.

 Isabel was the one Frank once slapped during rehearsal...

evidently she wasn't singing loudly enough.

Flowers and candy followed on apace.

 And shots from the movie version, done 5 years later.

"Pet Me Poppa" (above) and "Take Back Your Mink" (below)

both featured Vivian who reprised her role as Miss Adelaide.

 The Guys And Dolls of the movie:

Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine.

 Frank supposedly had a lot of "fun" working with Marlon. 

 Nathan Lane (center) as Nathan Detroit

(yes, he took his stage name from one of his favorite

musical comedy characters!),

and (below) Faith Prince as Adelaide,

in the 1992 revival. 

 Another Frank goodie:

How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying,

a 1961 Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning show.

Above, Robert Morse "believing in himself" in the 1966 movie,

and below, J.B. Biggely (Rudy Vallee) with Robert's

Pierrepont Finch.

 The "Paris Original" number above,

and "Been Along Day" below...

Robert, Claudette Sutherland, and Bonnie Scott.

 In between Guys and How To,

Frank wrote what some would call an opera,

given its 40 songs!

The Most Happy Fella,

for which Frank did the music, lyrics, AND the book.

Above, Sue Johnson and Shorty Long, who played the secondary couple,

 and below,

leads Jo Sullivan and Robert Weede.

Robert (who played...well, the most happy fella!) 

was an actual opera star, 

so even if it WAS an opera...no worries for Robert!

 We'll also hear some artists who've done exceptional jobs

recording the songs of Frank Loesser,

like Andrea Marcovicci, above...

Judy Kuhn...

 ...and Tom Wopat and John Schneider,

who did their own Hazzard-ous version of 

"Baby, It's Cold Outside" on their Christmas album.

 Pardon the fuzzy pic above,

but that's Betty Hutton mid-Hamlet,

a novelty song Frank wrote for the film,

Red, Hot, And Blue, from 1949,

starring Betty and Victor Mature (below).

Frank had a small part in the movie, too,

playing Hair-Do Lempkie (???)

and wrote 4 songs for the film as well. 

The glamorous side of Betty!

Frank passed away in July of 1969

from lung cancer.

Almost 4 decades of song-writing

and Broadway show creation.

He was 59 years old. 

Turkey Lurkey!

Happy Thanksgiving,

all you Broadway-philes!