Playlist For Sunday, Dec. 27th, 2020: 2 On 2 On The Aisle

It's the Mother/Daughter Edition of 2 On The Aisle this Sunday! Yes, with a minimal amount of arm twisting (actually none at all, it was HER idea), Bellisant Corcoran-Mathe has agreed to guest host. Annnnnnd she is in charge of the playlist, shoveling in as many of her favorite songs/shows/flicks as possible! We are hoping to have a few wars about how her favorites are horrid and mine are better, but I can already tell that many of her picks would be MY picks. The fruit falls not far, and all that. 

 

Off Broadway this night!

 

So maybe I will just pretend to find fault and nit-pick just for fun. :) Acerbic comments and snide remarks. Always good for a laugh.

Tune in then for the Broadway Smack Down, aka 2 On 2 On The Aisle...this Sunday from 3-5pm on Jazz 90.1 and Jazz901.org!

 

Overture/Audition (Dance Ensemble, 42nd Street)

A Musical (Brian d'Arcy James, Brad Oscar, Something Rotten!)

The Buddy System (Rene Auberjonois, City Of Angels)

It's A Business (Debra Monk, Company, Curtains)

One Night In Bangkok (Murray Head, Chess)

In The Heights (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Company, In The Heights)

I'm Alive (Aaron Tveit, Next To Normal)

Free (Zero Mostel, Brian Davies, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)

A Bowler Hat (Isao Sato, Pacific Overtures)

Finishing The Hat (Mandy Patinkin, Sunday In The Park With George)

Those Magic Changes (James Canning, Ensemble, Grease)

Run, Freedom, Run (Hunter Foster, Urinetown)

Vacation (Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, Pump Boys And Dinettes)

Stars And The Moon (Jessica Molaskey, Songs For A New World)

Song On The Sand (George Hearn, Gene Barry, La Cage Aux Folles)

Leaning On A Lamp Post (Robert Lindsay, Emma Thompson, Me & My Girl)

River Of No Return (Marilyn Monroe, River Of No Return)

Lament/Lonesome Polecat (Matt Mattox, Ensemble, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers)

Moses Supposes (Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Singin' In The Rain)

Shall We Dance (Fred Astaire, Shall We Dance)

From This Moment On (Ann Miller, Tommy Rall, Bob Fosse, Kiss Me Kate)

The I Love You Song (Celia Keenan-Bolger, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Words Fail (Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen)

Let's Start The New Year Right (Bing Crosby, Holiday Inn)

Last Night Of The Year (Tom Wopat, Consider It Swung)

Recipe for Figgy Pudding: Angela, Kay, Pearl, and Judy Judy Judy!

Angela for the win in Mame, 1966...

and the costume designer? Robert Mackintosh!

Below, that Jerry Herman perennial "We Need A Little Christmas",

sung by Angela, Sab Shimono as Ito, Frankie Michaels as Patrick

 and Jane Connell as Gooch.

Fantastic shot of Pearl Bailey

and below, with hubby Louie Bellson...

gotta hear her ask for another "Five Pound Box Of Money"

from Santa.

That song has deep meaning for me. :)

MUST have Judy Garland's

"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"

or it wouldn't be Christmas at all!

These pics are, of course, from Meet Me In St. Louis, 1944

which used old songs that fit the time/setting of the early 1900s,

and new songs (like this one, written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane).

The first draft had pretty depressing lyrics! rewrite!

 

Surrounding Judy in that FAB red dress are:

Lucille Bremer, Mary Astor, Harry Davenport, and Margaret O'Brien.

Also in the cast were Tom Drake, Marjorie Main and June Lockhart.

 

And I never miss a chance to play Allan Sherman, especially his Twelve Gifts of Christmas...and that's Allan below with Jerry Lewis in shiny suits.

"Hello Mr. Kringle", a new one for me, pops up on Sunday, too.

Above, Kay Kyser's Kollege Of Musical Knowledge performs it with 

Ish Kabibble (below)??? 

I think Jim Carey could play him in the bio-pic. 

(Ish's real name was Merwyn Bogue...and he was actually a very decent cornettist, ANNNND he functioned as the band's business manager from 1931-51!)

And helping "Ish" out on vocals, Ginny Smith, Sully Mason, and Harry Babbitt.

Below, Bob and Doug McKenzie aka Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, 

in a Great White North skit. 

We'll hear their take on The Twelve Days Of Christmas.

Kind of the way I would end up singing that song. :)

 

Inadequate Ode To Ann

With all the obits out at present,

I can't add much, only to say that Ann Reinking was an incredible

dancer, performer, and choreographer, but you already knew that.

I took a master class with her once at Harkness

(which I had NO BUSINESS attending, it was way beyond my abilities),

and all I can say is WOW. One for the ages.

1949 - 2020

 

Playlist For Sunday, December 20: The Give Us Some Figgy Pudding Edition!

Have you ever actually had Figgy Pudding? I mean, that frickin' song demands it rather forcefully, but what exactly IS it? I mean, we won't go until we get some!

Let's Google: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/warm-sticky-figgy-pudding-recipe-1918585

And here's a visualization:

It sounds and LOOKS like a Christmas Pudding, with plenty of brandy poured over it and flames and smoke alarms going off. I've had it! WITH smoke alarms! It's great...yeah, gimme some figgy pudding already. A delightful, if lit, addition to the dessert cart! If you buy one, you'll see that it comes in little (usually 1 or 1.5 pound) "bombs", small but potent but rich but booze-soaked (if you do it right!). So a little goes a long way (if you do it right!).

 

Lit!

Which reminds me...here's the segway (or is it just "segue")...

 

Grammar Police: Segueway division!

...to Christmas Broadway. It's a small amount. Only 14 left in stock, so order now! Which is why I wait til the Sunday before the holiday to unwrap it. Which is why I pepper it with Christmas Hollywood AND Christmas ballads/comic relief/and jazz. There just isn't enough of it to "eat" for 2 hours. But what IS there is dense and caloric and yummy, okay? Like Figgy Pudding, a little can go a long way (if you do it right!). 

 

 

So pull up a comfy chair, grab a bowl of warm steamy pudding (or the equivalent), toss another log on the fire/gas insert, and join me for the annual Holiday/Figgy Pudding Edition of 2 On The Aisle, this coming Sunday 12/20/20, and we will fah la la together!  

 

Happy Holiday/Let Yourself Go (Jeffry Denman, Brian d'Arcy James, White Christmas)

Twelve Days To Christmas (Zachary Levi, Laura Benanti, Ensemble, She Loves Me)

We Need A Little Christmas (Angela Lansbury, Sab Shimono, Jane Connell, Frankie Michaels, Mame)

Five Pound Box Of Money (Pearl Bailey)

Cool Yule (John Schneider, Tom Wopat, Home For Christmas)

Talk Christmas/Cool Yule (Paul Binotto, David Engel, Michael Winther, Larry Raben, Holiday In Plaid) 

Three Wishes For Christmas (Tony Yazbek, Gypsy)

Lovers On Christmas Eve (James Naughton, Joanna Gleason, I Love My Wife)

The Best Things Happen (Danny Kaye, White Christmas)

Sisters (Rosemary Clooney, Trudy Stevens, White Christmas)

Snow (Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, Trudy Stevens, Peggy Lee, White Christmas)

Count Your Blessings (Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, White Christmas)

White Christmas (Company, White Christmas)

The Twelve Gifts Of Christmas (Allan Sherman, For Swinging Livers Only)

(I'm Spending) Hanukkah In Santa Monica (Tom Lehrer, The Remains Of Tom Lehrer)

Twelve days Of Christmas (Bob and Doug McKenzie aka Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas)

Christmas Time Is Here (John Schneider, Tom Wopat, Home For Christmas)

I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Karen Morrow, Jeffry Denman, Brian d'Arcy James, Meredith Patterson, White Christmas)

Ring Them Bells (Liza Minnelli, Liza With A Z)

Hello Mr. Kringle (Kay Kyser and His Kollege Of Musical Knowledge, Harry Babbitt, Ginny Smith, Sully Mason, Ish-Kabibble)

Happy Holidays (Bing Crosby, Holiday Inn)

Love You Didn't Do Right By Me (Rosemary Clooney, White Christmas)

Christmas Mem'ries (Barbara Streisand, Christmas Memories)

Hard Candy Christmas (Pamela Blair, Delores Hall, Ensemble, Best Little Whorehouse In Texas)

Christmas Day (Ensemble, Promises, Promises)

Winter Song (Leslie Odom, Jr., Simply Christmas)

Holiday Season (John Schneider, Tom Wopat, Home For Christmas)

Be A Santa (Sydney Chaplin, Subways Are For Sleeping)

Johnny It's Cold Outside (John Schneider, Tom Wopat, Home For Christmas)

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Bernadette Peters, Sondheim Etc. Etc.)

I'll Be Home For Christmas (Leslie Odom, Jr., Simply Christmas)

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Judy Garland, Meet Me In St. Louis)

Santa Claus Is Back In Town (Elvis Presley)

 

 

 

Rita/Chita/Tyne!

Happy birthday to Rita Moreno,

born December 11, 1931, in Humacao, Puerto Rico! 

She grew up in Valley Stream, Long Island,

and took dance lessons from Paco Cansino, a Spanish dancer

annnnnnd uncle of Rita Hayworth.

Rita's first roles were in movies like

The Toast Of New Orleans (1950) and Singin' In The Rain (1952...

she played Zelda Zander, the dame who snitched on Debby Reynolds!).

She also played Tuptim in The King And I (1956).

That led to a plum part in West Side Story (the movie version) 

as Anita 

for which Rita won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

The list of theatre, television and film roles that Rita did

is looooooong (almost 7 decades "on stage") and award winning...

she is one of 23 performers to have won all 4 performance awards,

called an EGOT.

Her love life is also (in)famous;

affairs with Marlon Brando and Elvis top that list!

 

To think it all started with Cagney and Lacey (well, it didn't!)!

Tyne Daly, who hails from Madison, Wisconsin,

first hit Broadway in 1967 (she was 21 years old)

in That Summer - That Fall.

 Television (6 Emmys) roles like Lacey have earned her status

as a feminist icon.

Along with Emmys galore,

Tyne won a Tony for her portrayal of Mamma Rose 

in the 1990 revival of Gypsy. 

With brother Jim Daly, equally talented (and gorgeous)! 

This whole Daly family (her dad was James Daly, below, with the family)

has some major entertainment GENES.

 

With Harriet Harris in It Shoulda Been You.

 

Tyne and Lewis Cleale (below) in an off-Broadway production of

Call Me Madam.

 

Dick Van Dyke (it'll be HIS birthday on Sunday, the 13th...95 years old?) 

and Chita Rivera in the original Broadway production of

Bye Bye Birdie...and below at the cast recording.

The role of Rosie Alvarez was first offered to Eydie Gorme and Carol Haney,

but both turned it down...

when it finally went to Chita, they changed the character's name

from Grant to Alvarez!

Also in the cast (above), Susan Watson, Marijane Maricle,

Paul Lynde, and Johnny Borden.

Paul was 34 when he played Harry MacAfee and got to sing

2 very fun songs:"Kids" and "A Hymn To Sunday Night".

FYI, he actually adlibbed the line "Ed, I love you" in that Sunday song,

and it was kept in!

Michael J. Pollard (above) played Kim MacAfee's boyfriend.

Understudying Dick Van Dyke was a young

Charles Nelson Reilly,

who actually got to perform in the role when Dick hoofed it

to L.A. to work on his TV show. 

Tyne (above right) with Vanessa Williams and Jason Alexander,

in the 1995 TV movie version of Birdie,

which was panned (times 17)

but in the role of Mae Peterson,

 Tyne got to sing "A Mother Doesn't Matter Anymore"

which almost makes viewing it WORTH IT. 

Playlist For Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020: It's Because I'm Green, Isn't It?

Whoa. Take just 1 weekend off and whattaya get? Missed buttons, bad timing, and a rusty me trying to broadcast 2 On The Aisle. I realize from my own hours spent listening to on-air hosts that you can sometimes appreciate mistakes on live radio. It does make the DJ seem human, a bit flawed, and thus relatable. I mean, if I were too perfect, you'd hate me, right? No worries there! Based on my erroneous production personnae, you love me to death. :) :0 :(

Not quite the same as Jazz 90.1's tech. THIS is the Ship To Shore model at Sun Records' "museum". It just FEELS this complicated! :)

 Anyhoo, I'm now properly re-oiled (oil can! oil can! what's THAT from?), and the next few consecutively-paced shows will be works of wonder and you'll be slack-jawed from the awesomeness of it all. Yeah, right.

I'm not THIS Grinchy. But I do like this sneer.

“4:00, wallow in self-pity. 4:30, stare into the abyss. 5, solve world hunger, tell no one. 5:30, jazzercize; 6:30, dinner with me. I can’t cancel THAT again. 7, wrestle with my self-loathing. I’m booked! Of course, if I bump the loathing to 9, I could still be done in time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness.”

 

Sooooo coming up on December 20th is our Holiday show! THIS COMING SUNDAY, we'll avoid the fah-la-la-ho-ho-ho-ness of it all to do a salute to Broadway birthdays and Broadway openings...we'll light up birthday candles for Rita Moreno and Noel Coward, and say HUZZAH to My Favorite Year and City Of Angels. Then we spotlight 4 competing Mamma Roses of Gypsy fame (like Dolly and Mame, every dame of a certain age wants to be 'em). One of those is Tyne Daly, so why not have a Tyne corner as well? So as you can see, lots of goodies to shoe-horn into 2 hours, and high odds it all ends up messing with my technology! 

 So hold on to that eggnog and sticky toffee pudding for 2 more weeks. I promise to make good. Or be good. SANTA!!!! 

Overture/Twenty Million People (Company, My Favorite Year) 

Welcome To Brooklyn (Evan Pappas, Lainie Kazan, Tim Curry, Ensemble, My Favorite Year

The Gospel According To King (Tom Mardirosian, Ensemble, My Favorite Year)

Shut Up And Dance (Evan Pappas, Lannyl Stephens, My Favorite Year

Professional Showbizness Comedy (Andrea Martin, Tom Mardirosian, My Favorite Year

America (Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, Ensemble, West Side Story)

I Feel Pretty (Marni Nixon, Rita Moreno, Suzie Kaye, Yvonne Wilder, West Side Story)

Tonight Quintet (Rita Moreno, Marni Nixon, Ensemble, West Side Story)

Chita-Rita (Dorothy Kiara, Toni DiBuono, Forbidden Broadway, Volume 2)

Spanish Rose (Chita Rivera, Bye Bye Birdie)

Kids (Paul Lynde, Bye Bye Birdie)

One Boy (Susan Watson, Bye Bye Birdie)

Hymn For A Sunday Evening (Paul Lynde, Ensemble, Bye Bye Birdie)

Put On A Happy Face (Lee Adams, Charles Strouse, Dick Van Dyke, Bye Bye Birdie)

Don't Put Your Daughter On The Stage, Mrs. Worthington (Noel Coward)

Never Again/Sail Away (Christine Ebersole, Christine Ebersole Sings Noel Coward)

I Went To A Marvelous Party (Noel Coward)

Later Than Spring (Elaine Stritch, Sail Away)

The Hostess With The Mostes' On The Ball (Tyne Daly, Call Me Madam)

Nice (Tyne Daly, It Shoulda Been You)

Trouble (Tyne Daly)

A Mother Doesn't Matter (Tyne Daly, Bye Bye Birdie)

Ya Gotta Look Out For Yourself (Scott Waara, The Angel City 4) 

The Tennis Song (James Naughton, Dee Hoty, City Of Angels)

You're Nothing Without Me (James Naughton, Gregg Edelman, City Of Angels)

Some People (Ethel Merman, Gypsy)

Together (Angela Lansbury, Gypsy) 

Have An Egg Roll  (Patti LuPone, Gypsy)

Some People (Bernadette Peters, Sondheim Etc.)

Some People (Tyne Daly, Gypsy)

Wait! Where's my food?

 What happened to that Thanksgiving Show, the Food Edition? Well, it hasn't happened yet! Due to Covid "orange zone" restrictions, I couldn't do a live show on November 29. SOOOO that edition will air this coming Sunday, December 6th! So just check the Nov. 29th playlist, that's the one you'll hear this weekend. 

Whew...lucky us! Back to business.