Playlist For Sunday, April 2, 2023: Sighing for Cy

Brain Droppings on this, the last week of frickin' March:

1.) I've started Instacarting. Not the ordering, the actual shopping FOR Instacart folks. And man, the stuff people eat! Not to judge, but the judgement is floooowwwwing! Frozen food, chips (exponential chips...how the hell many do they even make?), cookies, crackers, more chips, no fruit, no fresh anything. Jesus, I feel like an ascetic, organic, gruel-eating nun by comparison.

 

I have actually NEVER had this much food in a cart.

 2.) The wind. Speaking from wind experience, I fear for my roof. A few years back, I lost a large part of it (see below). My garbage can is already in Morton.

 

Roofs do not belong on the ground.

 

3.) Finally signed up with a financial consultant. In 24 hours, I've gone from dreaming of a townhouse in Philly to thinking I may need to rent out a room of this 200 year old, drafty cobblestone. Oh, and go back to eating gruel.

4.) Pledge Drive time is around the corner. Kneeling on rice time. Rice purchased (while Instacarting). Now I just need new knees. Or at least knee pads. (I'm kidding. It's actually a pretty fun time.)

 

Let's deny all of this reality though, with a Cy (a sigh?)...Seymour (Cy) Coleman, jazzy composer he. Cy started out a child prodigy who, at the age of 9? 11?, performed piano recitals in "halls" (like the Carnegie kind). Then he decided to play jazz, and snap! He had a trio and/or a quartet and played gigs and recorded. Then he decided to compose pop songs (ever hear of "Witchcraft", which he must have had a talent for?)(how 'bout "The Best Is Yet To Come"? It was!). And THEN he landed on Broadway, turned west, and voila, Musical Theatre Land. Little Me, Wildcat, Sweet Charity, City Of Angels, Barnum, On The Twentieth Century.  So let's immerse ourselves in Cy (Sigh). 

Plus we'll hear a little of Doris, cuz they say it's her birthday. And Debbie! Her natal day is this week, as well.

Doris Mary Kappelhoff, born April 3, 1922...

 

...and Mary Frances Reynolds, April 1, 1932. 

 

 

So hopefully a pretty yummy show. I'll bring the frozen tater tots, you bring the bugles, and we'll sigh for Cy...and Doris and Deb...together. See ya then!

Seesaw (Ensemble, Seesaw)

I've Got Your Number (Swen Swenson, Little Me)

Little Me (Virginia Martin, Nancy Andrews, Little Me)

Real Live Girl (Ensemble, Little Me)

Hey, Look Me Over (Lucille Ball, Wildcat)

Use What You Got (Sam Harris, The Life)

I Love My Wife (Lenny Baker, James Naughton, I Love My Wife) 

It's Magic (Doris Day, Romance On The High Seas)

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (Doris Day)

Put 'Em In A Box, Tie 'Em With A Ribbon, And Throw 'Em In The Deep Blue Sea (Romance On The High Seas, Doris Day)

Stranded (John Cullum, Ensemble, On The Twentieth Century)

Never (Madeline Kahn, John Cullum, On The Twentieth Century)

Five Zeros (Imogene Coca, George Coe, Dean Dittman, John Cullum, On The Twentieth Century)

Prologue - Theme (James Naughton, City Of Angels)

Lost And Found (Rachel York, City Of Angels)

You Can Always Count On Me (Randy Graff, City Of Angels)

Double Talk Walk (Instrumental, City Of Angels)

You Gotta Look Out For Yourself (Scott Waara, The Angel City 4, City Of Angels)

Big Spender (Ann Reinking, Ensemble, Sweet Charity/Fosse)

Rich Man's Frug (Instrumental, Sweet Charity)

The Rhythm Of Life (Sammy Davis, Jr., Sweet Charity)

Give A Man Enough Rope (Keith Carridine, The Will Rogers Follies)

No Man Left For Me (Dee Hoty, The Will Rogers Follies)

Will-a-mania (Ensemble, The Will Rogers Follies)

Aba Daba Honeymoon (Debbie Reynolds, Carleton Carpenter, Two Weeks With Love)

Good Morning (Debbie Reynolds, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Singin' In The Rain)

I'm Always Chasing Rainbows (Debbie Reynolds, Irene)

You Are My Lucky Star (Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Singin' In The Rain)

We've Got It (Ken Howard, Michele Lee, Seesaw) 

Welcome To Holiday Inn (Michele Lee, Seesaw) 

It's Not Where You Start, It's Where You Finish (Tommy Tune, Seesaw) 

Playlist For Sunday, March 26, 2023: March Mad!

Are we done with Snow Gulag? Are we now in Mud Madness? Whichever climate that's landed THIS HOUR, we are "well seasoned" to quote Weather Whirling Dervish Kevin Williams. As I type, it's raining and my ditch...I mean my creek is overwhelming its banks, and mud is adding a certain non-panache to my yard. I chose to leave my flamboyance of flamingos (yes, herds of these babies are actually called a flamboyance) outside through the winter, so right now they're stuck in dirty snow, majorly askew and listing, and their necklaces are hardly sparkly! (Yes, they are festooned)...They will need to shape up, or be shipped out, come summer.

And well seasoned is how I feel. Every birthday, I hone my life in the world of Denial, and every year that gets harder to do. Like those faded, listing, pink birds, I need re-alignment (plus more mascara and better jewelry)!

And speaking of birthdays...was I? Anyway, we have missed a score or 7 of Broadway birthdays that flew by during the month of March. I've been distracted by wacky themes, and horridly neglected the natal days of many a star in that musical firmament. Like the Stephens (Sondheim and Schwartz), the Kander (of the Ebb variety), not to mention the Pearl, the Raul, the Phyllis and the Rex. In fact, so many birthdays and anniversaries that I fear we'll suffer whiplash at all the back and forthness involved.

 

Phyllis Newman in her towel "costume"

in Subways Are For Sleeping. 

That's Orson Bean, enjoying the "terry"?

Even though Newman's hubby, Adolph Green wrote the lyrics for that show,

she had to audition for the part of Martha.

She got the role AND a Tony!

(Maybe she got to keep the towel? Did they throw it in?)

Raul Julia, looking fetching-if-hairy, in Nine? 

Kiss of the Spider Woman?

On his way to CVS? 

(Didn't he always look this good?)

 

 Pearl Bailey in a scrumptious number...

is that a Grauman's Chinese Foo Dog in the background?

But before I sign off on all this foofaraw, I want to exhort you to take in a one-woman show that's coming up on March 24th: Beth Leavel is "in town" and will be performing her show, "It's Not About Me", at the OFC Creations Theatre in Brighton. I'm going! Beth singing, Beth storytelling, Beth diatribing (hopefully) sounds like FUN. Tickets are reasonable and a pre-theatre happy hour?? Yup. That's for me.

 

Beth in The Drowsy Chaperone (AS the drowsy chaperone)!

 

Meanwhile, we MUST make the most of Mud Season, and Mush On. Into April which is around the calendar corner. Hope "springs" eternal, and all that. 

P.S. It's now snowing. :(

 

Magic To Do (Ben Vereen, Company, Pippin)

One Man (Pearl Bailey, House Of Flowers)

It's De Lovely (Hal Linden, Barbara Lang, Anything Goes)

Guido's Song (Raul Julia, Nine)

I'm An Ordinary Man (Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady)

Broadway Baby (Bernadette Peters, Sondheim, Etc.)

Barcelona (Dean Jones, Susan Browning, Company)

Our Time (Lonny Price, Ann Morrison, Jim Walton, Merrily We Roll Along)

So Long, Big Guy (Jack Cassidy, It's A Bird...It's A Plane...It's Superman)

I Was A Shoe-In (Phyllis Newman, Subways Are For Sleeping)

Gauguin's Shoes (Lonny Price, Company, A Class Act)

A Certain Girl (David Wayne, Robert Goulet, The Happy Time)

Coffee Shop Nights (David Hyde Pierce, Jill Paice, Curtains)

70, Girls, 70 (Mildred Natwick, Company, 70, Girls, 70)

My Friends (Len Cariou, Angela Lansbury, Sweeney Todd)

Pretty Lady (Timm Fujii, Mark Hsu Syers, Patrick Kinser-Lau, Pacific Overtures)

Not A Day Goes By (Bernadette Peters, The Essential Sondheim)

Chanson (Sharon Lee-Hill, The Baker's Wife)

Love Song (Mathew James Thomas, Rachel Bay Jones, Pippin)

Popular (Kristin Chenowith, Wicked)

All The Best (Hunter Parrish, Ensemble, Godspell)

If You Could See Her (Joel Grey, Cabaret)

First You Dream (Karen Ziemba, Daniel McDonald, Steel Pier)

Cell Block Tango (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cell Block Girls, Chicago)

The Little Things You Do Together (Elaine Stritch, Elaine Stritch At Liberty)

The Little Things You Do Together (Company, Company)

Side By Side By Side (Dean Jones, Company, Company)

Playlist for Sunday, March 19, 2023: Go West, Broadwayphile!

Ever wake up at 3am and NOT be able to get back to sleep? Of course you have! So what do YOU do? 

 

I get up, have 3-7 cups of coffee, review a playlist or 2, go to the gym (in the dark), attend an exercise class (yes, both), meet friends for lattes, drive home, and proceed to nap for 2 hours. This in no way affects my ability to (later) go to bed at 9:30pm and sleep MORE. Do all retirees do that? Ugh. And I don't know what to chalk it up to. The 0.5 glass of wine? The sweetened oatmilk (don't judge me)? The visions of tax returns dancing in my head? That's gotta be it. Or the combination of it ALL. Anyway, it took me a day and a half to recover from that sleep deprivation, and despite "healthy living", I fear another edition on the horizon.

Damn. When I was 21 (or 17 or 35, as Mr. Sinatra landmarked it), I could drink/eat/party invincibly, and with the exception of bumping into the walls of my shower on the "morning after", be just FINE. Now? I need an Exedrin, a foam roller, Celestial Seasonings, and cozy loooooong naps, plural. Old, cranky, infirm, and holed up in March WINTER!

 

So to assuage my gulag-y, easily off-tracked life, I carved another playlist. One that, no matter how I tried, did not excite. I can always tell when a playlist isn't "drivable" when I put off writing and researching the songs! So that list went south, and I looked WEST (like the wind that drives March into lion country around here) and there I found new inspiration. The Broadway Wild West Edition...with cowboys, fences, prairies, farms...all things YEE HAW. Okay, so it's pretty corny country, but I care not. It's fun stuff, it wrote itself, and what the heck's wrong with corn anyway? 

Take a look out yonder (and below) what I'll be a-playin' and join me. Clean off your boots, find that 10 gallon chapeau of your's, and hand me down that can o' beans, pardner. I'll save you a seat by the campfire! :)

 

 Thataway! (Karen Ziemba, Noah Racey, Ensemble, Curtains)

Don't Fence Me In (Bing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters)

Way Out West (Judy Kaye, J.Q. And The Bandits, Babes In Arms)

The Farmer And The Cowman Should Be Friends (Betty Garde, Ralph Riggs, Oklahoma!)

Kansas City (Lee Dixon, Oklahoma!)

I Cain't Say No (Gloria Graham, Oklahoma!)

Oklahoma! (Alfred Drake, Company, Oklahoma!)

I'm An Old Cowhand (Harry Connick Jr., 25)

Bidin' My Time (Cowboy Trio, Crazy For You)

Cactus Time In Arizona (Louise Carlyle, Girl Crazy)

The Surrey With The Fringe On Top (Alfred Drake, Oklahoma)

Doin' What Comes Natur'lly (Bernadette Peters, Annie Get Your Gun)

Moonshine Lullaby (Ethel Merman, Annie Get Your Gun)

Pore Jud In Daid (Gordon MacRae, Rod Steiger, Oklahoma)

The Ballad Of Johnny Blood (Company, Desperate Measures)

Home On The Range (Roy Rogers and the Sons Of The Pioneers)

The Streets Of Miami (Allan Sherman, My Son The Folksinger)

There's A Coach Coming In (Ensemble, Paint Your Wagon)

They Call The Wind Maria (Rufus Smith, Paint Your Wagon)

Wand'rin' Star (Lee Marvin, Paint Your Wagon)

The Lonesome Cowboy (Ensemble, Girl Crazy) 

Treat Me Rough (June Allyson, Mickey Rooney, Girl Crazy)

Joey, Joey, Joey (Art Lund, The Most Happy Fella)

Farming (Danny Kaye, Let's Face It!)

How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down On The Farm (Judy Garland, Me & My Girl)

Farmer Tan (Mark Hardwick, Ensemble, Pump Boys And Dinettes)

I Ain't Down Yet (Tammy Grimes, The Unsinkable Molly Brown)

Belly Up To The Bar, Boys (Tammy Grimes, The Unsinkable Molly Brown)

Keep-A-Hoppin' (Harve Presnell, The Unsinkable Molly Brown)

Finale (Company, The Unsinkable Molly Brown)

 

 

Playlist For Sunday, March 12, 2023: LIZA, with 77 Zzzzzzzzzzzzzs!

Well, it sure was fun getting back behind the control board at Jazz 90.1 this past Sunday (and managing to push most of the right buttons!). Spending the last month in Philly, away from "the farm", my sticker-festooned, rarely washed car and that drafty cobblestone I call home was lovely indeed... and if it wasn't for my Sunday afternoons "on Broadway" with YOU, I'd be depressed as heck to return to this gulag. But sharing merry musicals does lift the spirits (and the many chins), right?

Too many cheese steaks ...

Rocky steps! (There are actually only 82 steps here...OCD much?)

And a pastry shop just 1.5 blocks away...

and P.S. Potatoes have nothing to do with these!

 

But depression aside (which is a great place for it), let's talk good timing: This coming Sunday, March 12th, is Liza's Birthday! Yup, Ms. Minnnnnnelli turns 77 that day, so what else can we do but salute this dame who's spent almost every year since the age of 3 performing for us. Broadway-wise, she's won 4 Tonys...for Flora The Red Menace, The Act, Liza At The Palace, and Liza At The Wintergarden. Oscars? 1 for Cabaret. Has she won a Grammy? Yuppers, a Grammy Legend Award in 1990. And finally to complete that EGOT set, an Emmy for Liza With A Z. Plus another dozen nominations for said awards. Add it up: 23 movies, over 50 television appearances, more than a score of Broadway productions, and 20 albums. (Plus 4 marriages and 4 divorces. That alone should qualify as another Tony or 7.)

 

So we'll hear from Flora and The Act, Cabaret and New York, New York. We'll hear from Best Foot Forward, an Off-Broadway show done when Liza was just 19. We'll hear her with real-life mom Judy and stage-life mom Chita (in The Rink). Liza blasting out an anthem, then a "Quiet Thing" ballad to make us ball into our burgundy. The full spectrum.

But you'll have to love LIZA, cuz that's all I'm playing, for 2 hours. Are you ready for that? Just say...YES!

 

Yes (Liza Minnelli, Liza With A Z) 

Say Liza (Liza With A Z)(Liza Minnelli, Liza With A Z) 

Bye Bye Blackbird (Liza Minnelli, Liza With A Z) 

It Was A Good Time (Liza Minnelli, Liza With A Z) 

Medley: Wilkommen/Married/Money, Money/Maybe This Time (Liza Minnelli, Liza With A Z) 

The Three Bs (Liza Minnelli, Kay Cole, Paula Wayne, Best Foot Forward)

Sing Happy (Liza Minnelli, Flora The Red Menace) 

You Are For Loving (Liza Minnelli, Ensemble, Best Foot Forward) 

I'm The Greatest Star (Lea Michele, Funny Girl)

You Are Woman (Ramin Karimloo, Lea Michele, Funny Girl)

Don't Rain On My Parade (Lea Michele, Funny Girl)

Don't Rain On My Parade (Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl)

The Man I Love (Liza Minnelli, New York, New York) 

Mein Herr (Liza Minnelli, Cabaret)

Under The Roller Coaster (Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, The Rink) 

The Apple Doesn't Fall (Very Far From The Tree) (Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, The Rink) 

Together Wherever We Go (Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland)

All I Need Is One Good Break (Liza Minnelli, Flora The Red Menace) 

Not Every Day Of The Week (Bob Dishy, Liza Minnelli, Flora The Red Menace) 

A Quiet Thing (Liza Minnelli, Flora The Red Menace) 

Shine On Harvest Moon  (Liza Minnelli, Live At The Winter Garden) 

You Stepped Out Of A Dream  (Liza Minnelli, Gently)

You've Let Yourself Go (Liza Minnelli, Liza With A Z) 

But The World Goes 'Round (Liza Minnelli, New York, New York)

Some People (Liza Minnelli, Liza In Concert)

New York, New York (Liza Minnelli)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playlist For March 5, 2023: Did You Evah?

Alright, so I'm home. And here to stick, for awhile anyway. Because I've sort SPENT alllll the funds on a month-long vacation, and then some, so I'll be here at home, not shopping, not partying, not a lot of things. It was fun, it was real, it was real fun...so glad I did it (restaurants, theatre, flamenco, a Match date???, definitely stuck my toe in City Life), but now I'm poor and rural once again.

So that's why you'll be hearing lots of LIVE 2OTAs from me for awhile!  :)

And that's the reason for this week's theme: PARTY TIME. We can experience Broadway Parties without the expense or the hangovers. Double win! So Fasten Your Seatbelt, becuz Somebody's Going To Throw A Big Party...like The New Yorkers (Say It With Gin), Noel Coward (A Marvelous Party), Cabaret (Cabaret!)...even a big Carousel Clambake with Rochester's own Renee (Fleming). Plus a Rosemary Clooney corner. I'm sure she'll wear that fabulous, drippy black dress from White Christmas and make quite the entrance.

 

So party hats, punch bowls, balls, and gin martinis are in our musical future. Tune in and vicariously celebrate something. We'll pretend we're partying with Nick & Nora, Bing & Frank, Judy & Fred...and me & you. Poor, but partied. :)

 

 

Celebration (Keith Charles, Company, Celebration)

Somebody's Going To Throw A Big Party (Ensemble, Fifty Million Frenchman)

Such A Merry Party (Ensemble, Little Mary Sunshine)

Cabaret (Liza Minnelli, Cabaret)

Fasten Your Seatbelt (Len Cariou, Lauren Bacall, Applause)

Say It With Gin (Ensemble, The New Yorkers)

Dry (Ensemble, The Wild Party)

Are You Having Any Fun? (Elaine Stritch, Stritch)

Botch-A-Me (Rosemary Clooney)

Pet Me Poppa (Rosemary Clooney)

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

By Myself (Rosemary Clooney)

I Went To A Marvelous Party (Noel Coward)

The Life Of The Party (David Wayne, The Happy Time)

The Party That We're Gonna Have Tomorrow Night (Tom Wopat, Stephen Wallem, Pipe Dream)

Swell (Joanna Gleason, Barry Bostwick, Ensemble, Nick & Nora)

Thou Swell (Dick Foran, Vivienne Segal, A Connecticut Yankee)

 We're A Couple Of Swells (Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Easter Parade)

And The Band Played On (Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians)

Well, Did You Evah? (Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, High Society)

At The Check Apron Ball (Ensemble, New Girl In Town)

At The Codfish Ball (Shirley Temple, Captain January)

The Hookers Ball (Vernel Bagneris, The Life)

Barry Is Going To Prom (Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom)

Wunderbar (Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie, Kiss Me, Kate)

The Wiener Schnitzel Ball (Tom Lehrer, Songs By Tom Lehrer)

Do I Hear A Waltz? (Elizabeth Allen, Do I Hear A Waltz?)

Who Couldn't Dance With You? (Jane Krakowski, Michael Jeter, Grand Hotel)

I Won't Dance (Kaye Ballard, Jack Cassidy)

Shimmy Like They Do In Paree (Kevin Early, Mara Davi, Death Takes A Holiday)

The Hot Patata (Kevin Chamberlin, The New Yorkers)

This Was A Real Nice Clam Bake (Renee Fleming, Company, Carousel)

The Last Part Of Every Party (Ensemble, Irene)

The Party's Over (Judy Garland)

After The Ball (Barbara Cook, Show Boat)