Playlist For Sunday, April 30, 2023: Hello, I Gotta Get Out of Here!

Well, April (that cruelest of months, saith Shakey) is finally wrapping itself up in a rain coat (with a blossom boutonniere?) to leave, and the Lusty Month of May is tapping its sandaled foot in the wings, waiting to make its green-gowned appearance.

Enough of that poetic folderol. I'm tired of damp and drippy. Let the sweet smell of sweat pour forth! Gimme bike weather. Also gimme some semi-okay weather to mow my lawn in. Its length is getting a bit embarrassing. 

 

 So with all this April Goodbye-ing and May Hello-ing, I'm stealing this edition's title from a Harry Ruby/Bert Kalmar song that Groucho warbled in Animal Crackers before breaking into his Captain Spaulding dance: "Hello, I Must Be Going". Groucho must have had a place in his heart for that song, because he used it as the title of his memoir AND opened his Carnegie Hall gig (1972) with it. Groucho at Carnegie must have been a real kick. Too bad I was but a mere infant at the time. :)

It makes me think of another song, sung by Jimmy Durante in The Man Who Came To Dinner...I'll Stay, I'll Go...what IS the name of that "song" which is hardly a song at all? "Did You Ever Have The Feeling That You Wanted To Stay...." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY-zmJ1VCQI

 

Anyway we'll Hello, Good Bye, So Long, Farewell, Good Morning, Good Night, and Leave Now Cuz It's Over! for 2 hours. The whole last half is one very extended Midwestern Goodbye. But don't leave. Let me say goodbye (and Bye Bye!) over and over again. With Into The Woods, Flora, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and a Mormon. Pearl, Judy, Carol, Mickey, Liza, and natch, Fred. People should just sing their hellos and goodbyes, right? How heart warming it would be! Well, maybe not. They'd either make you want to stick around for 4 encores, or rush madly to the door. Depending on their timbre, timing, and pitch capabilities. Ah well. Only in a Musical World, I guess. 

 

But before I say goodbye (!), I do want to thank everyone for contributing to Jazz90.1 during this Spring Pledge Drive. As I type this, we're winding down our last week of it all, and you've been extremely generous...so thank you for those financial "pats on the back". We'll do our best to keep you entertained, energized, nostalgic, wistful, whistling along and/or walking happy. To great music.

Thank you again, and see ya Sunday!

 

Hello, Dolly! (Carol Channing, Ensemble, Hello, Dolly!)

Good Morning, Good Day (Zachary Levi, Jane Krakowski, Nicholas Barasch, She Loves Me)

Good Morning (Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Babes In Arms) 

Your Good Morning (Lester Young, Fia Karin, Parade)

Good Morning Baltimore (Marissa Jaret Winokur, Hairspray)

Hello, Little Girl (Robert Westenberg, Into The Woods)

Hello, Waves (Bob Dishy, Liza Minnelli, Flora The Red Menace)

Hello, Young Lovers (Kelli O'Hara, The King And I)

Hello, Bluebird (Judy Garland)

Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love (Company, A Chorus Line)

Hello, Hello There! (Ensemble, Bells Are Ringing)

Please Hello (Mako, Yuki Shimoda, Ensemble, Pacific Overtures)

Since I Kissed My Baby Goodbye (Fred Astaire and The Delta Rhythm Boys, You'll Never Get Rich)

We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye (Annette Hanshaw)

Kiss The Boys Goodbye/I Don't Want To Walk Without You (Andrea Marcovicci, If I Were A Bell)

Bye Bye Baby (Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)

Hello, I Must Be Going (Groucho Marx, Animal Crackers)

Goodbye (The Prince's Farewell) (Sid Caesar, Little Me)

The First Goodbye (Company, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee)

Bye Bye Baby (Baby Goodbye) (Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons)

The Last Goodbye (Company, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee)

Don't Like Goodbyes (Pearl Bailey, House Of Flowers)

Goodbye, Old Girl (Robert Shafer, Stephen Douglass, Damn Yankees)

Goodnight My Someone (Barbara Cook, The Music Man)

Every Time We Say Goodbye (The Ball State Cabaret Class Singers, Take Me To The World)

How Can You Kiss Those Good Times Goodbye? (Nathan Lane, Bernadette Peters, Sherry!)

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

So Long Dearie (Carol Channing, Hello, Dolly!)

So Long, Farewell (Ensemble, The Sound Of Music)

So Long, 174th Street (Robert Morse, So Long, 174th Street)

Goodbye! (Ensemble, The Producers) 

Goodnight, My Love (Shirley Temple, Stowaway)

Playlist For Sunday, April 23, 2023: Raising That (Never Sour) Dough!

Shucked? Back To The Future? Bad Cinderella? Hmmmm...Should we or shouldn't we? (Does she or doesn't she?)

Does that look bad? (Unfortunately, yes.)

 

And re-dos of Camelot, New York New York (with the addition of Miranda, who like Dolly Levi, puts his hand in there??), Sweeney and Merrily We Roll Along.  Just wondering what the re-dos are ...doing?

 

All these shows await you if if if you have between $200 and $500 to spend on 1 ticket, not 2 tickets...or 5. Just 1. I guess that might sound cheap if you've just shelled out $600 plus to see Taylor or Bruce, but jeez louise. Ridiculous, especially when you add in that travel to Broadway, staying overnight or 2, eating all the wonderful food, and buying 7 new pairs of earrings! I mean, come on. 

(Total Non-Broadway Anecdote: I saw Springsteen back in 1976 for $5.00. I had never heard of him, and had to be persuaded to "spring" for the fiver. Kinda glad I went.) 

(Total Broadway Anecdote: There USED TO BE such a thing as standing room only tickets. You paid your freakin' $8 to see Liza or Company or Murder At The Howard Johnson's, and stood in the back and watched. It was cheap and you burned standing up calories. Win Win.)

So you might just consider this:
Stay local. Save on gas. Tune in to 2 On The Aisle. And shoot us $50 for the "front row seat". Furnish yourself with your own homemade nachos (or pate, or popcorn, or Little Debbies) and chilly margaritas. (Well, it IS almost Cinco De Mayo, right? You should rehearse them!). Curl up in your bean bag, smoke 'em if ya got 'em, and listen to Jazz90.1!....I try my best every Sunday to give you a Broadway-worthy experience (plus some wacky musical asides) and in turn, save you bundles of dough. THEN if you hear something you love, and really want to take in a live show, you aim your well-earned cash at THAT SHOW. Because then Passion Trumps (excuse the expression) Spending on a live production WHEN YOU KNOW it'll be worth it. 

So listening to Jazz90.1 saves you money. Every single day. And not even counting the musical therapy. And the free concerts. And the education. :) 

 

Ginger, making with the lateral, lucrative raises!

Maybe send some of your "filthy lucre" our way, then? We love those financial "pats on the back".

And yes, this will be the last Sunday of the Spring Pledge Drive, so I'm spinning Broadway classics (old and new), like Birdie and Grease and Forum. Plus a triumvirate of divas: Carol Burnett, Beth Leavel, and my bestie, Elaine Stritch! And  mini themes about FEET. And DIRT. Only, and believe me ONLY, on 2 On The Aisle. 

I'll be waiting for your call...$5, $17.50, $102, $650! We love all sized donations, and we love YOU! :)

 

 

Smash!(Megan Hilty, Bombshell)

The Telephone Hour (Ensemble, Bye, Bye Birdie)

Born To Hand-Jive (Don Billett, Alan Paul, Grease)

Out Of Your Head (Bobby Conte Thornton, Ariana DeBose, A Bronx Tale)

He's Sure The Boy I Love (Anika Larsen, Jarrod Spector, Beautiful)

Lovesick (Sherie Rene Scott, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) 

Outside Of That I Love You (Martin Ball, Vivien Parry, Top Hat)

Let's Not Talk About Anything Else But Love (Terrance Mann, Nathan Lane, Kevin Chamberlain, The Addams Family)

That Dirty Old Man (Mary Testa, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)

Dirt (Ensemble, Sweet Smell Of Success)

Dirty Rotten Number (John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)

As We Stumble Along (Beth Leavel, The Drowsy Chaperone)

I Am Adolpho (Danny Burstein, Beth Leavel, The Drowsy Chaperone)

It's Not About Me (Beth Leavel, The Prom)

Your Feets Too Big (Ken Page, Ain't Misbehavin')

Ooh! My Feet! (Susan Johnson, The Most Happy Fella)

Happy Feet (The Manhattan Rhythm Kings)

Cold Feets (Tory Britton Johnson, Eddie Korbich, The Drowsy Chaperone)

Lonely Feet (Blossom Dearie, Alfred Drake)

Feet Do Yo' Stuff (Winston DeWitt Hemsley, Alan Weeks, Leslie Uggams, Hallelujah, Baby!)

Zip (Elaine Stritch, Elaine Stritch At Liberty)

A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (Ilene Woods, Cinderella)

He's A Tramp (Peggy Lee, Lady And The Tramp)

When You Wish Upon A Star (Cliff Edwards, Pinocchio)

Little Girls (Carol Burnett, Annie)

Happily Ever After (Carol Burnett, Once Upon A Mattress)

I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together (Carol Burnett, The Carol Burnett Show)

The Pinstripes Are All That They See (Tom Wopat, Aaron Tveit, Catch Me If You Can)

Butter Outta Cream (Aaron Tveit, Tom Wopat, Catch Me If You Can)

Jet Set (Aaron Tveit, Ensemble, Catch Me If You Can)

Playlist For April 16, 2023: A Mark, A Yen, A Buck, Or A Pound!

Has Spring actually Sprung here in the upstate gulag? Not to even mention, Summer??? Sssshhhh...I don't want to jinx it.

Sure looks like it.

This week looks warm-ish, dry-ish, and full of outside possibilities. Kevin Williams said it would be nice enough weather to go out and do yard work. WHAT? If it's that nice, I'm biking far away from my yard, pretending it's not my yard, and avoiding the heck out of anything to do with my yard. Let the flamingos stand askew. Let the sticks collect themselves. Let my old mulch get older. I care not. 

I just want to feel the breeze in my (gray-ish, frizzy)(Remember Miss Frizzle?) hair and, like Beatrice Lilllie in High Spirits, speed away "on my bike". 

 

 

Meanwhile, back to Broadway (and Beyond, as Buzz would say, because don't I always fall off that "wagon"?). Last Sunday was MUCH FUN, with Joe Stockslader chatting and money raising and Easter parading! This Sunday I have yet another co-host, Tom Pethic, host of Artistry In Jazz (on Saturday afternoons from 4-6pm on Jazz90.1), and for that I'm planing Blockbuster Broadway: Tunes from the new revival of The Music Man, more of The Producers, a Lenny Bernstein sampler (including West Side, which was almost East Side BTW), money songs...yup, classics old and classics new. Because we need the dough to rise, here at Jazz90.1...You know I'll be kneeling on rice for the entire 2 hours, hoping such self-applied torture will twist your metaphorical arm to give, give, give! That Spring Pledge Drive won't drive itself, you know.

 

"A mark, a yen, a buck, or a pound!"

(It makes the world go round. And keeps Jazz 90.1 around, as well.)

 

So go out and do that yard work, and if you have any energy left over after YOUR yard is done, come on a my house, my house a come on. Plenty of flamingos to straighten, plenty of sticks. I won't be around, but help yourself to my rake. 

Or if it's easier, just donate to Jazz90.1...I'd like that even better. :) And the flamingos don't have to know.

You Deserve It (Corey Cott, Laura Osnes, Bandstand)

Iowa Stubborn (Ensemble, The Music Man)

Pick-A-Little/Goodnight Ladies (Ensemble, The Music Man)

The Wells Fargo Wagon (Ensemble, The Music Man)

Money, Money (Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Cabaret)

The Best Things In Life Are Free (Robert Morse, Mad Men)

Pennies From Heaven (Bing Crosby)

We're In The Money (Wanda Richert, Karen Prunczik, Ginny King, 42nd Street)

Conga! (Rosalind Russell, Ensemble, Wonderful Town)

Come Up To My Place (Nancy Walker, Cris Alexander, On The Town)

Dance At The Gym (Instrumental, West Side Story)

Civilization (Danny Kaye, The Andrews Sisters)

I Said My Pajamas (And Put On My Prayers)(Ethel Merman, Ray Bolger)

Me And Lenny (Jay Leonhart)

The Jet Song (Michael Callan, Ensemble, West Side Story)

Nobody (Corey Cott, Laura Osnes, Bandstand)

The Schuyler Sisters (Renee Elise Goldsberry, Philippa Soo, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Leslie Odom, Jr., Hamilton)

Wait For It (Leslie Odom, Jr., Hamilton)

If I Were A Rich Man (Zero Mostel, Fiddler On The Roof)

Sue Me (Nathan Lane, Faith Prince, Guys And Dolls)

Heart (Russ Brown, Ensemble, Damn Yankees)

Hello! (Andrew Rannells, Josh Gad, The Book Of Mormon)

Everything Changes (Jessie Mueller, Waitress)

Waving Through A Window (Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen)

Brotherhood Of Man (Robert Morse, Sammy Smith, Claudette Sutherland, Company, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying)

Prisoners Of Love (Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, The Producers) 

Give My Regards To Broadway (Joel Grey, George M!)

Playlist For Sunday, April 9, 2023: "We need the eggs" ...celebrating Easter annnnd the PLEDGE DRIVE!

Upstate Easter, circa 1962, The Scenario:

1.) Brand new PINK, flowery, flouncy Easter dress. A light blue polyester coat with big white buttons. Patent leather PINK purse. White gloves. An appropriately beribboned hat . New shoes. White frilly ankle socks. READY for Easter! I am 6.5 years old, with a page boy haircut, clear skin, no glasses (cuz no one had figured out I needed them yet)(I would have to wait 1 more year to unfuzz my vision), and looking forward to eating my Easter Candy after church. 

 

Not me (above), and not me (below).

None of these are me.

But you get the idea.

2.) My mother handing me my old, bulky, shapeless winter coat, snow pants, and "galoshes". To wear over, and effectively hide, all that new lovely stuff. Because it's snowing or raining or both, muddy or icy, hailing frogs or locusts, and there's no way I can walk to the car, walk into the church (and repeat the process), let alone hunt for eggs, with my spring parphenalia on, without dying. Even at 6.5 years of age, I knew what winter did to "outfits" and I've abhored this ruination ever since.

 

 

3.) Later, in my teens, being part of the BYF (Baptist Youth Fellowship)(man, I really drank THAT Koolaid), trooping down to the shores of Lake Ontario, where we teens conducted a Sunrise Service at the crack o' dawn...Kum Ba Yah and mediocre guitar playing, that kinda thing. To be followed by working the church's Easter breakfast. That meant yawning thru egg scrambling, bacon flipping, biscuit dealing, and bad coffee. AND THEN the actual church service. No outfits to speak of, unless you want to count parkas lakeside and later aprons and egg stains church-side.  And one heck of a long wait to sample those chocolate bunnies.

And I wonder why Easter doesn't light my fire. 

But now I'm all grown up and I can PICK where I put my Easter Energy: I can play MUSIC! Like Judy and Fred mixin' it up at the "parade", "putting all his eggs in one basket", and Ella's tisket tasketing. Like Blossom Dearie and "They Say It's Spring", but "Spring May Be A Little Late This Year", and yet "You Must Believe In Spring" because Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway say so. On top of all that seasonally seasoned stuff, I'll toss in some goodies from The Producers, The Band's Visit, and Tootsie.

 

Because it's a holiday ANNNND it's the first Sunday of our Jazz 90.1 Spring Pledge Drive...Lucky me, I'll have a guest host to help me rake in (or shovel in, depending on the amount AND the weather) all the cold hard cash we hopefully get during that 2 On The Aisle time slot. Joe Stockslader, loyal listener and past WGMC volunteer, will be manning the phones, and making with the Broadway banter. What's not to like?

 

So amidst your Easter egging and hamming and family-ing, tune in and sing along, and if possible CALL US UP or GO ONLINE and make a DONATION to Jazz90.1. You want your weekly Broadway Dose to continue, doncha? Keep that music playing with a contribution. (And thank you so much, as always.:))

 

Easter Parade (Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Easter Parade)

Shaking The Blues Away (Ann Miller, Easter Parade)

Mr. Monotony (Judy Garland, Easter Parade) 

Steppin' Out With My Baby (Fred Astaire, Easter Parade)

A-Tisket, A-Tasket (Ella Fitzgerald)

I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket (Fred Astaire, Follow The Fleet)

It's Eggs! (Ensemble, Something Rotten!)

Eggs And Sausage (Tom Waits, Night Hawks At The Diner)

They Say It's Spring (Blossom Dearie, Give Him The Ooh-La-La)

Younger Than Spring Time (Matthew Morrison, South Pacific)

Later Than Spring (Elaine Stritch, Sail Away)

Opening Number (Santino Fontana, Tootsie)

Gone, Gone, Gone (Lilli Cooper, Tootsie)

Vaudeville Medley (Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Easter Parade)

Easter Parade (Clifton Webb, Leo Reisman And His Orchestra)

Spring Is Here (Carly Simon, Torch)

I Don't Know How To Love Him (Sara Bareilles, Andrew Lloyd Webber)

Close Every Door (Ensemble, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat) 

Everything's Alright (Ensemble, Jesus Christ Superstar)

Waiting (Ensemble, The Band's Visit)

Omar Shariff (Katrina Lenk, The Band's Visit)

Answer Me (Adam Kantor, Company, The Band's Visit)

It Might As Well Be Spring (Andrea McArdle, State Fair)

Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year (Andrea Marcovicci, If I Were A Bell)

Haben Sie Gehort Das Deutsche Band? (Brad Oscar, The Producers)

Springtime For Hitler (Ensemble, The Producers)