Monday, May 29, 2023

Playlist For Sunday, June 4, 2023: I'll take an order of All, with Nuthin' on the side!

It's called Catastrophic Thinking! Heard about that? It's an absolute sort of Black and White take on the world...Everything's this OR that. It can't be gray. If it's bad, it's all bad (and the world may end, so let's call the whole thing off). If it's good, it's all good (and you may never come down to Earth again, to quote Mr. Hammerstein). I just heard the "catastrophic" terminology recently, and my mind sort of operates that way. Initially. After a 12 hour nap, or long bike ride, or anything that forces oxygen into my brain cells or demi-dementia sets in, I start mellowing out about the chance of Impending Doom, and Rationality eeks in. I guess I should put Rationality in quotes.

 

This is one of the images you get when you put "Impending Doom" in your Google Search. 

And that's the nature of the theme this Sunday: All Er Nuthin' (hats off to Oscar for the ER). Half All songs, half Nothin' songs. Let me tell you right now that there are a lot more ALL songs in the Broadway (and Hollywood) canon than there are Nothing songs. So we will be All heavy. All I Do Is Dream Of You vs There Is Nothing Like A Lox. All I Need Is The Girl vs I Got Plenty Of Nothin'. Some songs have both! Huzzah!

 

Celeste Holm and Lee Dixon providing our theme song.

 

Samantha Pauly with an au courant take on All in SIX.

 

And Allan Sherman will represent with "There Is Nothing Like A Lox."

(He seems to feel the same about mixed nuts.)


Oh, and btw, I saw the "new and improved" Cinderella at Geva. Yes, it IS the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical and yet...this version sported a politically correct subplot of sorts, with a peasant hesitantly leading a lower-class revolt. The king isn't being nice so we will have a demonstration! Annnnd one of the stepsisters IS being nice. WOW. And I also think they added in a couple of songs that weren't R&H. This is super evident. Despite my tendency to grow bored with Richard and Oscar, they COULD WRITE a freakin' song. The new ones stand out like the proverbial sore digit. But I ushered with the best of 'em. The "professional" ushers tutored me kindly in the art of "right this way", and I did enjoy seeing a few young princesses who'd come tiara-ed for the occasion. 

 

Alexis Sims as Ella did a wonderful job! 

And I didn't mind the puppets that much at all. 


Anyway, enjoy the very un-Rochester-like weather, have a great week...think non-binary, think "in the gray"....and I'll see you All Er Nuthin'ing on Sunday!

 

 All Er Nuthin' (Celeste Holm, Lee Dixon, Oklahoma!)

All I Do Is Dream Of You (Debbie Reynolds, Singin' In The Rain)

All I Need Is The Girl (Paul Wallace, Gypsy)

I Could Have Danced All Night (Lauren Ambrose, My Fair Lady)

Nothing (Priscilla Lopez, A Chorus Line)

I Got Plenty Of Nothin' (Harry Belafonte, Porgy & Bess)

Nothing Is New In New York (Ensemble, Breakfast At Tiffany's)

I'm Not At All In Love (Kelli O'Hara, The Pajama Game)

All Through The Night (Hal Linden, Barbara Lang, Anything Goes)

We're Gonna Be Alright (David Kernan, Millicent Martin, Side By Side By Sondheim)

There Is Nothing Like A Dame (Danny Burstein, Ensemble, South Pacific)

There Is Nothing Like A Lox (Allan Sherman, The Lost Song Parodies of Alan Sherman)

All About Ruprecht (John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)

All You Need Is A Quarter (Ensemble, Do Re Mi)

All I Owe Ioway (John Davidson, State Fair)

All You Wanna Do (Samantha Pauly, SIX)

Nothin' Up (Ahna O'Reilly, The Robber Bridegroom)

Nothing In Common (Jason Robert Brown, Wearing Someone Else's Clothes)

All Or Nothing At All (Frank Sinatra)

All For You (Lauren Ward, Saturday Night)

All That Jazz (Jessica Molaskey, Make Believe)

All Of Me/I Won't Dance (Ann Hampton Callaway, Everett Bradley, Swing!)

Every Little Nothing (Elizabeth Parrish, Eileen Brennan, Little Mary Sunshine)

Nothing Is Too Wonderful To Be True (Sherie Rene Scott, Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)

When Love Goes Wrong, Nothing Goes Right (Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)

Honor To Us All (Beth Fowler, Marni Nixon, Lea Salonga, Mulan)

All That Matters (Laura Michelle Kelly, Finding Neverland)

All Of My Life (Nathan Lane, Do Re Mi)


Monday, May 22, 2023

Playlist For Sunday, May 28, 2023: They Say It's ...Wunderbar!

In the last week or so, I've actually BEEN to the theatre. I put on my nice duds, I gassed up the dog sled, I carved a route on a rock, and forged thru 60 degree weather (quelle brrrr!). Actually I went twice, if you can count a music performance as "theatre". I will. I will count it. It now counts. :)

 

Early Platters!

The "Drifters" have included over 60 different members over the course of their 65 year history...so I really saw a tribute group.

 The Platters (avec Les Drifters) in Geneva, and SIX (their capitalization, not my arbitrary type) at RBTL. Totally different audiences, as you'd assume. The Platters, all of whom have gone to their heavenly doo-wop rest, have all new "plates", but manage to keep the legacy alive. Same with The Drifters...literally scores of vocalists have "drifted" in and out of this group, so I guess you could say what I really saw were two tribute groups. This performance took place at the neatly restored Smith Opera House, and I pre-theatre fed myself at Bella's Sicilian Restaurant across the street. Where the owner sang New York, New York to a packed and pasta-ed crowd. (He needed to sing more!) I won't go into the very peculiar AirBnB I stayed the night in. Suffice it to say, I survived the evening and lived to see a breakfast sandwich and almost good coffee the morning after.

 

The Broadway SIX-ers...the touring company was waaaaay talented!

 

Pre-SIX beet salad (Mama, a rainbow!) and Malbec at local eatery.
 

 SIX!? The audience crept to a younger average age. Not many blue haired bobs at this. Nope. ANNNND all them young'uns knew the lyrics and greeted each "queen" with thunderous applause, hoots, and yowzas. The tunes are indeed catchier than pink eye, and my only problem was the lack of a sensible reason to get together. Which queen has suffered more at Henry's hand? What the...That's the reason you're rock-starring all over us? Well, it was short. I was home and tucked in by 10pm. (The dog sled did its work.) But I'd pass next time, and just play the music loud here at home. The county sherriff might be called, so if you read about a disturbance in the Orleans Hub, that'd be me.

TOO much typing. Here's the playlist...and it's a blue-haired S'Wonderful one! Enjoy the better and better weather, think wonderful (and lovely says Peter Pan) thoughts and see ya Sunday for S'Wunderbaring!

 

 S'Wonderful (Gene Kelly, George Guetary, An American In Paris)

A Wonderful Day Like Today (Cyril Ritchard, The Roar Of The Greasepaint, The Smell Of The Crowd)

I May Be Wrong (But I Think You're Wonderful)(Doris Day, Harry James and his orchestra)

They Say It's Wonderful (Bernadette Peters, Tom Wopat, Annie Get Your Gun)

Wonderful Guy (Kelli O'Hara, South Pacific)

Wonderful Copenhagen (Danny Kaye, Hans Christian Andersen)

Something Wonderful (Ruthie Ann Miles, The King And I)

Mr. Wonderful (Peggy Lee, Black Coffee)

In The Good Old Summer Time (The Hadyn Quartet)

Summertime (Lena Horne, Porgy And Bess)

The Song Of Purple Summer (Spring Awakening

I Wonder What The King Is Doing Tonight (Richard Burton, Camelot)

I Wonder (Mary Costa, Sleeping Beauty)

Wondering (Stephen Pasquale, The Bridges Of Madison County)

I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone (Audra McDonald, Lady Day At Emerson's Bar And Grill)

You Wonder How These Things Happen (Jerry Orbach, The Fantasticks)

Soon It's Gonna Rain (Rita Gardner, Kenneth Nelson, The Fantasticks)

Try To Remember (Company, The Fantasticks)

Some Kind Of Wonderful (The Drifters)

Some Kind Of Wonderful (Jessie Mueller, Jake Epstein, E. Clayton Cornelius, Ensemble, Beautiful: The Carol King Musical)

Christopher Street (Warren Galjour, Ensemble, Wonderful Town)

Ohio (Rosalind Russell, Edith Adams, Wonderful Town)

Swing! (Rosalind Russell, Ensemble, Wonderful Town)

He's Only Wonderful (Barbara Cook, Jerome Courtland)

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

Wonderful (Joel Grey, Wicked)

Souvenirs (Elaine Stritch, Ben Bagley's Rodgers & Hart Revisited, Vol. 4))

Someday I'll Find You (Christine Ebersole, Christine Ebersole Sings Noel Coward)

It Never Was You (Judy Garland, I Could Go On Singing)

They Say It's Wonderful (Ethel Merman, Ray Middleton, Annie Get Your Gun)

S'Wonderful (Bobby Short, Bobby Short Is K-RA-ZY For Gershwin)

They Say It's Wonderful (Max Von Essen, Call Me Old Fashioned)

S'Wonderful (Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn, Funny Face) 

 

Monday, May 15, 2023

Playlist For Sunday, May 21, 2023: What IS a Minx anyway?? (And is it really Saucy?)

I have a bug or 7. Not the physical health-compromising kind. No, the kind I have  infest one's home. Let me give you an accounting. I have (or HAVE had):

1.) Wasps. 

2.) Mice

3.) Ants (carpenter ANNND other variations)(Heaven forbid, I specialize.)

4.) Moles

5.)....and new to town: Grubs! 

I feel like an exterminator's dream, an EGOT winner of insects. A WMAMG! Lucky me: This house seems to win the Nook And Cranny Hospitality Award, in every season. 


And strangely, that reminds me of the Tonys, coming up on June 11. I see that the one musical I managed to take in has 9 nominations: Some Like It Hot. Trust me. It wasn't even warm. Too much crowd pleasing, too much hoke and ham and mugging, and no memorable music. Miscast. YES, reallllly miscast. One of the few times a NYTimes review has led me wrong. & Juliet, Kimberly Akimbo, the new New York New York etc. etc. etc. are untested waters, so I'll have next to NO KNOWLEDGE tuning in. This makes me feel old, rural (this is where the insects come in), and out of Broadway Touch. 

Ahhh well. I've sort of turned into a Broadway historian anyway, pretending that the Golden Age is still with us, that Comden and Green are still wordsmithing in a booth at Katz's, and that Stephen and Lenny and Lerner and Bock were still talking shop and modulations (whilst sipping martinis, and smoking Camels in shiny suits).

 

Which brings me to SEX. (I guess it was the shiny suits.) Yes, this is The Saucy Minx Edition, a theme I've been mulling about for months. And since this is the Lusty Month Of May, what with all matter of etymology procreating, what better time to sing of double entendres, subtle eyebrow lifting lyrics, and blatant hubba hubba? So we'll have Marilyn and Nell and Eartha and Ethel (and she was SO a Minx!), plus songs from City Of Angels, Chicago, The Full Monty, A Chorus Line...well, there are soooo many saucy Broadway bon bons to pick from! (BTW, I always thought a minx was an actual animal. Like a mink, but with bigger ears? And a cuter nose? Evidently I am zoologically challenged.)


Eartha on her many chaises...in New Faces of 1952

Marilyn in There's No Business Like Show Business


 And a production of The Full Monty...a regional cast trying to channel their inner Chippendales!

 

Nothing too outrageous of course. Wouldn't want to make you drop your Sunday brunch mimosa in your lap. We'll keep it low-key. Well, not Ethel. Ethel was never low key! :) See you seductively on Sunday. 


 

The Lusty Month Of May (Julie Andrews, Camelot)

Eadie Was A Lady (Ethel Merman, Take A Chance)

Thanks A Lot, But No Thanks (Dolores Gray, It's Always Fair Weather)

After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It (Marilyn Monroe, There's No Business Like Show Business)

Raunchy (Audra McDonald, John Cullum, 110 In The Shade)

Always True To You (Lisa Kirk, Kiss Me, Kate)

Find Out What They Like (Nell Carter, Armelia McQueen, Ain't Misbehavin')

Let's Misbehave (Eileen Rodgers, Kenneth Mars, Anything Goes)

Do It Again (Judy Garland)

Let's Put Out The Lights (And Go To Bed)(Rudy Vallee)

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

I Can Cook, Too (Nancy Walker, On The Town)

Can That Boy Foxtrot! (Suzanne Henry, Marry Me A Little)

A Little Brains, A Little Talent (Gwen Verdon, Damn Yankees)

Dance: Ten; Looks: Three (Pamela Blair, A Chorus Line)

Sex Is In The Heel (Billy Porter, Stark Sands, Kinky Boots)

Sex Marches On (The New York Voices, Louisiana Purchase)

You Gotta Get A Gimmick (Nancy Opel, Marilyn Caskey, Alison Fraser, Gypsy)

When You're Good To Momma (Mary McCarty, Chicago)

Monotonous (Eartha Kitt, New Faces Of 1952)

One More Time (Phil Harris)

You Made Me Love You (George S. Irving, Patsy Kelly, Irene)

Sam And Delilah (Klea Blackhurst, Everything The Traffic Will Allow)

Ah, But Underneath (Diana Rigg, Follies)

Sooner Or Later (Bernadette Peters, Sondheim, Etc.)

Baptize Me (Josh Gad, Nikki M. James, The Book Of Mormon)

Roll In The Hay (Sutton Foster, Roger Bart, Christopher Fitzgerald, Young Frankenstein) 

Let It Go (Patrick Wilson, Ensemble, The Full Monty)

Monday, May 8, 2023

Playlist For Sunday, May 14, 2023: Duets...with MOM!

Full Disclaimer: This is not The Mother's Day Edition. I am also not a doctor (of Broadway). These shows (and blogs) are meant for entertainment purposes only, and should you require more professional (and less quirky, definitely more proof-read) assistance, Google it yourself! 


Lotsa Mammas!
Ethel, Angela, Tyne, Bernadette, Patti, and Imelda

 

But I just forgot about it! I mean, I AM a mother, and yet it just sort of snuck (is that a word?) up on me, well AFTER I'd carved this playlist, of course. And once I etch a list in stone, well...it's IN STONE. I did serendipitously have 1 mother-esque selection already on the agenda, so a big WHEW! there. But that's it, the one token MOM. So apologies to all who were expecting a haul of Mammas.

(BTW, one of my gal friends posted a pic of her Mother's Day present: A Lawn Mower. If anyone in my tribe is thinking of getting me a similar gift/appliance, FIE on you. Tacky earrings, yes. Cheap perfume, yes. Slightly offensive bumper stickers, yes. But do not go down the path of vacuums, leaf blowers, or hand drills. Dear God.)

These kind of mowers are fine. :)


But this IS the Duet Edition. All that 2-ing and You and Me-ing of this past Sunday put me in mind to play another "set of doubles", and there are only 1 zillion Broadway duets to choose from. Lovey dovey duets, friendship duets, frenemy (now that IS a word!) duets, stuck with you duets, I'm better'n you duets, the gamut from A to at least M. That's the edition we conquer this Sunday.

 

 A Frenemy example? Bea and Angela, Bosom Buddies in Mame

 

 So go buy your mom some flowers. As Baby June sings in a rejected song from Gypsy (revived and smushed back in for the Patti revival), "Send A Dozen Gardenias To Your Mother"...and then warble her a heartfelt Broadway ballad. Even off key, your mom will surely tear up. And remember it. :) Well, bring along a bottle of Tanqueray just to be sure.


Gloria! In all her glory.


 

We Make A Beautiful Pair (Donna Theodore, Penelope Milford, Shenandoah)

Anything You Can Do (Ethel Merman, Ray Middleton, Annie Get Your Gun)

Her Is (Stanley Prager, Carol Haney, The Pajama Game)

We Deserve Each Other (Joan McCracken, Robert Fortier, Me & Juliet)

Love From A Heart Of Gold (Rudy Vallee, Virginia Martin, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying)

Bosom Buddies (Angela Lansbury, Bea Arthur, Mame)

What Kind Of Girl Is She? (Heidi Blickenstaff, Susan Blackwell, [title of show])

What Is This Feeling? (Idina Menzel, Kristen Chenoweth, Wicked)

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

All Er Nuthin' (Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, Oklahoma!)

The Picture Show (Kirk McDonald, Christy Carlson Romano, Parade)

Little Red Hat (Carla Duren, Bobby Stegger, 110 In The Shade)

Stuck With Each Other (Margery Gray, Byron Mitchell, Tovarich) 

If Mamma Was Married (Laura Benanti, Leigh Ann Larkin, Gypsy)

Marry With Me (Carol Brice, The Grass Harp)

Marry The Man Today (Vivian Blaine, Isabel Bigley, Guys And Dolls)

Who Do You Love, I Hope? (Andrew Palermo, Nicole Ruth Snelson, Annie Get Your Gun)

Do You Love Me? (Zero Mostel, Maria Karnilova, Fiddler On The Roof)

Lovely (Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)

What Causes That? (Harry Groener, Bruce Adler, Crazy For You)

I'm All Alone (Tim Curry, Michael McGrath, Spamalot)

We Can Do It (Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, The Producers)

It Only Takes A Taste (Jessie Mueller, Drew Gehling, Waitress)

I Love The Way (Kate Reinders, John Cariani, Something Rotten!)

Champagne (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Karen Olivo, In The Heights)

Make Believe (Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Show Boat)

Till There Was You (Barbara Cook, Robert Preston, The Music Man)

Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful? (Julie Andrews, Jon Cypher, Cinderella)

You Would If You Could (Robert Lindsay, Susannah Fellows, Me & My Girl)

So What If I Did? (Jeff Blumenkrantz, Brett Ryback, Murder For Two)

People Will Say We're In Love (Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Oklahoma!)

Something Good (Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, The Sound Of Music)

 


Monday, May 1, 2023

Playlist For Sunday, May 7, 2023: Saving You TWO Seats!

Well, the cruelest month is over and now That Lusty Month Of May is in full swing. Tra Lah and all that sort of thing. If I seem a little Oscar Levant about the whole thing, it's because these rainy days (and Mondays) always get me down. Where is the bright conducive-to-biking sunshine and gentle tail winds to waft me down the lane? Where oh where has my little dog gone...ahhh but I digress. Focus! Focus!

 I've been busy:

1.) Now an official (if un-paid) usher for Geva. Geva Debut: May 10th! Cinderella. Do I love this show because it's going to be free, or is it free because I love it? Watch for me in the mezzanine. I have to wear black, but will "jazz" it up with (jazz hands?) a scarf and daffy earrings. "I Gotta Be Me", as Mr. Sinatra exhorts.


I like the red!


Hey, Carol was an usher! 
And there was a whole musical about an "Usher"...
I'm in good company.



2.) Planning the next bike trip. To be announced soon! But expect it to be adequately grueling, lllooooonnnnggggg, and border-crossing. And the inevitable earring souvenir potential.

3.) I mowed! Tra Lah. The mower complained mightily. Me, almost as much.

 


 4.) The pledge drive is over and we made so much money we don't have to beg you for more ever again! Well, if "ever again" is 6 months hence. Thanks to all who dug into their pockets and came up with some very generous funding!

This edition? I had to dig deep for a theme...and along with some lint and pocket change, I found 2. As in Tea For Two, 2 Sleepy People, Cocktails For 2, 2 By 2, Tooooo-gether Wherever We Go. All 2s! Plus some duets and couples and You and Meeeees. And a wacky mini theme or two. :) Well, it IS 2 On The Aisle, so it all kinda makes sense.

Visual proof of a wacky theme: Dress Big,

with Nathan Lane and Burke Moses in The Frogs

 

So tune in for "2s" and assorted other numbers. I'll practice my ushering ("Right this way...or that way, I'm really not sure yet"), dress big-ish, and consider cleaning my lawn mower...nah! And no way am I having tea. Make mine "coffee for two"!

 

Tea For Two (Susan Watson, Roger Rathburn, No No Nanette)

Two By Two (Andrew Rannells, Josh Gad, The Book Of Mormon)

Two Lost Souls (Gwen Verdon, Damn Yankees)

Cocktails For Two (Spike Jones And His City Slickers )

No Two People (Danny Kaye, Zizi Jeanmarie, Hans Christian Andersen)

You And Me (Julie Andrews, Robert Preston, Victor/Victoria)

You I Like (Michael Feinstein, Jerry Herman, The Grand Tour)

Two Sleepy People (Andrea Marcovicci, If I Were A Bell)

You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile (Ensemble, Annie)

Dress Big (Nathan Lane, Burke Moses, The Frogs)

Lady In The Long Black Dress (John Treacy Egan, Demond Green, Caesar Samayoa, Sister Act)

Got A Brand New Suit (Nanette Fabray, Fred Astaire, Oscar Levant, The Band Wagon)

Two Ladies (Joel Grey, Cabaret)

Two Ladies In De Shade Of De Banana Tree (Enid Mosier, House Of Flowers)

Two Heads (Andrew Durand, Evan Harrington, The Robber Bridegroom)

Two Little Words (Kristen Chenowith, Company, Steel Pier)

Together Wherever We Go (Ethel Merman, Jack Klugman, Sandra Church, Gypsy)

Tea For Two (Doris Day, Tea For Two) 

How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life? (Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Royal Wedding)

It Takes Two (Joanna Gleason, Into The Woods)

Two Fairy Tales (Craig Lucas, Suzanne Henry, Marry Me A Little)

We Do Not Belong Together (Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Sunday In The Park With George)

They Were You (Kenneth Wilson, Rita Gardner, The Fantasticks)

You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two (Clive Revill, Oliver!)

On A Bicycle Built For Two (Dinah Shore)

Mary (Jacqueline Alloway, George M!)

Maria (Jimmy Bryant, West Side Story)

Marianne (Michael Feinstein, The Grand Tour)

With You On My Arm (Gene Barry, George Hearn, La Cage Aux Folles)

Perfectly Lovely Couple (Elizabeth Allen, Sergio Franchi, Do I Hear A Waltz?)

Gotta Have You Go With Me (Judy Garland, A Star Is Born)

Together Again (Roger Bart, Christopher Fitzgerald, Young Frankenstein)

Friendship (Sutton Foster, Joel Grey, Anything Goes)