(No) Playlist For Sunday, July 2, 2023: Don't hold your breath!

No live 2 On The Aisle this Sunday... I'll be taking the holiday weekend off, biking and bbq-ing when possible. Hope you all have a relaxing and/or exciting time. Back with lots of Broadway goodies on July 9th. Hey, maybe I'll save you a seat! :)  

Playlist For Sunday, June 25, 2023: Color It Gay!

Holy Moly! June is almost over? I've been biking over hill and dale, oblivious to the date and... Man, there really is a time warp! From May 1 to January 2nd, the calendar pages just fly, like they do in old movies. So much going on: social "dos", beach weekends, recreation a go go, trips near and far, outside stuff (NOT gardening, NEVER gardening)...and holidays. It all comes crashing down, of course on January 2nd, when we realize we have 3-4 months of The Gulag to face down, and the tempo of life gets molasses-y. Like a decent schmear on a bagel, fun stuff should be spread (with maximum coverage) throughout the year, right? Right.

 

 

But before one more second of June swooshes past, I want to do a Gay Pride Salute on 2 On The Aisle. Of course, every month is Gay Pride Month on Broadway, so we're always saluting it. Huzzah! But this Sunday, we'll spotlight all the colors of that Rainbow Flag...musical blues, red, pink, green, black and white (like that wonderful cookie!), plus rainbow songs annnnnd La Cage Aux Folles. 

 

 https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/a27789288/rainbow-pride-flag-meaning/

 

Gene Barry doing his Cage Aux Folles best, with Les Cagelles

 

 

Judy perhaps contemplating a rainbow (flag)?

 

 

 

 And not to forget "Mama, A Rainbow" from Minnie's Boys

(yup, that's Shelly Winters as Minnie and her motley crew)!

 

 

I DO have to add a disclaimer: The Jazz Fest will be in full swing when this edition airs. And because of that, there will be a couple of jazz "breaks" within the program, live coverage brought to you by Jazz90.1's DJs at the booth on Jazz St. Soooo that means my playlist might be tweaked due to time constraints. Apologies for that, but we want to keep you informed about all the festival doings.

Oh, and new music is coming! I just ordered Shucked and Kimberly Akimbo...and will debut them IF they come up to our high standards. Definitely tardy in that way, not having tossed these new shows at you before now, content as I am with the Comdens, Greens, Stynes, and R&Hers. Calling me "historic" is a nice way to say, "Kim, you're out of touch", but thanks for keeping that to yourself. :)

See you for that salute on Sunday! Wear something that glows/huzzahs in the dark. :) 

 

We Are What We Are (George Hearn, The Cagelles, La Cage Aux Folles)

Shaking The Blues Away (Doris Day, Love Me Or Leave Me)

Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me (Zach Braff, Betsy Wolfe, Bullets Over Broadway)

Be Like The Bluebird (Joel Grey, Anything Goes)

Coffee, Black (Daniel H. Jenkins, Jon Cypher, Ensemble, Big)

That Old Black Magic (Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Bus Stop)

 My White Knight (Sutton Foster, The Music Man)

The Red Blues (Henry Lasco and "The Russians", Silk Stockings)

At The Red Rose Cotillion (Terence Cooper, Pamela Gale, Where's Charley?)

I'd Rather Be Blue (Fanny Brice, My Man)

Homesick Blues (Carol Channing, Ensemble, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)

Black And Blue (Nell Carter, Company, Ain't Misbehavin')

The Color Purple (LeChanze, Elisabeth Withers, The Color Purple)

Blackout (Company, In The Heights)

Colored Lights (Liza Minnelli, The Rink)

Color And Light (Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Sunday In The Park With George)

Think Pink! (Kay Thompson, Funny Face)

Somewhere That's Green (Kerry Butler, Little Shop Of Horrors)

Green Finch And Linnet Bird (Sarah Rice, Sweeney Todd)

Buddy's Blues (Mandy Patinkin, Follies)

Mama, A Rainbow (Daniel Fortus, Shelly Winters, Minnie's Boys)

Alice Blue Gown (Debbie Reynolds, Irene)

Lavender Blue (Burl Ives, So Dear To My Heart)

Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Judy Garland, The Wizard of Oz)

A Little More Mascara (George Hearn, La Cage Aux Folles)

 

Playlist For Sunday, June 18, 2023: When Cancer Meets Taurus, They Put On A Show!

It is not Richard Rodgers' birthday, although serendipitously he WAS born in June (the 28th, 1902, the same year as my grandfather, know as "Wild Bill" to his friends). Nor is it Lorenz Hart's birthday. Larry hatched in May of 1895. But that's not keeping me from devoting a two-hour salute to this team and their now-classic contributions to Broadway, Hollywood, and the Great American Songbook (gotta pick up a copy of that someday!). Huzzahs all around! 

 

 

(Interesting aside: RR was a Cancer, LH a Taurus, and according to my personal astrological oracle (the internet), that's a good "match":

        The Taurus and Cancer compatibility is much more than friendship or love;     they have a strong spiritual bond. Their connection is based on empathy and trust. Taurus and Cancer have a perfect understanding and value security, commitment, and love."

If you believe in that sorta thing. Which I don't. But I do. Whatever.)

Both were Jewish and native New Yorkers...Richard hailed from Queens, Larry from Harlem. They met in 1919 when Richard was still in high school, Larry fresh from a 2 year stint studying journalism at Columbia (ever the wordsmith?). They were young and eager and entire opposites, with Richard pragmatic and organized as heck, and Larry the flibbertigibbet, the artiste, the short sophisticate. A zillion songs and shows later, with Larry living a closeted gay life, an alcoholic, off on "benders" for weeks at a time, he passed away at the age of 48 of pneumonia. Their last show together was "A Connecticut Yankee". Richard would go on to write with other lyricists, but ironically turn to "the bottle" like his first partner, hiding gin and vodka in his Steinway towards the end. 

 

 

 

 

 

But from this pair, however troubled, came great things. And we'll serve up a banquet of their creations this Sunday. Everyone still sings their stuff, whether they know "Where or When" it came from, but it's part of our musical DNA.

See ya Sunday!

The Blue Room (The Revelers)

Johnny One Note (Judy Garland, Babes In Arms)

I Wish I Were In Love Again (Jason Graae, Donna Kane, Babes In Arms)

Babes In Arms (Gregg Edelman, Ensemble, Babes In Arms)

That Terrific Rainbow (Barbara Nichols, Trudi Erwin, Ensemble, Pal Joey)

My Funny Valentine (Trudi Erwin, Pal Joey)

I Didn't Know What Time It Was (Billie Holliday)

I Could Write A Book (Frank Sinatra, Pal Joey)

Thou Swell (Ben Selvin's Broadway Nitelites, Franklyn Baur on vocals, A Connecticut Yankee)

To Keep My Love Alive (Mary Testa, A Connecticut Yankee)

The Lady Is A Tramp (Lena Horne, Words And Music)

Mountain Greenery (Brian d'Arcy James, Susan Egan, Garrick Gaieties)

This Can't Be Love (Jack Cassidy, The Boys From Syracuse)

Sing For Your Supper (Christine Ebersole, Rebecca Luker, Deborah Gravitte, The Boys From Syracuse)

It Never Entered My Mind (Shirley Ross, Higher And Higher)

My Romance (Doris Day, Jumbo)

Ev'ry Sunday Afternoon (Shirley Ross, Higher And Higher)

On Your Toes (Bobby Van, Kay Coulter, On Your Toes)

You Took Advantage Of Me (Elaine Stritch, On Your Toes)

It's Got To Be Love (Bobby Van, Kay Coulter, On Your Toes)

I Could Write A Book/There's A Small Hotel (Patti LuPone, Don't Monkey With Broadway)

Blue Moon (Ann Hampton Callaway, Blues In The Night)

I'll Take Manhattan (Blossom Dearie, Garrick Gaieties)

A Baby's Best Friend (Beatrice Lillie, She's My Baby)

Ten Cents A Dance (Ruth Etting, Simple Simon))

Have You Met Miss Jones? (Tony Bennett, I'd Rather Be Right!)

Where Or When (Barbara Cook, Babes In Arms)

My Heart Stood Still (Dick Foran, Julie Warren, A Connecticut Yankee

Bewitched, Bothered, And Bewildered (Marin Mazzie, Pal Joey)

Isn't It Romantic? (Michael Feinstein, Romance On Film Romance On Broadway)

Playlist For Sunday, June 11, 2023: Grow For Me!

I have a black thumb. And I know why. I really don't care. All of my plants need to be transplanted, rotated, trimmed back, repotted, "fed", watered (or less watered), just name it... they need help and I refuse to hear their cries. I will even spend $$$ to get landscaping, then totally ignore it and do nothing to maintain it.

 

In fact, those artificial plants at TJMaxx are lookin' pretty attractive right now. 

I HAD a vegetable garden when I first moved up here. I DID spend plenty of dough on annuals for a few years. I BOUGHT gardening gloves. I MULCHED. No more. I now wear a cloak of shame (a stole actually!) in front of my uber gardening neighbors. And yet, I care not. 

But musically, I'm down with veggies and gardens and growing! That's the theme of this ridiculous edition: The Vegan Edition? The Fruit and Veg Edition? Either will work. You pick. Literally. We've got forbidden fruit (apples), too ripe fruit (plums), radishes, spinach, absolutely NO bananas, insects to swat, grass to mow, and a lotta growing to do. Mulching with melody only.

 

 It must be last week's heat. I'm definitely losing it.

And where's the Tony edition, you may be asking? Well, I'm bypassing it entirely. I am little equipped to proffer an opinion on the shows up for awards this season. Some Like It Hot is the only musical (of the noms) I've seen, and that one was, at most, tepid. The others I know little to nothing about. Call me historical, I won't find that (too much of) an insult. I'll watch the presentation and learn, and if we (the Royal We) are amused, expect to hear new (worthy) selections soon.

 

This (don't get me started)

 

versus this

 

 and don't forget this! 

But for this Sunday, let's Broadway Garden, and reap the "nutrition"! We will attempt to amuse.

 

 

Plant A Radish (Thomas Bruce, Hugh Larson, The Fantasticks)

Peach On The Beach (Susan Watson, Ensemble, No, No, Nanette)

Apples, Peaches, And Cherries (Peggy Lee, Songs In An Intimate Style)

The Apple Tree (Larry Blyden, The Apple Tree)

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off (Fred Astaire, Ginger Rodgers, Shall We Dance)

I Say It's Spinach (And The Hell With It)(Jeffry Denman, Meredith Patterson, Face The Music)

You've Gotta Eat Your Spinach, Baby (Shirley Temple, Poor Little Rich Girl)

 Plant You Now, Dig You Later (Robert Fortier, Helen Gallagher, Pal Joey)

Come To The Supermarket (In Old Peking)(Barbra Streisand)

Who Will Buy? (Bruce Prochnik, Ensemble, Oliver!)

Street Calls (Harry Belafonte, Porgy And Bess)

The Grass Is Always Greener (Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Cooper, Woman Of The Year)

sssssSnake In The Grasssss (Bob Fosse, The Little Prince)

Grazing In The Grass (The Friends Of Distinction)

This Plum Is Too Ripe (Rita Gardner, Kenneth Nelson, Hugh Larson, Thomas Bruce, The Fantasticks)

Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries (Walter Harrah & Friends)

Banana Boat Song (Harry Belafonte)

Yes! We Have No Bananas (Jim Borstelmann, Company, Bullets Over Broadway)

Jitterbug Bite (Lucille Ball, Dance, Girl, Dance)

A Sleepin' Bee (Barbra Streisand)

The Jitterbug (Judy Garland, Jack Haley, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, The Wizard Of Oz)

The Pineapple Song (Lotte Lenya, Jack Gilford, Cabaret)

The Grapes Of Roth (Instrumental, Promises, Promises)

The Hot Patata (Kevin Chamberlin, The New Yorkers)

Will You? (Christine Ebersole, Grey Gardens)

World Weary (Christine Ebersole, Christine Ebersole Sings Noel Coward)

Grow For Me (Hunter Foster, Little Shop Of Horrors)

Growing Pains (Jessica Molaskey, Make Believe)

Grow Old With Me (Jason Robert Brown, Wearing Someone Else's Clothes)

Wick (Daisy Eagan, John Cameron Mitchell, The Secret Garden)

Make Our Garden Grow (Barbara Cook, Robert Rounseville, Candide) 

Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries (Jack Hylton And His Orchestra)