Playlist for Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013: We Need a Little Christmas

I guess you could call this the Holiday Edition of 2 on the Aisle...about half of the show will be Christmas Broadway (or Christmas Hollywood, because we WILL have some movie musicals added in as well!).  Be A Santa from Subways are for Sleeping, We Need a Little Christmas from Mame, and Turkey Lurkey Time from Promises, Promises are some of those holiday goodies we'll hear.

On the Hollywood side...Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, from Meet Me in St. Louis.  The lyrics of that song (written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane) were rewritten for Judy Garland's character, because focused as they were on World War II, Judy found them too dark to sing to little Margaret O'Brien.  Sinatra asked for them to be changed a second time, when he covered the song...so Hugh had to keep lightening them up. Guess I'll have to wiki those original DARK lyrics!!!

Hard Candy Christmas, from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, is a real favorite, tho I'm not sure if you could actually call it a Christmas song.  Sung by Miss Mona, the owner of the "Chicken Ranch," and her "staff," it was originally sung by Carlin Glynn, and later in the movie version, by somebody named Dolly Parton.  Ring any bells?

Merry Christmas, Broadway-philes!


Happy Holidays/Let Yourself Go (Jeffry Denman, ensemble, White Christmas
                                                           the Musical)
12 Days 'til Christmas (Ensemble, She Loves Me)
We Need a Little Christmas (Angela Lansbury, Mame)
Be a Santa (Sydney Chaplin, Subways are for Sleeping)
Turkey Lurkey Time (Ensemble, Promises Promises)
Snow (Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, "Vera Ellen," "Rosemary Clooney," White
                                                            Christmas, the film)
I Got Rhythm (Gene Kelly, An American in Paris)
Slap That Bass (Fred Astaire, Shall We Dance)
Sister (Cass Morgan, Debra Monk, Pump Boys and Dinettes)
Hard Candy Christmas (Carlin Glynn, Ensemble, The Best Little Whorehouse in
                                                             Texas)
The Twelve Gifts of Christmas (Allan Sherman, For Swingin' Livers Only!)
Ring Them Bells (Liza Minelli, Liza with a Z)
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Judy Garland, Meet Me in St. Louis)

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

I don't???  Celeste Holm and Frankie, dissing High Society.

Judy...

Ms. Garland.  On the playlist for this coming Sunday (12/15/13)

Wouldn't It Be Lovely?

Julie Andrews and her Cockney gang...My Fair Lady.

Playlist for Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013: Movie Musicals? Isn't that Cheating?

So, as promised, 2 on the Aisle will sneak out of those aisle seats for a few "numbers" this week, grab some popcorn and dash into the movies!  Just for three songs, so don't hyperventilate; we'll be back to Broadway soon enough.  Judy Garland's "The Man Who Got Away," and that Sinatra/Holm rendition of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" are worth it.  Due to my staged musical obsession, I have a ways to go in collecting these movie musical gems, but I am happy to begin...and as I get 'em, you'll hear 'em!

Along for the ride will be two selections from The Rothchilds, a musical from 1970, with music by that Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick team. They were fresh from their success with Fiddler on the Roof back then, and supposedly turned down writing The Happy Time, figuring that writing about a French Canadian family was too close to that Jewish family out there in Anatevka...so they waited and picked The Rothchilds, which is all about that Jewish banking family in Frankfurt.  Ahhhh, I see their cunning plan!  Well, not really.  Love the music, but it certainly shares (more than) a feeling with their previous work. 

And hang on for Alice Ghostley singing a beguine!  That'll raise the hairs on the back of your neck!  "See" you on Sunday...


Wouldn't It Be Lovely?  (Julie Andrews, My Fair Lady)
Some People (Ethel Merman, Gypsy)
If My Friends Could See Me Now (Gwen Verdon, Sweet Charity)
I Say It's Spinach and to Hell With It (Jeffry Denman, Meredith Patterson)
I Want to Be Happy (Jack Gilford, Helen Gallagher, No, No, Nanette)
The Man Who Got Away (Judy Garland, A Star is Born)
S'Wonderful (Gene Kelly, Georges Guetary, An American in Paris)
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm, High Society)
One Room (Hal Linden, Leila Martin, The Rothchilds)
Everything (Hal Linden, Leila Martin, Ensemble, The Rothchilds)
Hernando's Hideaway (Carol Haney, Ensemble, The Pajama Game)
Boston Beguine (Alice Ghostley, New Faces of 1952)
Dear Mr. Gershwin (Klea Blackhurst, Radio Gals)
The Song that Goes Like This (Tim Curry, Sara Ramirez, Spamalot)

I'll Go Home with Bonnie Jean

Gene and Van...Brigadoon!

Recorded Show on 12/8/13

The "2 on the Aisle" show this coming Sunday, Dec. 8th, will be a recorded one from the archives.  We'll be back LIVE on Sunday, Dec. 15th, with a new "Movie Musical Corner!"  Have a great week....