Playlist for Sunday, February, 14, 2016: You Say Love, I Say...

Just call me 2-faced, but I think I've come up with a cunning plan for this Sunday's holiday, and a rather appropriate one for a show called 2 On The Aisle...

When I thought about a Valentine show this year, I immediately panned the idea of 2 hours of schmaltzy Broadway love songs.  Last year, to get as far away from that idea as a dozen roses and a heart box of bonbons would allow, we did 2 hours of Anti-Valentine songs. You know, the acerbic "You'll Get Yours", "Get Outta Town," "There Must Be Something Better Than This" types.  Well, this time 'round, let's temper those extremes and toss 'em in a salad, equal parts bibb and radicchio (no, no! No iceberg!), and see what happens.  For every creamy sweet, a taste of tang. So Alfred Drake will make us swoon with it, Audra will take that swoon and wrap it in cellophane.  Groucho serenades, while Rosemary and Marilyn ice us out.

So 2 perspectives "on the aisle". It's really the 2 sides of love, anyway. Ya can't have one without the other. Hey...isn't that from...Broadway?


Lovesick (Sherie Renee Scott, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous
           Breakdown)
A Bushel And A Peck (Vivian Blaine, Ensemble, Guys And Dolls)
S'Wonderful (Gene Kelly, George Guetary, An American In Paris)
People Will Say We're In Love (Alfred Drake, Joan Roberts, Oklahoma)
Let's Do It (Rudy Vallee, Paris)
You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me (Maurice Chevalier, The Big Pond)
Everyone Says I Love You (The Marx Brothers, Horsefeathers)
Easy To Love (Jimmy Stewart, Marjorie Lane, Born To Dance)
The Man I Love (Leanne Cope, An American In Paris)
Love Of My Life (Judy Garland, The Pirate)
So In Love (Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Kiss Me Kate)
I Love You (Sid Caesar, Virginia Martin, Little Me)
Love Is A Many Splendored Thing (Ensemble, Forever Plaid)
A Little Bit In Love (Edie Adams, Wonderful Town)
He Loves And She Loves (Fred Astaire, Funny Face)
I Wanna Be Loved By You (Marilyn Monroe, Some Like It Hot)
Love Is The Reason (Shirley Booth, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn)
I Loved You Once In Silence (Julie Andrews, Camelot)
Do You Love Me? (Zero Mostel, Maria Carnilova, Fiddler On The Roof)
Down With Love (Audra McDonald)
Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me (Rosemary Clooney, White Christmas)
You'll Get Yours (Frank Sinatra)
Put 'Em In A Box, Tie 'Em With A Ribbon, And Throw 'Em In The Deep Blue
            Sea (Doris Day, Romance On The High Seas)
There Must Be Something Better Than Love (Pearl Bailey, Arms And The Girl)
I Can't Be In Love (Don Ameche, Goldilocks)
I'd Rather Wake Up By Myself (Shirley Booth, By The Beautiful Sea)
Falling Out Of Love Can Be Fun (Mary McCarty, Miss Liberty)
I'm Not At All In Love (Kelli O'Hara, The Pajama Game)
It's A Helluva Way To Run A Love Affair (Shirl Conway, Plain And Fancy)
No One'll Ever Love You Like You Do (Elaine Stritch, Don Ameche, Goldilocks)
I'll Never Fall In Love Again (Kristin Chenowith, Sean Hayes, Promises,
            Promises)
I'm Glad I'm Single (Ensemble, The Gay Life/The High Life)
I'm All I've Got (Michele Lee, Bravo Giovanni)
I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You (Ensemble, Bullets Over
            Broadway)
I'm Through With Love (Marilyn Monroe, Some Like It Hot)
I Won't Say I'm In Love (Susan Egan, Hercules)

And for comic relief...

 Tom Lehrer,

a Harvard grad, and an MIT Professor of Mathematics,

who couldn't leave musical theatre alone.

He wrote only 37 songs over a 20 year span,

most of them political parodies (to the left!),

but all of them funny.

We'll hear "Poisoning Pigeons In The Park".

 

Allan Sherman,

who began his career as a TV game show producer

(I've Got A Secret!),

used to make up songs for neighbor Groucho Marx 

and his party guests. 

George Burns made a call, and Poof! 

Allan had his first LP: My Son The Folksinger.

We'll hear "One Hippopotami" from the sequel,

My Son The Nut.

More "Super" Sunday Players: Hey, You Can Eat Nachos To Broadway, Too!

 Heidi Blickenstaff (above gettin' fiesty with 

Bryan Darcy James) in Something Rotten!

Heidi got "famous" on the Great White Way in

a one-act musical called [title of show],

which brought her out of the understudy/replacement/touring ranks 

(The Little Mermaid, Jekyll & Hyde, Tommy).

We'll hear "Right Hand Man" from Rotten. 

 From Fun Home,

with music by Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron.

 Sydney Lucas plays Small Allison (below).

(Her real life brother was simultaneously in The King And I,

a few blocks away!)

She is the youngest performer to win

an Obie, when Fun Home was running on Off-Broadway.

Sydney is currently rehearsing to appear

as Mary Lennox in the Lincoln Center production

of The Secret Garden.

We'll hear "Ring Of Keys".

 

 Phillippa Su, Renee Elise Goldsberry and

Jasmine Cephas Jones as the Schuyler Sisters,

in Hamilton.

We'll hear Phillippa and Lin-Manuel (dancing below with Renee)

in "Helpless".

Thoroughly/Modernly/Millie-ly

 Sutton Foster and Marc Kudisch

as Millie Dillmount and Trevor Graydon III...

The whole production began in workshops back in 1999,

with the starring roles initially filled by

Marc, Kristen Chenowith and Bea Arthur. 

Kristen began work on her own sitcom, however,

and an understudy (named Sutton) took over.

Another "overnight success" story!

 Harriet Sansom Harris

as the slightly evil Mrs. Meers.

Replacements for the role:

Delta Burke and Dixie Carter.

Harriet won both a Drama Desk Award

and a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

 

 Mrs. Meer's henchman,

brothers Ching Ho and Bun Foo.

played by Ken Leung and Francis Jue.

 We'll hear them and Harriet in "Muqin".

Another Tony went to Sutton,

along with the Best Musical of 2002 award.

"Not For The Life Of Me"

Playlist for Sunday, February 7, 2016: A Day Without A Hippopotami is like a day without....

You know, I Never Do Anything Twice.  Oh sure, when I'm Far From The Home I Love, I do Everything I can to Enjoy Being A Girl. I mean, If I Were A Rich Man and I Had A Fine White Horse and some damn Physical Fitness, I'd take my Ring Of Keys, stop feeling so Helpless, turn that Steam Heat up high, and burn my candle Wick at both ends!  Not A Day Goes By that I don't ask myself Why Am I Me? Why Can't The English Come To My Garden and Lift Me Up, not just Poison The Pigeons In The Park? I could be your Right Hand Man, you Nuttycracker, so gimme that gosh darn Speed Test and I promise not to (Hernando's) Hideaway like So Many People do...I mean, Ain't There Anyone Here For Love?

For all you who'll tune into 2 On The Aisle, and not the pre-game Super Bowl extravaganza, hugs and kisses.  :) 


Thoroughly Modern Millie (Sutton Foster, Ensemble, Thoroughly Modern
          Millie)
Rothschild And Sons (Hal Linden, Ensemble, The Rothschilds)
Everything (Hal Linden, Leila Martin, Ensemble, The Rothschilds)
Far From The Home I Love (Julia Migenes, Zero Mostel, Fiddler On The Roof)
If I Were A Rich Man (Zero Mostel, Fiddler On The Roof)
I Enjoy Being A Girl (Pat Suzuki, Flower Drum Song)
Physical Fitness (Ensemble, All American)
Ain't There Anyone Here For Love? (Jane Russell, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
Why Can't The English? (Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady)
Why Am I Me? (Joseph Shapiro, Chip Ford, Shenandoah)
Why Are All The D'ysquiths Dying? (Ensemble, A Gentleman's Guide To Love
          And Murder)
Why? 'Cause I'm A Guy (Ensemble, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change)
If I Had A Fine White Horse (Alison Fraser, The Secret Garden)
Come To My Garden/Lift Me Up (Rebecca Luker, Kay Walbye,The Secret
         Garden)
Wick (Daisy Eagan, John Cameron Mitchell, The Secret Garden)
Not For The Life Of Me (Sutton Foster, Thoroughly Modern Millie)
Muqin (Harriet Sansom Harrison, Ensemble, Thoroughly Modern Millie)
The Nuttycracker Suite (Instrumental, Thoroughly Modern Millie)
The Speed Test (Sutton Foster, Marc Kudisch, Thoroughly Modern Millie)
I Never Do Anything Twice (Millicent Martin, Side By Side By Sondheim)
So Many People (Lauren Ward, David Campbell, Saturday Night)
Not A Day Goes By (Bernadette Peters, Live At Carnegie Hall)
Right Hand Man (Heidi Blickenstaff, Something Rotten!)
Ring Of Keys (Sydney Lucas, Fun Home)
Helpless (Philppa Su, Lin Manuel Miranda, Hamilton)
Steam Heat (Carole Haney, Ensemble, The Pajama Game)
A New Town Is A Blue Town (Harry Connick, Jr., The Pajama Game)
Hernando's Hideaway (Ensemble, The Pajama Game)
Poisoning Pigeons In The Park (Tom Lehrer)
One Hippopotami (Allan Sherman, My Son The Nut)

Towns, et. al.

 The 1949 film version

of On The Town sported a few new songs...

this one for example:

Count On Me, which replaced Ya Got Me.

Leonard Bernstein's score was generally demolished

by Roger Edens who thought LB's music too complicated.

Lenny boycotted the film.

Above: Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Gene Kelly, Jules Munshin,

Frank Sinatra, and Alice Pearce.

 Nancy Walker, who played Hildy

in the original production of On The Town, 1944,

was replaced in the film by Betty Garrett.

I like Betty, sure...but I LOVE Nancy!!!

In fact, Alice Pearce was the only cast member

to play in both the original Broadway production

and the movie.

Lucy Schmeeler...unforgettable.

And a great image of the Wonderful Town "crew"...

At the piano, Betty Comden, Rosalind Russell, Adolph Green,

somebody, somebody else,

and Lenny at the piano.

Edie Adams, on the right below, was still going 

by the name Edith at the time!

Stop The World, for Leslie B!

 Leslie Bricusse was born in London in 1931,

and after a Cambridge education,

formed a partnership of sorts with Anthony Newley...

"Brickman and Newburg",

and together they wrote the music and lyrics for 

Stop The World - I Want To Get Off, and

The Roar Of The Greasepaint, The Smell Of the Crowd.

 Backstage on opening night of "Roar"...

with Joan Collins (Anthony's wife), Anthony, Sammy, Carol and Cyril.

 Along with composing/lyric writing for staged musicals,

Leslie wrote movie themes and scores.

Above, Shirley Bassey and a promotional photo from

Goldfinger, which Leslie wrote with John Barry.

 Another collaboration with Anthony

yielded the score of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Above, Peter Ostrum and Gene Wilder.

With Henry Mancini,

Leslie wrote the score for Victor/Victoria...

 And with John Williams, the score for

Hook, which starred Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams

(with a great Smee, thanks to Bob Hoskins, below on the left).

Above, Amber Scott who sang "When You're Alone."

Leslie wrote both the music and lyrics

for Doctor Doolittle, Goodbye Mr. Chips, and Scrooge,

and several hit singles, including 

"You Only Live Twice," "Can You Read My Mind,"
and "When I Look In Your Eyes".

Above with his wife, Yvonne Romain, a British actress

best known perhaps for her role in

The Curse Of The Werewolf! :)

Leslie just celebrated his 85th year.