Popular Broadway Songs [Youtbe Clips]

"At the Drop of a Hat" II - The Hippopotamus Song

"At the Drop of a Hat" III -The Gnu Song

"At the Drop of a Hat" IV



It wasn't all giggles. Occasionally they showed a serious side.

Josh Groban and Kelly Clarkson sing "Phantom"

Josh Groban just recorded a concert based on his recent Stages album. I was shocked when he announced that his partner for the duet All I Ask of You would be... Kelly Clarkson!

But, judge for yourself, I think she pulled it off.


The whole concert will be broadcast on PBS later in the year.

Wicked Reunion

It's the 12th anniversary of Wicked on Broadway and the producers have released a treat for fans: Kristen Chenowith and Idina Menzel reunite for a rendition of their parting song For Good.

Enjoy!

Tony Awards this Sunday (June 12)

James Corden picked up a few current broadway stars on his way to the Beacon Theater to get ready for Sunday's 2016 Tony Awards. Corden played Uber driver to:

• Lin Manuel Miranda (Hamilton)
• Audra MacDonald (Shufflin Along)
• Jesse Tyler Fergusun (Fully Committed)
• Jane Krakowski (She Loves Me)

On the way they sing along to show tunes from Hamilton, Rent, Jersey Boys, and Les Miserables. (That sounds like my typical road trip playlist as well!)

2016 Tony Awards - (Shuffle Along)

Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed
Starring:

• Audra McDonald
• Brian Stokes Mitchell
• Billy Porter
• Savion Glover

Shuffle Along came in to New York with high expectations, and then went through hell in previews with major script and song changes and cast illness. Fortunately, everything came together by opening night when the show opened to very positive reviews.

The original show was a landmark for black performers in 1921 becoming a huge hit and introducing songs like I'm Just Wild About Harry. The 2016 version combines the 20's musical with the "making of" backstage story of bringing an all black show to Broadway.

In a non-Hamilton year it would sweep the Tony awards. Don't be surprised if Savion Glover snatches the choreography award for pushing the boundary of tap dancing once again. Last week NBC featured his six minute tap production number with no musical accompaniment on the Maya & Marty variety show (link below).

Shuffle Along with Savion Glover (via Maya & Marty on NBC)

Tony Nominations:

• Best Musical
• Best Book of a Musical (George C. Wolfe)
• Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Brandon Victor Dixon)
• Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Adrienne Warren)
• Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Santo Loquasto)
• Best Costume Design of a Musical (Ann Roth)
• Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer)
• Best Direction of a Musical (George C. Wolfe)
• Best Choreography (Savion Glover)
• Best Orchestrations (Daryl Waters)

Drama Desk Awards Won

• Outstanding Musical
• Outstanding Costume Design for a Musical (Ann Roth)
• Outstanding Wigs and Hair (Mia M. Neal)
• Outstanding Choreography (Savion Glover)

New York Drama Critics Circle Award Won

• Best Musical

Note: The Drama Desk and Drama Critics Circle awards cover both Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. Hamilton won those awards last year when it was Off-Broadway and is not eligible for those awards this year.

2016 Tony Awards - (School of Rock)

School of Rock


Maybe a Broadway version of 2003's Richard Linkletter film School of Rock was inevitable. Audiences and critics were probably not looking forward to yet another movie turned into a forgettable stage musical a la Big, Saturday Night Fever, Footloose, Legally Blond, and Ghost. But, surprise! This show is charming and entertaining with Alex Brightman in a star-making role surrounded by kids who are actually top-notch musicians playing the score.

The next surprise are the show's authors: Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the score and Downton Abbey's Julian Fellows wrote the script.

It's a shame that a show this strong will likely be shut out from actually picking up Tony Awards this week, but once people get a peek at Alex and the kids on the broadcast, there will be a strong demand for the touring company next year. Also, the show will open in London in October 2016.



Tony Award Nominations

• Best Musical
• Best Book of a Musical (Julian Fellowes)
• Best Original Score (Andrew Lloyd Webber and Glenn Slater)
• Best Actor in a Musical (Alex Brightman)

2016 Tony Awards (The Color Purple)

The Color Purple


Broadway regularly revives musicals mostly for the same reason movie studios produce sequels - they are known properties that have sold in the past and they are easy to sell to investors and ticket buyers. This year, though, there are several shows that came back with more impact than the original production, and the first of those is The Color Purple.

Oprah Winfrey produced the splashy original version ten years ago, though it didn't make the impact many had hoped for. This revival directed by John Doyle originated in London with star Cynthia Erivo in the central role of Celie. Doyle, as is his habit, stripped away all of the big sets and chorus and made the musical a more intimate story centered on three women. The response has been phenomenal.

Erivo may win a Tony award for the way she uncovered Celie's pain and dignity; and you can see evidence of that in her television performance of I'm Here on The Kennedy Center Honors.



Tony Award Nominations

• Best Revival of a Musical
• Best Actress in a Musical (Cynthia Erivo}
• Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Danielle Brooks)
• Best Direction of a Musical (John Doyle)

Drama Desk Awards Won

• Outstanding Revival of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
• Best Actress in a Musical (Cynthia Erivo}
• Best Direction of a Musical (John Doyle)

Outer Critics Circle Awards Won

• Best Actress in a Musical (Cynthia Erivo}

Drama League Awards Won

• Outstanding Revival of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

RockNLol said:

Can't wait for the new album...

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OMG! Wow - first of all what a surprise, she didn't just pluck a pretty song out of a show - she brought the whole scene and context with it. Talk about raising the stakes... And who knew Rey could sing?

And me - :heart: Seriously, I am in tears. What Marvin Hamlish (music), Ed Kleban (lyrics), and Michael Bennett (director) did creating that material is so moving even 40 years later. The pain and beauty they tapped into is devastating and just listening to three talented singer/actors present it melts my heart.

AND Streisand will be presenting an award this Sunday at the Tony Awards.

Here is the "making of" video for that song.



Related topic - so, is Gypsy still happening? Streisand talks about auditioning Ridley for the film (I assume for the role of Louise/Gypsy Rose Lee). Last October Universal dropped the project, then Variety wrote in April that Joel Silver picked it up for STX Entertainment. Lady Gaga had been mentioned several places for the role of the daughter, Louise and John Travolta for Herbie.

Great Post and relevant

topdog said:

OMG! Wow - first of all what a surprise, she didn't just pluck a pretty song out of a show - she brought the whole scene and context with it. Talk about raising the stakes... And who knew Rey could sing?

And me - :heart: Seriously, I am in tears. What Marvin Hamlish (music), Ed Kleban (lyrics), and Michael Bennett (director) did creating that material is so moving even 40 years later. The pain and beauty they tapped into is devastating and just listening to three talented singer/actors present it melts my heart.

AND Streisand will be presenting an award this Sunday at the Tony Awards.

Here is the "making of" video for that song.



Related topic - so, is Gypsy still happening? Streisand talks about auditioning Ridley for the film (I assume for the role of Louise/Gypsy Rose Lee). Last October Universal dropped the project, then Variety wrote in April that Joel Silver picked it up for STX Entertainment. Lady Gaga had been mentioned several places for the role of the daughter, Louise and John Travolta for Herbie.

Click to expand...

... so looking forward to the "TONYS"

2016 Tony Awards (Spring Awakening)

Spring Awakening

"The use of sign language (which functions as a kind of gestural choreography) reflects how the teens are unable to meaningfully talk with their parents or teachers, while the adults cannot hear them." - AM New York

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Just twelve years ago Broadway audiences were introduced to Spring Awakening, an adaption of the 1890 German play integrated with a 21st Century Duncan Shiek rock score about alienated teenagers and the adults that can't communicate with them. Deaf West Theater's revival combines hearing and non-hearing actors who use American Sign Language. Some roles are played by two actors - one who sings and speaks, one who signs. Many in the cast do both at once. The result: Lines and lyrics look as poetic and provocative as they sound.

This adds new layers on to the material, particularly since around that time in the 19th century the medical profession decided to take away sign language and force deaf people to focus on speech and lip reading.

Take a look at director Michael Arden and the cast behind the scenes talking about how the deaf and hearing actors combine to tell the story.


Also, several weeks ago I posted about Michael Arden's marriage with bisexual cast member Andy Mientus - you can see that here.


Tony Award Nominations

• Best Revival of a Musical
• Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Ben Stanton)
• Best Direction of a Musical (Michael Arden)

Outer Critics Circle Awards Won

• Outstanding Director of a Musical (Michael Arden)

Drama League Awards Won

• Unique Contribution to the Theatre Award (Deaf West Theatre)

2016 Tony Awards (Fiddler on the Roof)

Fiddler on the Roof

"A great Tevye, and Burstein is nothing short of a miracle, finding the modern mensch in Tevye, as well as the hard-nosed, belief-bound peasant. Rather than bluster or roar his way through the role, Burstein has a delicate, almost motherly touch, kibbitzing with God for laughs and tearing out our hearts by the end. No other actor could juggle the comedy and tragedy masks with such style, such a bittersweet dance with tradition.." - Time Out New York

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"Fiddler, again? Why?" was my question.

Director Bartlett Sher, (South Pacific, The King and I) answers that question the moment the lights come up on Danny Burnstein in modern dress holding a book (a travel guide?). He is looking for something that was once there; some connection to his past. As he recites Tevye's opening lines ("A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no?"), the shtetl community appears like a ghost being summoned back. Burnstein removes his red LL Bean jacket, covers his head with a milkman's cap and becomes Tevye as the cast comes forward and breaks into "Tradition."

Clearly, this is not your father's Fiddler. Sher's story is a part of many of us - somewhere in our geneology peasants fled religious or ethnic persecution and made a great journey to bring family to a new world. It's a story that is still happening today.

Burnstein is not the larger than life comedian that usually fills Tevye's shoes. He is a skilled musical actor that has rarely been off a Broadway stage in the last ten years. You could find him in recent revivals of South Pacific, Follies, and Cabaret, Golden Boy, as well a new musicals like Bridges of Madison County and The Drowsy Chaperone. Although he is not a star, he is beloved in the Broadway community and could take the Best Actor in a Musical prize away from Hamilton's Lin Manuel Miranda.

The rest of the cast is equally strong. Jessica Hecht has been praised for her new strong approach to Tevye's wife, Golde. Adam Kantor is a sweet, scrappy Motel the tailor (and very cute). Melanie Moore, (Peter Pan in Finding Neverland and winner of Season 8 of So You Think You Can Dance), plays Chava - the daughter who marries the Russian. Her final scene begging for acceptance from her father is heart breaking - a situation that has resonance for many gay kids.


Tony Award Nominations

• Best Revival of a Musical
• Best Actor in a Musical (Danny Burnstein)
• Best Choreography (Hofesh Schecter)

Drama Desk Awards Won

• Best Actor in a Musical (Danny Burnstein)
• Best Direction of a Musical (Bartlett Scher)

Outer Critics Circle Awards Won

• Best Actor in a Musical (Danny Burnstein)

2016 Tony Awards

The 2016 Tony Awards begin at 8PM EST. They will be broadcast on local CBS stations in the US. Check listings in other countries to see if there is a live co-broadcast.

Viewing Online
It can also be seen online through CBS All Access, although you have to sign up first. There is a monthly fee, but the first month is free so you can cancel if all you want to watch is the one show. I don't know if there are international restrictions on the web feed.

The red carpet arrivals will be webcast on the Tony Awards site beginning at 5:30PM EST.

Performances
The performances are always the best part of the show. Earlier this week the Tony committee announced the televised performances.

• Hamilton Lin-Manuel Miranda, Phillipa Soo, Leslie Odom Jr., Renée Elise Goldsberry, Christopher Jackson, Daveed Diggs and the cast
• On Your Feet Gloria Estefan and the cast
• Waitress Sara Bareilles, Christopher Fitzgerald, Jessie Mueller and the cast
• Fiddler on the Roof Danny Burstein and the cast
• The Color Purple Danielle Brooks, Cynthia Erivo and the cast
• Bright Star Carmen Cusack and the cast
• Shuffle Along Brandon Victor Dixon, Adrienne Warren and the cast
• She Loves Me Laura Benanti, Zachary Levi, Jane Krakowski and the cast
• School of Rock Alex Brightman and the cast
• Spring Awakening The cast

If you miss the broadcast, the performances will be available on Youtube in a day or two.

Tony's Respond to Orlando Shooting

• Tony-Winning Costume Designer William Ivey Long Designs Ribbon to Honor Orlando Victims at Tonight's Tony Awards
• Orlando Mayor & Theater Community Thank Broadway & TONY AWARDS for Their Support3

Twitter Response

Audra McDonald @AudraEqualityMc
When does this end? When do we demand a change? When do we finally wake up from this God awful nightmare?

Laura Benanti @LauraBenanti
Tonight, every note I sing will be in remembrance of the lives taken in Orlando.

Andy Mientus @andymientus
I hope gay kids scared by Orlando watch the #TonyAwards tonight to see countless successful, empowered, Out Queer people loving each other.

Michael Arden @michaelarden
Tonight's performance by the cast of @SpringBway is dedicated to the victims of today's senseless tragedy, and to he hope we might end them.

Megan Hilty @meganhilty
My heart is breaking for our country & for those who lost friends/family members in this horrific act of hate & violence. #StandWithOrlando

josh groban @joshgroban
As "the show goes on" at the Tony's tonight let it be a celebration of equality, love, and diversity going on too. We mourn but stand tall.

Anthony Rapp ‏@albinokid
I don't tend to say things about national tragedies on social media cuz words fail. But after Orlando: Who can think guns aren't a problem?

Jeremy Jordan ‏@JeremyMJordan
My heart is with everyone affected by the terrible events in Orlando. Hate, to violence, to more hate. Where does it end? Makes me sick.

Anthony Rapp ‏@albinokid 3h3 hours ago
I don't tend to say things about national tragedies on social media cuz words fail. But after Orlando: Who can think guns aren't a problem?

Steve Kazee @SteveKazee
My friend Brian Reagan is a manager at #PulseNightclub. He is safe. Many of his friends and loved ones are not. And here we are again.

Uzo Aduba @UzoAduba
My heart breaks for the lives lost in Orlando. Just breaks.

Neil Patrick Harris @ActuallyNPH
The tragedy in Orlando is just beyond sad. My deepest regrets to all those suffering. There are no words that suffice. I'm...stunned.

steven pasquale @StevePasquale
LAWS not prayers. Let's start with the AR 15 assault rifle. Let's start there.

Ramin Karimloo @raminkarimloo
Horrific scenes in Orlando. Great seeing so many unite to try and stand tall, proud and support.

Wesley Taylor @WesTayTay
50 people were just killed in my hometown. Because of hate.

TRAVIS WALL ‏@traviswall
The largest mass shooting in U.S. history??? Sick to my stomach. Thoughts and prayers for all victims and families involved in this tragedy

Andy Karl @Andy_Karl
I wanted to be so angry on Twitter today about #OrlandoShooting but I think it's better to be informed and #change

Rory O'Malley ‏@RoryOMalley
The theatre is our church and we all need church tonight.

Stay proud and hope that the NRA may see some sense.

Multiple generations Broadway stars closed out the third night at the Democratic National Convention singing Burt Bacharach's What the World Needs Now.

Some of those participating:

• Idina Menzel (Rent, Frozen)
• Audra MacDonald (Ragtime, Shuffle Along)
• Brian Stokes Mitchell (Ragtime, Shuffle Along)
• Darren Criss (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Glee)
• Richard Kind (Road Show, Spin City)
• Debra Messing (Outside Mullingar, Will & Grace)
• Kristen Bell (Frozen)
• Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple)
• Tyne Daly (Gypsy, Cagney & Lacey)
• Sharon Gless (Misery, Cagney & Lacey)
• Michael Urie (Buyer & Cellar, Ugly Betty)
• Anika Larsen (Beautiful)
• Ben Vereen (Pippin)
• Carmen Cusack (Bright Star)
• B.D. Wong (M. Butterfly)
• Stephanie Block (Wicked, Mystery of Edwin Drood)
• Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent)
• Kerry Butler (Xanadu)
• Liz Callaway & Ann Hampton Callaway (Cats, Anastasia)
• Seth Rudnesky (Disaster!)

Who did I miss?

CATS returns to Broadway

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats reopened on Broadway last night at the Neil Simon Theater. Reviews were mixed - mostly because of the love/hate relationship people have with the material. However critics had only good things to say about the performances and production.


UPDATE - Aug 4 2016
The Good Morning America TV show filmed some of the Jellicle Cats number - so here is a little bit more of the new company.

Falsettos - 1992

This fall Falsettos is coming back to Broadway with Christian Borle, Andrew Rannells & Stephanie J. Block. Falsettos has released some interviews with the cast and they now have their costumes and makeup.



In 1989 I saw the small William Finn musical Falsettoland on a short trip to New York. I was just coming to terms with the fact that I was gay and afraid of how that would upend my life. Now, I grew up watching and listening to Broadway musicals but I wasn't prepared for impact of seeing a man in bed with his partner and singing a sweet, knowing love song to another man. I sobbed. I didn't quite know where all the emotion was coming from. Maybe it was like someone reaching out to me and saying "It's going to be all right.".

Michael Rupert and Stephen Bogardus played Marvin and Whizzer in all the original productions. This is video of What More Can I Say?. (Even though Stephen has no part in the song, I love what his body language tells us about the intimacy of their relationship.)


I cried again in 1992 when the show came to Broadway as Falsettos. My boyfriend and I were still in our chairs fighting back the tears when the lights came up and the rest of the audience made their way to the aisles.

Here is the original 1992 cast on the Tony Awards doing the Baseball number.

Upcoming Broadway Revivals: 2016 - 2017 Season


Speaking of Broadway revivals, here is what is heading for Broadway in the coming year. In addition to Cats, which is already open, and Falsettos which is now in rehearsal and will start previews in September, the following have been announced:

• Miss Saigon - This will be a transfer of the hit 2014 London production, which had new staging by Laurence Connor ( Les Miz, School of Rock). Previews begin March 1, 2017 at the Broadway Theater—the same playhouse where the original Broadway production opened in 1991. Even better news, this will be a limited run on Broadway because this company will then hit the road and tour the US. The production will star Eva Noblezada as Kim and Jon Jon Briones as The Engineer, reprising their roles from the 2014 West End revival.
• Hello, Dolly! - Bette Midler stars (with David Hyde Pierce) at the Schubert Theater with previews beginning March 15, 2017. Jerry Zaks (Sister Act, La Cage aux Folles) will direct, and Warren Carlyle (She Loves Me, Follies, Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway) will choreograph the production, which is scheduled to open April 20.
• Singin' in the Rain - UPDATE! - "Singin'" is indefinitely postponed due to lack of a suitable theater. Maybe next year? - Dancing With the Stars favorite Derek Hough as song and dance man Don Lockwood in a new stage adaptation of the classic MGM film musical, about the early days of sound films in Hollywood. The show will debut way out of town—at the Paris venue Théâtre du Châtelet, where Broadway’s current An American In Paris also had its pre-Broadway world premiere. Harvey Weinstein is producing. Singin’ in the Rain is directed by Robert Carsen and features choreography by Stephen Mear.
• Sunset Boulevard - UPDATE 10-14-2016 - The New York Post has confirmed the Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard will return to Broadway at the Palace Theater in January 2017. This will be a remounting of the recent London production starring Glenn Close. Although they had to reduce the size of the orchestra slightly to make it financially viable - it will still be a lush sound with 40 musicians.

There are some other possibilities waiting in the wings - some have been kicking around for a couple of years.

• Funny Girl has never been revived on Broadway (although it almost was in 2012 before the financing fell through). This year there have been two productions that seemed to have solved the problem of conquering the ghost of Barbra Streisand. North Shore Music Theatre in Boston did a revival in June with Shoshana Bean. There’s also the Michael Mayer production, starring Sheridan Smith, playing in London. Critics loved both productions and singled out the cast and the modifications to the script.
• My Fair Lady has been a focus for Bartlett Sher (Fiddler on the Roof, King and I, South Pacific). Sher hoped to get Anne Hathaway and Colin Firth on board to star as Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, respectively. (Personally, I think he should be looking at She Loves Me star Laura Benanti.) He brought in Fiddler the past year instead.
• Sunday in the Park with George is coming up for a limted engagement at New York City Center starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford in October. That could be incredible, although a transfer to Broadway would have to deal with Gyllenhaal's movie schedule.

A Star is Born (Again)

It's official: Bradley Cooper will direct and star in a new version of A Star is Born opposite Lady Gaga. The film is now in pre-production and filming is set to start in early 2017.

This could be very interesting. The music and film business has been revolutionized with the impact of social and streaming media, so the process of becoming a star is nothing like it was in the 1950's or 1970's when the previous versions were made.


For me, the 1954 Judy Garland version is untouchable. Take a look at the most well-known song, The Man that Got Away. George Cukor filmed the song three separate times. There were technical reasons why he had to redo the scene, but each time there were slight set and costume changes until you have the final version above. Note the simple costume Judy wears - nothing takes focus from her performance. Most remarkably he shoots the entire song in a single take. The camera moves and constantly creates new compositions framing Judy, the musicians and the background. Cinemascope was a brand new process, yet Harry Stradling's camerawork takes advantage of the way the wide anamorphic lens distorts the image and compresses the foreground against the background. All that is pretty incredible, but add to it Garland's stunning performance of the number, and it combines to create an incredible jolt of electricity that you rarely find in a ballad.

Maybe you prefer the Barbra Streisand rock & roll version from 1976? The 70's version did a great job of pulling back the curtain on the rock scene and showed how much the business had changed since Judy's Esther worked her way up through the studio system of the 50's.