Popular Broadway Songs [Youtbe Clips]

Favorite Dances

The Pirate Ballet from the MGM musical The Pirate (1948)


Gene Kelly in those black short shorts!

Ok, his dancing is pretty spectacular as well. Gene loved to take chances and that wire slide from the crows nest down to the camera is amazing.

She Loves Me


This coming Friday the Public Broadcasting Service in the USA will televise the recording of the recent Broadway revival of She Loves Me. The show stars soprano Laura Benanti, former TV star Zachary Levi, Jane Krakowski (30 Rock), and Gavin Creel (current Tony winner for Hello, Dolly!). Check local TV listings for broadcast times.

Update Oct 21 2017: PBS has put the full show on its web site until November 3. However, I don't know if they are blocking IP addresses from outside the US (for copyright reasons).

This is the third distribution of this recorded performance. I saw the original live broadcast that was streamed live from the Studio 54 theater two years ago. Then last year it was shown in movie theaters around the world presented by Fathom Events. Now that they have fulfilled their obligation to PBS it will hopefully be released on DVD and other streaming services so everyone can see it.


She Loves Me is considered a perfectly constructed book musical with a score Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (who two years later would write Fiddler on the Roof). It originally starred the late Barbara Cook, and was her last Broadway show for many decades. It opened in April 1963 - just after the end of that Tony season, which meant it had to wait a year for awards. Unfortunately in early 1964 both Hello, Dolly! and Funny Girl opened which grabbed all the attention of both the public and the Tony voters, leaving the Bock/Harnick musical as a Broadway footnote.

But this production shows off the story and score as the gem it it. This is the third retelling of the play Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklós László, following the 1940 James Stewart / Margaret Sullavan film The Shop Around the Corner and the 1949 Judy Garland / Van Johnson musical version In the Good Old Summertime. (It was also updated as the Tom Hanks / Meg Ryan film You've Got Mail.)

Movies

It used to be that movie musicals were considered out of fashion. But recent hits with La La Land, Into the Woods, and Mama Mia have put them back on the map.

Here is a quick update on movie and TV musicals that are in the Hollywood pipeline.


In Production
These films have stars and are filming or have completed shooting.

The Greatest Showman with Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron is opening Christmas Day 2017 in the US. This is a P.T. Barnum (of circus fame) bio-musical.

A Christmas Story will be a live TV production of the Broadway musical from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (writers of Dear Evan Hansen and La La Land). It airs on December 17 and stars Matthew Brodrick, Jane Krakowski, Chris Diamantopoulos, and Maya Rudolph.

A Star is Born is in post-production and the opening date has been moved up. Warner Brothers is counter-programming against Marvel and a new Star Wars by opening May 18 2018. In this version Bradley Cooper plays Jackson Maine, a country music star who discovers a talented unknown named Ally (Gaga)). As Ally’s career quickly eclipses his own, Jack struggles to accept that his best days may be behind him, putting a strain on their budding romance.

Disney is putting a new Freaky Friday musical into production as an exclusive for the Disney Channel. It goes in to production in November, so I would expect to see it around Christmas 2018. Last year Disney tried out a musical stage version in Washington DC to good reviews. I was pretty sure this was coming to Broadway, but they have gone a different direction and book writer Bridget Carpenter has given them a screen version instead. The music and lyrics are by Next to Normal writers Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey.

Valley Girl is a musical remake of Martha Coolidge's 1983 film. Like the original it's Romeo and Juliet in a high school, but this time stuffed with 80's pop hits. With Chloe Bennet, Ashleigh Murray, Jessie Ennis, and Logan Paul.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is the Mamma Mia! sequel which reunites Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Meryl Streep, Lily James, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan. Lily James, Jeremy Irvine, Alexa Davies, and Jessica Keenan Wynn will play younger flashback versions of the original characters. It's set to open in July 2018. It was recently announced that Cher has a part in the new film.

Bohemian Rhapsody is the Freddie Mercury biopic with Rami Malek, Aidan Gillen, and Mike Myers. It's directed by Bryan Singer for release around Christmas 2018.

Mary Poppins Returns with Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda also opens next Christmas 2018.


In Development
Scripts are being written, stars are being courted. To the best of my knowledge people are actually working to bring these to the point where contracts are signed and money can be spent. However, it's very easy for things to stall or even go into a coma and just be an idea owned by a producer. But I hear about progress on these projects. They are listed in descending order of ... reality.


Rent Live is scheduled for January 27 2019 and will be a live television production of the Jonathon Larson musical. No cast has been announced.

Wicked - Winnie Holzman who wrote the book for the Broadway show has competed the screenplay and composer Stephen Schwartz has four new songs for the movie. A tentative release date has been set for Christmas 2019. But everyone is waiting to hear who will star. (I'm pulling for Lea Michele and Anna Kendrick.) Stephen Daldry is set to direct.

Oliver Twist - This is a set in contemporary times with Ice Cube as Fagin and a new score. It will be directed by Thomas Kail (Hamilton, Grease Live). Also, Cameron Mackintosh wants to do a new movie version of Lionel Bart's Oliver!. We'll see which one gets made.

In the Heights - Lin-Manuel Miranda’s debut Broadway musical has a director – Jon Chu – and a production company behind it. Unfortunately that corporation is The Weinstein Company. Lin is begging TWC to put the film in turnaround so he can take it to another studio. Otherwise, this project may founder with the SS Harvey Weinstein.

There is also a long list of remakes that are pet projects for some prominent directors:

• Little Shop of Horrors - a remake of the musical by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Greg Berlanti directs and Matthew Robinson is writing the screenplay.
• West Side Story has a new screenplay being written by Angels in America writer Tony Kushner for Stephen Spielberg to direct.
• Cats - making a movie from Andrew Lloyd Webber's spectacle was a running joke in the play/movie Six Degrees of Separation. But Les Miserables director Tom Hooper is trying to make it happen.
• Guys & Dolls - Danny Strong (Hunger Games, The Butler) has written a new screenplay and London director Michael Grandage (currently directing Disney's Frozen for Broadway) is atached.

Favorite Dances

Hernando's Hideaway from The Pajama Game


You might not be familiar with the 1955 Jerry Adler / Richard Adler musical The Pajama Game, but you still probably recognize it's famous tango "Hernando's Hideaway".

Kathleen Marshall had the tough challenge in 2005 of competing with the work Bob Fosse did choreographing his first Broadway show in 1955. She also had a leading man (Harry Connick Jr.) who was a great singer but not much of a dancer. But rather than push Connick to the sidelines, she put him front and center and had him not only sing and dance, but made him her musical collaborator and had him re-arrange the dance music and play a large section of it himself every night on stage.

The result is a thrilling fusion of dance and music that works for contemporary audiences.

At the same time, let's not forget the brilliance of Bob Fosse's original - which we have handy because Warner Brothers brought Fosse, director George Abbott, and almost the whole cast to Hollywood to make the film in 1956.

Fosse's idea was to do the whole middle section of the number in the dark, to mimic a mysterious, dark dive nightclub. The only lighting was provided by the actors striking matches when they sang their lines.

Watch John Raitt, Carol Haney and the cast do the number.

Falsettos


On Friday October 27 in the United States PBS will broadcast a taped recording of last season's Broadway revival of the William Finn musical Falsettos. The revival stars Christian Borle, Stephanie J. Block, Andrew Rannells, and Brandon Uranowitz (all were Tony nominated).


The musical is a landmark of both musical theater and gay culture. The characters are selfishly flawed and neurotic and human and loving. It is required viewing - that's all I'm going to say about that.

The story is unique in that the first half is before AIDS, but while AIDS is a factor in the second act, the show concludes before the words AIDS and HIV have even been invented. The plague is a mystery, but no less real just because it can't be named.

Falsettos began as two one act musicals written eight years apart that tell the story of Marvin (Christian Borle) and his family. The first act is set in 1979 and traces the repercussions of Marvin leaving his wife (Stephanie Block) and his son (Anthony Rosenthal) for his lover (Andrew Rannells). Yet Marvin still insists on maintaining his "tight knit family" even as the strain wounds his wife, lover and son. His psychiatrist (Brandon Uranowitz) begins as a peripheral character - until he falls in love with Trina and they marry, which brings Marvin to a breaking point.

The second act picks up two years later. Marvin has learned not to be quite so selfish and manages to actually carve out some love in his life. But one of his neighbors ("the lesbians from next door") is a doctor struggling to come to grips with this new disease that is killing young single men. The epidemic affects Marvin and everyone he loves.

It is funny, very musical (there is no dialog) and the second act especially is extraordinarily moving.

Hopefully, just like with She Loves Me, this PBS showing will tick off a distribution box that will allow the recording to be released in other markets and media.

For more information

• Reviews of the revival from last year
• Video and memories of the original cast and production in 1992

Favorite Songs

If I Were A Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock


It is a paradox of storytelling that the more specific and detailed you make a story, the more universal it becomes because people recognize themselves in the details, if not the overall plot. Fiddler on the Roof illustrates this perfectly. There have probably been very few Eastern European Jewish peasant dairy farmers in its many audiences, but people identify with this good man trying to do the right thing by his wife, children, and his God. And who hasn't pondered why luck or God or whatever couldn't have smiled on them and granted them a small fortune?

Present Laughter

PBS on US television continues it's weekly salute to Broadway tonight with a recording of last season's revival of Noel Coward's Present Laughter starring Kevin Kline.


The show hands Kline the delicious role of a hammy actor in mid-life crises dealing with the women in his life as well as demanding directors, writers, and various hangers-on. Mr. Kline won a Tony last June for the part.

For those without access to PBS, you can still enjoy Coward's very funny play in this 1981 BBC version.

Netflix released a trailer for their Barbra Streisand concert / doentary film Barbra: The Music ... The Mem'ries ... The Magic! which will premiere on November 22.

The Band's Visit


In the past couple of years we have had some daring musicals that opened Off Broadway and then just cleaned up every award possible before transferring to a Broadway theater. I'm thinking particularly of of Fun Home, Hamilton, and Dear Evan Hansen - all made quick transfers to bigger theaters and went on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical in the past three years.

This year it's The Band's Visit that's travelling in that express lane and it opened last Thursday night, after taking all the awards it was eligible for last spring when it premiered off-Broadway.

Breaking news for Broadway theatergoers, even - or perhaps especially - those who thought they were past the age of infatuation: It is time to fall in love again. One of the most ravishing musicals you will ever be seduced by opened on Thursday night at the Barrymore Theater. It is called The Band's Visit, and its undeniable allure is not of the hard-charging, brightly blaring sort common to box-office extravaganzas. - Ben Brantley, The New York Times

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The Band's Visit is based on the 2007 Israeli film about an Egyptian Police Band that arrives in Israel to play a concert at the Arab Culture Center - but at the wrong city. Stranded and conspicuous in their powder blue uniforms, they find shelter among locals for the night until they can find their way out.


Tony Shalhoub (TV's Monk) heads the cast as the band director, and the music and lyrics are by David Yazbek with book by Itamar Moses.

Performances and staging are finely crafted throughout, but the brilliance of this piece is truly in the music and lyrics of David Yazbek. In a departure from his work on shows such as "The Full Monty" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," he perfectly brings all these stories to life with rich ballads, smooth jazz, a touching lullaby, even some klezmer. - Barbara Schuler, Newsday

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The reviews have been raves to postive with a couple of dissenters thinking that the show is lovely, but slight. But most critics have echoed the New York Times that something very special has been put on stage here. Still the question is always - will audiences want to see it? I think the chances for success here are good, because Broadway crowds have certainly embraced off-beat fare like Fun Home and Come From Away, not to mention big hits like Hamilton and DEH.


For more information

• "Welcome to Nowhere" | The Band's Visit - David Yazbeck comments on his opening song with clips of the actors at the cast recording session.
• The Bands Visit Sessions - Yes, like in last season's Bandstand and The Great Comet, the actors also play their own instruments. Here some of them took their instruments outside the theater in to Schubert Alley to play for passers by. I hear that after the curtain call the band keeps playing and really brings down the house.
• Stars Ask the Stars at the Broadway Opening of The Band's Visit - It's opening night and stars on the red carpet posed questions that Broadway.com put to the cast when they arrived for the party. Cute.

Broadway Boys

Jonathan Groff​

​

Jonathan Groff made lots of folks on Broadway uncomfortable (in a good way) in Spring Awakening when he played a rebellious, sexually charged teenager back in 2006. In the last 12 years he has built a career with equal success in films, TV, stage and cabaret.

After a year and a half he and BFF Lea Michele left the show to each start their own careers. He did a couple of films, and then he and Lea ended up back together on Glee - which is where most people probably first saw him. He swooped in at the end of the first season to take Rachel away from Finn with his combination of looks, charm, and talent. Although it was supposed to be a quick guest star spot - the producers brought his character Jesse St. James and several points in the series, including the series finale.


Although Jonathan is now one of the most prominent gay actors in show business, he was closeted when he did Spring Awakening. It wasn't until he left the show and started work on the revival of Hair (he played Claude when the show originated at Shakespeare in the Park) and started dating Gavin Creel (who replaced him when Hair moved to Broadway) that Groff decided to come out publicly - which he did at the March on Washington in 2009.


In the past few years Jonathan has been seen in gay roles in Looking and The Normal Heart - both on HBO. He also got a Tony nomination for playing King George in Hamilton and now had a new Netflix series Mindhunter where he portrays FBI agent Holden Ford, a serial killer investigator.

Several years ago Jonathan was asked to participate in the annual Miscast fundraising show and he picked a number from one of his idols - Sutton Foster: Cole' Porter's "Anything Goes". Of course, Jonathan doesn't just sing the song - he restages the entire Broadway number exactly as Sutton did it in the revival.

Favorite Songs

This Nearly Was Mine by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein from South Pacific

There are a million "we broke up and I'm so sad" songs. But when you give Oscar Hammerstein II a specific man and a specific situation to write for, he will give you a lyric that elevates a lost love to the level of tragedy. And a gorgeous melody by Richard Rodgers helps. As does a baritone as skillful and gifted as Brian Stokes-Mitchell.

This simple ballad literally stopped the show when South Pacific was presented in concert at Carnegie Hall about ten years ago.

George Kaufman’s bio included his remark on this select group of talented sons of Jewish immigrants (of which Oscar Hammerstein II, etc. were typically prominent) that they announce their arrival by moving into homes in the country surrounded by ample land which they plant with thirty year old trees because “that’s how God would have done it if he had the money.”

History

trencherman said:

George Kaufman’s bio included his remark on this select group of talented sons of Jewish immigrants (of which Oscar Hammerstein II, etc. were typically prominent) that they announce their arrival by moving into homes in the country surrounded by ample land which they plant with thirty year old trees because “that’s how God would have done it if he had the money.”

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The influence of Jews on the American musical theater cannot be overstated. I mean not only was (is) nearly every composer and writer Jewish, the Broadway sound itself from the 1920s to the 1960s is based on the structure of Jewish sacred and folk melodies. It wasn't until the late 1960s and in to the 70s that black rhythm and blues (and it's derivative - rock) got mixed in as well.

Sophie Cooper's video below - The Influence of the Jewish Culture on Broadway Musicals - gives you some of this history. There is also a 90 minute PBS doentary that goes in to more detail.


Of course the other big influence on musical theater is us - the gays. That sounds like a good topic for a later post.

Indecent

Public Television in the US continues its fall Broadway series Friday night (Nov 17) with last year's Tony award winning play - Indecent by Paula Vogel. Indecent is the story of the early 20th century Yiddish play God of Vengence which was a hit all over the world, until it came to Broadway and was shut down because it has a lesbian story line.


The play features Katrina Lenk who just opened in as the lead in The Band’s Visit.

Indecent opened last April and though it won two Tony awards business was slow, so they announced their closing date in June. Suddenly, with only two weeks left, people flocked to see the show. Ticket sales went through the roof. So producer Joe Roth pulled the gutsy move of extending the show another four weeks. Just goes to prove that show business operates by its own logic of supply and demand.

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Falsettos

topdog said:

On Friday October 27 in the United States PBS will broadcast a taped recording of last season's Broadway revival of the William Finn musical Falsettos. The revival stars Christian Borle, Stephanie J. Block, Andrew Rannells, and Brandon Uranowitz (all were Tony nominated).

​

The musical is a landmark of both musical theater and gay culture. The characters are selfishly flawed and neurotic and human and loving. It is required viewing - that's all I'm going to say about that.

The story is unique in that the first half is before AIDS, but while AIDS is a factor in the second act, the show concludes before the words AIDS and HIV have even been invented. The plague is a mystery, but no less real just because it can't be named.

Falsettos began as two one act musicals written eight years apart that tell the story of Marvin (Christian Borle) and his family. The first act is set in 1979 and traces the repercussions of Marvin leaving his wife (Stephanie Block) and his son (Anthony Rosenthal) for his lover (Andrew Rannells). Yet Marvin still insists on maintaining his "tight knit family" even as the strain wounds his wife, lover and son. His psychiatrist (Brandon Uranowitz) begins as a peripheral character - until he falls in love with Trina and they marry, which brings Marvin to a breaking point.

The second act picks up two years later. Marvin has learned not to be quite so selfish and manages to actually carve out some love in his life. But one of his neighbors ("the lesbians from next door") is a doctor struggling to come to grips with this new disease that is killing young single men. The epidemic affects Marvin and everyone he loves.

It is funny, very musical (there is no dialog) and the second act especially is extraordinarily moving.

Hopefully, just like with She Loves Me, this PBS showing will tick off a distribution box that will allow the recording to be released in other markets and media.

For more information

• Reviews of the revival from last year
• Video and memories of the original cast and production in 1992

Click to expand...

Thanks for this. Looking forward to seeing the broadcast sometime in Australia in the not too distant future!

Blood Brothers


David Cassidy and his half brother Shaun Cassidy joined Petula Clark as the replacement cast for Blood Brothers on Broadway in 1994. They generated a lot of interest and kept the show running, and then Pet and the boys took the show on the US tour. They also recorded a cast album (the "international cast" album).

Blood Brothers is a musical by Willy Russell about two twins separated at birth and brought up in different homes, one lower class and one upper middle class. They find each other, then get into a romantic triangle with a girl which leads to tragic consequences.

Brigadoon


The hottest ticket last week was the four performances of the New York City Center Gala that celebrated the 70th anniversary of Lerner & Lowe's Brigadoon with a "concert" production. Only this was way more of a production than most concerts. With a dream cast of Kelli O'Hara (King & I, Bridges of Madison County), Patrick Wilson (Oklahoma!, Angels in America), and Stephanie J. Block (Wicked, Falsettos). Add in a bit of a surprise with Aasif Mandvi (The Daily Show), and City Center really went all out with this show directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon (An American in Paris).



Last year they pulled out all the stops for their four performances of Sunday in the Park with George with Jake Gyllenhaal which ended up transferring to Broadway the following spring. Could Brigadoon be heading in a similar direction? It's complicated by the fact that Kelli O'Hara is scheduled to open in The King and I in London after Christmas, and then set for a Lincoln Center revival of Kiss Me Kate in February 2019. If the show is going to transfer it will probably have to be with another star.


For more information

• Brigadoon Rehearsals with Christopher Wheeldon - Go inside the rehearsal studio with Brigadoon’s director and choreographer.
• Brigadoon: The Choreography - Brigadoon Director/Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and cast members Stephanie J. Block and Robert Fairchild explain how dance plays an important role in the storytelling of this production.
• Brigadoon Sitzprobe at New York City Center - Word for the day:Sitzprobe. When you are putting up a musical this is the rehearsal where the cast and the orchestra come together for the first time. After weeks of drilling to an out-of-tune rehearsal piano, suddenly you are singing with a full orchestration and it is magical.
• Stephanie J. Block works on the Scottish accent - Auch aye! I'm half Scot and have spent several years living in Scotland and every time I go back it takes a half a day to tune the ear to decipher the local dialect.
• Stephanie J. Block Sings "My Mother's Wedding Day" - Judge for yourself if she has mastered her Scot brogue.
• Robert Fairchild takes on the sword dance - Robert Fairchild (Tony Award nominee for An American in Paris) plays the rebellious Harry Beaton who is in love with Fiona's younger sister, Jean. However, Jean is getting married to Charlie Dalrymple, which sends Harry into a rage-causing him to jeopardize the very existence of the mystical village of Brigadoon.
• Brigadoon Official Trailer - MGM filmed the show in 1954 with Gene Kelly, Van Johnson and Cyd Charisse.

Holiday Inn

Last season's nostalgia show - Irving Berlin's Hoiliday Inn - the Broadway show based on the Fred Astaire / Bing Crosby movie, will be shown tonight on the US Public Broadcasting TV networks. It will also be available on the PBS website in the US for several weeks if you miss the broadcast.


The show was taped last year with the original cast including Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder) as Jim, Megan Lawrence (The Pajama Game) as Louise, Corbin Bleu (High School Musical, An American in Paris) as Ted.

Hopefully we will see it released on DVD and international streaming sites next year.

For more information

• Summary of reviews from last year.
• Behind the Curtain: Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn - Interviews with the cast and creative team with some clips from the show.

Favorite Songs

No One Is Alone by Stephen Sondheim from Into the Woods


We are into the holiday season - for many a time looking forward to family, parties, and gifts. But for others who have suffered a great loss, this time of year can be challenging. Happy memories of the past haunt a present tense that seems to have lost it's meaning.

You are not alone, my friend. "People make mistakes - fathers, mothers..." and yes, sometimes people leave you half way through the woods. But sadness, like happiness, was meant to be shared. We decide what's right and we decide what's good. But, as Stephen Sondheim says, someone is on your side - no one is alone.

On the other hand, the same Stephen Sondheim has this to say to the more resilient among us: