Popular Broadway Songs [Youtbe Clips]

[topdog]

News

So Long Dearie

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It's winter closing time - the holidays are over and some shows aren't going to try and plow through another slow season. Here's who left us over the weekend.

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Charlie opened in the spring to so-so reviews but a huge advance sale that carried them through the summer and into the fall. They closed their doors on Sunday. Hopefully, it will give star Christian Borle a chance for a well-deserved vacation. (And a chance to grow some hair - he shaved his head to fit into the quick change wigs he wore in the show.) Borle went directly from the TV show Smash to playing William Shakespeare in Something Rotten! (and winning his second Tony Award for the part.) He then went straight in to rehearsals for the Falsettos revival, and then when that closed directly into Charlie.
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• Miss Saigon - Saigon was always scheduled to close Sunday, but I'm sure they hoped that they might be able to drum up the business to extend. Didn't happen. Still, they will start putting together a US tour this spring, and the video of the London production has been shown in theaters and some streaming sites, so keep an eye out for it.
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• Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly! - Sunday was also Bette's last day as Dolly - what an amazing run she has had! She broke box office records all over the place and won the Tony. In addtion to the Divine Miss M, co-stars David Hyde Pierce and Taylor Trensch also left. (Taylor will be heading over to the Music Box theater to be the new Dear Evan Hansen in February.)

Hello, Bernadette

Out with the old, in with the new! Bernadette Peters comes in this week to start her run as Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly!

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Actors arrived this week to start rehearsals on several new plays. Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield are rehearsing Angels in America.

Director John Tiffany has assembled his cast for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

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[topdog]

Anatomy - I Want Songs

Wouldn't it be Loverly from My Fair Lady


One of the things that makes musicals different from plays is that musicals need both conflict and passion to carry the audience along. Plays can use conflict alone as an engine to drive the evening forward.

Musicals need a central character that wants something desperately and must overcome obstacles to get it. Otherwise you don't have enough emotion to lift the characters up to the heights they need to express themselves in song.

This brings us to the "I Want" song - usually the second or third number in the show where a main character puts their dreams into music.

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In My Fair Lady, Eliza wants just a little bit of civilized peace - a warm bed and the occasional chocolate. Henry Higgins also wants some civilization, but he defines it much differently. He wants to know "Why Can't the English Teach Their Children How to Speak?". It's these two characters running headlong into their conflicting "I Wants" that gives us the drama.

But don't take my word for it. Tommy from the Musical Theater Mash web site is a high school theater teacher in Colorado, and he can take you on a quick tour of the "I Want" song.

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[topdog]

Anatomy - I Want Songs

As I mentioned last week, Howard Ashman brought the Broadway structure to Disney animation in the late 80s / Early 90s. You can really take any of those animated musicals and pull out the I Want song from the first 15 minutes or so. Here are two.

Proud Of Your Boy from Aladdin music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman

Alan and Howard wrote this for the animated Aladdin, but it was ultimately cut from the film in the editing process. However, when Alan did the Broadway musical in 2014, he put it back in the show - and boy does it raise the stakes. I have seen grown men weep hearing this song.

Performed by the original Broadway Aladdin, Adam Jacobs and composer Alan Menken at the piano.​

Out There from Hunchback of Notre Dame music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

After Howard passed away, Alan Menken went on to other Disney projects with other lyricists. For Hunchback of Notre Dame he worked with Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell, Pippin). Together, they gave Quasimodo a legendary I Want song - "Out There". Here Quasimodo who has been shut up all of his life in the cathedral yearns to be free and out among the people of the city that he can only study from afar.

This is the Disney animated film, but the audio has been changed to the theatrical recording from 2016 with Patrick Paige as Frollo and Michael Arden as Quasimodo. Intersting mash up between the two. Actor Tom Hulce did Quasi in the movie and his own singing. He is quite good, but he's no Michael Arden. (Who is?)​

You can see in both these songs the audience gets totally on board with these characters and is ready to go on the journey with them and root for them to reach their goals. Without them, we may like the characters, but we wouldn't be anywhere nearly as emotionally invested in the outcome.

 

[topdog]

News

Today is National Swing Day!

Tonight the curtain will go up on about 14 Broadway musicals just like it always does. One of the main reasons that can happen is because of the hardest working actors in the theater - the Broadway Swing. Let's take a couple of minutes to celebrate these talented people that are able to slip into any part at a moment's notice.

A swing (short for swing dancer) is an offstage member of the cast. That means, they don't have a regular part in the show but they are still backstage at the theater every night just like the onstage cast. Their job is to understudy people in the ensemble (those people we used to call the chorus) whenever an ensemble member is out.

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Fun facts:

• A swing will cover 4 to 8 different ensemble parts (called "tracks").
• That means that there are lots of chances for them to perform - your average swing will go on for someone at least a couple of times a week. During vacation times they could do every show for several weeks - alternating different parts.
• Once a show has been running for a few months, if it has a large cast odds are that most shows will have at least one swing performing.
• A Swing is different than a Stand By. A Stand By is also an offstage cast member, but they just cover one part - the star. Consequently Stand Bys might only work while the star is on vacation and the few times he or she is ill. Swings tend to get some stage time every week.

This gets complicated - so each ensemble member's on and offstage performance is doented as a "track". The stage manger will make sure that each moment is transcribed, and the swings will have Track Books or Show Bibles with all of the tracks that they cover. They are responsible for learning these and as well as noting any changes as the show develops.

Here is a short look backstage at the job of a swing - this is Brian Munn a veteran of Wicked.

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[topdog]

Anatomy - I Want Songs

Waving Through a Window from Dear Evan Hansen by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Not all I Want songs are wistful ballads ("Where is Love?" from Oliver!), or power ballads ( "The Wizard and I" from Wicked). The hero's hopes can be captured in a driving pop song as well, as Pasic & Paul do in Dear Evan Hansen.

In the second scene of the show, we see Evan interact with other students and see how awful life is from his perspective. A bully (Conner) shoves him down in the hall. He then gets up and sings "Waving Through a Window".

Ben Platt performs Waving Through a Window on the Late Night TV show.​

What Evan wants is complex. He is conflicted. In the first half of the song you feel the yearning - not so different than little Oliver Twist hoping for some kind of love. He feels like "tap, tap, taping on the glass" and letting people know he is there.

But in the second half after he blows his one and only interaction with the girl he has been dreaming of, reality sets in. Hoping for love makes you too vulnerable in a world with bullies and danger around the corner. Better to "step out of the sun to keep getting burned". He is torn between love and survival.

Our protagonist is the boy that desperately wants something. The rocket that that will propel everything is Evan trying to reach for love and survival and hold them together at the same time.

For more information

• For another take on the song, here is the current Evan Hansen, Noah Galvin singing at a BuzzFeed promo in late December. Noah's singing on this tremendously difficult song is spot on (the range is insane - from those low notes in "falling in a forest" to scraping the rafters in the "waving through a window" chorus). Even though Noah and Ben Platt are the same age, Noah looks more like a vulnerable high school kid. I hope he comes back to the role - maybe in one of the tours.
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• Seth Rudetsky deconstructs 'Waving Through a Window' - for those who want to know how the vocalists construct a performance, Seth spends 20 minutes going line by line analyzing how writers Pasic & Paul and performer Ben Platt create this show-stopping song. If you are not familiar, Seth Rudetsky is a musician, actor, writer, and radio host. He has written special material for The Rosie O'Donnell Show, the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, and too many Broadway/cabaret performers to name (Patti LaPone, Bernadette Peters, Sutton Foster, etc.). If you are a Broadway fan, browse some of his YouTube videos.

 

[topdog]

Anatomy - I Want Songs

Somewhere Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg

We'll finish with maybe the most famous I Want song ever written - long before anyone even thought of what an I Want song was.

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You may have heard the stories about how after initial previews studio head Louis B. Mayer and the film's executive producer Mervyn LeRoy decided to cut the song because it slowed down the story. This led to a showdown with associate producer Arthur Freed and music director Roger Edens who threatened to quit if the song went out. Their passion won the day, the song stayed in, and today it is the iconic moment of the picture.

According to Wikipedia:

The song is number one on the "Songs of the Century" list compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. The American Film Institute also ranked the song the greatest movie song of all time on the list of "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs".

But most importantly (for our purposes) the song lifts the story from being merely an adventure in a strange land, to a quest for a place of love and beauty. It's a longing that has touched many children and adults, both straight and gay over the past 80 years.

Maybe that is one of the most important jobs of an I Want song - to connect the audience to the character so we identify with them. They are carrying our own hopes, dreams, and desires forward in their stories.

For more information

Actually, all the protagonists in Oz have an I Want song. But like Terry from Musical Theater Mash says, the main character's I Want song comes first and is most prominent. But you will also recognize the others.

• If I Only Had a Brain
• If I Only Had a Heart
• If I Only Had the Nerve

 

[topdog]

Your Weekend Musical

Have you seen Wicked? If not, then this is your chance. Or if you have already seen it then you can relive the experience.

This is a not-at-all-bad bootleg of a 2013 performance of the Broadway cast. And we are in luck because it catches on of the best line-ups in recent years.

• Donna Vivino plays Elphaba - Donna has a diva voice and brings a very controlled and precise interpretation to the role. She goes way back - she was the original Young Cosette in Les Miserables on Broadway in 1987. Back in 2013 she was the Stand By for Elphaba when she did this performance. She later took on the role full time.
• Alli Mauzey is Glinda - Alli goes into history as the funniest Glinda ever (in my opinion, of course). She chews so much scenery in "Popular" that Vivino finally looses it. She is good throughout, but really nails the comedy. Fun fact: Under all that costuming and makeup Alli is a brunette and Donna is actually a blond. Casting against type, I guess.
• Kyle Dean Massey is Fiyero - (sigh) Kyle is one of those enormously talented and good looking men that you would hate if you could just stop staring. Yes, Kyle is one of "us". After doing Wicked he took over the title role in Pippin on Broadway and then in the tour.

As always, these videos may get taken down. I will try to stay on top of that, but if you want to watch do it sooner rather than later.

Without further ado, sit back and watch the Stephen Schwartz / Winnie Holzman musical Wicked! Act 1 is below.

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Here is Act 2.

For more information

• Alli Mauzey takes you backstage into her dressing room and preparation for doing Wicked.
• Seth Rudetsky uses Alli Mauzey to show you what not to do at an audition. It ends with Alli doing a pretty amazing rendition of "Defying Gravity" an octave higher in her soprano voice.
• Donna Vivino backstage getting "greenified" to go on as Elphaba.
• Kyle Dean Massey gives you a backstage tour at the Gershwin Theater - Kyle has become quite the YouTube broadcaster for Broadway.com. They gave him a video blog when he did Next To Normal, Wicked, and Pippin.

 

[topdog]

News

Milestones

Kinky Boots, the 2013 Tony winning musical, did their 2000th performance on Broadway yesterday and took a full audience photo to celebrate! Congrats, all. Besides Broadway, Kinky Boots has companies in London, Australia, Germany, Poland, and the US Tour. A new British tour will start later this year.

Based on a true story, the musical tells the story of Charlie Price. Having inherited a failing shoe factory from his father, Charlie forms an unlikely partnership with cabaret performer and drag queen Lola to produce a line of high-heeled boots and save the business. In the process, Charlie and Lola discover that they are not so different after all. The music is by Cyndi Lauper.

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Phantom of the Opera celebrates their 30th Anniversary on Broadway this week (January 26). They will have a red carpet and have some special things planned, so if I see videos I will post the here. Also they are coordinating with light artist Marc Brickman and the Empire State Building to do a special Phantom salute. (Here is what he did for Tony Bennett's 90th Birthday last year.)

 

[Stonecold]

topdog, so correct about I want songs. thanks for the posts about them.

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow”: The gay anthem of the century
What was thought to be a song of a young girl dreaming for a bigger life became an anthem for an entire community looking for someone to guide their way out of the shadows. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” became “an anthem of pain for homosexuals who perceived themselves as belonging to a despised minority.”
Gay men everywhere began identifying with not only the song, but Dorothy herself, calling themselves “Friends of Dorothy.” Dorothy accepted people for being different hence her friendships with the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man. And following her character from the film, Judy in real life accepted people who were different. Judy Garland, the woman who played Dorothy, became an idol for the gay community. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, Judy Garland became the ultimate gay icon. She was relatable, she was human, and most of all she was camp. Camp, as defined by Babuscio, are the “elements in a person, situation, or activity that express, or are created by, a gay sensibility.” Camp was in every essence Garland. She was larger than life, over the top, and extravagant. Towards the end of her career, Judy began to fall apart, the drugs and alcohol become too much. But after all of that, her fans still loved her. In some way, her falling apart and displaying her struggles to the entire showed how human she was and that she knew how it felt to be the victim. To this day, Judy Garland is not an example of camp, Judy Garland is camp
I know it's out of fashion now, but to this day I cannot listen to this song without getting tears in my eyes.

 

[topdog]

...Judy Garland, the woman who played Dorothy, became an idol for the gay community. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, Judy Garland became the ultimate gay icon...

Judy was truly a unique performer. I've got more information on Judy here in a previous post.

Just for a treat, here is the last number she filmed in her career at MGM. This was for Summer Stock.

After the disaster of being fired from Annie Get Your Gun, Garland spent several months in a Boston sanitarium getting off prescription meds and alcohol. When she reported back for work to begin Summer Stock she was healthy, but some pounds heavier. Although everything started well with the pressure of filming the pills slowly started again. Some weeks after the production wrapped, it was decided that there needed to be another final number for Judy. She came back to film almost unrecognizable - 20 pounds lighter. But the number is one of her best.

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[Stonecold]

Thanks topdog for linking to your other post on Judy.

 

[topdog]

Anatomy - Conditional Love Songs

People from Funny Girl by Jule Styne and Bob Merril

If there is a romance, you want to introduce your lovers early and get something going. And it would be great to have a love ballad in the first act. But they can't just fall in love at first sight like Cinderella and Prince Charming at the ball. That's no fun - and you have a two-act musical to sustain.

Also, have you ever noticed that in romantic musicals the two leads are never the type of people that would just meet at a party, find they have so much in common, and then hit it off? No, they are usually total opposites - two people who would never cross paths and fall in love in real life. There will be differences to overcome, maybe an initial hostility, misunderstood values and goals. Think of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, or Harold Hill and Marion the librarian.

The song for this spot is known as the Conditional Love Song. It's not "I love you", but more "Maybe I Love You" or "I Would Love to Fall in Love With Someone in the Theoretical Sense, but Probably Not You". This type of song was perfected by Oscar Hammerstein II with "If I Loved You" in Carousel. But we'll sidestep that particular one, since I have already posted about it here.

In Funny Girl we have one of these opposite couples - brassy Fanny and classy Nick. Something is developing, but Fanny can't tell Nick her feelings just yet. So she couches them in a song, not about her, but about other people. She's been avoiding love, so she talks about how lucky other people are to find it. She is trying to make this more of a sociology observation than a declaration of her feelings for the handsome man walking beside her in the alley. But, we know what's really going on, even if Nick and Fanny don't.

Lea Salonga really gives this song everything as an encore in her The Broadway Concert show recorded in her native Manila, Phillippines. Lea is back on Broadway now, appropriately featured as a goddess in Once on This Island.
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Once you know that this type of song exists, you will see it everywhere.

 

[topdog]

Anatomy - Conditional Love Songs

Another type of Conditional Love Song is the after-the-fact, what-am-I-feeling approach. Again, no singing to the lover is allowed here. But in a moment alone, the protagonist explores their feelings. Here are two examples.

Unexpected Song from Song and Dance by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Emma, recovering from a failed affair has met a new young man and finds her heart awakening once again.

Bernadette Peters recreates the number she sang on Broadway on the Tony Awards.​

This is very straightforward. Not yet willing to communicate her feelings to her lover, she is slowly able to admit them to herself. Another example of this is Nellie Forbush in South Pacific singing "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy".


On the Steps of the Palace from Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim

Sondheim takes a similar situation, then plays 3-D chess with it. Cinderella stops to take stock of what she is feeling about a certain Prince. It isn't simple.

Tony winner Laura Benanti in the 2002 Broadway revival.
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All right what do you want?
Have to make a decision.
Why not stay and be caught?
Well, you think "That's a thought" -
What would be his response?
But then what if he knew
Who I am when I know
That I'm not what he thinks
That he wants?

This is a girl who is clearly overthinking it.

Let me also point out the brilliant contribution to the story that writer/director James Lapine made here. After 400 years of Cinderella losing her shoe, Lapine changed it to she makes a choice to leave the shoe. She has now put the ball in the Prince's court, so to speak. What to do is no longer her problem, it's his .

 

[topdog]

Anatomy - Conditional Love Songs

What Is This Feeling? from Wicked by Stephen Schwartz

Shakespeare was on to something when he said that “the course of true love n'er did run smooth”. Lovers don't always start out that way. Often in true Pride and Prejudice fashion, it's dislike at first sight. This lets us watch the relationship evolve and shift throughout the play. We see that in The Music Man, Beauty and the Beast, and She Loves Me. In Guys and Dolls Sister Sarah and Sky Masterson don't exactly hit it off right away.

But Stephen Schwartz gave us a clever anti-love song in Wicked. The lyrics start out just like someone experiencing love for the first time.

What is this feeling so sudden and new?
I felt the moment I laid eyes on you.
My pulse is rushing; my head is reeling; my face is flushing.
What is this feeling - fervid as a flame?
Does it have a name?

Then he delivers the reversal. What is this feeling? Loathing!

Eden Espinosa played Elphaba and Megan Hilty played Glinda in this 2007 performance on The Tonight Show. Hey - here is a game I play whenever I see the chorus from this scene: can you find the Oz boy in the skirt? Apparently Oz is quite liberal when it comes to gender-specific clothing. Also, the choreography is by Wayne Cliento. You might know Wayne from when he was the original Mike in A Chorus Line where he sang "I Can Do That".
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Although not technically a romance, Wicked is a close relative - the buddy musical. Like Book of Mormon and The Producers it's the relationship of the friends that forms the plot. (The Producers reaches it's climax with something that sounds an awful lot like a love song.) These shows use the conventions of the romantic musical to tell their story. (Book of Mormon has a pretty devastating break-up scene near the end of the first act.)

 

[topdog]

Grammy Awards

Sunday night the Grammy Awards will be given out and for the first time in fifteen years the show is back in New York City. They are planning a salute to Broadway with Patti LaPone singing from Evita to honor Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Ben Platt singing West Side Story to honor the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein.

When this was announced over the holidays, I did a double take. Patti Lapone was going to honor Andrew Lloyd Webber???? You see, they have a history.

Back in 1993 Patti was the original Norma Desmond when Sunset Boulevard opened in London. She agreed to do a year in the West End if she could take the show to New York when it opened there.

In the meantime, ALW opened a second production in Los Angeles starring Glen Close. Glen got raves. And ALW decided to open on Broadway with Glen instead of Patti. And the war began. Lapone sued and won $1 million. She built a swimming pool at her farm in Lord Lloyd Webber's honor. And has run Andrew's name into the ground at every opportunity.

But this week Broadway reporter Michael Reidel reported that LaPone had decided to bury the hatchet (and not in ALW's back). At this week's rehearsal she commandeered the microphone and announced there had been a detente.

Patti LuPone runs through "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" at the Grammy rehearsal at Madison Square Garden.​

It's also an important night for Ben Platt - his Dear Evan Hansen cast album is nominated and if it wins he would get a Grammy for being the featured performer. (The other nominees are Come From Away and Hello, Dolly!)

The Grammys will be hosted by James Corden, so there should be plenty of song and dance numbers during the evening as well.

 

[haiducii]

The Grammys will be hosted by James Corden, so there should be plenty of song and dance numbers during the evening as well.

...AND plenty of pretty good jokes about...Can't wait! :nail biting:

 

[topdog]

...AND plenty of pretty good jokes about...

Lady Gaga? Bono? Stormy Daniels?

Gotta hand it to Corden - committing to landing jokes in the 20,000 seat Madison Square Garden takes balls.

 

[topdog]

Phantom of the Opera

This past week The Phantom of the Opera celebrated 30 years on Broadway. Back then, in a rather blatant display of power on the part of producer Cameron MackIntosh, he opened the show in New York with the three leads from London: Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman and Steve Barton. Actor's Equity caved to his request because they figured that the show would in the long term be a great employer of American talent - and they were more right than they could have possibly imagined.

Lots of Phantom alumni were on hand for the celebration, including director Hal Prince, Sarah Brightman, and other people from the original company.

The Phantom family comes together to celebrate the 30th Anniversary​

After the show there was a private party at the top of Rockefeller Center, where they had a great view of the Empire State Building for a special Phantom-themed light show.

The Empire State Building Light-to-Music 30th Anniversary Show - in honor of The Phantom of the Opera.
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For more information

• Alumni of the original cast share memories and thoughts on Phantom's success.
• A teenager, Joshua Ehlebracht, did this transcription of several Phantom tunes and played it on his church organ. Pretty amazing - there is nothing like the sound of an actual full pipe organ when you want drama.

 

[topdog]

Anatomy - The Noise

Consider Yourself from Oliver! by Lionel Bart

Let's review. We set our tone, time and place with the Opening Number. Our main character sang an I Want Song about the impossible dream they must achieve. The romantic partners met and sang a ballad about love - but not to each other. That will come later. They sang a Conditional Love Song.

What next? Time to relax a bit. We've got the story and characters chugging along. Let's have some real entertainment! Call the choreographer to pull out the stops; get the chorus in there; let's wow them with a big production number! We've done our dramaturgy homework - time for recess.

Or, as tap dancer/choreographer Savion Glover said: Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk. But we'll just shorten that down to The Noise.

The Noise is when we Put on our Sunday Clothes and we sing about a Little Bit of Luck or how There Is Nothin' Like a Dame. The Noise doesn't really have to move the plot forward or reveal character. It can even be a downright stinker of a song as long as you have Bob Fosse or Michael Bennett to stage it.

But this example is anything but a klunker. Here we have Oliver! and the incredible talent of the late Lionel Bart, who wrote the music, lyrics, and the book. (And the man didn't read music and couldn't play the piano! He wrote in his head and had someone transcribe the music for him.)

This is his rousing first act production number, here in the movie directed by Sir Carol Reed and choreographed by Onna White. And this is a masterwork - Oliver (Mark Lester) has escaped his workhouse life and landed in London not knowing a soul. But the Artful Dodger (Jack Wild) takes him under his wing and introduces him to life in the city.

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Notice how Reed and White start with just dialog, then move seamlessly to singing. They start with walking, then slowly introduce dance. But, not just one dance - there are about 8 different numbers here, each one introduced, played out, and then leading you to the next. It builds, and relaxes, then builds again until you want to leap to your feet at the end. This is the thrill of The Noise.

 

[atlpimpc]

And I am telling you