Popular Broadway Songs [Youtbe Clips]

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Barbra Streisand

Happy 80th Birthday Barbra Streisand


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Camelot

It's May!

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This is a recording of a performance of the original cast of Broadway's Camelot. It was Richard Burton and Roddy McDowall's final performance on September 16th 1961. You can hear how much longer the show arrangement of this song is than what appeared on the album.

 

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Bob Fosse's Dancin'

Last night the Broadway bound revival of Bob Fosse's 1978 revue Dancin' opened in San Diego. It should open in New York next season.

The original show came out of an offer Fosse had from New York City Ballet to choreograph an entire ballet for them. But he discovered he just didn't have a single idea that could stretch out over a whole evening - he worked best with individual pieces. So instead he created an evening of individual numbers that build choreographically, but didn't tell a story.

Here is the first act finale of Dancin' - this version recreated for the musical revue Fosse back in 2000. "Dancin' Man" is his tip of the hat to Fred Astaire. It is also a tribute to Bob Fosse's economy of movement and precision.

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Into The Woods

New York City Center's Encores! program is doing a concert version of Into the Woods. It began last week and ends this week. Neil Patrick Harris and Sara Bareilles are the Baker and his wife. Heather Headley is the Witch. Denée Benton as Cinderella, Ann Harada as Jack's Mother, Gavin Creel as Cinderella's Prince/Wolf, Jordan Donica as Rapunzel's Prince, and Annie Golden as Grandmother/Cinderella's Mother/Giant's Wife.

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Last night on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert here in the US, Patti LuPone sang "The Ladies Who Lunch". Patti is currently doing this role on Broadway in the revival of Company. (Note - she did a concert version of the show in 2010 with Stephen Colbert in the cast.)

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To quote Hamilton: "How lucky we are to be alive right now!"

 

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It's Tony week! The Tony awards air this Sunday. Matt Doyle is nominated for his role as Jamie who is "Not Getting Married" to Paul in the gender-switched revival of Company. Below Matt talks to PBS about putting a gay marriage into the 1970 show.

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Last week at the Broadway Backwards benefit performance, Matt stole a role from another woman - Julie Andrews - when he did "Le Jazz Hot" from Victor / Victoria.

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The new musical with the most Tony nominations for Sunday's awards is A Strange Loop by (and starring) Michael R. Jackson. It has already won the Pulitizer Prize. Michael plays Usher: a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer. Jackson calls it "emotionally autobiographical".

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You can hear more of the music the cast performed on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert last month.

 

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Probably the biggest crowd pleaser of the season is MJ the Musical - the Michael Jackson jukebox musical.

"The show takes audiences behind the scenes as Michael prepares for the 1992 Dangerous World Tour, providing an in-depth look at his process. As Michael and his collaborators rehearse their epic setlist, we are transported to pivotal creative moments from his career."

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Ballet choreographer Christopher Wheeldon (An American in Paris) directed and choreographed (with many nods to original moves by Michael Jackson, Michael Peters, and Vincent Paterson.) The more controversial aspects of Michael's life get a nod, but are not addressed - probably the reason the show is set in 1992. The reviews were mixed, but audiences have been filling up the theater since it opened.

 

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Happy 100th Birthday Judy Garland!​

One of the great American musical performers who was gone much too soon. Also, a friend of the gay community. A couple of days ago her daughter Lorna Luft and singer Rufus Wainwright unveiled a portrait of Judy to be placed in the Stonewall Inn in New York - where the gay rights movement began.

This morning The Today Show ran a segment remembering Garland and also her link to the LGBT community.

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For anyone who is asking "Who is Judy Garland?" or would like to revisit her talent, here is a medley of songs from her 1962 television special. The broadcast was taped not long after her famous Grammy award winning Carnegie Hall concert and shows Judy in peak form.

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75th Tony Awards


Darren Criss and Juliane Hough (both currently appearing on Broadway) open the pre-CBS broadcast of the Tony Awards on Paramount+ - so, most people didn't see this. They saw Ariana DeBose open the network telecast an hour later. ​

The Tony Awards were given out Sunday night, and voters were in the mood to spread the wealth. Although the musicals A Strange Loop the revival of Company, and the plays Lehman Trilogy and Take Me Out won the top prizes, many others were recognized for their work as well.

The Gay Men's Chorus of New York sang "Mame" to honor lifetime achievement winner Angela Lansbury. Unfortunately, it was shown only in the streaming pre-broadcast and never mentioned during the actual show.​

While A Strange Loop took the Best Musical and Best Book Tony, Six won for its score. Myles Frost won for playing Michael Jackson in MJ - The Musical. Patty LuPone and Matt Doyle won the Featured Actor Tonys for Company. Best Actress in a Musical went to Joaquina Kalukango of Paradise Square, who brought down the house singing "Let It Burn".

Ariana DeBose was a sassy and capable host - giving a decidedly younger, non-white and queer perspective as the evening progressed. In a thoughtful ad lib after the performance from Six, she brought forward the understudy who was required to step into the number only that morning after one of the Queens tested positive for COVID.

In non-competitive performances Billy Porter sang a simple and lovely "On the Street Where You Lived" (note the change in verb tense) during the In Memorium segment. Lin Manuel Miranda and Bernadette Peters honored Stephen Sondheim. There was also a reunion performance of Spring Awakening by the original cast (including Jonathon Groff, Lea Michele and Skylar Astin). You can find many of these performances on YouTube.

 

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Has there ever been a score so packed with classic songs as South Pacific? I just watched the movie this week for the first time in decades. I got the Blu-ray from my local library, but it is also available (in the US at least) on Amazon to rent. In HD on a big screen it looks pretty spectacular - filmed in 70mm on location in Hawaii.

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Broadway Bares XXX - 30th Anniversary​

Ah, it's that time of year. Dancing boys and girls stripping down to nothing for a good cause (Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS). This was the 30th Broadway Bares, appropriately titled "XXX". The theme was 30 years of Community, Unity and Nudity. Here is the opening number.

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I love this moment - its the end of Act 1 in Falsettos. Marvin - trying to have it all and create a "tight-knit family" with his lover, ex-wife and child, has instead seemingly lost them all. Jason, his son, has been stressed that he could turn out like his father. At last, Marvin talks to his son without pretending, aware of all of his faults, trying to give him a gift he never had.

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This is from the 2016 Broadway revival with Christian Borle as Marvin and Anthony Rosenthal as Jason.

Trivia: Anthony starts college next year! How time flies. Why does it feel like everyone gets older but me?

Here are my thoughts on the original 1992 production (with clips), and here is what I said about the 2016 revival.

 

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One of the most beautiful ballads is tucked away in the rock score of Chess - "Someone Else's Story". Cynthia Erivo sang this in a tribute evening to lyricist Tim Rice in 2014. I'm looking forward to Cynthia playing Elphaba in the Wicked movies.

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Hot off the presses - here is the opening number from the Netflix adaption of 13: The Musical which will go up next week.

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The direction here by Tamra Davis looks pretty great. For those that may not be familiar - the music is by Jason Robert Brown (The Bridges of Madison County and The Last Five Years).

The original production in 2008 was the professional debut of Ariana Grande. Ariana, of course, is not involved in the Netflix movie, having grown up and into the role of Glinda in the movie version of Wicked, currently in rehearsal in London.

 

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RIP Olivia Newton-John

The wonderful Olivia Newton-John passed today. Musical film fans have treasured her in Grease, and maybe even Xanadu as a guilty pleasure. We will always be Hopelessly Devoted.

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Still running and still pulling in over $1 million / week at the New Amsterdam theater in New York - Disney's Aladdin.

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Josh Groban and Kelly Clarkson sing "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera.

 

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The cast album for the new revival of Into the Woods will be released Sept 30. Here is a sample: Gavin Creel and Joshua Henry sing "Agony".

 

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RIP Angela Lansbury​

The New York Times has released this retrospective on Lansbury's career cut with an interview she did in 2010 that has never before been seen.

Here us a link to a previous post on Lansbury on her 95th birthday.

Finally, the clip below is, to my knowlege, the last time Lansbury performed in public. Four years ago the New York Pops did a tribute to the music of Alan Menkin. To the shock of the audience, for the encore Angela Lansbury was helped on to the stage to sing "Beauty and the Beast" (in the original key!). The video is amateur and shakey, but the love that was exchanged between performer and audience is palpable.