"Great Classical music you're playing"

The "hold" music on the Spokane Public Radio telephone system is the KPBX signal. Today during the Matinee show, someone called for me -- it was during the segment of Florence Henderson and Robert Weede singing in an operatic style. The gentleman coming off hold commented, "That's great classical music on right now."
Classical music. Jazz. Soundtracks. Musical theatre cast albums are constantly pushed into categories they don't belong in. If you ask a classical music aficionado where to find theater music on a shelf, they'd suggest jazz or soundtracks. As a jazz lover, and they'll most likely say classical or soundtracks. I've never met a real film soundtrack fanatic, but I'd guess one would know the difference between a cast album and a soundtrack and want cast albums to go into classical or jazz.
Where does this confusion come from? Is it lack of interest? Lack of education? Or is it confusion from the cross-over appeal of certain songs? Tin Pan Alley cranked out the songs aimed at both the professional stage and sheet music for pianos in living rooms. For decades, a show couldn't be considered a hit unless it had at least one song that made it into the American consciousness. Add in Ella Fitzgerald's Song Books, and all the other jazz interpretations of musicals over the years, and there is reason for confusion.
On the classical side, the main difference between a symphonic orchestra and a pit orchestra is size, not instrumentation. Opera predates symphonies. The general thought is that opera begat operetta begat musical theatre (John Kenrick's excellent history of musicals is at musicals101.com). The Boston Pops and countless other orchestras interpret musical theatre overtures and tunes into 'lyricless songs.'
But none of those reinterpretations, either classical or jazz, are the same as a 'cast album.' They don't have the same emotional resonance of an actor or actress putting the song into a show's context. They don't tell the song's story the same way. Cast albums are cousins to jazz and to classical music, but not siblings (or bastard children pushed away into the other group's camp, as it seems to be).
Only the real lovers of Broadway music seem to want cast albums marketed as CAST ALBUMS. Billboard got the message a year ago, adding the "Top Cast Album" category to the best-selling recordings lists. Who will be the next to understand the difference and give it the respect it deserves?

Congratulations Lake City Playhouse

I hear through the grapevine that the Lake City Playhouse entry in the Idaho State Festival won the AACT competition there. As state winner, it moves on to the Region IX AACTFest, held in Tacoma March 30 & 31. It will compete against the winners from Alaska, Oregon, and Washington State.

Who will the Washington state winners be? Kaleidoscope 2007 takes place March 9-11 in Walla Walla. Civic is sending Assassins -- break a leg!

Feb 28: Happy Birthday

Many Broadway stars have birthdays in February -- too many to fit into one program. The ones I did feature on the air are:

Nacio Herb Brown, composer of Broadway Melody (title song sung by Charles King)
Tom Jones, composer singing Mr. Off Broadway in the music revue The Show Goes On
Julie McKenzie, British actress singing Broadway Baby in Side By Side By Sondheim
Bernadette Peters, singing Wherever He Ain't from Mack & Mabel
Tyne Daly, singing Some People from Gypsy. Personal note: Last year, she starred in the play Rabbit Hole, and my husband and I happened to pass her crossing the street. Big whoop, I know, but it was our only 'star sighting' on that trip to Broadway.
Elaine Stritch, singing Zip from Pal Joey
Lisa Kirk, singing Always True To You (In My Fashion) from Kiss Me Kate
Florence Henderson, singing I Have to Tell You from Fanny
Robert Weede, singing Rosabella from The Most Happy Fella (1956 Original Broadway Cast)
Nathan Lane, singing Ariadne from The Frogs (2004 Broadway Cast)
Tommy Tune, singing Au Revoir from Sherry
Lea Salonga, singing On My Own from Les Miserables (10th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall)
Brent Barrett, singing Love Can't Happen from Grand Hotel
Gregory Hines, singing Sophisticated Lady from Sophisticated Ladies
Zero Mostel singing If I Were A Rich Man from Fiddler On The Roof

There are others I feel deserve some mention, although I couldn't do it in the show.

Ellen Greene, best known as Audrey in Little Shop. Ten years before Little Shop, she was Jenny in Threepenny Opera, produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival; talk about night and day. The dentist would have LOVED her in that leather get-up.

George Rose, fast-talking musical king. I first noticed him in The Pirates of Penzance as the Major General. Later I heard him on The Mystery of Edwin Drood, again with that patter style. That was at the end of his Broadway career, which had been busy; Darling/Hook opposite Sandy Duncan's Peter Pan, Eliza's father in a revival of My Fair Lady, and lots of Shakespeare. He had wonderful expressions, a wonderful fit to Gilbert & Sullivan and anything resembling English Music Hall styles.

Susan Egan, Broadway's first Belle, who then was given a voice in the next animated movie (Meg in Hercules). Have to say that she's a favorite of my 7-year-old neighbor.

Jonathan Larson, rest in peace. The writer of Rent and tick tick BOOM. He died young, and it was partially the tragedy of that brain aneurysm that brought so much media attention to Rent. That sentimentality may have helped win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Obie, and Tonys for Best Book, Score and Musical that year. Goodness knows London didn't respond the same way New York did. But even though there are some flaws to the show, there is incredible talent there that might have developed additional hits.

Feb 21: Down With Love

Audra McDonald performed an incredible version of the Arlen/Harburg tune "Down With Love" on a televised concert special. That song leads off Matinee's anti-Valentine show, with funny or witty songs of lost love.

Down With Love on My Favorite Broadway Leading Ladies NOT on the CD version.
Taxi Number from On the Town
Wonderful Town (2003 Broadway Revival Cast)
If from Kristin Chenoweth's Let Yourself Go
Love of My Life, sung by Judy Kaye, from Brigadoon (1991 London Studio Cast)
When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love on Finian's Rainbow (1947 Original Broadway Cast)
A Chemical Reaction from Silk Stockings (1955 Original Broadway Cast)
I Don't Remember You from And The World Goes 'Round: The Songs Of Kander & Ebb (1991 Original Broadway Cast)
I Don't Remember Christmas from Starting Here, Starting Now
The Little Things from Company - A Musical Comedy (1995 Broadway Revival Cast)
My Husband the Pig/Every Day a Little Death, from A Little Night Music, as performed on Putting It Together: A Musical Review (2006)
Liza Minnelli's Maybe This Time on Cabaret: Original Soundtrack Recording (1972 Film)
Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, from the soundtrack of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on The Diamond Collection
Rocks In My Bed sung by Andre De Shields, Larry Marshall from Play On!: A New Musical (1997 Original Broadway Cast)
Falling Out Of Love Can Be Fun on Irving Berlin's White Christmas

Feb 14: Happy Valentine's Day

BroadwayWorld.com has a great list of favorite love songs, picked by showbiz professionals. I took a look at the first, 2005, list and used it as a basis for the Valentine's Day show. Songs and albums (with links to Amazon - purchase and raise money for Matinee to buy more great CDs to share on the air! Cheap advertising ploy, I know...)

If Ever I Would Leave You from Camelot (Robert Goulet, of course)
All the Things You Are from Very Warm For May, on Great American Songwriters (out of print) with Bruce Hubbard
I Got Lost In His Arms from Annie Get Your Gun (1957 Television Cast) Mary Martin
A Quiet Thing (Flora, the Red Menace) on Brent Barrett's The Kander and Ebb Album
Loving You from Passion Donna Murphy
Unusual Way from Nine Laura Benanti (with Antonio Banderas jumping in near the end)
Bill from Christine Andreas's Here's to the Ladies...
What Makes Me Love Him from The Apple Tree, this version from Sarah Brightman's The Songs that Got Away (I do hope they release a CD of either the current production with Kristin Chenoweth or the similar concert version from 2005).
My Funny Valentine from Babes In Arms Erin Dilly (speaking of Encores...)
Maria from West Side Story OBC Larry Kert
Tonight from West Side Story film Jim Bryant and Marni Nixon
What More Can I Say? from Falsettoland Michael Rupert
Shouldn't I Be Less in Love with You? from I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change Robert Roznowski
Human Heart from Once On This Island Andrea Frierson (someday I'll have to get the London Cast which I saw; PP Arnold did an incredible job singing this song.)

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day. And if you're sick of the whole love thing, next week's show is for you: featuring Audra McDonald's take on Down With Love.