Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Mar 28: Parody Tonight!



Parody Tonight [Comedy Tonight, Funny Thing... Forum] - Tom Plotkin, Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back (DRG)
The Crime Scene [Tomorrow/On Broadway] - Gerard Alessandrini, Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit (DRG)
Trouble in New York City [Ya Got Trouble, Music Man] - Brad Ellis; Brad Oscar; Christine Pedi; Craig Wells; Herndon Lackey; John Freedson, Forbidden Broadway, Vol. 3 (DRG)
Give 'Em the Old Star Replacement [Razzle Dazzle, Chicago]] - Gerard Alessandrini, Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening (DRG)
No Leading Lady Tonight [Luck Be a Lady Tonight, Guys & Dolls] - Jennifer Simard, Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit (DRG)
More Miserable Sequence: Medley - J. Freedson; K Murphy; L. Strasser; Ligon; M. McGrath; P. George; R. Lucas; Toni Di Buono; W. Selby, Forbidden Broadway, Vol. 2 (DRG)
On My Phone [On My Own, Les Miserables] - Gerard Alessandrini, Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening (DRG)
More Miserable Sequence: Medley continued - J. Freedson; K Murphy; L. Strasser; Ligon; M. McGrath; P. George; R. Lucas; Toni Di Buono; W. Selby, Forbidden Broadway, Vol. 2 (DRG)
Ten Years More [One More Day, Les Miserables] - Soundtrack, Forbidden Broadway, Vol. 5 : Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act! (DRG)
Please Don't Monkey With Broadway - Fred Astaire/George Murphy, Fred Astaire at MGM Disc 1
My Souvenir Things [My Favorite Things, Sound of Music] - Tom Plotkin, Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back (DRG)
Mary Poppins - Cast, Forbidden Broadway Goes To Rehab (DRG)
Mary Poppins [Chim Chim Cher-Ee/Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious] - Gerard Alessandrini, Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening (DRG)
It's De Merman [It's de-Lovely, Anything Goes] - Nora Mae Lyng, Forbidden Broadway (DRG)
Never, Never Panned [Never Never Land, Peter Pan] - Roxie Lucas, Forbidden Broadway, Vol. 2 (DRG)
Carol Channing Sequence: Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery - Carol Channing; Brad Oscar; Christine Pedi; Craig Wells; Gina Kreiezmar; John Freedson; Susanne Blakeslee, Forbidden Broadway, Vol. 3 (DRG)
Old Revivals! [Oklahoma] - Various Artists - DRG, Forbidden Broadway 20th Anniversary (DRG)
Judi Dench (Why Can't The English) - Soundtrack; Cast Album, Forbidden Broadway - 2001 Space Odyssey (DRG)
Season of Hype - Bryan Batt, Donna English, Christine Pedi, Tom Plotkin, Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back (DRG)
Spamalot (Camelot/The Song That Goes Like This) - Gerard Alessandrini, Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening (DRG)
Give My Regrets to Broadway [Give My Regards to Broadway, George M] - John Freedson; Karen Murphy; Linda Strasser; Luc; Michael McGrath; Phillip George; Toni Di Buono, Forbidden Broadway, Vol. 2 (DRG)
Finale (What I Did for Love) - Gerard Alessandrini, Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening (DRG)

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Mar 21: Anything You Can Do




Eve - Alan Alda, The Apple Tree [Original Broadway Cast] (Sony Broadway SK 48209)
A Woman Is a Sometime Thing - Edward Matthew; Eva Jessye Choir; Harriet Jackson, Porgy & Bess (MCA, Angel)
I'm an Ordinary Man - Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady [Original Broadwa (Sony Mid-Price)
If I Were a Man - Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria [Original Cast] (Decca Broadway)
I Hate Men - Marin Mazzie, Kiss Me, Kate [1999 Broadway Revival Cast] Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love - Mary Martin, From This Moment On: The Songs of Cole Porter Disc 1 (Smithsonian Collection)
Single Man Drought - Jennifer Simard; Melissa Weil, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (Varèse Sarabande)
Logic of a Semi-Liberated Man - SuEllen Estey, I Love You Madam President [Original Broadway Cast] (Original Cast Record)
What You Don't Know About Women - Randy Graff, Kay McClelland, City of Angels [Original Broadway Cast] (Columbia)
Entr'acte - Orchestra, South Pacific in Concert from Carnegie Hall (Decca Broadway)
It's a Sad Day for Us All - Deny Staggs; Jordan Hunt; Ron Ostrow, I Love You Madam President [Original Broadway Cast] (Original Cast Record)
A Hymn to Him - Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady [Original Broadway Cast] [2002 Bonus Tracks] (Sony Mid-Price)
Anything You Can Do - John Raitt; Mary Martin, Annie Get Your Gun [1957 TV Mary Martin John Raitt] (Angel ZDM 0777 7 64765 2 0)
I Do Not Need a Man - Village Theatre, Little Women (Village Theatre)
Sister Suffragette - Glynis Johns, Mary Poppins [Special Edition] Disc 1 ()
All Men Are Freaks - Cast, Toxic Avenger (Time Life Entertainment)
World of Men - Stacia Fernandez, Beth Leavel, Lone Star Love
I'm a Woman - Georgia Brown, Carmelina (Take Home Tunes)
Shine Like The Sun - Megan Hilty, Stephanie J. Block, Allison Janney and Ensemble, 9 To 5 - The Musical (Original ( Dolly Records 1980)

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Mar 14: Ireland



Listing coming soon!

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Remembering Robert Sherman

I was sad to wake up to the news that Robert Sherman passed away yesterday (Mar. 5). I love the Sherman Brothers music, partly as a Disney fan, partly as a lover of good music, and partly to the fact that Robert was my dad's name too. (Silly sentimentalism with the latter, but it's there just the same.)

Several are taking the opportunity to chide one of Walt Disney's favorite Sherman Brothers songs, "It's A Small World (After All)" because it sticks in the head. It's a round, created specifically to overlap from room to room; when Walt showed them the initial demo for the World's Fair, it had all the countries' theme songs overlapping. So blame Walt, not Robert and Richard. But since it's stuck in your head now, try humming Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

They did much more than just Disneyland rides and Mary Poppins. I actually know the Annette Funicello song Tall Paul that got them their real start. There's a fun song about photography called Makin' Memories. And Disney had nothing to do with the classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or Snoopy Come Home. On Broadway, they wrote a show for the two surviving Andrews Sisters, Patty and Maxene, called Over Here. And that show gave a Broadway start to several now-famous performers, including 1) the guy who sang Sebastian in the animated Little Mermaid and the live Lion King Musical Mufasa, and 2) John Travolta.

I recently got two coveted Sherman Brothers creations. One is a version of Tom Sawyer, the other is a version of Cinderella called The Slipper and the Rose. I'll be listening to these soon and redoing my Sherman Brothers tribute. RIP, Robert. Though the mountains divide and the oceans are wide, you made the world seem like a friendlier place.

Mar. 7: Dorothy Fields



'erbie Fitch's Twitch - Gwen Verdon, Redhead (RCA)
Dorothy Fields History - Dorothy Fields, An Evening with Dorothy Fields (DRG)
I Can't Give You Anything but Love - Angela Hall; Eugene Fleming, Black & Blue [Original Broadway Cast] (DRG)
On the Sunny Side of the Street - Barbara Cook, Lucky in the Rain (DRG)
It's Not Where You Start - Tommy Tune, See Saw (Original Cast) [DRG] (DRG)
A Fine Romance - Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, Ginger & Fred at RKO (2 of 2) (Rhino)
Doin' the New Low Down - Bill "Bojangles" Robinson; Don Redman & His Orchestra, American Musical Theatre: Shows, Songs and Stars, Vol. 1 (Smithsonian)
When She Walks In The Room - Wilbur Evans, Up In Central Park/Arms And The Girl (Decca)
That's What I Told Him Last Night - Florenz Ames, Up In Central Park/Arms And The Girl (Decca)
Charity's Theme - Orchestra, Sweet Charity [Original Broadway Cast]
Big Spender - Dorothy Fields, Sweet Charity (2005 Broadway Revival Cast) (DRG)
Pink Taffeta Sample Size 10 [cut from Sweet Charity] - Sally Mayes, The Dorothy Fields Songbook (DRG)
Pick Yourself Up - John Lithgow, Sunny Side of the Street (Razor & Tie)
Don't Blame Me - Barbara Cook, Lucky in the Rain (DRG)
Make the Man Love Me - Johnny Johnston; Marcia Van Dyke, Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Sony)
The Way You Look Tonight - Bruce Hubbard, Great American Songwriters (Capitol)
I'm in the Mood for Love - Frances Langford, American Songbook Series: Dorothy Fields (Smithsonian Collection)
See-Saw - Randy Graff, Doing Something Right: Randy Graff Sings Cy Coleman (Varèse Sarabande)
If My Friends Could See Me Now - Gwen Verdon, American Songbook Series: Dorothy Fields (Smithsonian Collection)

As I post this, I'm listening to the new musical "Once" for next week's episode, Irish music. And it starts out with a busker singing an Irish take of Dorothy Fields's "On the Sunny Side of the Street." As the late Robert Sherman remarked, it's a small world after all.

Feb 29: Beauty

Whoops... coming soon...