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.

No Day But Today

First off, I don't go to movies much. It's taken more than a year for me to see the film of Rent. My brother-in-law gave us tickets to Rent in Seattle as a wedding gift, and while we enjoyed it, we couldn't see what all the hype was about. Maybe it wasn't a great production, but I had a hard time getting into it. It seemed too long - at least some of the songs seemed too long - and I had problems understanding many of the lyrics. The film completely changed my outlook on Rent.

We finally had a movie night last Saturday in our living room, this time with my husband at my side and our preschooler on my lap. The opening sequence, with everyone in the neighborhood lighting their eviction notices on fire and tossing them out the window, was one of those moments where a filmmaker makes the most of the the medium. Another amazing reinterpretation was having Mark hit his head on the concrete floor in the middle of Tango Maureen, and suddenly hallucinate -- with dozens of dancers suddenly doing the tango, including Maureen in red. Fabulous.

This week, I've been listening to the soundtracks. Comparing as hundreds of Rentheads have done before me. I realize I'm late to the table, and have nothing real to add to it. My own personal impression, though, is that I applaud the cutting the director and writers did. For example, suddenly "Out Tonight" makes sense (why did Rodger let her sing that whole song and then push her out? Because she didn't come in until the last verse, after she came home from work! On stage, doing a pole-dance routine on the scaffolding of the set, it seemed odd to me. But hey, pole-dancing in a room full of pole dancers and their paying customers, that's her work, that's her character. It finally clicked.) Cutting out most of "Goodbye Love" works well -- we don't need to hear the argument in words, we've seen it enough between the action 'til he leaves, and the visuals of "What You Own" do an excellent job of telling the story. The setting of "Take Me Or Leave Me" in their own ENGAGEMENT PARTY, I loved.

Okay, this is why I'm not a reviewer. I have a hard time putting my own thoughts and impressions into words. Basic point -- I usually appreciate a stage show more than a film, but Rent is a fabulous exception. At least, so far: now I really want to see the live show again for comparison. The chance comes in May.

Elphaba's a real doll

The 2007 Toy Fair is opening in New York, and one of the items previewed caught my eye. Mattel is bringing back a series of Wizard of Oz dolls as part of the Barbie line, and this time they've added a Wicked Witch of the West doll. Pictures show it looks nothing like Margaret Hamilton's crone. Instead, she's a pretty witch, looking remarkably like Elphaba in Wicked.

Wicked is immensely popular with a similar pre-teen girl crowd that the Barbie dolls are marketed towards. Young people (mostly girls) about the age of 10 and older going wild for it. It's a coming-of-age story, with themes of friendship and being yourself -- that speaks strongly to girls in their teens and pre-teens. At the touring production in Seattle last September, the high-pitched cheers for Elphaba and Galinda made it clear: THE GIRLS WERE IN DA HOUSE.

So Barbie gives us the new icon of individuality nestled amongst the plastic princesses. Mattel's been looking for a way to expand their audience, and at least they recognized the purchasing power behind Wicked fans. Incidentally, the Glinda doll sticks with the movie character's costume, and Dorothy looks like Judy Garland.

Feb 7: Kids On Broadway

Alright, I know that some people will flip off the program as soon as they hear kids' voices. Tough. Kids are a part of Broadway too, and it's time to feature them. I know, sometimes their voices are shrill, thin, small. They're not as well-trained as their adult counterparts, although they do have training. It takes an amazing amount of self-discipline to be a successful child actor. And frankly some of their songs are great in my opinion.

One reason for doing the show now is Annie coming to Spokane. I do have fond memories of the show, since it was the first professional show my parents took me to (Los Angeles, 1979 or 1980, I don't remember).

Another reason -- my own child. She loves to sing along to other kids. Her favorite recordings are kids singing kid songs. This is why The Broadway Kids albums have taken off -- those kids are professional, their voices are usually palatable even to adults, and kids can really relate to them. I utilize three tracks of Broadway Kids Sing Broadway on this show.

Other albums from today's show:
Peter Pan OBC
Oliver! OBC
The Music Man OBC
Les Miserables, RSC
Gypsy - 1993 TV
The Boy From Oz OBC
Will Rogers Follies OBC
Annie - Disney TV
Shenandoah OBC
The Secret Garden OBC
Nine, 2003 revival
The King and I, 1992 studio
Mame

There were of course several more shows that I could have featured. I really like BarBara Luna's Dites Moi from South Pacific. I love the song Ordinary Mothers from A Little Night Music -- as Audra McDonald quipped, "I hope my child never sings this about me!" I also love Everyone Hates His Parents from Falsettoland, The Mermaid Song from Aspects of Love. As I mentioned, ALL four of the Disney shows currently on Broadway have child actors. But Chip only has a line or two in Beauty and the Beast, it's still too early to play I Can't Wait To Be King from the The Lion King (give Spokane a few more years to get over the King's reign), I still don't have the complete London Mary Poppins, or the cast album for Tarzan. I also didn't play songs from The Sound of Music, or Getting to Know You, or other songs where the kids are backup for an adult.

There are also many shows where, on the professional recording, the "kids" are played by adults. The Charlie Brown and Snoopy songs, Willy Wonka, Jack and Red of Into the Woods, Putnam County Spelling Bee, Toby in Sweeney Todd.... There's a good business for short actors!

Thanks to Verne for filling in Jan. 31

Due to illness, I wasn't able to finish a sampling of Broadway items in the KPBX Recordings & Videos Sale. No matter, R&V Sale days are some of Verne's FAVORITE. There really is nothing like going through the boxes of donated items. Every year, we've had some excellent DVDs, videos, CDs, and LPs looking for new homes. Verne concentrated on the LPs; yes we have all the classics, including every version of Carousel, Sound of Music, Kiss Me Kate, and Camelot. I'm also pleasantly surprised at the unusual items -- Goldilocks with Elaine Stritch. Mack and Mabel with Bernadette Peters and Robert Preston. The Little Prince television soundtrack, the final collaboration between Lerner and Loewe (and Bob Fosse sings!). The sale takes place Feb. 17 and 18 at the Masonic Center Auditorium in downtown Spokane -- use the West Main Street entrance. I'll be there with the camera, see you there!

Skaters use songs from musicals for performances

Yesterday, I had the priveledge of sitting at the Exhibition of Champions from the 2007 National Figure Skating Championships, held here in Spokane. The TV schedule shows a broadcast of Feb. 18 from 4-6 p.m. on ABC. The medal-winners from each discipline performed whatever routine they wanted to whatever music they wanted -- unlike in competition, which is purely instrumental. Many chose rock 'n' roll or hard rock. My favorite chose showtunes.
Unfortunately, the sound system in the Arena made it impossible to understand the names of the performers, so I don't know who they were. I'm going to make educated guesses based on the photographs from the usfigureskating.org site.
Alissa Czisny took to the ice in a laced-up costume reminiscent of a peasant dress, such as one Aldonza might wear; the music was the theme from Man of La Mancha, as sung by Linda Eder. (I'd bet that half of the audience thought it was Barbra Streisand.) The powerhouse singer put La Mancha on her solo album, and performed it live at Carnegie Hall in an evening of divas.
Immediately following her was pair Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, with Bette Midler's The Rose, from the film of the same name.
Soon after came an ice dance couple who "Dreamed the Impossible Dream," with an edited version, but most of it was the version with Linda Eder. (I'm guessing it was Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov?)
Songs from movies or musicals are pretty common in performance, although for competition they have to be instrumental versions. The year of Tara Lipinsky's tutu (to quote Car Talk), her exhibition was to the animated film Anastasia, written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Once Upon a December and Journey to the Past were sung by Liz Callaway, a respected soloist (and the best interpretation of Meadowlark anywhere!) But my all-time favorite use of musicals in skating came from Paul Wylie and Nancy Kerrigan.
Paul and Nancy had the same coach, and Paul had spent some time skating pairs before focusing on solo men's competition. When he and Nancy both won silver in the 1992 Olympics, they were both to perform in the exhibition. I remember watching Kerrigan in a white costume skating to one of Kim's solos from "Miss Saigon," performed by Lea Salonga. Soon after Paul came on with "Why God?" from Saigon, the male love interest. He had a white jumpsuit, with the same kind of accents as Nancy's. Then they stepped on the ice together and performed the duet "Solo Saxophone" from Saigon. It was beautiful. I can't tell you anything special about the performances other than they worked beautifully with the music -- and Kerrigan landed the spin Paul threw her into. (The look on the coach's face was priceless.) And in the age of YouTube.com, you can see the moment for yourself. (I also just saw Nancy Kerrigan's performance of Defying Gravity for a TV special. My only quip - why so few jumps for "Defying Gravity?")
In any case, the great thing about music from musicals is that they tell stories in song. The skaters have a few minutes to tell a story in dance, jumps, and body expression, and if the story is told partially in the song, all the better.

Jan 17: Comden & Green

Betty Comden and Adolph Green are my heroes. Betty in particular. Performers AND writers, they wrote lyrics that are so wonderful to sing, that are completely natural to the thought process. One of my favorites is "A Little Bit In Love" from Wonderful Town, which I didn't put in this show because I've played it recently on the Audra McDonald show. (And Audra is THE interpreter of this song!) Complex rhymes (for the tongue, at least) flipping into a little simple thought:

When he looks at me, everything's hazy and all out of focus,
When he touches me, I'm in the spell of a strange hocus-pocus,
It's so ... I don't know, I'm so... I don't know!
I don't know, but I know if it's love then it's lovely!

It's not easy to pull those "I Don't Know"s off with the right innocense, nuance of shading (so each is different in each repetition), and complete wonderful bewilderment. It's a wonderful lyric.
The other favorite song of mine from Comden & Green is a gem called "The Story Of My Life." Many of their songs were fun and free, but this meloncholy mood really speaks true. It was cut from Wonderful Town, probably (like Bernstein's own Ain't Got No Tears Left in On the Town) because the producers thought it was too depressing. I love to hear it particularly because it's depressing -- any time I'm depressed, it reminds me that other people do feel this way.

You dream you hear a lovely song,
All night you're haunted by its theme.
When you wake up, the notes are wrong
The song has vanished with the dream;
Well, that's the story of my life.

Betty died last November, Adolph died in 2002. Their partnership lasted 60 years (longer than their marriages -- to other people). They only earned a half-dozen or so Tony Awards, far fewer than they deserved I think. Comedy is an art, and they mastered it.

Albums played:
Comden & Green Perform Their Own Songs
Bells Are Ringing
That's Entertainment! The Best Of The MGM Musicals
Leonard Bernstein's New York
Bells Are Ringing revival
On the Town
The interview clips come from Do Re Mi revival
These links support purchasing new music for Wednesday Matinee. Thank you!

Festivals - Asassins and Forever Plaid

Every other year, the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT) has festivals looking for the best of the best.
The Washington State festival, "Kaleidoscope," takes place March 9-11 in Walla Walla at the Little Theatre. Participants include Spokane Civic Theatre with a shortened version of the upcoming musical Assassins by Stephen Sondheim.
The Idaho State Festival takes place Feb. 16-17 in Lewiston. Participants include the Lake City Playhouse, with a shortened version of Forever Plaid, their fall musical production.
By the way, LCP has a fundraiser for taking Forever Plaid to the festival. Feb. 2, see Forever Plaid at The Old Church in Post Falls, tickets $15. The festivities start at 6:30 with a meet and greet followed by the show at 7:30 and closes with the announcement of Lake City Playhouse's 2007-2008 season.

Civic announces '07-'08 season already

2007 is barely into double-digit days and Spokane Civic Theatre already has announced its upcoming season of shows.
The pattern has, at least since 1994 (after the "JC Superstar at Christmas" fiasco), been to start with a classic "golden era" musical, a kid-friendly musical at Christmas, and end with a musical. For the past few years, they've also had a main-stage, one-night concert of a big musical that could never pay off for the Spokane audience (Hair, Jeckyl and Hyde.) Most excitingly, each season includes a musical in the Studio theatre, either something pretty new or controvercial that would NEVER fly on the main stage.
Those slots this year:
Opening Musical: SOUTH PACIFIC
September 28 – October 28, 2007
This Oscar and Hammerstien show was highly controvercial for romantically mixing Polynesians with Whites. (Gasp- the horror ;-p) Highly fun, several good roles for women.

Concert Musical: INTO THE WOODS
October 21, 2007
This is my favorite Stephen Sondheim show, probably my favorite show period, and certainly the best memories of being onstage. I had the honor of being the Baker's Wife way back in '95? at the Lake City Playhouse. I fell in love with this show with the London production in '90/'91, and I still love to pop in my tape of the Broadway Great Performances version (a show my husband saw live, and I'm still envious). When Civic did this on the main stage, in '92? it was the first community theatre to get the chance to do it (thanks to Jack Phillips). Unfortunately, I heard it didn't sell well. Maybe it was still too new, maybe it's the Spokane Sondheim curse. But seriously, how can you lose by combining Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and his Beanstalk, and Rapunzel? The script is fantastic and funny, the songs have something to say while being completely entertaining.... Okay, I'll get off the soapbox. Needless to say I'm thrilled that Civic will do at least a concert version.

Christmas Musical: THE CHRISTMAS SCHOONER
November 16 – December 16, 2007
I have never heard of this show, but a quick Google shows it's based on the Christmas Tree Ships, specifically the Rouse Simmons which was lost in a storm in November 1912. Christmas Trees (Tannenbaum) were a German tradition, and immigrants loved to have that reminder of home in the new world at Christmastime. So it's a story of tradition, ancestors, and human fellowship. One theatre specifically said Schooner is not appropriate for children younger than 6 (my guess being some characters die and the storm scene would be potentially frightening). In any case, now that I know it exists and a CD is out there, somewhere, I'll look for more on the songs themselves.

Studio Musical: THE LAST FIVE YEARS
January 25 – February 17, 2008
Jason Robert Brown is a young, prolific songwriter for the stage, with a pop style. If you watched Audra McDonald's PBS concert at Lincoln Center last fall, she sang one of his songs as he accompanied on piano. Last Five Years is a two-character work, completely out of synch with time. A man and a woman meet, marry, divorce in the span of five years; the two tell their stories separately. Somewhat confusingly, Cathy tells her story backward; the show begins with her "Still Hurting." Jamie tells his side of things chronologically, beginning with meeting his "Shiksa Goddess." It's not a new gimmick, and I'm not sure it's more than a gimmick, but I'm still looking forward to a local production of a new-ish (2002) work.

Closing: THE MAN OF LA MANCHA
May 16 – June 15, 2008
Don Quixote! The Lord of La Mancha! A male-heavy show, and an operatic one to boot. Unfortunately, there is a problem of finding enough Spokane-area men who sing, especially in spring. (For example, the Chorale has mid-April and mid-May concerts.) I wish the director and producer luck in casting.

Guess that Disney tune!

In preparation for tomorrow's show on record labels and new releases, I found this fabulous listing for a Japanese CD set. Disney classic tunes, performed in English at
Footlight.com Here are the song titles, obtained from a Japanese website: translated from English to Japanese and back again. Guess that song!

CD 1:
1. Hole new world [[arajin]]
2. The past when it is revealed [[arajin]]
3. Beauty and beast [beauty and beast]
4. If eye [nevua] new u [[pokahontasu]]
Artist John [sekada] & plain gauze Nice
5. Color of the window [[pokahontasu]]
6. Yule B in my heart [Tarzan]
Artist Filling Collins
7. Feeling love, [the lion king]
8. Alice of the country of wonder [Alice of the country of wonder]
9. Once upon a time, with dream [the beauty of the forest which you can sleep]
10. As for me wonder [the beauty of the forest which you can sleep]
11. As for dream secretly [Cinderella]
12. Once upon a time the prince [Snow White]
13. [u] wooden pail obtaining of love [Bambi]
14. My baby [[danbo]]
15. From the right 2nd star [Peter pan]
16. Someone waits, [large venture of [bianka]]
17. Go the distance [[herakuresu]]
18. Look through my [aizu] [brother bear]
Artist Filling Collins
19. My funny friend and me [the king who becomes the llama]
Artist [suteingu]
20. Sum D [Notre Dame bell]
Artist All 4 one
21. [hoen] sea [ravudo] me [toy story 2]
Artist Plate [makurakuran]
22. Aisle try [Peter pan 2]
Artist [jiyonasa] brook
23. Part of [yua] world [Little mermaid]
24. In star request [Pinocchio]

CD 2:
1. Hawaiian [rorakosuta] ride [[riroandosuteitsuchi]]
Artist Mark [keari] hole & [kamehamehasukuru] child choir
2. Favorite become, you cannot be, [[riroandosuteitsuchi]]
Artist A* [teinzu]
3. Pineapple princess [[riroandosuteitsuchi] 2]
Artist [anetsuto] [hunisero]
4. Under the sea [Little mermaid]
5. Kiss the girl [Little mermaid]
6. Dig the hole [the lion king 3 [hakuna] [matata]]
Artist [rebo] M& [vuinkusu]
7. [topushi] [tavui] [Notre Dame bell]
8. Round rise of [utsudei] [toy story 2]
Artist [raidazu] in the sky
9. Even as for also you ([uiji] [vuajiyon]) [toy story 2]
Artist Robert [guretsuto]
10. You companion [Peter pan 2]
11. It continues in the leader, [the Peter pan]
12. It can fly you! [Peter pan]
13. High hoe [Snow White]
14. It was late to time, [Alice of the country of wonder]
Artist Building Thompson
15. We would like to become everyone cat, is, [the foppish cat]
16. We would like to become like you, [the jungle book]
17. April rain [Bambi]
18. [chimu] & [chimu] cherry [Mary [popinzu]]
19. [bibidei] [babidei] [bu] [Cinderella]
20. When being troubled, the whistle [the Pinocchio]
21. [jitsupa] D [dou] [da] [southern part ‰S]
22. [kuruera] of town [101 cups]
23. Time of [yua] life [[baguzu] life]
Artist [randei] [niyuman]
24. Unless you are, [the [monsutazu] ink]
Artist [biri] crystal and John Goodman
Bonus Track:
25. Very him pirate [[pairetsu] of [karibian]]

May 10: Once Upon a Time

Beauty and the Beast opens this Sunday for Spokane Children's Theatre, part of the 60th anniversary season. It's an ambitious undertaking: the full Disney version based on the popular animated movie. Disney is synonymous with musical fairy tales, but theatre is full of shows and songs based on "Once Upon a Time."

- Ray Bolger performed in the 1969 show "All American," where he and Eileen Herlie sang a wistful make-believe.

- In honor of the Children's Theatre production, the opening song from Beauty and the Beast, the stage version.
- The Royal Shakespeare Company's stage version of the Judy Garland film The Wizard of Oz.
- The best fairy-tale show by far is Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. Hello Little Girl introduces the wolf to Little Red Riding Hood, and I Know Things Now is her summation of what happened and the lessons she takes.

Cinderella also stars in Into the Woods, with her dilema of being stuck on the steps of the palace. But first, Rodgers and Hammerstein turned the same story into a television special with Julie Andrews. Edie Adams is the Fairy Godmother.

- Carol Burnett made her stage debut as a very un-typical princess in Once Upon a Mattress, a retelling of The Princess and the Pea. She's got to pass a test in order to marry the prince she loves, and is studying by reading the fairy-tale history of the kingdom.

- Hans Christian Andersen wrote many beloved fairytales, and the Danny Kaye musical of the author's life showcased many of the sweet stories, including Thumbelina.

One of the interesting facets of fairy tales is how they can represent fascets of our ordinary lives.

- Pajama Game: Young love usually feels like a fairy tale, so why not use fairy tales to tell someone how much you love him/her?

- Two Fairy Tales: Stephen Sondheim initially meant this song to introduce the sunny ingenue and moody son-in-law of A Little Night Music. Goes to show that fairy tales mean different things to different people.

- Meadowlark: The show is The Baker's Wife, by Stephen Schwartz (more of his songs in July as Cour d'Alene Summer Theatre present his show Pippin). A womanis torn between her older husband and an exciting young stranger, and uses a fairytale to sort out her situation.

- Race You To The Top of the Morning: From "The Secret Garden," the father secretly reads to his ill child every night, again putting his situation into fairytale form to tell the sleping child.

- The show Once Upon an Island is a beautiful Caribbean-style fairy tale, with a young girl in love with a prince-like rich boy. Like the original Little Mermaid, this young woman does not get the boy, and sacrifices herself for love, transformed into something beautiful. The final song is special not for the end of the story, but the storytellers themselves explaining why they tell the story: "for out of what we live and we believe, our lives become the stories that we weave."


Incidentally, Peter Pan is playing at Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre this summer, and in July we'll have a collection of songs from the many different versions.

May 3: And Now For Something Completely Different

Our pledge drive request show brought some interesting results: requests for comedy songs. Jimmy Durante, Victor Borge, Spike Jones, more Tom Lehrer. Almost all of these songs have been performed on stage. Comedy Tonight!