Neon Broadway …

You may have noticed that most of my “albums” contain ten songs. I began with a list of 100 Broadway show tunes, and cutting the first 80 wasn’t that difficult. But eliminating the final eight took days. They were too close to call in a horse race, so I added new criteria that gave a slight edge to those that survived. I hope you like them. As a rocker I confess to having seen few musicals live, but curiosity led me to listen to many show tunes over the years--and I married a woman who knew all the words. 

Naturally a lot of them found their way into our dinner-music playlists, progressing from LPs to tapes, CDs, iTunes and now YouTube Music. I came to appreciate first the magnificent songwriting, then the soaring vocals, and finally the whole shebang. I’ve grown to think Rodgers and Hammerstein were the best, but only by a nose, and it killed me not to include songs by the likes of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter or Jerome Kern.

Some may be surprised that Andrew Lloyd Webber got the nod twice, but I couldn’t bring myself to eliminate either “Memory” or “All I Ask of You,” so here we are. Ultimately, there are no serious consequences if some of my picks are considered dumb by some; and since disagreement over fun stuff isn’t illegal, immoral or fattening, here are the final twelve--in no particular order.

Hey! Look Me Over--Peggy Lee--Wildcat:

This comes from a 1960 Broadway show, starring Lucille Ball. The composer had his work cut out for him; Lucy only had about 5 good notes in her range. Ball once paired with co-star Paula Stewart to do it live on The Ed Sullivan Show. In this rendition Peggy Lee jazzes it up; her toe-tappin’ delivery was far more successful than the short-lived musical.

Memory--Elaine Paige--Cats:

Andrew Lloyd Webber needs no introduction; neither does Cats. Few folks know, however, that Cats is based on T.S. Eliot's 1939 collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Most of these songs are Eliot's poems set direct to music, but "Memory" is original. Webber created the misty melody, while director Trevor Nunn wrote lyrics about regret, hope and redemption. Here, it is performed by beloved musical-theatre star Elaine Paige, whose version reached the British Top 10. Susan Boyle rose from obscurity to fame after placing second in Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 with this song. No longer relegated to a frumpy Elaine Paige image, Susan remains humble in spite of amassing a net worth in the range of US$30 million.

Try to Remember--The Brothers Four--The Fantasticks:

In the 1960s, I guided tours out of Manhattan. On one were two delightful young ladies who belonged to an amateur, accomplished singing group called The Musicanters. The gals gave me an LP (I presume a privately pressed album) containing this song. Beautifully sung, it was my introduction to this song. It has grown on me ever since.

Some Enchanted Evening--Ezio Pinza--South Pacific:

On the cruise ships there was a variety of dignified, more traditional entertainment. Garrett Van Triste was as operatic type from Vancouver. His renditions of songs like, Some Enchanted Evening, revealed years of classical training. The over-accentuated vibrato seemed over the top on popular fare, leaving me craving less pretension; but off stage, he was straightforward and humble as a nun. Great guy.

All I Ask of You--Emmy Rossum--The Phantom of the Opera:

"All I Ask of You" is the romantic rooftop duet from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, with lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe. It opened in London in 1986--on Broadway in January 1988. This performance is from the 2004 film adaptation. Emmy had classical training and performed as a child with the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus (long before Phantom). Phantom became one of the most successful musicals of all time and, until its closing in 2023, was the longest-running show in Broadway history. Its runs in London and around the world have also been enormous too.

Someone to Watch Over Me--Lena Horne--Oh, Kay!

I’ve always loved this song, but had never heard of the musical Oh, Kay! George Gershwin composed the music and his brother Ira wrote the lyrics for the 1926 Broadway musical. Since Ira was hospitalized, lyricist Howard Dietz assisted with lyrics and came up with the song’s unforgettable title. Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Willie Nelson recorded it, as did Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Barbra Streisand. I’m sorry, but I much prefer to hear it delivered in female voice--and here we have another great one in the elegant and stylistic Lena Horne. Lena’s mother was an actress who dragged her around the vaudeville circuit, while her suffragist grandmother influenced that fierce sense of dignity. By 16, Lena was dancing at Harlem’s Cotton Club. She soon made history as the first Black woman to tour with an all-white band, sleeping on the bus when hotels said no. She refused stereotypical maid roles. And her face refused to apologize for its radiance. The Tony, Grammys and standing ovations late in her career were validation--she was not just a decoration. She was centre stage talent!

Somewhere--Lucy Thomas--West Side Story

With music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim--his debut as a lyricist, West Side Story could hardly help but produce memorable songs. Sondheim later was embarrassed by the opening where the stressed musical note falls on the weak word “a”: “There’s a place for us.” Apparently the public begs to differ. Lucy Thomas is a young British classical-crossover/pop singer, born 2004, known for her pure, powerful voice and polished interpretations of standards and musical-theatre songs. She recorded “Somewhere” for her 2021 album Timeless. Her delivery is straightforward, sincere, and polished. To the classical ear Bernstein’s melody contains clear echoes of Beethoven, Richard Strauss and even Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

The Last Night of the World--Lea Solonga--Miss Saigon:

Claude-Michel Schönberg was working on Les Misérables when he was inspired by an old photo of a Vietnamese mother handing her young daughter to American soldiers so that she could have a better life in the USA. Miss Saigon’s central love duet is sung by an American GI and a Vietnamese bar girl on their final night together before Saigon falls. What genius thinks to have the distant drums of war drowned out by a solo saxophone as the lovers dream of escape to America, and follows that gem with a nonsensical title that perfectly expresses all that emotion? Lea Salonga was discovered in Manila while still a college freshman. She was so sheltered she had no idea what a “bar girl” was. On a tourism-promotion trip in the early 1990s, a few female reps asked if I would accompany them to a London theatre because they didn’t want to go alone. I was blown away by the music and astonished when a realistic (and very loud) helicopter landed centre stage. The Kiss of the Spider Woman was next; Brian May of Queen was sitting in the balcony--with three lovelies natch.

Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In--The 5th Dimension--Hair:

“Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” is a melding of two songs from the groundbreaking and controversial 1967 rock musical Hair, with its anti-Vietnam War themes and countercultural attitude. The 5th Dimension came across the song when Billy Davis Jr. left his wallet in a taxi and the man who returned it was connected to the show and invited the group to attend. They loved “Aquarius” and their producer fused it with “Let the Sunshine In.” The group’s sophisticated, sunny vocal style is distinguished by its clarity and energy, making it ideal for the song’s optimistic bent. I have always been taken by how session drummer Hal Blaine and bassist Joe Osborn--of the celebrated Wrecking Crew--push the recording forward as it unfolds. I hope you’ll listen intently with that in mind. They change the feel masterfully more than once.

As Long as He Needs Me--Shirley Bassey--Oliver!

As moving as its expression of devotion and unconditional love may be, one has to feel ambivalent upon realizing that it is sung to an abusive lover. Shirley Bassey had forgotten about the recording session at Abbey Road and gone to the cinema. Producer Norman Newell had her paged in West End theatres. She rushed in late and delivered a stellar performance, which stayed on the UK Singles Chart for 30 weeks, peaking at No. 2.

Tomorrow--Andrea McArdle--Annie:

I love the positivism. You can’t beat the young voice of Andrea McArdle who is best remembered for originating the title role in the 1977 Broadway musical, becoming the youngest performer ever nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical at age 13. I’ve never seen the complete musical, but caught part of it on TV and remembered Annie and Daddy Warbucks from the funnies.

The Sound of Music--Von Trapp Family & Christopher Plummer:

Two of the greatest wrote this. Oscar Hammerstein II, formerly Jerome Kern’s lyricist, painstakingly laboured over lyrics, often over weeks, but his new partner, Richard Rodgers, wrote music so fast Noël Coward quipped he could “pee melody.” They wrote songs for Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music, winning dozens of major awards. 

This was their final full collaboration. Hammerstein died of cancer in August 1960--“Edelweiss” was the last song he wrote. Distinguished Canadian actor Christopher Plummer played Captain Georg von Trapp opposite Julie Andrews in the 1965 film. He accepted the role partly to gain singing experience for a possible musical version of Cyrano de Bergerac, but later admitted he initially considered the character stiff and the material overly sentimental. The real Maria von Trapp attended rehearsals and the Broadway opening, rising to applaud Mary Martin at her curtain call. 

The musical was adapted--with much dramatic licence--from Maria’s 1949 memoir, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. The cinematic mountain escape is pure invention, eh. In America, the family toured successfully before settling on a farm in Stowe, Vermont, which became the Trapp Family Lodge which still operates today. They performed until the mid-1950s. While guiding fall foliage motorcoach tours through New England in the late 1960s, we spent one night in Stowe at Green Mountain Inn. The older ladies who ventured up to the lodge were sometimes rewarded with a glimpse of Maria puttering around outside. She died in 1987, but the hills, as the song attests, are still very much alive.