So, it’s been a while since I published my last showtunes playlist. Nine months, I believe. Because I’m a senior at Nova this year, I want to leave behind a little legacy on NovaKnows, so I thought I’d do a part 3. See, the thing about these playlists is, I do one of them per semester, max. And an active theatergoer like myself tends to see at least one new show or find one new cast recording per month, if not a lot more. Each playlist sort of represents my tastes at the time. (I find myself horribly embarrassed by articles I wrote even longer ago than last year–like the one where I stated that I enjoy Mamma Mia. FYI, I do not anymore.)
Very often, I look at one of my older showtunes playlsists and think, “Why on earth did I include this song?” or “I didn’t write enough about this song. I have so much more understanding of this character/situation/show now,” or “I should have used a song from (whatever show I last saw)!” I have seen maybe 10-12 musicals, plus a sampling of a whole new Broadway season at the Tony Awards, since I last published a playlist, and many of those shows are represented here. Some of these shows, I included on the list before, but I wanted to delve deeper into the scores now that I’ve seen them. I think this showtunes playlist should be seen as a work in progress. Because even with all the new music I discover, much to my shame as a theater geek, there are dozens upon dozens of classics I cannot say I have seen. I’ve never seen Oklahoma. I bought the movie version of Evita, but I still haven’t watched it. And I don’t even know what Stephen Sondheim’s Follies is about (sorry Grandpa). But here, I present 25 more songs that I feel represent some of the best of musical theater, as I know it as of this writing. Enjoy!
1. Let’s Misbehave from Anything Goes (1934) — so many people don’t realize it, but Cole Porter actually had a tendency to be rather controversial in his music. Many of his songs were not things that would have been considered appropriate for radio broadcast at the time he was writing. A surprising number of Cole Porter standards carry implicit references to sex, and this one is no exception. I did flub with the release year a bit here; Anything Goes first hit Broadway in 1934, in a production starring Ethel Merman, but that version did not include this particular song. In fact, there are several versions of the libretto of Anything Goes, all featuring the same characters and setting, but messing around with the relationships, and the sequence of events. The 1962 off-Broadway revival is the version I am most familiar with, as it’s the only cast recording I currently own. The 1962 version of Anything Goes was the only one to include “Let’s Misbehave,” a song that was originally written by Porter in 1927, and was tried out in a few of his musicals and never quite worked in any of them. I personally like it in this setting, in which the charming Reno Sweeney convinces a very dignified (and engaged) man to partake in sexual innuendo and teasing with her. The clip is, of course, from the 1962 recording, featuring Eileen Rodgers as Reno.
Clip: Let’s Misbehave — Eileen Rodgers
2. Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat from Guys and Dolls (1950) — one classic I saw for the first time since writing my last playlist is Guys and Dolls (thank you, 5th Ave Theater). I was somewhat familiar with the music before, but didn’t want to use the songs on a playlist when I didn’t have a full understanding of their in-show context. Now that I’ve seen it, I picked out one of my favorites to share with you, dear readers. Definitely, one of the catchiest numbers in the entire show is “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.” The story of Guys and Dolls revolves around a group of men who run an illegal craps game. When one of the gamblers falls in love with the leader of a local mission, in a pathetic attempt to impress her, he offers to recruit some “sinners” for her mission. Long story short, due to a lucky roll of the dice, he wins the souls of his fellow gamblers in a round of craps, and drags them all to the Save-a-Soul Mission for their prayer meeting. As the meeting starts to fizzle, the ringleader encourages “Nicely-Nicely Johnson” to give testimony on his “spiritual journey.” Nicely quickly whips up some bogus story about having a dream that encourages him to leave the path of the sinner. In this dream, Nicely says he found himself on the boat to heaven, with his dice. The good passengers, however, are having none of it–they refuse to partake in his sinful gambling, and tell him to “sit down; you’re rockin’ the boat.” The other gamblers quickly agree and jump in. Of course, these guys are totally lying about their intent to find God and abandon their lives of sin, but that just makes it even funnier. I used the 1992 Broadway revival cast recording for my clip, and it features Walter Bobbie as Nicely-Nicely Johnson.
Clip: Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat — Walter Bobbie
3. Whatever Lola Wants from Damn Yankees (1955) — everybody loves a sexy temptress song, and few play the sexy temptress as well as the legendary Gwen Verdon. Some of Verdon’s most famous roles include Charity in Sweet Charity, Roxie in the original production of Chicago, and, of course, Lola in Damn Yankees. Lola is the woman sent by the devil to Joe, the main character of Damn Yankees, to seduce him. Basically, if Lola succeeds and seduces Joe, his soul is damned for all eternity, which is kind of in the devil’s favor. So Lola goes and lays on the charm, basically going to any measures necessary to get this poor guy to cheat on his wife. This number is very simple musically speaking. The thing that makes it most memorable from the rest of the show, though, is the slight exotic feel that comes from Verdon’s fake accent (I’m not actually sure what she’s going for with the accent, but it sounds good), and the general tone of the music. I can’t describe it in technical terms, but there’s definitely something distinctive about this song. Also, there’s something bizarrely fascinating about a female seductress who has no motivation other than to condemn the souls of the men she manipulates. You can listen to Gwen Verdon in her Tony-winning performance as Lola, on the original cast recording below.
Clip: Whatever Lola Wants — Gwen Verdon
4. Wouldn’t it Be Loverly from My Fair Lady (1956) — because you can never have enough Julie Andrews. What can I say about this song? It’s from My Fair Lady, written by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner, about a young Cockney woman who is taken in for schooling to rid herself of her “unseemly” accent, by two men who have made a bet on whether or not this woman can be “reformed.” It sounds like a silly concept, but it’s one of the most treasured musicals of all time, possibly because of the whimsical nature of the story (and a score by Loewe and Lerner never hurts a show). The cutest song (in my opinion) is the one in which Eliza Doolittle sings about everything she wishes she had in her life, from “a room somewhere far away from the cold night air” to “someone’s head resting on my knee, warm and tender as he can be.” But with her endearing Cockney accent, when she says how lovely these things would be, it comes out sounding more like “lover-ly.” It’s quite adorable, actually–especially in the way that Julie Andrews, the original Eliza, did it, with the preciseness of her voice and her fake accent. I honestly think no one will ever top the way Julie Andrews played this role, but of course, I feel that way about many of her performances. The clip is, of course, of Ms. Andrews singing this fantastic song, which is a standard of musical theater by now, 55 years after hitting Broadway.
Clip: Wouldn’t it Be Loverly — Julie Andrews
5. L’Chaim (To Life) from Fiddler on the Roof (1964) — for starters, let me just say that nowhere can I find a confirmation of whether the title of this song is officially “L’Chaim” or “To Life.” They both mean the same thing, actually, but one is in Yiddish, and the other is an English translation. However, different copies of cast recordings, the script, the score, and Playbills for Fiddler on the Roof all seem to be in disagreement about which is the correct song title. Personally, I’d put my money on “L’Chaim” being the winner. This song got a place on the list because while I was listening to Fiddler, it occurred to me that I’ve had very few, if any, celebratory songs on my previous playlists. It’s mostly been depressing or lovestruck, sappy stuff, which doesn’t seem all that representative of musical theater as a whole. I also have very few songs on my playlists that involve drunken Jewish men yelling in Yiddish, so that’s a plus on the originality scale. “To Life” is one of my favorite numbers from Fiddler, because it’s basically the only happy song in the whole show. Fiddler on the Roof is just not meant to be a happy show. Pretty much the only celebration is when Tevye agrees to marry his eldest daughter to Lazar Wolf, the richest man in the village, and Lazar buys drinks for everyone in the tavern. It’s a very twisted optimistic view on life as well, as all the men toast to good fortune, with the stipulation, “If our good fortune never comes, here’s to whatever comes.” Clip is of Zero Mostel, who is the Tevye, on the original Broadway cast recording.
Clip: L’Chaim (To Life) — Zero Mostel
6. Summer Nights from Grease (1972) — in retrospect, how did I manage to avoid using songs from Grease until now? It’s one of the more popular musicals with kids these days, probably due to the timelessness of the film version (you know, the one with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta). I have to say, this show has never really interested me. In all honesty, the story is horrible–it’s about a good girl who changes who she is to get a bad boy to fall in love with her. Probably not the best message. But the music is great. It’s a mixture of 50s-style doo-wop and rock and roll. And I spent all summer watching little kids at theater camp singing “Summer Nights,” so this one in particular has grown on me. Grease’s story starts at the beginning of the school year, and in the song “Summer Nights,” the characters Danny and Sandy both brag to their respective friends about what transpired during their summer love affair. Danny tells his boys that he “went all the way” with the good girl Sandy, while Sandy harps on to her female friends about how sensitive and emotional their relationship was. They are, of course, both lying; or at least exaggerating a little. But as high schoolers, both groups of friends eat it up, and it is a very cute song. Now, Grease is one of the very, very few musicals that I strongly prefer in the film version, as opposed to the stage one, so the clip I included is of Olivia Newton-John as Sandy and John Travolta as Danny.
Clip: Summer Nights — Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta
7. Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina from Evita (1979) — this is one of those huge shows that it’s hard to believe I went so long without including. I’ve never included it because, as stated in my intro, I’ve never seen it. Even though I probably should have. (Is it really my fault if the last time a tour of Evita rolled around to where I was living, I was 8 years old?) But it is a big show, and “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” is without question the most famous song from it. In case you didn’t know, Evita is the musical based on the life of Eva Perón, the first lady of Argentina who was possibly even more famous than her husband, President Juan Perón. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. However, due to the popularity of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Eva Perón is probably a more recognizable name to non-Argentinians today than her husband. In this epic number, Perón addresses her supporters from a balcony and informs them that although maybe her original motives were not pure, she plans to represent the people of Argentina, and basically assures them that they can trust her. I used the original Broadway cast recording, which Patti LuPone as Eva. I thought she did great, but according to numerous reports, she hated playing that role (and with good reason–it pretty much wrecked her voice permanently). But I don’t have any other versions of this song. You can listen to the clip and decide for yourself whether she was capable of handling the role or not.
Clip: Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina — Patti LuPone
8. Unexpected Song from Song and Dance (1985) — apparently this playlist is the Andrew Lloyd Webber feature. I suppose I haven’t included quite enough of his musicals in my previous lists. I’ve never actually seen Song and Dance, and I don’t even know what it’s about. (And if you want to know, do a Google search and leave me out of it.) But ever since learning “Unexpected Song” for an audition, I’ve been in love with it. It’s smooth, flowing, and perfectly timed. It’s also sort of hideously cliched in the way of love songs, but aren’t most Webber love songs? (For my points of reference, I direct you to “All I Ask of You” and “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.”) The song itself is a metaphor for the feeling of isolation from the rest of world you feel when you suddenly fall in love–the singer states that it is all around her, like “an unexpected song, that only we are hearing.” I warned you that it was cheesy. The main (and I believe only) character in Song and Dance was originally played by Sarah Brightman, but when the show was on Broadway (for about five minutes), Brightman was replaced with the eternally talented Bernadette Peters, who did it much better. As far as I can tell, the critical reception of the show itself wasn’t overwhelming, but Bernadette Peters in this role was a big deal. It was her first Tony-award winning role, and the released cast recording is actually called Bernadette Peters in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song and Dance, with the former name in larger print than the latter on the cover. So, here is a clip of “Unexpected Song” from Bernadette Peters in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song and Dance.
Clip: Unexpected Song — Bernadette Peters
9. I Dreamed a Dream from Les Misérables (1987) — one of the things that has happened since I last published a playlist is that I have gone nuts for Les Mis. It is a great classic of musical theater, but I didn’t see it for the first time until a 25th Anniversary Concert was filmed for showing in movie theaters, and then a brand new tour of the anniversary production arrived in Seattle this summer. It takes a few viewings (and possibly a reading of Victor Hugo’s novel) to grow on you, because it’s about three hours long and completely sung through, so it takes quite a while to digest everything presented. More than one of my friends have said they find the show boring, but I love it. “I Dreamed a Dream” is possibly the most famous showtune of all time (thanks a lot, Susan Boyle), not to mention the fact that Les Misérables is one of the most famous musicals in the world. I don’t even know where to begin when describing why the song is awesome. From a musical standpoint, it is a soaring ballad, incredibly hard to sing, and has beautiful orchestration. Character-wise, the song is Fantine’s reflection on her life, which has not gone all that well, to say the least. The song is about the optimistic view of the world that the young Fantine held, but as the song progresses, all the pain and loss of faith that has come from all the trials Fantine has faced become clear. Now, a lot of women have played Fantine, and most of them are excellent, but I saw no choice but to use the 25th Anniversary Concert recording for my clip, because it features Lea Salonga as Fantine, and Lea Salonga goes beyond excellent. While I try to avoid calling an actor “the best” in any given role, in this case, it’s just true. Her vocals are crystal clear, powerful, and technically perfect; on top of that, she’s a simply amazing actress. I hope you enjoy the clip as much as I do.
Clip: I Dreamed a Dream — Lea Salonga
10. Master of the House from Les Misérables (1987) — you didn’t really think that after I raved about Les Mis like that, I was going to only include one (over-used) song from it, did you? No, I am, in fact, using three songs from Les Mis on this playlist, meaning that on the musical diversity and addictiveness scale, it ranks up there with Wicked in my book. (The only drawback is, this show has no attractive green women who can fly.) “Master of the House” is another one of my favorites from this show, because it is the only upbeat song the whole show. Much like in Fiddler on the Roof (see above), there is very little to be happy about in Les Misérables (hence the name, The Miserable Ones). Everybody’s poor, everybody’s dying, and the main love story is horribly contrived. It would seem that the only people who are happy in this story, are the villains. M. and Mme. Thénardier are scummy, low-life people that you couldn’t imagine liking, but you have to because they’re so bare-faced about what jerks they are. When Thénardier sings an incredibly catchy song about how he’s the con man who rips travelers off by running the local inn, with a big smile on his face…you have to love it. You just have to. The thing about Thénardier is, he’s a thief, a corpse-looter, a business criminal, and the kind of guy you would never want to invite into your home, but it makes him happy. And that’s what makes him and Mme Thénardier the comic relief as well as the villains of the show. The recording I used is also from the 25th Anniversary Concert, not because I don’t like the original cast recordings of Les Mis, but because Matt Lucas, who played Thénardier in the filmed concert, was completely and utterly brilliant.
Clip: Master of the House — Matt Lucas and 25th Anniversary Concert Cast
11. Do You Hear the People Sing? from Les Misérables (1987) — last Les Mis song, I promise. But I think it would be some kind of mutiny to leave “Do You Hear The People Sing?” out of any comprehensive sampling of Les Misérables. While anyone who is well-informed will tell you that the musical is not necessarily about revolution (and in fact, it isn’t–it’s about redemption), the French revolution is the setting in which much of the story takes place. Well, one of the French revolutions. There was apparently more than one significant French revolution, which I was not aware of until I saw Les Mis and got incredibly confused by the timeline. The one we’re talking about here is the June Rebellion, and you can Google it if you’re curious. But I’m not here to teach you about history. “Do You Hear the People Sing?” is the theme for an uprising of the people. As previously mentioned, the majority of the characters in Les Misérables are lower-class citizens of Paris, and everyone is suffering economically. When they finally decide that they’ve had just about enough, the students build a barricade (also known as one kick-ass full stage set piece) in the streets of Paris and make their stand. Enjolras, the leader of the group, sings “Do You Hear the People Sing?” as they prepare for the revolution. As far as I’m concerned, it’s practically the anthem for Les Misérables, and it’s a great song. Its message is still applicable today. The recording is once again the O2 Concert Cast, because the 25th Anniversary Concert featured a huge ensemble of former Les Mis stars, and the recording is of over 200 people singing this. Freaking amazing.
Clip: Do You Hear the People Sing? — 25th Anniversary Concert Cast
12. The Phantom of the Opera from The Phantom of the Opera (1988) — you gotta love a Broadway musical that sounds like a combination of opera and Pink Floyd. Thank you, 1980s and Andrew Lloyd Webber. I really don’t know of any shows besides Phantom that are seemingly based entirely on rock synths. No, in all honesty, I do like the music from The Phantom of the Opera. I had to see it multiple times to really enjoy it, but it is a good show. (Not exactly the rave review you’d expect for the biggest Broadway show of the last 50 years, I suppose, but there it is.) The title song is arguably the most memorable from the show, although I’m sure there are people who would argue with me that it is “Music of the Night.” But “The Phantom of the Opera” is just a masterpiece; its sound is haunting and yet entrancing, with the ever-subtle echoing chorus part. As Christine is being kidnapped by the infamous opera ghost, she and he duet about the discovery of just what this entity is. And then she sings this ridiculously high note for a ridiculously long time, pretty much just because she can. It’s eccentric, certainly, but it fits perfectly for this show, and it’s undeniably a classic at this point. The original London cast (also the original Broadway cast) is in the clip below, which has Michael Crawford as the Phantom and Sarah Brightman as Christine.
Clip: The Phantom of the Opera — Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman
13. I’d Give My Life for You from Miss Saigon (1991) — “I’d Give My Life for You” is a song of undying maternal love, and although in Miss Saigon it takes place under very unusual circumstances, I think that doesn’t make it any less beautiful. (About those unusual circumstances: I’ll give you the condensed version–Kim, or “Miss Saigon,” is singing this song to her young son, who was fathered by an American soldier she fell in love with during the Vietnam war, but was soon after abandoned by.) Kim’s love as a mother, as she sings about it in this song, is an easily relatable emotion, even to a non-parent, and relativity is what makes a great character. Miss Saigon is a modern reinterpretation of Madame Butterfly (or, as a lesson on analogies I once read said, Madame Butterfly : Miss Saigon as La Bohéme : Rent), written by the composers of Les Misérables. When Lea Salonga sings this number on the original London cast recording (she was 18 at the time of the recording), her voice is so beautifully haunting that it adds a whole other dimension to the words she’s singing. (Okay, I admit it–I’m in love with Lea Salonga. Actually, we’re getting married; she’s just not aware of it yet.)
Clip: I’d Give My Life for You — Lea Salonga
Check back in for part B of The Showtunes Playlist 3, to be posted soon!
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