You’ve been patient. You’ve been curious. You’ve been nagging me. And, really, it’s time I revealed them. You’re sick to death of thinking about it. You couldn’t care less. Anyway, here they are.
My top twelve favorite Broadway showtunes. Listen to the interview here… unless it gets pulled tomorrow, which is possible, in which case you missed it.
1. Mamma, Mamma by Frank Loesser from The Most Happy Fella (OBC, 1956, sung by Robert Weede)
2. Story of My Life by Bernstein/Comden/Green, cut from Wonderful Town, this recording is on Leonard Bernstein’s New York (sung by Judy Blazer)
3. Giants In The Sky by Sondheim from Into The Woods (OBC, 1987, Ben Wright)
4. Out of This World by Arlen/Mercer from movie “Out Of This World” (1945, Bing Crosby) this recording is on A Vintage Year(Live) (George Shearing (piano) & Mel Tormé (vocals))
5. Hurry! It’s Lovely up Here by Lerner and Lane from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (OBC, 1965, Barbara Harris)
6. Speak Low by Kurt Weill from One Touch of Venus (1943), this recording on Lotte Lenya: American Theater Songs (Lotte Lenya)
7. Right As The Rain by Harold Arlen from Bloomer Girl (1944) (Jessica Molaskey)
8. Sorry-Grateful by Stephen Sondheim from Company this is the 2006 revival sung by Keith Buterbaugh, orchestrated by my friend Mary-Mitchell Campbell
9. The Schmuel Song by JRB from The Last Five Years (OBC) 2002 (Norbert Butz)
10. Migratory V by Adam Guettel from Myths And Hymns (OBC) 1998 (Theresa McCarthy)
11. Laughing Matters by Dick Gallagher/Mark Waldrop from When Pigs Fly (OBC) 1996 (Jay Rogers)
12. Sunday by Sondheim from Sunday In The Park With George (OBC) 1985
Agree with all of those, but especially Schmuel. Absolutely, hands down my favorite song from l5y and one that i think everyone should hear. It gives me goosebumps every time i hear it, and I’ve been hearing it for quite a while now 🙂
I was just coming to comment on the Schmuel song too. Love that – it’s such a reminder to us artists that if we commit, we can really make things happen. If we really want them to happen, that is.
It’s funny – I really didn’t like that song at all the first time I heard it and kept skipping past it. But when I was too far from the controls to skip past it I heard the song and really listened one day and thought, gawd, that’s brilliant. Now it’s one of my favorites.
I LOVE Giants in the Sky. I love that whole show. Still miss Boom Crunch, but ah well (cut before Broadway. Cut even before leaving La Jolla, if memory serves). And of course, Sunday from Sunday in the park is so lush and gorgeous.
Sorry-Grateful used to be one of my staples, but I need more hope in my life, and that song — well, that show, is pretty depressing. Yeah, I know, it ends on a quasi hopeful note. But still. Great music. But depressing, and I am not in a place for that these days. The real world is depressing enough. I’m looking to escape a bit when possible…!
I have to get your album. I was craving “Big Wings” all day today for some reason. And Air. And Life is not a Camera. And She. And This Ordinary Thursday. Alright. That’s it. Off to Amazon.com, even though I understand they’re a ‘red’ company and I try to buy ‘blue’…
Oh – and surely you’ve heard Jonathan Larson’s hilarious take-off on Sunday from Tick Tick…Boom! I laughed so hard the first time I heard it!
Sunday
In the blue, silver chromium diner
On the green, purple, yellow, red stools
Sit the fools…
…Who’d pay less at home
Drinking coffee light and dark
And cholesterol
And bums, bums, bums,
Bums, bums, bums,
Bums, bums, bums,
People screaming for their toast
In a small SoHo cafe
On an island in the rivers
On an ordinary Sunday
Sunday
Sunday
Sunday
Brunch!
I’m so glad you also put on #7. Perhaps my favorite- especially your arrangement.
So glad Steve got multiples, too!
Love, A
It’s funny, but what real history lisa said about the Schmuel Song is *exactly* how i felt about “Nobody Needs to Know”…i kept skipping past it until one day I listened to it all the way through, and now it’s one of my favorite songs.
I’ve seen Jonathan Larson’s parody of Sunday, and it’s hilarious. Especially when he says, “Order… I’d like an omelette with no yolks. Tension… I said i wanted an omelette with no yolks! That’s why you’re JUST a waiter. Balance… Whooooaaa…..crash.”
I’m so glad we had one in common: my #1 was your #12. Hooray! Wonderful list, Georgia.
And might I add, I finally scraped together enough pennies to purchase “This Ordinary Thursday” and I cannot ‘put it down.’ It’s fantastic.