The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of Broadway Musicals

[ashling]

I know I am an old geezer - well, not that old, but old enough that I generally won't enter a thread with a subject line like "What are you listening to"
because 1) I won't know what the hell they are talking about, 2)I firmly believe that any group with "death,""bloodsucking,""motherf...,"" or "Phlegm" in their name could not possibly produce any sound that I want to hear, and 3) I have little or no social standing at DU anyway. :P

If any one of the above reasons sounds familiar, this may be the thread for you. If you are thrilled by Oscar & Hammerstein, Lerner & Lowe, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern,or even that Cats guy, please reply to this, my plea for musical affirmation.

For instance, my current "earworm" is: "If I loved you" from Carousel. I can't get it out of my head ... I was looking at YouTubes of Princess Bride a couple of days ago and clicked on one of Mandy Petemkin (sp?) singing this song. Now I find myself singin it over and over in my head. HELP.

That is all.

[Rhythm]

1. I've been earworming pieces from "Rent" and "Phantom of the Opera" for days...

It tickles me that my 7 yr old son is learning this early on to appreciate musical theater, even if right now it is just the theatrical versions.

Next summer, i'm hoping to take him to his first real play!

[ashling]

5. I used to listen to my parents' 78 RPMs of

of Showboat and Annie Get Your Gun .... Put great music in front of them and they will eat it up.

I'm not really familiar with the music from Rent, having fallen off the edge of the world some time before that musical appeared, :P and that Cats guy really only wrote one song: The Miserable Phantom Cats LOL

Every time I try to sing something else to try to change the song in my head, it comes out: "If I loved you......"

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. You've got me with Mandy Pantinkin and Princess Bride...

But you lose me with Carousel...the film soured me on the subject.

Us "Phlegm" lovers might just like opera and musicals as well, you know :)

My stepmother directed a "smaller" version of HMS Pinafore recently, and the music struck me as excellent. Thanks for opening this line of discussion!

[malta blue]

3. Oh no...you just stimulated my theatre bug and I

am now humming "Modern Major General" from "Pirates of Penzance". My grandmother used to moonlight in the costume depts in the NYC theatre district, so I went to many shows with her from the time I was 7 until about 22. One of my favorites was "The King and I" which I was lucky enough to see with Yul Brenner in the starring role.

:hi:

[ashling]

7. Just: Wow

You must have some great memories.

BTW, here are some variations on "Modern Major ..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDxxuHkUMRI

http://www.tk421.net/humor/cybrarian.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnreVTKtpMs

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~valkyrie/parody/luddite.html

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=610022

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=381014

[malta blue]

9. Thanks...

I got to go to the Tony awards once - a dear friend of my family (RIP) was a member of the voting board, and she produced many shows herself.

Damn - now that song is REALLY stuck in my head...

:hi:

[underpants]

4. Aaron Sorkin is writing the Flaming Lips "Yoshimi battles the pink robots" for Broadway

based on the song.

Look it up.

[trof]

6. I am with you right down to the ground, ashling.

Consider yourself 'affirmed'.
At least by this 66 year old geezer.
Porter is one of my favorites.
And the Gershwins.
And Sinatra's rendering of many of their songs.

Don't even get me started on Jolson and Satchmo.

Glenn Miller, the Dorseys, and best of all...The Four Freshmen.
Better romantic ballad jazz vocal quartet never existed.

Yeah, I see the "Who's better, the Freaking Mother Chainsawers or the Almost Dead Roadkill?" and I think "Hunh? Wha? Who?"

Just sign me
"Out Of It In Alabama"

[ashling]

12. Ah, Satchmo ... take a look at this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlbQPmXg08

[crispini]

8. I watched "Anything Goes" last night on DVD.

I do like Cole Porter songs, but the dancing in that one was ... meh... give me a good Gene Kelly musical if you want to see someone who can DANCE. :D

[trof]

11. NOW you did it. "In olden days a glimpse of stocking

Was looked on as something shocking,
But now, heaven knows,
Anything Goes.

Good authors too who once knew better words,
Now only use four letter words
Writing prose, Anything Goes."

One of Cole Porters BEST.
And boy do these word apply in SPADES today:

The world has gone mad today
And good's bad today,
And black's white today,
And day's night today,
When most guys today
That women prize today
Are just silly gigolos
And though I'm not a great romancer
I know that I'm bound to answer
When you propose,
Anything goes

[lightningandsnow]

10. I am obsessed with Wicked...

I have seen it twice, and listen to the soundtrack obsessively.

I haven't painted myself green yet, though.

[deadparrot]

13. I'm such a musical theatre junkie, it's not even funny.

My current favorites are Parade and Ragtime, though Wicked is always a fun listen.

I'm going to see national tour of The Drowsy Chaperone at the beginning of November, Wicked in December, and Avenue Q and The Wedding Singer (and possibly Wicked again) so far in 2008.

Believe me, if you ever want to chat about musicals, I'm your (wo)man. ;)

[KatyaR]

14. I'm a huge musical fan, too--

my favorites are Sweeney Todd, Evita, She Loves Me, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in The Ukrane, any Gilbert and Sullivan, and honestly, everything else--there's nothing like a musical to make my day.

[DarkTirade]

15. When I'm at work I'll often get songs from Oklahoma stuck in my head.

But that's because I sort packages, and often see packages going to Oklahoma. :)

That, and I played second violin in the pit orchestra for a small production of it.

[bbernardini]

16. I'm all over the map when it comes to musical theater.

One of my absolute favorites is Todd Rundgren's score for the stage adaptation of Joe Orton's "Up Against It," which was supposed to be the next Beatles movie after "Help!" As a musical, it never achieved great success, but it's one of Rundgren's best works. Really shows off his love for Bernstein and Gilbert & Sullivan.

Apart from that, I like both the traditional and not-so-traditional. Some of my favorites, in no particular order:

West Side Story
The Music Man
Little Shop Of Horrors
Bat Boy
Avenue Q
Legally Blonde (although I haven't seen the show, love the tunes...written by the same guy that did "Bat Boy")
Spring Awakening (same as above, except for the "Bat Boy" part)

[ashling]

17. Impossible

Impossible for a plain yellow pumpkin to become a golden carriage.
Impossible for a plain country bumpkin and a prince to join in marriage.
And four white mice will never be four white horses.
Such fol-de-rol and fiddle dee dee of courses.
Impossible!

But the world is full of zanies and fools
Who don't believe in sensible rules
And won't believe what sensible people say
And because these daft and dewey eyed dopes
Keep building up impossible hopes impossible
Things are happening every day!

[ashling]

18. Almost Like Being in Love

What a day this has been
What a rare mood I'm in
Why it's almost like being in love

There's a smile on my face
For the whole human race
Why it's almost like being in love

All the music of life seems to be
Like a bell that is ringing for me

And from the way that I feel
When the bell starts to peel
I would swear I was falling
I could swear I was falling
It's almost like being in love

Almost like being in love
Just like being in love

All the music of life seems to be
Just Like a bell that is ringing for me

And from the way that I feel
When the bell starts to peel
I would swear I was falling
I could swear I was falling
It's almost like being in love