This is one of my favorite songs about mothers -- and one of the littlest known, I'd think. It's from an unsuccessful musical, Juno, that opened in 1959 and only ran for 16 performances. But it had a pretty interesting pedigree. The show is based on the famous Irish play, Juno and the Paycock (an Irish pronunciation of "peacock") written by Sean O'Casey, and was adapted as a musical by Joseph Stein -- who in a few years would write the book for Fiddler on the Roof. And it had music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein (a protege of Kurt Weill), who had adapted The Threepenny Opera for its off-Broadway debut, and wrote the score to The Cradle Will Rock for Orson Welles. (The story surrounding that production was made into the film, Rocking the Cradle, made my Tim Robbins.) And Juno starred Shirley Booth. Shirley Booth is probably best-remembered for starring in the sitcom, Hazel, which won her two Emmy Awards playing the housemaid, though she also won a Tony Award and later an Oscar for starring in the powerful drama, Come Back, Little Sheba. She wasn't a great singer, but she stole the stage musical version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, in a supporting role. (It's later been suggested that this was, in part, the reason for that show's short run. She was so wonderful in the musical that it changed the focus of the show, and the balance of the tender story was off.) Later, she was in another flop musical, playing the Mother Superior in Look to the Lilies, a stage version of Lilies of the Field. Alas, Juno didn't last on Broadway. .But it did have several interesting songs. And most notably for me is this one -- "Song of the Ma."
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Last year, Broadway lyricist Sheldon Harnick passed away at the age of 99. But that means today him on the 100th anniversary of his birth. It's a notable occasion for the good fellow who won a Tony Award for Fiddler on the Roof, a Tony and Pulitzer Price for Fiorello!, and such other musicals with Jerry Bock as She Loves Me, The Apple Tree, The Rothschilds, Rex (with Richard Richard Rodgers), and the opera Captain Jinks and the Horse Marines -- and much more. As I've mentioned here, I interviewed Sheldon years ago when I was a student at Northwestern, and he returned to campus as Homecoming Grand Marshal. I then made a radio documentary from it for the school radio station, WNUR, and two decades later finally tracked down his address through a mutual friend to send him a copy. And when I told my mother after all that time that I finally found someone who knew where Harnick lived, she said, "Oh, you mean, Aunt Joan?" I was floored. I never had any idea that they grew up together and even went to college together. Though. no, she didn't have his address. When I sent him the radio documentary though and explained my further connection, he sent a handwritten note back, and the first line was, "OH, MY GOD!!! JOAN SERED!!! (which was her maiden name. And yes, this is the Aunt Joan who I wrote about here five Januarys ago for her surprise 90th birthday party. Happily, she's still going strong.) Though they've periodically crossed paths over the many decades, I was able to get them together 14 years ago when we all saw a production of his show She Loves Me at the Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois. (And yes, this was the production I've written about several times that starred Jessie Mueller before she left for Broadway and won a Tony Award for starring in the musical Beautiful.) But enough of all that. On with the show. Here's a wonderful, hour-long interview with Sheldon Harnick at the Kennedy Center when he was 90, and you'll see he's vibrant and entertaining. Know too that this isn't just an interview, but includes several of his songs from wonderful performers. And here's one of my favorite of his lesser-known songs, "In My Own Lifetime," from The Rothschilds, which starred Hal Linden who won the Tony Award as Best Actor. Harnick writes poetically and richly with the simplicity of almost everyday language, which is his hallmark. Years ago, when I made that aforementioned radio documentary for the college station, I ended it with this song -- which I preceded with a clip of Harnick talking about how he'd like people to listen to his songs and say, "Yeah. Yeah, that's true." And we'll end our celebration with this video from when Harnick was 94. singing absolutely wonderfully one of his classics (in fact, I think one of the best interpretations I've heard of the song), "Do You Love Me?" from Fiddler on the Roof with Judy Blazer. And I suspect Ms. Blazer is thrilled to be performing this with the song's lyricist. All the more so since it was promoting the opening of a revival of the show. A few years back, Disney celebrated "25 years of Disney on Broadway." In honor of the occasion, The View had six actresses, who originated on stage the roles that began as Disney movie characters, performing a medley of songs from their shows. These are Susan Egan (Belle in 'Beauty and the Beast'), Heather Headey (Nala in 'The Lion King,' and Aida in 'AIDA'), Ashley Brown (Mary in 'Mary Poppins'), Merle Dandridge (Kala in 'Tarzan'), Caissie Levy (Elsa in 'Frozen') and Patti Murin (Anna in 'Frozen'). It's very entertaining, and all are wonderful. One thing, though, stands out to me -- while all the other actress get up from their stools and walk downstage to sing their individual numbers, only Heather Headley (who I've posted many videos of and raved about) stays where she is, and calmly performs her song while sitting. And further, despite just sitting, blows everyone away. overflowing with texture, standing only to join everyone for the finale. While I'm admittedly biased, the user comments on the YouTube site overwhelmingly single out the same thing and agree with me. The James Corden late-night show might be gone, but browsing around YouTube, I cane across one of his “Crosswalk” The Musical” productions that I hadn’t seen or posted before. This was the Crosswalk version of Frozen, and it features all the films stars who provided voices -- Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad & Jonathan Groff. There are some goofy twists in it, and it’s pretty fun. When tracking down that last video I posted of the wonderful Theodore Bikel, recreating the “To Life” number, complete with dialogue in Yiddish, with Fyvush Finkle who did Fiddler on the Roof with him years earlier, I also came across this. It’s Bikel at a concert or some event, recreating “If I Were a Rich Man.” Two things stand out in his rendition. The first is that he performs it faster than most. (Whether that’s how he did it in the show or not, I don’t know.) And the other is that he sings it looking up, not out to the audience like most other do. And eventually I realized that it’s because, in the context of the song – which begins with him saying, "Dear God. You made many, many poor people. I realize, of course, that it’s not shame to be poor. But it’s no great honor, either. So, what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune.” And so, Bikel makes the very interesting choice to sing the entire song looking up at God. It’s very good. In 1995, Jacques D’Amboise received the Kennedy Center Honor. D’Amboise was a ballet dancer and choreographer, and I suspect is not extremely well-known today. But then most ballet dancers aren’t as well-known as movie stars and singers even at their height. But I post this for two reasons – but one above all. It’s because the first number of the tribute is a superbly choreographed and fun dance to the tune of Cole Porter’s “Let’s Misbehave”. Oddly, the video cuts out Walter Cronkite’s introduction of the performers, which is a huge shame, since the two of them are his children, Charlotte and Christopher D’Amboise. Christopher has had a successful career as a dancer, choreographer and director, and Charlotte is a highly-accomplished dancer and actress who’s received two Tony nominations on Broadway. (In fact, I’ve posted a glorious video of her in the Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Mary Martin, where she recreated the number she was then-performing in the revue Bob Fosse’s Broadway, superbly singing and soaring in “I’m Flying” from Peter Pan.) The two siblings are absolutely great in the number, but the best part is whenever the camera cuts back to their father -- with the biggest beaming smile you can imagine. Let me put it this way, I don’t particularly like dancing…and I absolutely love this. It’s great. And it’s topped by the glow from the father watching them honor him. Very nice as this full video is, this number and that reaction alone are the reason I’m posting this. But I do also like the finale number in the segment – which is a lot of fun for a reason you’ll discover – but I specifically like it, too, because it’s sung by a performer I like a great deal, Judy Kuhn. Okay, as a bonus, here's the performance I referred to above, the re-creation of the “I’m Flying” number from Peter Pan with Charlotte D'Amboise. Notable for me is that they do the full number, which includes my favorite part, the great (and rarely seen) Flying Ballet at the end, which I dearly love. And you'll note the reaction from the audience here -- and these are all sophisticate adults in tuxedos and ball gowns, not a child in sight. And above all that, as great as Charlotte D'Amboise is here -- can you imagine the pressure (and joy) of her performing this in front of Mary Martin?! UPDATE: And something I never noticed before, for all the many times I've watched this, but did finally after having posted this: at the very end, a moment before the video cuts off, you'll see applauding her and joyously beaming in the audience, a man at the 5:17 mark wearing glasses -- her father, Jacques D'Amboise. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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