Baltimore

The other day, I mentioned going to an Audra McDonald concert.  One of the songs she sang was a wonderful comic piece called "Baltimore."  As I sat listening and enjoying it, I thought it had much of the same whimsy and charm of one of my favorite comic cabaret songs, "Taylor the Latte Boy," which I've posted a couple versions of her performed by Kristin Chenoweth, including here.

When she finished the number, to huge applause, Ms. McDonald mentioned how that song was written by Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich -- "who wrote 'Taylor the Latte Boy'"!!!  

Well, it turns out out I have a better ear than I thought....

There's a video of Audra McDonald singing it online, but it's a studio recording, and as wonderful as her performance is in the video, I think that the song itself suffers from not having an audience and reacting with laughter.  (What she did onstage with the song exploded the house.)  I was, however, able to track down another version, sung by Victoria Huston-Elem.  She's not as good as Audra McDonald -- hardly a fair comparison -- but she does a very fun job with the song, and it's a lively performance in concert.