well, That's Show Biz, 04-17-2022 3 - Comedic Songs

Comedic Songs

“Well, That’s Show Biz!”

4-17-2022

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• And welcome to “well, That’s Show Biz!”. I am your host, Jeremy Freedman and each show I will be bringing you music from Broadway, Movies, and Entertainers along with some anecdotes, opinions, and information.

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• I just finished reading Harvey Fierstein’s memoir, “I Was Better Last Night’, and for a theater geek like me, who came of age in the late 70s and early 80s, it was an emotional and nostalgic read. I started going to see theater on Broadway as a college freshman in 1978. It was around this time that Harvey started writing the three one-act plays that would become his opus, “Torch Song Trilogy”. In the memoir, Harvey relates all of the events in his life leading up to this moment as well as the intellectual and creative processes involved. I found it amazing to read how Harvey practically stumbled upon his career path. This was a time filled with sexual energy but on the cusp of the AIDS epidemic in this country. After Torch Song, Harvey goes on to talk about the creative and emotional processes that went into creating the glitzy Jerry Herman musical, La Cage Aux Folles. Both Torch Song and La Cage changed the face of Broadway, knocking down barriers at a time when a lot of people were putting barriers back up.  The memoir follows Harvey through his movie roles, the role of Edna Turnblat in Hairspray, the writing of Newsies and Kinky Boots, all the way to 2019, and a coda to 2022. As with anyone who lives their life in the limelight, Harvey is not against name dropping, and naming names, but not in a defamatory way.  He celebrates those people who helped him along the way, and gives great respect to those that didn’t. In his memoir, Harvey comes across as one of those truly nice guys, who bares his truths, and easily makes you fall in love with him, faults and all. It is a sweet and occasionally laugh out loud memoir, Harvey Fierstein - “I Was Better Last Night”.

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• You are listening to, “well, That’s Show Biz!” I’m your host, Jeremy Freedman. Our theme for this hour is Comedic Songs. These songs are used in various ways in theater. Often they help define a character or are used to break the tension of a situation.  Often the humor is found in just the lyric but sometimes the situation the actors are in provides the humor that makes us laugh.  And sometimes it is both.  We are going to start with the song “Comedy Tonight” from Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. The song itself is not funny but it tells the viewer that what they will be seeing is a farce.  When watching the song play out, the viewer witnesses many sight gags. We will follow that with Faith Prince singing “Adelaide’s Lament” from Guys and Dolls. Adelaide believes that her chronic cold symptoms may be psychosomatic due to her gambler boyfriend’s reluctance to marry her. Then we will hear the song “Natasha” from Act 2 of A Day in Hollywood / A Night in The Ukraine. Groucho Marx singing to a Margaret Dumont-like actress in a faux Marx Brothers movie. And we will close this set with Angela Landsbury and Bea Arthur singing “Bosom Buddies” from Mame. Here’s Zero Mostel with “Comedy Tonight”.

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• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” on [station ID]. I’m your host, Jeremy Freedman. Our theme today is Comedic Songs and you just heard “Comedy Tonight, “Adelaide’s Lament”, “Natasha”, and “Bosom Buddies”.

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• <PSA>

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• Stephen Sondheim was the most important Broadway composer of the last half of the 20th century. He fully integrated plot and character development with music and lyrics. And his lyrics were brilliantly clever but never forced.  In Sweeney Todd, he makes us laugh at some of the most gruesome themes ever witnessed on the stage.  In a nutshell, Sweeney Todd, is a barber seeking justice and revenge because of an evil Judge and ends up murdering someone.  Mrs. Lovett, who owns a meat pie shop underneath Sweeney’s barbershop and devises a plan to get rid of the body.  The moment that her plan comes into focus is fraught with tension. The tension is broken when we realize the absurdity of her plan.  The two go on a pun making marathon with such joy that we are overcome.  If all you know of the scene and song, “A Little Priest”, from the movie version of Sweeney Todd, then you might not have picked up on the humor as the director, Tim Burton, decided to have the scene played seriously removing the playfulness between the two actors. Here are Len Cariou & Angela Lansbury singing “A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. 

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• <Underwriting or PSA>

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• You just heard Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury sing “A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd.  After this next set, I will tell you how you can contact me and give me song and theme suggestions. 

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• It is not often that someone is in just one scene in a Broadway musical, steals the show from its star, and wins the Tony award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. But that is what happened when Marilyn Cooper outdueled Lauren Bacall when they sang about how “The Grass is Always Greener” in Kander and Ebb’s Woman of The Year. Then we are going to hear the “Stepsister’s Lament” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. And finally you will hear the classic, “You Gotta Have a Gimmick”, from Gypsy, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Here’s Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Cooper from Woman of the Year, “The Grass is Always Greener”.

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• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” on [station ID]. I’m Jeremy Freedman and you just listened to “The Grass is Always Greener” from Woman of The Year, “Step Sister’s Lament” from Cinderella, and “You Gotta Have a Gimmick” from Gypsy. If you would like to email me any theme or song recommendations, you can contact me at wruushowbz@gmail.com. That’s wruushowbiz@gmail.com. 

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• We are going to conclude today’s show with Paul Lynde leading the way about “Kids” from the movie version of “Bye Bye Birdie” followed by Kristin Chenoweth, as Charlie Brown’s sister, singing of “My New Philosophy” from You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. Then Dorothy Louden will tell us about “Little Girls” from Annie. And we are going to close it out with another showing of cleverness from the great Stephen Sondheim. In Into The Woods, Sondheim gives us two shallow and narcissistic princes, one in love with Cinderella and the other with Rapunzel.  They each try to outdo each other’s “Agony” in this song that reveals their personalities to the audience. Here’s Paul Lynde with “Kids”

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• The movie version leaves out the reprise of this song which shows that the shallow princes have, later on in the show, discovered Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.  But we won’t leave it out. Here’s the reprise of “Agony”.

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• We just heard Paul Lynde with “Kids” from Bye, Bye, Birdie, Kristin Chenoweth and “My New Philosophy” from You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Dorothy Loudin with her “Little Girls” from Annie, and “Agony” and its reprise from Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods.

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• Well that’s our show for this week.  You can contact me, Jeremy Freedman, your host for “well, That’s Show Biz!” at wruushowbiz@gmail.com.  Send me your song or theme recommendations.  And you are listening to [station ID].