well, That's Show Biz, 06-5-2022 10 Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration

Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration

“Well, That’s Show Biz!”

6-5-2022

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• And “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over”.

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• You just heard “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel and welcome to a Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration on “well, That’s Show Biz!”. I am your host, Jeremy Freedman and every week I present music from Broadway, Movies, and Entertainers along with some anecdotes, information, and Commentary. This week we will be enjoying music from the catalog of composers Rodgers & Hammerstein.

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• But first, before listening to the next song, I would like to talk about the show on Amazon Prime Video called Live From Lincoln Center: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. Carousel was the follow up to Oklahoma! And was Richard Rodgers favorite show of theirs. I think it is mine as well. I got to see a production in the round at The Valley Forge Music Fair starring Robert Goulet in the lead role of Billy Bigelow. He wasn’t very good, acting more like a Las Vegas star than an actor, thanking people in the audience for coming every time he left the stage and walked up an aisle. However, the greatness of the show overcame the poor quality of its star.  The music soars and the emotional aspects of the story bring out the tears in the viewer. Now a televised recording of a live show is never as good as being there in person but you can still get a taste for the soaring music and tragedy of the show. Carousel begins, not with an Overture, but with the gorgeous Carousel Waltz which draws you into the story of Julie Jordan’s first meeting with carnival barker Billie Bilgelow.  If you enjoy Broadway and Rodgers and Hammerstein, you will enjoy Live From Lincoln Center: Carousel on Amazon Prime.

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• Oklahoma! Was Rodgers & Hammerstein’s first collaboration and we are going to hear Gordon MacRae and company from the movie version singing the title song. Then State Fair was originally a movie but became a Broadway show in 1996. We are going to hear Andrea McArdle sing “It Might As Well Be Spring”. And finally in this set, the sailors from the original cast of South Pacific will be singing “There Is Nothing Like a Dame”. Here’s “Oklahoma”.

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• You are listening to a Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration on “well, That’s Show Biz!” and you just heard “Oklahoma”, “It Might As Well Be Spring”, and “There Is Nothing Like a Dame”. For this next set, Flower Drum Song was revolutionary for having a practically all Asian cast. In this song two different generations of a family sing about “The Other Generation” from the movie version. Then we will hear Julie Andrews from the movie version of The Sound of Music sing about “The Lonely Goatherd”. Here is “The Other Generation” from Flower Drum Song.

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• You just heard “The Other Generation” from Flower Drum Song and “The Lonely Goatherd” from The Sound of Music on this Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration on “well, That’s Show Biz”.

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• <Underwriting>

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• You are listening to a Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration on “well, That’s Show Biz!”. I am your host Jeremy Freedman. If you would like to contact me, make theme or song suggestions, you can email me at wruushowbiz@gmail.com and if you are enjoying the show you can send the station that message by contacting the studio at WRUU.org.

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• Yul Brynner made a career playing the king of Siam in The King and I.  Here he is singing “A Puzzlement” from the original Broadway cast.  We will follow that with Edie Adams and Julie Andrews singing “Impossible; It’s Possible” from the made for TV 1957 recording of Cinderella. And finally in this set, Frank Sinatra was supposed to play Billy Bigelow in the movie version of Carousel but bowed out for reasons that we won’t go into at this time. He loved the song “Soliloquy” and recorded it several times. From this recording, you will hear how he probably would have been great in the role.  But first, Yul Brynner, “A Puzzlement” from The King And I.

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• You just heard “A Puzzlement” from The King and I, Impossible; It’s Possible” from Cinderella, and Frank Sinatra singing “Soliloquy” from Carousel.

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• For our final set on this Rodgers & Hammerstein Celebration on “well, That’s Show Biz!” on WRUU, we are going to start with “It’s a Grand Night For Singing” from the 1945 movie of State Fair. We will follow that with  “A Hundred Million Miracles” from the original Broadway cast of Flower Drum Song. Then we will hear Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner from the original cast recording of The King and I singing “Shall We Dance?”. And we will end with Julie Andrews singing “The Sound of Music”.  Here’s “It’s a Grand Night For Singing.

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• Well, that’s it for this edition of “well, That’s Show Biz!”. I am Jeremy Freedman. You can email me with your theme and song suggestions to wruushowbiz@gmail.com and if you like the show, please tell the studio at WRUU.org.