well, That's Show Biz, 07-17-2022 16 Inspirational Songs

Inspirational Songs

“Well, That’s Show Biz!”

7-017-2022

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• <Underwriting>

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• Welcome to “well, That’s Show Biz!”. I am your host, Jeremy Freedman and each week I showcase music from Broadway, Movies, and Entertainers based on a theme with some anecdotes, information, and Commentary thrown in.

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• What is it that makes a song inspirational? Is it a hopeful lyric pointing to a better future? Is the inspiration found in an uplifting musical section. Is it something else or a combination of things? Today we are going to look at a few songs that many find to be inspirational.

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• And talking about inspirational, I recently watched Newsies: The Broadway Musical on Disney+ and I have to say that it was one of the most awesome musicals I ever seen filmed for television.  This was a filmed performance of the show and it had some of the original cast back.  Let’s start with the amazing choreography. The energy and moves of the dancers had me cheering and that it earned the Tony Award for Best Choreography is obvious. The set design seemed minimalist yet very appropriate for showing us late 1800s New York City.  The music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Jack Feldmen were powerful as was the acting.  Harvey Fierstein’s Book of the musical pushed the inspiring story of the 1899 NY Newsboy Strike along with many humorous and touching moments.  If you want to be inspired, I highly recommend Newsies: The Broadway Musical on Disney+. Don’t get this confused with the original movie version of Newsies which is also on Disney +.

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• The show “Newsies” has a score by Alan Menken and a book by Harvey Fierstein and is about the New York City Newsboys Strike of 1899. In the song, “Carrying the Banner”, the newsboys try to find the best in their lives of poverty.  The song “Move On” from Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday In The Park With George sung by Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters deals with a loss of inspiration in the process of making art. And the final song in this opening set is the finale of the movie Fame, “I Sing the Body Electric”, sung by the high school seniors at their graduation ceremony from the New York High School of The Performing Arts. But first, here’s “Carrying the Banner” from Newsies.

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• You just heard “Carrying the Banner” from Newsies, “Move On” from Sunday in The Park With George, and “I Sing The Body Electric” from the movie Fame.

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• We are looking at Inspirational songs this week on “well, That’s Show Biz!” on [station ID].  In this set we have Dick Van Dyke encouraging you to “Put On a Happy Face” from the original cast recording of Bye Bye Birdie. We are going to follow that with Gene Wilder as the original Willy Wonka singing about Pure Imagination. And finally, my mother would always say that no matter how bad it gets, “the sun always comes out”. This philosophy was put into the anthem “Tomorrow” from Annie originally sung by Andrea McArdle. Here’s Dick Van Dyke with “Put On a Happy Face”.

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• <Underwriting>

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• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” and I am your host Jeremy Freedman. And you just heard Dick Van Dyke with “Put On a Happy Face”, Gene Wilder with “Pure Imagination”, and Andrea McArdle with “Tomorrow” as we look at songs that provide inspiration.

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• In our third set, we will hear Carol Channing singing “Before The Parade Passes By” from Hello, Dolly.  Then John Rubenstein and company from the original cast of Pippin will sing about the coming of “Morning Glow”. And we will conclude this set with the Act 1 finale from Les Miserables, Colm Wilkinson and Company singing “One Day More”. Here’s “Before The Parade Passes By”.

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• We are listening to Inspirational Songs this week on “well, That’s Show Biz!” on WRUU, 107.5 FM, and you just heard “Before The Parade Passes By” from Hello, Dolly, “Morning Glow” from Pippin, and the cast of Les Miserables singing “One Day More”.

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• <PSA>

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• If you would like to suggest themes or songs for future shows, you can email me, Jeremy Freedman, at wruushowbiz@gmail.com and if you are enjoying the show, send an email to the station at WRUU.org.

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• We are looking at Inspirational Songs today on “well, That’s Show Biz!” and for our final set we are going to hear Barbra Streisand singing “Don’t Rain On My Parade” from the original Broadway cast recording of Funny Girl. Then we will hear Priscilla Lopez and the cast of A Chorus Line with “What I Did For Love”. The Inspirational song that defined my preteen and teen years was Richard Kiley singing “The Impossible Dream” from Man of LaMancha. And finally we will hear the rousing “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray.  Here’s Barbra Streisand with “Don’t Rain On My Parade”.

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• Well that’s it for this week’s “well, That’s Show Biz!”. I hope you found the music to be as inspiring as I did. Please email theme and song suggestions to wruushowbiz@gmail.com and tell the station that you enjoy the show by emailing the station at WRUU.org. So long ‘til next Sunday.