well, That's Show Biz, 08-14-2022 20 Back To School

Back To School

“Well, That’s Show Biz!”

8-14-2022

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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 bring you music from Broadway, Movies, and Entertainers all based on a theme with some anecdotes, information, and commentary thrown in.

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• It’s that time of year again. Some schools have already started with others starting within the next few weeks.  As a former high school science teacher for most of 30 years, I know the feeling very well of getting physically and mentally psyched to do it all over again after a grueling year. During that time, I was involved with several student/faculty theater productions. And if any of you are teachers or students, I highly recommend these types of productions. Students and teachers see each other in a different light outside of the classroom. Also, many students do not have the greatest work ethic so they can see through their adult acting partners what it means to be more dedicated to the craft. So with that, this week’s theme is Back To School.

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• The teenage years are usually awkward especially for that outsider desperately wanting to fit in. This is evident in Dear Evan Hansen as Evan arrives for the first day of school tapping on the glass and “Waving Through a Window”. Then Gertude Lawrence meets her students for the first time in “Getting to Know You” from the original cast of The King and I. We will follow that with “Learn Your Lessons Well” from the 2011 revival of Godspell. And we will conclude this opening set with Frankie Avalon singing “Beauty School Dropout” from the movie version of Grease. Here’s Ben Platt with “Waving Through a Window” from Dear Evan Hansen.

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• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” on WRUU 107.5 FM in Savannah, Georgia and you just heard “Waving Through a Window”, from Dear Evan Hansen, “Getting to Know You” from The King and I, “Learn Your Lessons Well” from Godspell, and “Beauty School Dropout” as we pay respect to our teachers and students who will be heading back to school in the next few weeks.

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• Our second set is an homage to college. The musical Good News opened in 1927 and takes place in a college. One of its hit songs is “The Varsity Drag. This is from a 1993 updated production by the Music Theater of Wichita. The great Broadway composer, Cole Porter, attended Yale University where he wrote the Yale fight song, “Bull Dog”. This event was shown in the movie Night and Day starring Cary Grant as Cole Porter. I couldn’t find that recording but here is the Ambrosian Chorus and the London Symphony Orchestra with Cole Porter’s “Bull Dog”. This next song is for all my friends and family back in New Jersey. The musical High Button Shoes, originally starring comic Phil Silvers, is set in New Brunswick, NJ and Atlantic City.  Legend has it that a Rutgers football player once remarked, “I’d die for dear old Rutgers”. For the 11 o’clock number in the show, Phil Silvers sings “Nobody Ever Died for Dear Old Rutgers”. And finally, in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the main character played by Robert Morse tries to get in good with the President of the company he works for, played by Rudy Vallee, joining him in singing “Grand Old Ivy”. Here’s “The Varsity Drag” from the 20s musical Good News.

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• <Underwriting>

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• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” on [station ID] and you just heard “The Varsity Drag” from Good News, Cole Porter’s “Bull Dog”, the Yale University fight song, Phil Silver’s with “Nobody Ever Died For Dear Old Rutgers” from High Button Shoes, and “Grand Old Ivy” from How To Succeed In Business Without Even Trying as we head Back To School for this week’s theme.

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• Starting off our third set, we have the Peanuts gang struggling over a “Book Report” from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Tom Lehrer was an M.I.T. mathematics professor who also wrote and performed satirical song parodies. He wrote the song “New Math” for a weekly television show called That Was The Week That Was. And finally, in the musical Billy Elliot, Billy meets his dance teacher for the first time who sings “Shine” to her students.  Here’s Charlie Brown and Company with “Book Report”.

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• You just heard “Book Report” from You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, “New Math” by musical satirist Tom Lehrer, and “Shine” from Billy Elliot as we go Back To School for this week’s edition of “well, That’s Show Biz!” If you are enjoying the show, please tell the radio station at WRUU.org and if you would like to send me theme and song suggestions, you can email me at wruushowbiz@gmail.com.

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• <PSA>

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• Closing out our Back To School themed edition of “well, That’s Show Biz!”, we will start with Julie Andrews teaching the Von Trapp children how to sing with “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music. Then “Carefully Taught” from the film version of South Pacific, and finally, we are going to hear the Beach Boys’ “Be True to Your School” from their Live 50th Anniversary Tour. Here’s Julie and the kids with “Do-Re-Mi”.

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• You just heard “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music, “Carefully Taught” from South Pacific, and The Beach Boys’ “Be True to Your School”. To all the teachers and students who are listening, have a great new school year and come back next Sunday as we play Inspirational Songs on “well, That’s Show Biz!”.