well, That's Show Biz, 11-13-2022 33 My Musical History

My Musical History

“Well, That’s Show Biz!”

11-13-2022

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• Welcome to “well, That’s Show Biz!”. I am your host, Jeremy Freedman, and this is the show that brings you music from Broadway, Movies, and Entertainers along with some anecdotes, information, and commentary all based on a theme. My birthday is coming up and I thought it might be fun to highlight musicals that I was associated with at different points in my life.

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• When I was little, my parents would bring me to every local production of Fiddler On The Roof that came to the South Jersey area. I would make a great Tevye today but back then I was more attracted to the role of the tailor Motel Kamsoil. I was even cast in the role in a Jewish production but I quit before the first rehearsal because the director, a local cantor, was a jerk who insulted my friend. We are going to hear Motel’s song, “Miracle of Miracles” sung by a young Austin Pendleton from the original production. When I was around 13, I saw a production of Man of La Mancha at Williams College summer theater. It affected me greatly and “The Impossible Dream” became the theme of my early life.  Here’s “Miracle of Miracles” from Fiddler On the Roof.

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• You just heard “Miracle of Miracles” from Fiddler on The Roof and Richard Kiley as Don Quixote singing “The Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha as we look into my musical history today on “well, That’s Show Biz!”.

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• My first show that I did was Once Upon A Mattress, my sophomore year in high school, where I was cast in the role of the Minstrel.  We are going to hear the Minstrel’s song that opens the show, “Many Moons Ago” which tells the story of The Princess and The Pea. As a junior, I was cast as Freddy Einsford Hill who sang “On The Street Where You Live” in My Fair Lady. And finally in this set, in my senior year in high school, I was given the lead role of Tommy in Brigadoon. We are going to hear Patrick Wilson sing “There But For You Go I”.  Here’s “Many Moons Ago” from Once Upon a Mattress.

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• <PSA>

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• You are listening to My Musical History in honor of my upcoming birthday today on “well, That’s Show Biz!” and you just heard “Many Moons Ago” from Once Upon A Mattress, “On The Street Where You Live” from My Fair Lady, and “There But For You Go I” from Brigadoon. You can see a typecasting trend here.

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• After college, I finally got to appear in a production of Man Of La Mancha at Circle Playhouse in New Jersey. I was cast in the largely non-singing role of Dr. Carrasco / The Knight of The Mirrors and it was here that I met my future acting teacher who was cast as Don Quixote mid-rehearsals when our original lead quit to take the same role in a paid production. To honor a grant commitment from the state of New Jersey, we did a concert version at an assisted living facility. Our padre couldn’t do this performance so I got to sing his song, “To Each His Dulcinea”. I was then cast in the chorus of South Pacific for Plays-In-The-Park in Edison, NJ. and had the small role of The Radio Man. We are going to hear “Bloody Mary” from the original production. And finally, the following year I got chosen for the chorus of Plays-In-The-Park’s phenomenal production of Sweeney Todd. We are going to hear “God, That’s Good!”  Here’s “To Each His Dulcinea” from Man Of La Mancha.

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• <Underwriting>

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• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” on [station ID] and we are examining My Musical History in honor of my upcoming birthday. And you just heard “To Each His Dulcinea” from Man Of La Mancha, “Bloody Mary” from South Pacific, and “God, That’s Good!” from Sweeney Todd.

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• The next role I got was as Richard Henry Lee in a production of 1776. I got to sing his rousing song “The Lees of Old Virgina” and learned how to play a role that was very different from myself. After that, I got cast as John / Judas in Circle’s production of Godspell and came out blowing a shofar and singing “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord”. Here’s “The Lees of Old Virginia”.

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• <PSA>

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• You just heard “The Lees of Old Virgina” from 1776 and “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” from Godspell as we look at My Musical History today on “well, That’s Show Biz!”. Circle Playhouse in Piscataway, NJ was my home base for theater and I was involved in other shows there. I did light and sound for A Little Night Music and we will hear from that “You Must Meet My Wife”. Next we will hear “Soon It’s Gonna Rain” from The Fantasticks which I produced for Circle, and finally in this set, we will hear ‘Everybody Ought to Have a Maid” from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum which I co-directed.  Here’s “You Must Meet My Wife” from A Little Night Music.

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• <other show promo>

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• You just heard “You Must Meet My Wife” from A Little Night Music, “Soon It’s Gonna Rain” from The Fantasticks, and “Everybody Ought To Have a Maid” fro A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum as we are looking at My Musical History in honor of my upcoming birthday.

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• To conclude My Musical History, we are going to look at three musicals that I was involved with as Student/Faculty musicals for Elizabeth High School in Elizabeth, NJ. First I was cast as Herbie, the agent in Gypsy. Although mostly a non-singing role, there were a couple of times when Herbie did sing. We are going to hear “Together Wherever We Go”. I introduced the director to “A Day In Hollywood / A Night In The Ukraine” to the director who made the first act into big choral numbers. I got yo open the show with “Just Go to the Movies”. And finally, I got to play the cowardly lion in “The Wiz” singing “I’m a Mean Ole Lion” doing an Elvis impression. See, he was The King.  Here’s “Together Wherever We Go”.

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• You just heard “Together Wherever We Go” from Gypsy. “Just Go To The Movies” from A Day In Hollywood / A Night In The Ukraine, and “I’m a Mean Ole Lion” from The Wiz as we finish looking at My Musical History on this edition of “well, That’s Show Biz!”. If you would like to contribute to future shows, send me your theme and song suggestions to wruushowbiz@gmail.com and contact the station at WRUU.org to tell them how much you enjoy the show.  See you next week.