well, That's Show Biz, 07-30-2023 2-18 Composer: Cy Coleman

Composer: Cy Coleman

“Well, That’s Show Biz!”

07-30-2023

• You are listening to [station ID]

• 
  

• 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 along with some anecdotes, information, and commentary all based on a theme.

• 
  

• This week’s show focuses on composer and jazz pianist Cy Coleman who as a child prodigy was giving piano recitals at the age of 6 in places such as Carnegie Hall in NY. His early career was as a successful classical and jazz performer but branched out as a songwriter. His most successful collaborations in the beginning were with lyricist Carolyn Leigh and they had some monstrous pre-Broadway hits. We are going to hear two of them, 1957’s “Witchcraft” sung here by Frank Sinatra and 1959’s  “The Best Is Yet To Come” sung here by Michael Buble.

• 
  

• You just heard two pop standard hits composed by Cy Coleman, “Witchcraft” and “The Best Is Yet To Come”. In 1960, Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh hit Broadway with the Lucille Ball starring musical Wildcat about discovering oil in Texas. Due to an illness to star Lucille Ball, the show closed after only 171 performances but did produce this hit song, “Hey, Look Me Over”.

• 
  

• You just heard Lucille Ball singing “Hey, Look Me Over” from Cy Coleman’s first Broadway show Wildcat. Two years later, in 1962, Coleman and Leigh opened their next show Little Me with a book by Neil Simon which starred the comic Sid Caesar playing multiple roles. It produced two hit songs “I’ve Got Your Number” and “Real Live Girl”. We are going to hear Sid Caesar with “Real Live Girl” and the upbeat title song.  Here’s “Little Me”.

• 
  

• You just heard “Real Live Girl” and the title song to 1962’s Little Me as we look at the Broadway career of composer Cy Coleman today on “well, That’s Show Biz!”

• 
  

• <PSA>

• 
  

• Our theme today is the Broadway composer Cy Coleman. He and lyricist Carolyn Leigh never really got along and in 1964, at a party, he met lyricist Dorothy Fields. When he asked her if she would like to collaborate with him, she answered, “Thank God somebody asked”. Their first collaboration resulted in probably his most famous and popular musical, 1966’s Sweet Charity. It introduced many popular songs. We are going to hear Debbie Allen sing “If My Friends Could See Me Now” from the 1986 revival, Gwen Verdon sing “I’m a Brass Band” from the original production, and Stubby Kaye and company singing “I Love To Cry At Weddings” from the 1969 movie version. Here’s Sweet Charity.

• 
  

• You just heard “If My Friends Could See Me Now”, “I’m a Brass Band” and “I Love To Cry At Weddings” from Cy Coleman’s Sweet Charity. After an aborted attempt at a musical about Eleanor Roosevelt, Coleman and Fields returned to Broadway in 1973 with Seesaw. We are going to hear Michelle Lee sing “Nobody Does It Like Me”.

• 
  

• You just heard “Nobody Does It Like Me” from Seesaw as we look at the Broadway career of composer Cy Coleman today on “well, That’s Show Biz!”

• 
  

• <Underwriting>

• 
  

• You are listening to “well, That’s Show Biz!” on [station ID]

• 
  

• We are examining the Broadway career of composer Cy Coleman today. In 1974, Dorothy Fields’ death at the age of 74 ended their partnership. In 1977, with book and lyrics by Michael Stewart, Coleman had a successful hit with the musical I Love My Wife, a satire about the sexual revolution in the 1970s. I couldn’t find the original cast recording but I did find the recording of the backer’s audition. Here’s Cy Coleman with the title song to I Love My Wife.

• 
  

• You just heard the title song to Cy Coleman’s I Love My Wife. In 1978, Coleman collaborated with lyricists Betty Comden and Adoph Green on the musical On The Twentieth Century about a bankrupt theater producer trying to recruit his former star to appear in his new play as they travel across the country in the train known as The Twentieth Century. The show starred John Cullum, Madeline Kahn, Imogene Coca, and a before he was famous Kevin Kline. Madeline Kahn left the show after about two months citing vocal issues but she was not easy to get along with. We are going to hear her sing the song “Never” and then John Collum and Kahn will sing the duet “Our Private World” as they each secretly declare their love for each other. Here’s On The 20th Century.

• 
  

• You just heard “Never” and “Our Private World” from Cy Coleman’s On The 20th Century. In 1980, Coleman reteamed with Lyricist Michael Stewart for the musical Barnum about the life of showman P.T. Barnum. It starred Jim Dale and a before she was famous Glenn Close as Barnum’s wife. Here is Jim Dale singing Barnum’s most famous saying, “There Is a Sucker Born Ev’ry Minute” and with Glenn Close singing “I Like Your Style”.

• 
  

• You just heard “There Is a Sucker Born Ev’ry Minute” and “I Like Your Style” from Barnum as we look at the career of composer Cy Coleman today on “well, That’s Show Biz!”

• 
  

• <Other Show Promo>

• 
  

• <PSA>

• 
  

• If you would like to help out with a future show, you can send me your theme and song suggestions to wruushowbiz@gmail.com. And if you are enjoying today’s show, please contact the station at WRUU.org and let them know.

• 
  

• We are showcasing the Broadway career of composer Cy Coleman today. In 1989, Coleman teamed up with lyricist David Zippel to create the Tony Award winning Best Musical, City of Angels inspired by the hard-boiled detectives of film noir of the 30s and 40s. Here’s the song “You’re Nothing Without Me”.

• 
  

• You just heard the song “You’re Nothing Without Me” from Cy Coleman’s Tony winning musical City of Angels. The next year, was another success, The Tony winning musical, The Will Rogers Follies again with Comden and Green back as lyricists and which starred Keith Carradine in the title role. Here he is singing about Will Rogers’ most famous saying “Never Met a Man I Didn’t Like”.

• 
  

• You just heard “Never Met a Man I Didn’t Like” from The Will Rogers Follies. A little trivia, Cy Coleman is the only composer to win consecutive Tony awards for Best Score at the same time that the musicals won for Best Musical, City of Angels and The Will Rogers Follies. Although Stephen Sondheim won three consecutive Tony Awards for Best Score for Company, Follies, and  A Little Night Music, surprisingly Follies did not win Best Musical.

• 
  

• Cy Coleman’s last Broadway musical was 1997’s The Life, a gritty look at pimps, prostitutes, and drug dealers in New York City. Here is “Use What You Got” from Cy Coleman’s The Life.

• 
  

• You just heard “Use What You Got” from Cy Coleman’s final Broadway musical, The Life. There was going to be one more musical that was performed outside of New York called Like Jazz  and was going to be produced on Broadway in 2006 retitled as In the Pocket but it never opened.

• 
  

• I hope you enjoyed this look at the Broadway career of composer Cy Coleman. If you would like to assist with a future show, you can send me your theme and song suggestions to wruushowbiz@gmail.com and if you enjoyed today’s show, contact the station at WRUU.org and let them know. See you next week.