well, That's Show Biz, 08-25-2024 3-21 Beautiful Songs

Beautiful Songs

“Well, That’s Show Biz!”

08-25-2024

• You are listening to [Station ID].

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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.

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• Today’s show is all about Beautiful Songs.

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• <Play “Maria”>

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• You just heard “Maria” from West Side Story, music by Leonard Berstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

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• We are listening to Beautiful Songs today. Notice I didn’t say MOST Beautiful Songs because in this case, beauty is in the ear of the listener.

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• What is it about a song that makes us say it’s beautiful? Why is “Maria” a beautiful song? Is it the melody, the lyric, the lush orchestrations, the singer, a combination of some of these or all? We are going to look at songs today that I think are beautiful and we are going to think about what it is that makes them beautiful songs.

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• This first set includes two more songs about women. First up, is the gorgeous song “Marianne” from Jerry Herman’s The Grand Tour. Then we are going to hear “Johanna” from Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. The first is lush, the second has a yearning high note. And we are going to close this set with a song that the producers wanted to cut from Funny Girl because they hated it. Thankfully, composer Jules Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill insisted on keeping it in. That song would be “People”.  Here’s “Marianne” from The Grand Tour.

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• You just heard the Beautiful Songs “Marianne” from Jerry Herman’s The Grand Tour. “Johanna” from Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, and “People” from Styne and Merril’s Funny Girl.

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• <PSA>

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• We are listening to Beautiful Songs today and thinking about what makes them beautiful.

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• Often a beautiful song will make us think about a special time or a special place. In this set, we are going to open with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Bali Ha’i” from South Pacific. We will follow that with George Gershwin’s “Summertime” originally from Porgy & Bess. This cover is by Colm Wilinson. Then we will hear the song, “I Dreamed a Dream” from Schonberg and Boublil’s Les Miserables. And we will close the set with Hamlisch and Kleban’s “What I Did For Love” from A Chorus Line.  Here’s the Beautiful Song, “Bali Ha’i” from South Pacific.

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• You just heard the Beautiful Songs “Bali Ha’i” from South Pacific, “Summertime” from Porgy & Bess, “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables, and “What I Did For Love” from A Chorus Line. We are examining what makes a song beautiful today on “well, That’s Show Biz!”.

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• <Underwriting>

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• <Station Promo>

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

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• Our theme today is Beautiful Songs and we are examining what it is that makes a song beautiful.  The theme is not MOST Beautiful Songs as beauty is in the ear of the listener.  What is it that makes a song beautiful to our senses? Is it the melody, the lyrics, the orchestrations, the vocalist? Is it a combination of two or more of these?

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• This third set includes more modern sensibilities. The first song in this set is “Come to Your Senses” from Jonathan Larson’s Tick, Tick…Boom!. We are going to follow that with “Dance with You” from The Prom by composer Matthew Sklar and lyricist Chad Beguelin. And speaking of composer Jonathan Larsen, he is most famous for his musical Rent. The song “Without You” has a simple melody and simple lyrics yet it dives deeply into our emotions. And we will close this set with Stephen Schwartz’ song “Beautiful City” which was written for the film version of Godspell. Here’s “Come to Your Senses” from Tick, Tick…Boom!.

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• Our theme today is Beautiful Songs and you just heard “Come to Your Senses” from Tick, Tick…Boom!. “Dance with You” from The Prom, “Without You” from Rent, and “Beautiful City” from Godspell.

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• <Other Show Promo>

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• <Donation Copy>

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

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• To conclude today’s show about Beautiful Songs, we first have this beautiful Andrew Lloyd Weber song from Love Never Dies, lyrics by Glenn Slater from their sequel to Webber’s Phantom of The Opera. This version of their song, “Till I Hear You Sing”, is sung by my cousin Ethan Freeman. And we will conclude with “Time Heals Everything” from Jerry Herman’s Mack and Mabel.  Here’s “Till I Hear You Sing” from Love Never Dies.

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• You just heard “Till I Hear You Sing” from Love Never Dies and “Time Heals Everything” from Mack and Mabel. And that concludes today’s show on Beautiful Songs. Did any of your favorites make today’s show? There are so many beautiful songs that we will do this theme again.

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

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• And make sure you get your friends to join us every Sunday at 1 pm EDT for more of “well, That’s Show Biz!” on [Station ID]. See you next week.