well, That's Show Biz, 08-24-2025 4-21 Strange Musicals

Strange Musicals

“Well, That’s Show Biz!”

8-24-2025

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• Welcome to “well, That’s Show Biz!”. I am your host, Jeremy Freedman, and every week I bring 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 was pre-recorded.

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• Today is Strange Music Day. I couldn’t find enough songs to fill out a whole show so instead we are going to focus on songs from Strange Musicals.

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• If you think about it, most musicals are kind of strange by their very nature. I mean how many people burst into song to get their point across? But there are some musicals whose plots are downright strange. I am going to focus on four musicals that are not only strange but popular, some even winning the Tony Award for Best Musical.

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• We are going to start with the obvious. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats is about a group of actual cats that introduce themselves hoping to be chosen to rise to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn. Cats won the Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Musical. The Broadway production ran for 18 years and the London production ran for 21 years making Cats at the time the longest running musical in both theater districts.

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• From the musical Cats, here is the “Prologue: Jellicle Songs For Jellicle Cats” and the songs “The Rum Tum Tugger” and “ Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat”.

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• You just heard the “Prologue: Jellicle Songs For Jellicle Cats” and the songs “The Rum Tum Tugger” and “ Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat” from our first Strange Musical, Cats.

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• Today is Strange Music Day so we are playing songs from strange musicals. Andrew Lloyd Webber did not corner the market on strange musicals but he does have a lot of them. Shortly after Cats, he wrote a musical about toy trains that come alive in a boy’s dream. One of the trains, an obsolete steam engine named Rusty, races in a race against modern engines. The actors performed in roller skates. Although it did not have much success in the U.S., it ran for 7,409 performances in London and is the most successful musical in Germany where it has been running since 1988. From Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Starlight Express, here is the title song and the songs “Light at the End of the Tunnel” and “I Am the Starlight”.

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• You just heard “Starlight Express”, “Light at the End of the Tunnel” and “I Am the Starlight” from the strange Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical Starlight Express as we celebrate Strange Music Day today on “well, That’s Show Biz!”.

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

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• Today is Strange Music Day and we are celebrating by playing songs from strange musicals.

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• What could be stranger than a musical with the title of Urinetown which won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Musical. Urinetown is a satirical comedy that takes place in a dystopian future where water is scarce and private toilets are outlawed. From the musical Urinetown, here is the title song and the songs “Don’t Be the Bunny” and ‘Run, Freedom, Run!”.

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• We are listening to songs from strange musicals today and you just heard the songs “Urinetown”, “Don’t Be the Bunny”, and ‘Run, Freedom, Run!” from the strange musical Urinetown.

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• And now for our final strange musical to celebrate Strange Music Day, I offer to you a musical where a troupe of performers invite you in to witness the life of the son of King Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire. Throughout the play, the son seeks to find his place in the world while the players urge him to set himself on fire. Also throughout, we witness battles, orgies, the king beheaded, the king resurrected, and the grand finale where the son may or may not immolate himself.. I told you it was strange. It was also the first musical where Ben Vereen, in the original production, and Patina Miller, in the 2013 revival, won the Tonys for Best Leading Actor and Best Leading Actress for portraying the same role, the Leading Player.

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• From the strange musical Pippin, here are the songs “Magic To Do”, “Corner of the Sky”, “On The Right Track”, and the “Finale”.

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• We just heard “Magic To Do”, “Corner of the Sky”, “On The Right Track”, and the “Finale” from Pippin as we conclude our celebration of songs from strange musicals for Strange Music Day.

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• And that concludes this week’s edition of well, That’s Show Biz!”. If you would like to assist with a future show, send your theme and song suggestions to me at wruushowbiz@gmail.com. And if you enjoyed today’s show, please contact the station at WRUU.org and let them know. And don’t forget to tell your friends to join us every Sunday at 1pm for more of “well, That’s Show Biz!” on WRUU-LP, Savannah, GA, 107.5FM and WRUU.org.  We are Savannah Soundings, Community Radio with Global Soul.

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• Please stay tuned for “Music At The Movies”, coming up next, hosted by Aiden Peck and I will see you next week. So long.

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