Tony, Tony

The Tony Awards were Sunday night, so I thought I would share some of the highlights.

The Opening Number



The winner for best revival of a musical: Hair



Best Score winner (and my personal favorite show from this year): Next to Normal



Best Musical winner: Billy Elliot

Song of the Day- Day 8 "Fire and Rain"

For today:

"Fire and Rain"
by James Taylor




Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can't remember who to send it to

I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

Won't you look down upon me, Jesus
You've got to help me make a stand
You've just got to see me through another day
My body's aching and my time is at hand
And I won't make it any other way

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head around
Well, there's hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things
to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you, baby, one more time again, now

Thought I'd see you one more time again
There's just a few things coming my way this time around, now
Thought I'd see you, thought I'd see you fire and rain, now

So far, Tori's blog has featured music by Pink Floyd, The Scorpions, The Killers, The Agape Rose, Rush, Panic! At the Disco, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan.

I noticed a definite lack of folk artists on her list, so I thought, in my guest post, I'd remedy that.

I was raised on folk music--Carly Simon, the Carpenters, Simon and Garfunkel, and, of course, James Taylor.

One of the most important things that my dad has shared with me is a love of music, and James Taylor was one of the first artists he shared with me. Of his songs, "Fire and Rain" has always been particularly interesting to me, because there's so much of a personal story in it.

The rumor is that the song is about Taylor's girlfriend (Suzanne) dying in a plane crash ("Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground'). Though that story would be deep and personal enough, it is not the real story behind this song.

James Taylor, in explaining the song, divides it into three verse. The first is, in fact, about the suicide of a woman named Suzanne. Suzanne was not a romantic interest of Taylor's, but a friend from his days in New York with a band called The Flying Machines.

Part two of the song focuses on Taylor's struggle with heroin addiction following his return to the U.S. after recording his debut album for the Beatles' Apple Records in London. And part three refers to Taylor's five-month recovery process at a private psychiatric institution, Austen Riggs.

Taylor uses this compelling and plaintive song to chronicle the story of the struggles of his early career-- his struggles with drugs and depression. The lyrics are artful and his singing and playing is, as always heartfelt.

One of the best things about this song is that it's one that, whether you know the intended meaning or not (and now you do), you can find something meaningful in it.

So that's my post for "Song of the Day." Check Tori's blog at http://momentarylapseofmusic.blogspot.com/ for the earlier songs of the day and for the upcoming songs.

Blue Hair

A song that a friend introduced me to last night is what's making me happy today. It's called "Blue Hair" and is performed here by Cortney Wolfson, who was directed by Andrew Keenan-Bolger (check my blog roll for his blog).

From A Smoke Filled Bar

So in the last post, I said I'd try to post something every day that makes me happy.

Today the thing that makes me happy is jazz music. There's something incredibly soothing about sitting around, listening to a softly playing piano and a mellow saxophone playing, while a velvety voiced woman sings, sounding. The image of a woman in a sparkling gown, singing into an old-style microphone in a dark, smoke filled bar is one that always makes me feel better. Here are some of my favorite jazz songs.

"They Can't Take That Away From Me"



"Moonlight Serenade"



"At Last"

Final Frenzy!

Well, December is here, and that can only mean one thing!

That's right-- finals.

Finals. The bane of a college student's existence.

Tomorrow is Dead Day, and finals start on Thursday. And it's terrible.

So, to lower my stress level, I'm just going to share some of what I've been up to lately.

I've been able to hang out with my friends again. (Wonderful how that happens when you finish a show--the free time eats you alive. Seriously, you have all of these hours and nothing to do with them anymore.) And that's been great.

Also, I've had the chance to read some stuff that's not come from my Lit book. Right now I'm reading Lamb by Christopher Moore. So far, it's pretty great--I recommend it if you're looking for something funny to read. After I finish it, I've got a Bette Davis biography to read.

I'm also trying to branch out into some new music. I'm starting to get tired of some of the stuff that I've been listening to for ages and ages (makes sense, right?). So here's where you can help me.

Suggest some songs for me to check out. Two or three. Any genre, any time period, whatever. I'll give them a listen. And, maybe, later on I''ll suggest some of my favorites for you.

So give me some music. Now. Go.

Post Drought

Well, just as I was starting to get back in the swing of posting, something new has come up. Because of conflicts (someone else's, not mine), I've been asked to play Jenny in a local production of Company.

This is good news for me.

It's not-so-good news for the blog.

For the next six weeks or so, my rehearsal schedule will be pretty heavy.

But fret not! I'll do all that I can to keep posting regularly. Sort of. Yeah.

I'll try to post some pictures and/or videos from the show as I get them, if any of you are interested.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you all fair warning.

Be good while I'm gone!

Musical Friday

So I'm toying with the idea of devoting every Friday's blog (or maybe every other Friday's blog... I haven't decided yet) to sharing videos from musicals. I'm going to do it today either way, but I would like to know what you guys ( all three or four of you) think about it.

This week I'm posting clips from two musicals (well, a musical and a review).

First: 1776.

1776 is a musical telling of the writing and ratifying of the Declaration on Independence.

Hefty subject for a musical, no?

It originally opened in 1969 and starred William Daniels (yes, Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World) as John Adams. A movie version was produced in 1972. And, in 1997, a revival opened starring Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek: TNG) as John Adams.

Here's my roommate's favorite number from it-- "The Lees of Old Virginia." Ben Franklin has tol John Adams that he should let someone else propose the idea of independence to the Congress. Richard Henry Lee volunteers.



The second musical is actually a review of Stephen Sondheim music called Putting it Together.

I just bought a copy of the DVD of this and I LOVE it.

The cast features George Hearn, John Barrowman, Bronson Pinchot, Ruthie Henshall and Carol Burnett.

Here's a video of Carol and Ruthie singing "Every Day a Little Death" from A Little Night Music.



Now, here's the part where you tell me what you think. Would you like to see more of these, or can you do without?

I Return to Blogging

But not with one of the posts that I had planned.

I found out recently (just a few hours ago, as a matter of fact) that my favorite musical, Les Miserables was performed in concert at the Hollywood Bowl last night.

The cast included some of my favorites, most notably Brian Stokes Mitchell (who has one of the best baritone voices ever) as Javert, Lea Michelle (who was the original choice for this role in the revival) as Eponine, and John Lloyd Young (the tony winner from Jersey Boys-- I had the pleasure of seeing him as Frankie Valli... it kinda rocked) as Marius.

I've only seen a couple of videos from the concert-- I'm really hoping for a DVD version to be released.

Here's John Lloyd Young and Lea Michelle singing a wonderfully emotional version of "A Little Fall of Rain."

Enjoy!

Jist a Girl Who Cain't Say No

(Yes, that is an Oklahoma! reference. I know you're all shocked-- I certainly am. I hate that show.

But I digress.)

Last night, while I was eating dinner, the music minister from my church at home called me to ask if I'd be willing to sing with an ensemble Sunday morning. It was a last minute thing--which I have a hard time with, since I like to over prepare before I go in front of people-- and the group was going to get together to rehearse Wednesday night.

My mind immediately created a list of all of the things that I'd rather be doing Wednesday night. And it wasn't a short list-- let me tell you.

"Well, I can still do it," I thought. "I probably won't have to go to rehearsal; it's never hard to find the alto part in that sort of stuff."

I agreed to do it.

She told me she'd like for me to sing second soprano.

Here's the thing-- I can sing soprano. I can. But I don't really like it, and I'm much better with alto. I'm more alto than soprano, and almost more tenor than alto.

I was working fast to come up with a reasonable excuse for not joining the ensemble when she told me that she was having a hard time finding someone willing to sing the part.

"Wow," I thought. "Guilt trip, much?"

So I'm singing second soprano in an ensemble this Sunday. It could be worse, I know.

But still, sometimes it would be nice to be able to say no.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

So I had to go to the Strange Reunion today (I wish I was making this up), and I started thinking about things that are, well, strange.

One of the things that came to mind was one of the strangest and most clever things I've seen: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. If you aren't familiar with this, it's a musical that opened a few years ago that tells the story of.. a spelling bee. Kind of like the title would indicate. That sounds like it would be stupid and boring (or stupid AND boring), but it was probably one of the most enjoyable theatre experiences I've ever had. Here's a look at parts of it.

This is from the opening number on the closing night of the show. The quality's not so great, so I apologize for that. I didn't record this. Yay for YouTube.

And here's one of my favorite numbers from it: "The I Love You Song."





And this is "I'm Not That Smart"

Between Family, Friends, Writers and Facebook...

...I'll probably be doing memes for the rest of my life.

But I didn't have a post planned for today, so it's all good. Thanks to Colby over at Spittin' (Out Words) Like a Llama (http://colbymarshall.blogspot.com/) [Wow, I need to learn how to format stuff...] for this meme.

Here goes....

The Rules:List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

1. "L'un Vers L'autre" from the original French recording of Les Miserables. I know that makes me lame (or so cool that you just can't get over it... one of the two), but seriously-- it's Les Mis in French. How do you beat that?

2. "Buddy Holly" by Weezer. This is one of my favorite (non-Broadway) songs.I mean, come on. It has a line in it that's "Don't look now, but I've lost my shoe." Plus, I dig Weezer. For serious.

3. "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce. This is one of those songs that makes me wish I had worked harder in guitar lessons. Another fun little fact: it was the senior song for my dad's graduating class. That aside, some of the lyrics describe how I view life a lot of the time. "But there never seems to be enough time/To do the things you want to do/Once you find them...."

4. "The I Love You Song" from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This musical is probably the most clever thing I've ever seen, and this is the sweetest song from it. I have a bit more of an attachment to it because I got to meet Celia Keenan-Bolger-- the original Olive Ostrovsky. Oh yeah. It was cool.

5. "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" by Rufus Wainwright. I heard this song on someone's MySpace page. I liked it so much that I kept visiting the page just to listen to it. Then the thought occurred to me that I could by the CD. Yeah.

6. "Hey There, Single Gal/Guy" from I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. I hear this song, and I think of my parents. Scary. This whole show seems like it would be so much fun to be in, but this is probably my favorite number from it.

7. "The Next Ten Minutes" from The Last 5 Years. The prettiest song from my second favorite show. (Les Mis is first; Spelling Bee is third. In case you were wondering.) Really, I have a hard time with love songs sometimes because they tend to be really unrealistic-- "We'll always, always, always be together and everything will be sunshine and daisies"--but this one just seems so...I don't know. It seems more real. "Will you share your life with me/For the next ten minutes/For the next ten minutes/We can handle that/We could watch the waves/We could watch the sky/Or just sit and wait/As the time ticks by/And if we make it till then/Can I ask you again/For another ten...." Seriously--listen to it now. Now.

Okay, so now I have to tag seven people. (I wish I could tag more people. I'd really like to know what everyone listens to.)

Josh
Cait
Tori
Adrienne
Grant
Nathan
Kate

So go. Do the meme.