Category Archives: Turning 50

WEEK 10 – 29 AUGUST TO 4 SEPTEMBER 2014

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64 FRIDAY 29 AUGUST 2014

I’m The Greatest Star – Barbra Streisand – Top Ten Contender

064 Funny Girl-The Original Soundtrack Recording

“Funny Girl” is the first movie I ever remember watching.

I didn’t become familiar with its soundtrack until many years later when Fernando, a friend back home, introduced me to it. Most of the songs on this show have been favourites of mine for years, and I’m sure, a few will sneak onto this list.

Although this version of I’m The Greatest Star comes from the film’s soundtrack, I’d like to tell you a little story regarding the Broadway Original Cast recording.

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COMING UP – WEEK 10 PREVIEW

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Week 10

These are the songs I picked between 29 August and 4 September 2014. I’ll talk about them next time.

I’m The Greatest Star * – Barbra Streisand … The seller described it as a unique item that included one ticket stub and autographs from Barbra Streisand and Sydney Chaplin.

Dime – Rubén Blades

Love Walked In – Virginia Verrill & Jon Hall

In Our United State – Bob Fosse

Who Cares? – Marueen McGovern, Larry Kert … Bill was as charming and convincing as Wintergreen. However, Hilary was no Mary Turner.

The Varsity Drag ** – Ann Morrison

Porgy, I Is Your Woman Now – Nina Simone … This rendition of Porgy, I Is Your Woman Now floored me when I first heard it. Her delivery is so soulful.

* Top 10 Contender

** Top 10 Fast-Tracked

WEEK 09 – 22 AUGUST TO 28 AUGUST 2014

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57 FRIDAY 22 AUGUST 2014

The Grotto (Get Out of Town/My Heart Belongs to Daddy/Just One of Those Things) – Orchestra

057 Evil Under the Sun (Music from the Original Soundtrack)

Allow me to remind you that one of the reasons I’m making this list is to include songs that have touched me during the first 50 years of my life. So, there’s a story behind every song I pick. Bear with me as I tell you another story from my younger years.

For many years in the 1980s and early 1990s, my father owned a video store in a mini-mall near our house. “Galeria Electronica” started selling small household appliances and audio equipment, maybe TV sets? I can’t remember well, but within a year, it became a bookstore/video store business. I used to work there occasionally, on weekends or whenever I was on university holidays. I can’t remember much of the day-to-day operation, or what I did exactly, but I remember I used to watch many of the movies we traded. Yes, traded.

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COMING UP NEXT – WEEK 09 PREVIEW

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Week 09

These are the songs I picked between 22 August and 28 August 2014. I’ll talk about them next time.

The Grotto (Get Out of Town/My Heart Belongs to Daddy/Just One of Those Things)  – Orchestra

Now You Know *  – Craig Rubano with Marsh Hanson … It was as if the last vestige of having been 25, full of irrelevant opinions and a distorted perception of my contribution to humanity, was finally subsiding. 

Blue Skies  – Ella Fitzgerald

Not Every Day of the Week (reprise)  – Peter Frechette, Veanne Cox

Prologue – Follies  – Orchestra – Featuring Bernadette Peters … The only song I knew from the show was “I’m Still Here”, which has been sung by every woman over 60 who has ever had a cabaret act.

Stuff Like That There  – Bette Midler … God bless Bette Midler! The woman can take a song and make it sound as if it was written just for her.

Silky Thoughts/Cool Hand Luke  – Orchestra

* Top 10 Contender

WEEK 08 – 15 AUGUST TO 21 AUGUST 2014

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50 FRIDAY 15 AUGUST 2014

I’m Putting All My Eggs In One Basket – Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald

050 Ella & Louis

Back in 1991, while attending American University, I had to do a project for our video production class. I can’t remember the specifics of the project, but my teammates and I decided to use I’m Putting All My Eggs In One Basket as the theme of our production. If I recall correctly, a girl invites a guy over for dinner at her place, probably their second or third date. We can hear her thoughts as she prepares the meal. (“Will he like this meal? Do I look okay?”) We can also hear the guy’s thoughts as he’s about to knock at the door (“I look so good. I’m sure I’ll score tonight”). It’s all coming back now. That was one of the tasks; we had to use voice over as part of our narrative. We thought it was tacky, but did it anyway.

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COMING UP – WEEK 08 PREVIEW

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Week 08

These are the songs I picked between 15 August and 21 August 2014. I’ll talk about them next time.

I’m Putting All My Eggs In One Basket – Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald

Lullaby Of Birdland – Ella Fitzgerald … Upon my return to the United States, I came across this Ella Fitzgerald song. In a matter of days, I had already come up story of love, betrayal, jazz, murder mysteries, black magic, oil production and reincarnation.

Make Someone Happy – Brian Stokes Mitchell, Heather Headley

I Whistle A Happy Tune – Julia McKenzie & John Francis … Once, he organised a séance at my parents’ first house to get rid of a ghost who was tormenting them, particularly my father.

On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever) – Barbra Streisand

A Piece Of Sky * – Barbra Streisand …  For the first time, I saw feasible having a different life from the one I was supposed to live.

Pick Yourself Up – Mel Tormé

* Top 10 Contender

WEEK 07 – 8 AUGUST to 14 AUGUST 2014

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43 FRIDAY 8 AUGUST 2014

I Can’t Be Bothered Now – Kirby Ward – Top 10 Contender

043 Crazy for You (Original London Cast Recording)

I Can’t Be Bothered Now is another song, which I have no idea why I didn’t discover sooner. It was only in 2009 or 2010 that I came across it by accident. I was re-watching one of the Broadway Lost Treasures DVDs, and there it was, an abbreviated staging of the song at the 1992 Tony’s broadcast. It was the first time I paid attention to it. It is such a happy little tune; it accompanied me during some tough times between 2010 and 2012.

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COMING UP NEXT – WEEK 07 PREVIEW

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Week 07

These are the songs I picked between 8 August and 14 August 2014. I’ll talk about them next time.

I Can’t Be Bothered Now * – Kirby Ward

I Got Rhythm – Jodi Benson 

Overture – Damn Yankees – Orchestra – … Overtures serve a purpose, not only they introduce the audience to the songs they’re about to hear on the show, but they also have a logistical purpose.

Fate Happens/Death Of A Mad Son – Orchestra

Almost Martyrs – The Academy Studio Orchestra

Toledo Surprise – Garth Kravits, Jason Kravits, Lenny Wolpe, Jennifer Smith, Georgia Engel, and the company of The Drowsy Chaperone – … One weekend, four weeks after I introduced them both, (yes, I introduced them) he gave me the literal “it’s not you, it’s me,” talk.

Come Fly With Me – Frank Sinatra and Luis Miguel – … If I went back in time, I’m sure I could hear myself saying fabulous for the first time.

* Top 10 Contender

WEEK 06 – 1 AUGUST to 7 AUGUST 2014

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36 FRIDAY 1 AUGUST 2014

Sing Happy – Darryl Knock

036 Celebrating New York New York! Chicago! Cabaret!

Sing Happy is the first Kander and Ebb song to make it to the list. Now, I don’t like to play favourites, but if I did, this duo would be at the top of my list. I love everything about them; probably the coolest dudes to ever team up to write show tunes. From “Flora The Red Menace” to “The Scottsboro Boys”, I’m sure I’ll be packing many of their songs in my suitcase. Sing Happy is also the first song on the list that was published the year I was born, 1965.

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COMING UP – WEEK 06 PREVIEW

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Week 06

These are the songs I picked between 1 August and 7 August 2014. I’ll talk about them next time.

Sing Happy  – Darryl Knock – … The last song would be a segue to the start of the list again. If you’ve ever seen or read Thornton Wilder’s “The Skin of our Teeth”, you’ll get what I’m talking about. 

Nowadays – Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera – … Here she was, one of the most accomplished and celebrated performers Broadway ever saw, and her husband was humiliating her in public.

Mister Cellophane  – Joel Grey

One (Reprise)/Finale ** – A Chorus Line Company – … I sat in the theatre and for the first time in my life I questioned any of the decisions I made when I was a young man.

Heaven Can Wait  – London Symphony Orchestra

Bolero – Zdenek Chabala & The Spanish Orchestra

Overture – The Color Purple  – Orchestra

** Top 10 Fast-tracked