I have assembled a collection of show tunes. All have been performed on stage and many are also feature length movies. Even included something from Disney.
This one is Defying Gravity by Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth from Wicked, a musical my wife and I saw at the Pantages theater a few years ago.
I fell in love with Liza Minnelli when I was a teenager. Even though Caberet was set in pre-WWII Germany I found many of the songs within it to be infectious. I love belting this one out on stage. It fits my vocal range and I’m told I’m pretty good at it.
Another song from the show I could have used is Money Makes the World Go Round. Joel Grey is amazing in his duet with Liza. If you have ever watched the original Wizard of Oz, she is Judy Garland’s daughter.
And speaking of Judy Garland, there’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Probably the only actor in the world who could have held their own against her stunning vocals was the dog Toto. Doesn’t it look like he’s singing backup?
Another blast from the past, we have The Rain in Spain from My Fair Lady. Audrey Hepburn was perfectly capable of singing it but the studio execs decided to dub it with another singer. Very sad.
This is the one everyone has been waiting for, the cast of Rocky Horror Picture Show doing The Time Warp. It features Richard O’Brien as Riff Raff, Nell Campbell as Columbia and the late Patricia Quinn as Magenta.
For all the indefatigable optimists out there, We have Tomorrow from the musical Annie. Performed by the adorable Aileen Quinn, one could overdose from the moe.
Now for a complete 180, here is Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables singing I Dreamed a Dream. It is probably the saddest song in the collection, about the loss of hope and innocence when confronting the real world. She is one of my all time favorite actresses.
Whipsawing back thru another U-turn, there is no shortage of positivity in Disney’s animated musicals. This is my personal Disney favorite, Idina Menzel does Let it Go, from Frozen. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love it. No doubt her stunning performance in Wicked helped get her the role.
Going retro again. Julie Andrews has been a fixture of the American musical landscape for decades. If you were to compile a list of the greatest show tunes of all time, she would dominate it. This clip from The Sound of Music is truly one of My Favorite Things.
There are plenty of other great show tunes out there. If people like this I’ll do another post like this. If not, then I won’t.
March 29, 2020 at 23:42
Well, in my humble opinion, show tunes are sublime. More, please.
March 28, 2020 at 11:47
Rocky Horror! 😀 Best musical of all time in my opinion.
Loovvee Rose Tint My World and Over at the Frankenstein Place <3
Not so much a fan of My Fair Lady, as it's a Taming of the Shrew retelling. I know Shakespeare couldn't help it, being from the late middle ages and all, but his plays are mad sexist and I don't get why retellings of plays that are super outdated are so popular.
March 29, 2020 at 00:57
“My Fair Lady” was a reboot of Shaw’s “Pygmalion.”
Now, the original “Pygmalion” had Eliza walking out on Higgins. Higgins was able to console himself that he was right, “refinement” and social behavior were entirely a function of environment and not “good breeding.” His “creation,” Eliza, was able to exercise free will to find a different path.
This ending was largely discarded after the first run of the play because it didn’t sell enough tickets. The audience wanted to see Higgins and Eliza get their happily ever after together. The producer basically overrode and overwrote Shaw and this is what was left.
Still, I have a weak spot for Audrey Hepburn and I loved the music. 🙂