Threaded Order Chronological Order
| St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Posted by: bearcat 04:34 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| I was thinking how Mame's "St Bridget" is its first song, but could not be called its opening number. and then I got to thinking what other first songs of musicals are small and brief and wouldn't get much (any) outside life from that of the show I am not talking about "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" which was part of OK's structure to open quietly and unfold, or "Good Morning Good Day" (She Loves Me) which establishes the rhythm of the show and the relationships among the shops' clerks. "Tell Me Why" from South Pacific counts, altho it introduces the children, and with childlike simplicity conveys the complicated theme of loves' fatality to follow what else could be included on this list?... "May We Entertain You" is performed as a throwaway (all that dialogue and interruptions by Rose) but of course gathers significance as the show unfolds any others...? |
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| The "Fisch Slapping Song" is first from Spamalot. | |
| Posted by: keywslt 06:21 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: St Bridget - throwaway - bearcat 04:34 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| Throwaway song, then throwaway the costumes, throwaway the sets and throwaway the fish. Although it certainly does set the rhythm of the show! |
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| Where's Charley? - throwaway | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 11:12 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: St Bridget - throwaway - bearcat 04:34 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| In Where's Charley? there is a brief opening song "The Years Between Us" which is followed shortly by "Better Get Out of Here". | |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Posted by: Ned3301 01:13 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: St Bridget - throwaway - bearcat 04:34 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| Pal Joey, at least in its original form, began with Joey's audition, singing "Chicago," a song that is scarcely thirty seconds long. The first full-out number was "You Mustn't Kick It Around," though Chicago did come back a bit later in the first act as a dance number for the nightclub girls. |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Posted by: keikekaze 11:26 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: St Bridget - throwaway - bearcat 04:34 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| Another odd opening number is "He's (I'm) Not A Well Man" in I Can Get It For You Wholesale, in that the main part of it introduces us to a character, Mr. Pulvermacher, who's scarcely going to be heard from again--if at all--until the very end of the show. And the end of the show, by the time it opened in New York, was apparently different than had been originally contemplated, with Mr. Pulvermacher coming on as a kind of deus ex machina. Might the song have been added late in the tryout, to strengthen Pulvermacher's presence, and to give his secretary (Barbra Streisand's Miss Marmelstein, who was just beginning to wow everybody) something more to do? | |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Last Edit: Chromolume 05:37 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 05:30 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: St Bridget - throwaway - bearcat 04:34 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| I think that if you treat "What Do You Do With A BA in English" as its own song, instead of part of an opening sequence that leads us to "It Sucks To Be Me," you might count that. One version of The Baker's Wife started with a French folk-ish guitar/vocal thing called "Bienvenue A Concorde," sung by a minor character, that really added nothing to the show (except time) - starting straight off with "Chanson" was a much smarter choice. There's that bit of guitar/vocal "Este fuego" which opens Man Of La Mancha, though it seems as if this was added at some point and not yet set in the show at the beginning of its run. (It was not in the first printing of the score, then added for the revised score which is what is published now. It may be that it was something improvised, then later set.) The Will Rogers Follies opens with that introductory chorus of "Let's Go Flying," though "Will-A-Mania" feels like the real opening. Similar in Kinky Boots with the Price and Son Theme followed by "The Most Beautiful Thing In The World." Somewhat ironic that the song "K-ra-zy For You" is, IMO, a (very) weak throwaway number at the start of Crazy For You, never heard again after that (except in some incidental moments). "I Can't Be Bothered Now" feels more like the opening number. |
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| re: K-ra-zy For You - throwaway | |
| Posted by: B_Rabbit 11:22 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: St Bridget - throwaway - Chromolume 05:30 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| To me, it's particularly ironic that the song, K-ra-zy For You is completely misinterpreted in the musical known as Crazy For You. Ira Gershwin's lyric makes fun of slang, and how contemporary speakers seem to willfully mispronounce plain English. You've chosen a good way to type the title: The first word is supposed to be three syllables. Which is kind of funny. Except in Crazy For You it isn't and it isn't. Cray. | |
| Link | Let me give you the low-down |
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| re: K-ra-zy For You - throwaway | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 11:34 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: K-ra-zy For You - throwaway - B_Rabbit 11:22 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| I imagine that the bit of the song that's there was only included by the creative team because they wanted to use the title CRAZY FOR YOU for their show. They probably didn't care what the intent was, only that they could find a place to shoehorn in it. | |
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| re: K-ra-zy For You - throwaway | |
| Last Edit: Chromolume 12:40 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 12:35 pm EDT 07/07/17 | |
| In reply to: re: K-ra-zy For You - throwaway - JereNYC 11:34 am EDT 07/07/17 | |
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| I imagine that the bit of the song that's there was only included by the creative team because they wanted to use the title CRAZY FOR YOU for their show. They probably didn't care what the intent was, only that they could find a place to shoehorn it in. I agree. (And B_Rabbit, just to make sure we're on the same page, the song as listed in the score is indeed printed as "K-ra-zy" - that wasn't my doing.) The other irony about the title is that Madonna's song with the same name as the show was a huge hit only a few years earlier. I know that you can't copyright titles, but when I first heard of the show as it was being developed, my mind went to that pop hit, not to anything by Gershwin, lol. (Similarly, when the show Never Gonna Dance came out, my instinct was to think of George Michael, not Kern.) ;-) |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 06:57 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 06:56 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: St Bridget - throwaway - Chromolume 05:30 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| I can't swear to this but I think that guitar opening to Man of La Mancha was there from the beginning, or at least from the Broadway opening night. The Guitarist was in the opening night cast list, and the condensation in the 1965-66 Best Plays mentions a guitar playing in the opening sequence. It may be that it was, as you suggest, improvised early in the run and then later set, but something was there. Perhaps some financial arrangement had to be made with the original guitarist, and that's why it was not in the first publication of the score. | |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 05:23 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: St Bridget - throwaway - bearcat 04:34 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| In Tenderloin "Bless This Land" which leads into "Little Old New York". In On the Town "I Feel Like I'm Not Out of Bed Yet" which leads into "New York, New York". In Carousel "You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan" which leads into "Mister Snow". |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 07:15 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: St Bridget - throwaway - BroadwayTonyJ 05:23 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| Two good examples, but I would think of the "Carousel Waltz" sequence as the opening number of Carousel. Anyway, I think of "You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan" as being part of "Mister Snow."That's how it is in the piano-vocal score (or at least the old one) and in the current licensed script. What about the "Bobby Bobby" sequence in Company? Do we think of "The Pajama Game" as being separate from "Racing With the Clock" or do they together make up one full opening number? Then there's "I'm Like the Bluebird" in Anyone Can Whistle, which we don't even hear complete until the third act. And since the OP started with Jerry Herman, what about the little bit commonly called "Call on Dolly" (but listed just as "Opening Act I" in the score) but rarely listed as a separate number in programs (or at least not in programs for the Broadway productions of the show)? And there's the offstage chorus "Once in the Highlands." If you don't count "Runyonland" (often cut way down nowadays to the point that it barely exists) I'd say that "Fugue for Tinhorns" counts. It's short. It's really just a throwaway number, albeit a famous one. |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Posted by: bmc 11:16 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: St Bridget - throwaway - AlanScott 07:15 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| I did not know there was a Guys and Dolls Overture 'till the Jay recording. I thought the show opened 'cold with Runyonland. | |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 11:26 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: St Bridget - throwaway - bmc 11:16 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| And of course what passes as "Runyonland" on the OBC is only a tiny portion of it. Nice to have the complete thing on the JAY recording. (And I do wish they'd find a way to release their still unreleased complete recordings - a few years ago we were teased with another track from the Anyone Can Whistle recording we've been promised for decades now...but...still no complete release.) In the show context it's also cool because the Overture leads directly into Runyonland with no stop, and likewise Tinhorns follows with no stop before it. And although Tinhorns has a definite ending, Follow The Fold starts up right after. So - all of that without one line of dialogue yet. |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 08:19 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: St Bridget - throwaway - AlanScott 07:15 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| Also, "Po, Po, Po" a short introductory number just preceding "Piraeus, My Love" in Illya, Darling. And the two brief opening numbers "Swing Song" and "Yasni Kozkolai" before "My Family Tree" in The Girl Who Came to Supper |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 05:36 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: St Bridget - throwaway - BroadwayTonyJ 05:23 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| In Carousel "You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan" which leads into "Mister Snow". I might debate that one, only because it does get used again at the start of the Bench Scene. So the two uses of the song, within minutes of each other, create something stronger. I might compare it to something I was almost going to mention in my first post, then decided not to - in City Of Angels, we get three rather short numbers called "Double Talk" - sung by Stone, Alaura, and Buddy, before getting to the "real" number as sung by Stine. We could either count those first 3 fragments as "false starts" in a sense, or we can see them as part of a sequence leading to the full number finally sung by Stine. |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway | |
| Posted by: bearcat 05:35 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: St Bridget - throwaway - BroadwayTonyJ 05:23 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| Ethan Morrden says that "You're A Queer One, JJ" is the most oddly titled in the songbook, but I say there is also "The Octopus Song" (Fanny) and "Ooh My Feet" (Most Happy Fella) and these are all first songs... |
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| re: St Bridget - throwaway Mame was( according to the ever reliable Mr Mordden?) going to open with a dance in the Men's Gym. | |
| Posted by: bmc 05:58 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: re: St Bridget - throwaway - bearcat 05:35 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| When Josh Logan was going to direct My Best Girl(starring Mary Martin), the show would have opened in a gym where P..Dennis Sr, had the heart attack, that left little Patrick Dennis with Auntie Mame as his only living relative, or perhaps that was just a jest | |
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| "Opening Night" in THE PRODUCERS. n/m | |
| Posted by: TimDunleavy 04:54 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
| In reply to: St Bridget - throwaway - bearcat 04:34 pm EDT 07/06/17 | |
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| n/m | |
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