What Cast Albums Give That Soundtracks Don’t, Part II
You may recall that last week I listed 25 of the best songs that cast albums offer that soundtracks do not – because, more often than not, the film versions dropped these musical gems.
Although there are well more than a hundred that fit that category, I whittled my personal favorites list down to 50 and ranked my bottom 25 according to my own preference — which, of course, will be different from yours.
Now I’m giving my 25 top selections. How much do we agree – or disagree? Let me know!
My top 25:
25. “The Miller’s Son” (A Little Night Music) – Perhaps the perceptions are beyond Petra’s ken, but they’re fascinating to hear.
24. “I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple” (Kiss Me, Kate) – What a slap in the face to lyricist Will Shakespeare!
23. “My Own Best Friend” (Chicago) – Maybe Ms. Zellweger couldn’t handle it?
22. “Long before I Knew You” (Bells Are Ringing) – A lovely Jule Styne ballad.
21. “Going Down” (Hair) – Forgive me if I DO cry on losing this one.
20. “Marry the Man Today” (Guys and Dolls) – If only for “Give him your hand today, and save the fist for after.”
19. “I’m a Bad, Bad Man” (Annie Get Your Gun) – But it’s a good, good song.
18. “Motherhood” (Hello, Dolly!) – Great fun, no matter who wrote it.
17. “I Put My Hand In” (Hello, Dolly!) – Much better than the song that replaced it.
16. “Everybody Loves to Take a Bow” (Hazel Flagg/Living It Up) – A great 11 o’clock number.
15. “Liaisons” (A Little Night Music) – And not just because Sondheim rhymed “women” with “indiscrimin-ate.”
14. “I Just Heard” a/k/a “The Rumor” (Fiddler on the Roof) – Hear the ramifications of men and women dancing.
13. “The Music and the Mirror” (A Chorus Line) – Play me the music!
12. “Don’t Tell Mama” (Cabaret)– A new decade is about to start, but Sally is still singing a Charleston from the one that’s just ending.
11. “Moonshine Lullaby” – (Annie Get Your Gun) — As tender as Merman can get.
10. “I Can Cook, Too” (On the Town) – The sheet music demands it be sung “Hot and fast,” which Nancy Walker certainly observed.
9. “Take Him” (Pal Joey) – Two women officially – if ruefully — fall out of love with a heel.
8. “Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love” (A Chorus Line) – Has all of adolescence ever been as expertly captured in one song?
7. “A Bushel and a Peck” (Guys and Dolls) — Even though the nation knew this song well and considered it a hit.
6. “What Do You Want of Me?” (Man of La Mancha) – A song in which Aldonza genuinely does show her Dulcinean side.
4. “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” (Anything Goes) – Yes, it showed up in the 1956 Anything Goes film, but we really can’t call that drastic rewrite (and rotten picture) a true adaptation of Anything Goes. It’s the first movie version, filmed in 1936, that dropped this one.
3. “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” (Guys and Dolls) – No one could write more masculine-sounding music than Frank Loesser.
2. “Some Other Time” (On the Town) – As all the characters sing, “Oh, well!”
1. “Another Op’nin’, Another Show” (Kiss Me, Kate) – The quintessential opening number, and the movie doesn’t use it?
Oh, and let’s end with two Honorable Mentions: “An Old-Fashioned Wedding” (Annie Get Your Gun, 1966 recording) and “The Contract” (Gigi, original cast) – songs not in the film versions, but terrific songs that were written years later.
Peter Filichia also writes Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at www.theatermania.com
