Blog

I’ve often seen it happen, soon after Stephen Sondheim has taken the stage and is interviewed by a moderator. Eventually the moderator opens the floor to questions, and inevitably, someone asks, “Mr. Sondheim, of all your shows, what’s your favorite?” Just as inevitably, Sondheim answers, “I don’t have a favorite, but I have a least […]

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 […]

So the film version of Nine didn’t do so well, did it? For many of us, the biggest problem was that so much of the score was cut. “Only with You, “The Grand Canal,” “Simple,” “Not since Chaplin,” “The Bells of St. Sebastian,” “Be on Your Own,” “The Germans at the Spa,” “Getting Tall” and […]

Spring training has just begun for all 30 major league’s baseball teams. And why does this concern a musical theater enthusiast? Because baseball – as well as many other sports – wend their way into our minds, thanks to many lines and lyrics. So even if you don’t know a balk from a walk, or […]

All right, you promised yourself last year that this year you’d finally go way down yonder to New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras. And now, this year and Mardi Gras are here, and once again, you didn’t make it. Well, as Cyril Ritchard sings in The Roar of the Greasepaint – the Smell of the […]