Honorable mentions: “Someone is Waiting,” “Company” “What do you get?” This is the third song in a row about marriage, and while that’s totally unintentional, it’s created an interesting streak in this series not unlike a sparkly striation in an otherwise dull rock. “Now/Later/Soon” is getting less than you bargained for in your marriage; “Nobody… Read More Songs from Musicals: #6, “Being Alive,” from Company
Honorable mentions: “Moving Too Fast,” “If I Didn’t Believe in You” If you’ve already seen my post on the film version of The Last Five Years, which went up about three and a half weeks ago, then you might imagine that I’m burned out on talking about this musical. You’re wrong. I will never be burned out… Read More Songs from Musicals: #7, “Nobody Needs to Know,” from The Last Five Years
Honorable mentions: “The Miller’s Son,” “Remember?” I love three hour movies (and twelve-episode miniseries), I love eight hundred page novels and histories, and I am a huge sucker for any showtune that lasts more than seven minutes. “Now/Later/Soon” is, depending on what recording you own, either one track or three; in my opinion, seeing as… Read More Songs from Musicals: #8, “Now/Later/Soon,” from A Little Night Music
Honorable mentions: “Light,” “I Am the One” Next to Normal always stops me when I listen to it; it leads the league in single lines which are breathtaking because the air has been knocked out of you. “A Light in the Dark,” the second song in the first act where a man in Diana’s family… Read More Songs from Musicals: #9, “A Light in the Dark,” from Next to Normal
Honorable mentions: “Waltz for Eva and Che,” “A New Argentina” Depending on which Evita you know, your opinion of Eva herself is necessarily changed. I’ve always been partial to the original Broadway version with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, more for LuPone than anything else; I adore Patinkin’s Che, but LuPone sings a practically impossible… Read More Songs from Musicals: #10, “I’d Be Surprisingly Good for You,” from Evita
Honorable mentions: “She Cries,” “The World Was Dancing” If there were such a thing as a Platonic ideal, the Platonic ideal of a Broadway romantic duet would be “I’d Give It All for You.” It checks the boxes: stars heterosexuals, appears late in the show, features reunification of a couple who have split, provides roughly… Read More Songs from Musicals: #11, “I’d Give It All for You,” from Songs for a New World
Honorable mentions: “Unusual Way,” “Guido’s Song” I’ve listened to “My Husband Makes Movies” about a zillion times since Nine was released as a movie back in 2009. Nine as a film is not very much like Nine the musical, and neither are very much like 8 1/2, which both are based on (and not really… Read More Songs from Musicals: #12, “My Husband Makes Movies,” from Nine
Honorable mentions: “The Prince Is Giving a Ball,” “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?” There are good love stories about people who have been in love for a while, maybe. There aren’t very many at all about people who consistently love each other throughout; they’re about people learning to love one another again, or… Read More Songs from Musicals: #13, “Ten Minutes Ago,” from Cinderella
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYJ1F7iBQw4 Honorable mentions: “Blues: Feel the Rain Fall,” “The Old Red Hills of Home” There’s a pleasurable simulacrum in “Factory Girls/Come Up to My Office.” It’s not merely the fact that the girls are lying about what they’ve seen Leo Frank do, and about what he’s done to them, and how that influences the jury… Read More Songs from Musicals: #14, “Factory Girls/Come Up to My Office,” from Parade
Honorable mentions: “Heaven on Their Minds,” “The Temple” (Got here just in time for Easter. Boom.) I wish ministers would spend more time noticing that Jesus of Nazareth was a man, a real historical person. This is basically indisputable; one can honestly and intelligently argue about his birthplace, the message of his ministry, and his… Read More Songs from Musicals: #15, “Gethsemane,” from Jesus Christ Superstar
Seeing Things Secondhand 