Best Songs From Best Scores: 1965 - 1966

Imagine a season with this deep a roster of Best Score nominees: Mame, Man of La Mancha, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and Sweet Charity. When the least of them is a beloved score from a short-run musical that was later a film with one of the world's greatest stars, I'd say it was a terrific year for the musical! Seriously, the other three are, for me, no-skip recordings, and they are each on my list of all-time favorite shows.

Best Songs From Best Scores

1965 - 1966

  

Nominee: Mame

Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman

Best Song: Heartbreaking Duet: "My Best Girl"

If you were/are fortunate enough to have an "Auntie Mame" type person in your life (mine was my Nonna), then this whole show probably gives you all the feels. This song in particular makes me cry literally at just the thought of it. I know what that kind of love and devotion first hand.

Best Song:Character Entrance - Production Number: "It's Today"

As much as I love this jazzy number just listening to it, I'll never forget Angela Lansbury sliding down a spiral staircase in a gold pantsuit while playing a bugle. What an entrance! And what a song of making the most out of each moment we are alive!

Best Song: Bitchy Duet: "Bosom Buddies"

An absolute classic. What could I possibly add to the discourse around this number? It is funny, biting and a real tribute to friendship.

  

Nominee: On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

Music by Burton Lane Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Best Song: Character Introduction - Solo:  "Hurry! It's Lovely Up Here" - Daisy Gamble

A crazy premise - she can make flowers grow just by singing to them + a sweet delivery of even sweeter sentiments, and you get one heck of a character piece. Barbara Harris was one of a kind.

Best Song: Title Number: "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" - Dr. Mark Bruckner

I'd listen to John Cullum sing the phone book, but this is a great title number, that is warm and even catchy. Talk about an ear worm! It's not exactly a toe-tapper, but it sticks with you long after the song is over...

   

Nominee: Sweet Charity

Music by Cy Coleman and Lyrics by Dorothy Fields

Best Song: Production Number: "Big Spender" The Fan-Dango Girls

I'll bet that as you are reading this, you can hear the opening notes of this classic. What's great about the song is that it works just as well when you can only hear it as when you see what goes with it. And those infectious lyrics... fun, laughs, good time indeed!

Best Song: Title Number:  "Sweet Charity" - Oscar

Ok, so technically, this song isn't one of my favorites in the OBCR, but I love the version of the song from the 1986 revival. It is an unabashed song of adoration. I'd kill to have someone love me enough to sing me a song like this one!

Best Song: Production Number: "Rhythm of Life" Daddy Johann Sebastian Brubeck and His Worshippers

I love everything about this song - the catchy, infectious tune, the snappy wordplay of the lyrics, the skewering of organized religion. On a no-skip cast recording like this one, how great that it starts act two so that it is easy to play over and over! (60s shows should be played on vinyl...)

WINNER: Man of La Mancha

Music by Mitch Leigh and Lyrics by Joe Darion

Best Song: Character Introduction: "Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote)" - Miguel de Cervantes/Don Quixote de La Mancha

I love how this song is integrated into the story, as the storyteller becomes the story before our very eyes. And the way it builds and builds... no matter who sings it is a thrill ride of a song.

Best Song: Counterpoint Quartet: "I'm Only Thinking of Him" - The Padre, The Housekeeper, Antonia and Dr. Carasco

This song walked so "A Model of Decorum and Tranquility" could run. But seriously, clever counterpoint songs, if done well, develop character and further the plot. This is a gold standard of the sub-genre.

Best Song: Soul Searching Ballad:  "What Does He Want of Me?" - Aldonza

You probably thought the classic ballad, "The Impossible Dream" would make this list, and it is a great song for sure. But for my money, this song that gives us Aldonza at her most vulnerable and confused. Dare she let herself feel love? Dare she let this crazy man in? No one has ever seen her before. What a beautiful song?

Best Songs From Best Scores: 2005 - 2006

Today, we return to our series, Best Songs From Best Scores, in which we take a look at the numbers from a season's Best Original Score Tony nominees. Of course, "best" is in the eye ear of the beholder, and we are pretty sure you won't always agree with our choices. So, please feel free to let us know what you think via email or Twitter!

This time, we decided to look at nominees from the 2005 - 2006 season, which included two shows based on films. The others were a less-than-successful Andrew Lloyd Webber novel adaptation and a splashy, completely original Canadian musical. Some twenty years later (give or take), looking back at these scores makes me hope one is revived, one is appreciated more, thankful for a much better revival of one than its original staging, and one probably best not heard from again. Still, there are many worthy songs to consider from all four. Here are the ones we like the best:

Best Songs From Best Scores

2005 - 2006

Nominee: The Color Purple

Music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray

Best Song: 11 O'clock Number: "I'm Here" - Celie

By all rights, this poetic power ballad should be heard far and wide, in music venues and every contemporary Broadway concert. A gorgeous ode on the beauty of self-awareness and love for oneself. Both breathtaking and sobering, this is one of the great theater songs of the early 21st century.

Best Song: Character Number: "Miss Celie's Pants" - Celie and the Women

A catchy jazz/boogie woogie number that highlights each principal actress, the clever word play and showy, belty riffs is exhilarating! And it is the perfect contrast musically, to earlier numbers where Celie and her female friends suffered were in fear. I love a good toe-tapper!

Nominee: The Wedding Singer

Music by Matthew Sklar     Lyrics by Chad Beguelin

Best Song: A catchy production number: "Pop" - Holly, Julia, Angie and Company

As a Gen-Xer who actually was the age of the characters in The Wedding Singer in the 1980s, I loved the whole score for this show. The writers nailed the sound and style of the MTV era, not to mention the clever (and often vapid) lyrics of that time. So how could they not include a Debbie Gibson/Madonna mash-up that screams 80s and advances the plot? Add to that a character, Holly, played to sassy perfection by Amy Spanger, who not only dressed like Madonna, but sounded like her, and it couldn't miss. Pop music at its most fun. 

Best Song: A turning point ballad: "Come Out of the Dumpster" - Julia and Robbie Hart

High in emotional content - heart on your sleeve kind of stuff - this pseudo power ballad could have been recorded by Journey, REO Speedwagon or Peter Cetera-era Chicago. But here, as sung by Laura Benanti, it becomes a sweet, clever ("It's a metaphor!") play on the 80s style of lyrics that somehow managed to be both banal and profound. Here the literal becomes figurative and back to literal. You can't help but smile.

Nominee: The Woman in White

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber     Lyrics by David Zippel

Best Song: Heartfelt Ballad: "All For Laura" - Marian Halcombe

Realizing that her own jealous feelings for Walter have led her to be an accomplice in her sister’s ruin, Marian vows to dedicate her life to saving her from this terrible predicament. The music, sad and intense, is based on a repeated four-note motif whose first few iterations lead to a precipitous melodic fall, reflecting Marian’s desperation; further repetitions lead to louder, more determined outbursts, and finally to iron-clad resolve (“I will somehow learn to be strong/I will live to right this wrong”). Sung as it is by a former Fosca (Maria Friedman), this obsessively sorrowful song is surely the only thing ALW has written that might sort-of fit in with the score of Passion.

Best Song: Emotional Trio: "Trying Not To Notice" - Marian Halcombe, Walter Hartright and Laura Fairle

This vibrant trio is musically of a similar ilk to “All I Ask of You” and “Too Much in Love to Care,” but more poignant than those two earlier ALW songs because of its chromatic touches and its function in the story. The two devoted sisters are each falling for him, but he’s only falling for the younger Laura (Jill Paice). (The melody that accompanies the title words evokes the bridge from “As If We Never Said Goodbye” and, especially, the Jeeves song from which it was recycled, “Half a Moment.”)

WINNER: The Drowsy Chaperone

Music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison

Best Song: Torch Song: "As We Stumble Along" - The Drowsy Chaperone

Performing a self-described "rousing anthem," the Chaperone (Beth Leavel) offers such sage advice as, "keep you eyeball on the high ball...in your hand." Part of a wholly delicious score willed with pastiche numbers that hearken back to the 20s and 30s, this number stands out for me because of the build up, the crazy nut smart lyrics, and that Ms. Leavel belts the hell out of it, and fully in character - drunken slurry voice and all. Even on the recording she captivates. Antarctica? Oh, please. #IYKYK

Best Song: Character Entrance Production Number: "Show Off" - Janet Van De Graaff and Company

The perfect vehicle for the "star" of The Drowsy Chaperone, the show within the show, Janet Van DeGraff, and the star of The Drowsy Chaperone, the Broadway musical, Sutton Foster. A rousing tribute to self-deprecation and enormous ego, this number grows and grows, making a feast out of every diva trope and old-fashioned theater cliche. Foster chewed the scenery here and we loved watching her every bite. This is the one that proved Millie was no fluke.

Best Songs From Best Scores: 1989 - 1990

Today, we continue our new series, Best Songs From Best Scores, in which we take a look at the numbers from a season's Best Original Score Tony nominees. Of course, "best" is in the eye ear of the beholder, and we are pretty sure you won't always agree with our choices. So, please feel free to let us know what you think via email or Twitter!

This time, we decided to look at the 1989 - 1990 season, which included two shows really in need of a first class Broadway revival. The others were a less-than-successful Andrew Lloyd Webber opera and a splashy (if unnecessary) musicalization of a beloved movie musical. Some thirty-two years later, each one holds up pretty well, and there are many worthy songs to consider. Here are the ones we like the best:

Best Songs From Best Scores

1989 - 1990

Music and lyrics by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane

Best Song: Act One Closer: "The Trolley Song" - Esther and the Ensemble

One of several classic tunes in the score, this was a showstopper, including a moving trolley and a boisterous ensemble. But let's face it, anyone who sang this song would pale in comparison to Judy Garland, but damn if Donna Kane didn't give her a run for the money! I still remember the goose bumps I got when she belted that last note, "at the end of the liiiiiiinnnneee!" It's a classic for a reason.

Nominee: Grand Hotel: The Musical

Music and lyrics by George Forrest, Maury Yeston and Robert Wright

Best Song: Dance Number: "We'll Take a Glass Together" - Otto Kingelein, Baron Felix von Gaigern and Company

In a show that was literally non-stop movement, there were several standout dance numbers, this one really stopped the show cold. A dying Otto is living out his last days in high style with his cashed-in insurance money and meets the Baron, really a cat burglar with his eye on Otto's wallet. This ode to joyous excess brings each to a life-changing epiphany, and the audience to screams of delight. One of the great numbers ever. 

David Carroll, Michael Jeter and Company

Best Song: Character Number: "I Want to Go to Hollywood" - Flaemmchen

Talk about emotional! This "I Want" song is part jazzy Charleston, part terrifying memory play. Flawlessly sung and danced by all five different people I saw do the role, I was tapping my toes and wiping away tears at the same time! 

Jane Krakowski

Nominee: Aspects of Love

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Charles Hart and Don Black

Best Song: Rousing Number: "Hand Me the Wine and the Dice" - Giullietta, Rose and Company

I've since come to really enjoy and appreciated this under-appreciated gem. I still maintain that what they did with "Love Changes Everything" for the Tony Awards that year was a vast improvement over how it is done in the show. But I was immediately smitten with this catchy and thrilling number. A celebration of life, love and taking chances, this song is gloriously sung following a significant death. What a tribute!

Ann Crumb and Michael Ball

WINNER: City of Angels

Music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by David Zippel

Best Song: Duet: "What You Don't Know About Women" - Gabby and Oolie

With a jazzy score that is superb from overture to walk-out music, there isn't a weak number in the bunch. This sharp as a tack and venomous argument against men is full of exciting wordplay that had the audience holding its collective breath so as not to miss a single word. That final crescendo of words was met with thunderous applause.

Kay McClelland and Randy Graff

Scott Waara and The Angel City 4

Best Song: End Credits (Walk-out Music): "The Theme from City of Angels" - Jimmy Powers and the Angel City 4/Orchestra

In the theater, this was the music the orchestra played as the audience left. On the cast recording, it is included with full lyrics. And those lyrics are a doozie! As sharp and funny as anything in the rest of the score, it nails that film noir/40's detective feel. It starts with "You only go around once, and then they tuck you in with a spade," and only gets better from there. I hope that when they finally get around to reviving this wonder work, the powers that be include this number as more than walk-out underscoring.   

Best Songs From Best Scores: 1990 - 1991

Today, we begin a new series, Best Songs From Best Scores, in which we take a look at the numbers from a season's Best Original Score Tony nominees. Of course, "best" is in the eye ear of the beholder, and we are pretty sure you won't always agree with our choices. So, please feel free to let us know what you think via email, Twitter, or comment below!

To get things started, we decided to look at a season that was really an embarrassment of riches. Each score from the 1990 - 1991 season was not only worthy of a nomination, but each would have been worthy of taking home the prize. Thirty years later, each one holds up pretty well, and there are many worthy songs to consider. Here are the ones we like the best:

Best Songs From Best Scores

1990 - 1991

Nominee: Miss Saigon

Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, lyrics by Alain Boublil & Richard Maltby, Jr.

Best Song: Ballad (group): "The Movie in My Mind" - Gigi, Kim & the Girls

After showing what they do to make ends meet in "The Heat Is On in Saigon," the girls under The Engineer's thumb reveal the pain and anguish of their lives as they desperately try to stay alive, and what they do to escape, even if it is only through dreams. The metaphor may verge on the trite, but it is an apt one, given the time period and unavoidable influence of America on every aspect of their lives.

Best Song: Presentation: "The Morning of the Dragon" - The Company

Yes, the visuals are stunning - the giant Ho Chi Minh statue, the advancing gun-toting company in perfect military precision. But the vocals are just as menacing even without the visuals - the halting, chant-like precision of the company vocals sting, and the lyrics are just as powerful, with evocative imagery ("The Morning of the Dragon, truth lit up the street, The tiger we were stalking walked on paper feet, And in the clear white heat of dawn, was gone.")

Nominee: Once  On This  Island

Music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

Best Song: Ballad: "Some Girls" - Daniel

Ti Moune has saved Daniel's life and nursed him back to health, and it is love at first sight for both. In this lovely, gentle song, he explains that "some girls you marry, some you love." His declaration has heartfelt honesty, and poignancy, and Ti Moune falls even deeper in love with this charming young man, but does not realize what he means. He can love her, but he can't marry her.

Best Song: Presentation: "The Sad Tale of the Beauxhommes" - Armand & The Storytellers

Even just listening to this song, you can get swept up in the sheer theatricality of this number. An embedded origin story fits right in with the rest of this tropical fairy tale. And it is one catchy number!

Nominee: The Secret Garden

Music by Lucy Simon, lyrics by Marsha Norman

Best Song: Presentation: "I Heard Someone Crying" - Mary Lennox, Archibald Craven, Lily & Company

This song is two-fer, really. It is a great song for developing the wants and needs of the characters, and it is very presentational in the way it builds and adds in the company. What a way to make something specific more universal.

Best Song: Ballad (duet): "Lily's Eyes" - Archibald Craven & Dr. Neville Craven

What a stunning duet this song is! And what a character reveal! That moment when you realize that two brothers loved the same woman... one was married to her and mourns his loss, while the other mourns what he never had. Both are now dealing with the arrival of Mary, and how she reminds them both of Lily.

Winner: The Will Rogers Follies

Music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Betty Comden, Adolph Green

Best Song: Opening Number: "Will-a-Mania" - Ziegfeld's Favorite & Company

This may just be my favorite show opener of all time. Seeing it was breathtaking - the lit up staircase, a loin cloth wearing Jerry Mitchell on a drum... But it is just as effective without seeing it (no small feat). This is another song that ebbs and flows in a gradual building that climbs to a goose bump finish!

Best Song: Presentation: "Our Favorite Son" - Will Rogers, The Wranglers & The New Ziegfeld Girls

This is The Follies, right? So why not a super-catchy novelty number about politics? "The elephant trunk and democrat donkey will be down the drain and sunk, the day the people's victory is won!" 

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