The two recent Scene to Song episodes are about very different subjects. The first is about an iconic musical theater character from a classic musical. The second is about a more recent musical that never ran on Broadway. Gypsy and Giant seem to have little in common except being one-word musicals beginning with the letter G, but a deep dive into Giant reveals just how classic in form this musical is, and a deep dive into Gypsy’s Mama Rose reveals just how complex musical theater women were in the Golden Age of musical theater.
Not everyone was able to see Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson’s Giant in production, but I hope you will listen to this episode even if you do not know this musical, as I believe it’s an important part of the canon even though it was never on Broadway. I’m also looking forward to seeing Michael John LaChiusa’s new show, The Gardens of Anuncia, at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City. There are some interesting new musicals and revivals of rarely seen musicals in New York City this fall, so it’s an exciting time. I hope you are able to see one of them, or another musical playing in your area.
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— Shoshana
Recent Episodes
Episode 97: The Character of Rose in Gypsy
In this episode, actress, singer, writer, and producer Victoria Gordon discusses the character of Rose, or Mama Rose, in Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents's 1959 musical Gypsy, looking at the many actors who have played the role. We also talk about the song "Babbette" from Cy Coleman, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green's 1978 musical On the Twentieth Century.
Music played in this episode:
"Everything’s Coming Up Roses" from Gypsy (1959 Original Cast Recording)
"You’ll Never Get Away from Me" from Gypsy (1959 Original Cast Recording)
"Together" from Gypsy (1973 West End Cast Recording)
"Rose’s Turn" from Gypsy (2003 Cast Recording)
"Babbette" from On the Twentieth Century (1978 Original Cast Recording)
YouTube Clips Referenced:
Angela Lansbury in Gypsy
Linda Lavin doing "Rose's Turn"
Episode 98: Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson’s Giant
In this episode, composer and lyricist Landon Braverman discusses Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson's 2012 off-Broadway musical Giant. We also talk about the song "Hello, Darling" from David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori's 2021 musical Kimberly Akimbo.
Music played in this episode:
"Aurelia Dolores" from Giant
"Your Texas" from Giant
"He Wanted a Girl" from Giant
"My Texas" from Giant
"The Desert" from Giant
"Hello, Darling" from Kimberly Akimbo
Meet the Guests!
Los Angeles native Victoria Gordon is an actress, singer, writer, and producer. As a teenager, she made history as Walt Disney Concert Hall’s youngest-ever vocal soloist, and has performed at LA’s most notable venues (including the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, the Broad Stage, and Feinstein’s at Vitello’s). Her solo cabaret show was one of the city’s top shows in 2019, and in 2020, she performed 80 songs across 16 virtual cabaret performances. Since her virtual debut in 2020, she’s performed more than 100 online cabarets, most of them streamed worldwide in real time.
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Current Town: Los Angeles, CA
What are you Working on Right Now: My upcoming evening of showtunes and standards on November 16 in Los Angeles.
What do you have coming up: I’ll be releasing several singles this winter. Stay tuned!
Book, TV, film, or Theater Recommendation: The Gilded Age is coming back, and I can’t wait to see all the theater stars return to my TV!
Where can we find you online/social media: The best place is my website: www.thevictoriagordon.com
Landon Braverman is a Brooklyn based composer and lyricist, originally from Vancouver, Canada. He is a proud alum of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU-Tisch. He is currently collaborating with Anna Jastrzembski on the glam rock musical Captain Zuke which was a semi-finalist for the O’Neill in 2023. He and Anna began developing a new rock opera in residence at the New Musicals Lab at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. With Derek P. Hassler (book & lyrics), he has written the scores for Picture Perfect (Prospect Theatre), Queen of the West (Best Score and Best Musical – Manhattan Theatre Mission) and CHOICES (Top 10 Finalist Ken Davenport Short Play Competition, NAAP). His music has been featured at Lincoln Centre, 54 Below, NYMF, and the Chutzpah! Festival. Landon is the Co-Founding Artistic Director of the Canadian Musical Theatre Writers Collective (CMTWC), a national organization devoted to supporting and promoting the work of Canadian musical theatre writers at home and abroad. He is a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild.
Hometown: Vancouver, Canada
Current Town: Brooklyn, NY
What are you Working on Right Now: Captain Zuke, about a glam rock band in 1970s England
What do you have coming up: A concert version of Captain Zuke
Book, TV, film, or Theater Recommendation: Lot Six by David Adjmi
Where can we find you online/social media: I'm not really active right now but that might change. I'm on Instagram @landonbraverman
Musical of the Month
The Apple Tree by Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Bock, and Jerome Coopersmith
The Apple Tree is one of those musicals that I think I would love if only I knew it better. I missed the revival in 2006-2007, so I just listen to songs from the cast recording. My favorite songs have always been “Feelings” and “Gorgeous,” and you can watch Barbara Harris perform the latter on the 1967 Tony Awards. But I don’t listen to all the songs. I know that each of the three acts is a different story, a format that intrigues me because there aren’t enough outlets for short musicals. All three stories are tied together by a theme, but the first act is based on Mark Twain's The Diaries of Adam and Eve, the second act is based on Frank R. Stockton's "The Lady, or the Tiger?," and the third act is based on Jules Feiffer's Passionella. Former podcast guest Patrick Flynn’s The Original Cast podcast has a great recent episode on The Apple Tree with Kari Ginsburg that goes through the entire show and puts it in historical context as well.
I think one of the reasons I am attracted to this musical is Barbara Harris’s performance. Deeper than that, though, I love roles for weird, funny, goofy, and charming women. I’d put Ella Peterson from Bells are Ringing in this category as well. The other reason is, as always, Sheldon Harnick’s beautifully witty lyrics.
The Apple Tree opened on Broadway on October 18, 1966, and ran for 463 performances. It was a weird show that Bock and Harnick really wanted to write after Fiddler on the Roof. You can tell they wanted to do something completely different.
Also in October…
October 1: Happy Birthday, lyricist/bookwriter Lynn Ahrens (1948)! Celebrate by listening to a discussion of her work in episode 25 on The Lesser-Known Musicals of Ahrens and Flaherty.
October 5: Yip Harburg, Harold Arlen, Sig Herzig, and Fred Saidy's Bloomer Girl opens on Broadway (1944). Listen to a discussion of this musical in episode 90 on The Lyrics of Yip Harburg.
October 6: Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart’s Mack and Mabel opens on Broadway (1974). Listen to a discussion of this show in episode 34 on The Musicals of Jerry Herman.
October 7: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats opens on Broadway (1982) and Kurt Weill, Ogden Nash, and S. J. Perelman’s One Touch of Venus (1943) and Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner’s Love Life (1948) open on Broadway. Listen to a discussion of Cats in episode 32 on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Musical Cats and a discussion of Kurt Weill’s musicals in episode 96 on The Musicals of Kurt Weill.
October 8: Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Les Miserables opens in London (1985). Listen to a discussion on the character Javert in episode 73 on Evil Characters in Musical Theater
October 10: Jerry Herman and Don Appell’s Milk and Honey opens on Broadway (1961). Listen to a discussion of this show in episode 34 on The Musicals of Jerry Herman.
October 11: Frank Loesser and George Abbott's Where's Charley opens on Broadway (1948). Celebrate by listening to episode 12 on “Musical Worlds” in Musical Theater, Featuring Frank Loesser.
October 12: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar opens on Broadway (1971). Celebrate by listening to episode 55 on The Musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber and episode 11 on Rock Operas in Musical Theater.
October 13: Michael Friedman and Alex Timbers’s Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson opens on Broadway (2010). Listen to a discussion of "I'm Not That Guy" and "I'm So That Guy" from Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson in episode 11 on Rock Operas in Musical Theater.
October 14: Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying opens on Broadway (1961). Listen to a discussion of this show in episode 12 on “Musical Worlds” in Musical Theater, Featuring Frank Loesser.
October 18: Judd Woldin, Robert Brittan, Robert Nemiroff, and Charlotte Zaltzberg’s Raisin opens on Broadway (1973). Listen to a discussion of the song “Not Anymore” in episode 4 on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Musical Theater.
October 19: Sherman Yellen, Sheldon Harnick, and Jerry Bock’s The Rothschilds opened on Broadway (1970). Listen to a discussion of The Rothschilds in episode 28 on The Bock and Harnick Musicals Fiddler on the Roof and The Rothschilds.
October 23: Stephen Schwartz, Roger O. Hirson, and Bob Fosse's Pippin opens on Broadway (1972) and Happy Birthday, composer/lyricist Maury Yeston! Listen to a discussion on Pippin in episode 45 on The Illusion of the Everyman in Musical Theater and celebrate Maury Yeston in episode 35 with a discussion of his song “Love Can’t Happen” from Grand Hotel.
October 24: N. Richard Nash, Tom Jones, and Harvey Schmidt’s 110 in the Shade opens on Broadway (1963). Listen to a discussion of this show in episode 23 on The Musicals of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt.
October 30: Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's Wicked opened on Broadway (2003). Celebrate by listening to episode 89 on The Musicals of Stephen Schwartz.
Find more musical theater history for October at musicals101.com.
New Musicals!
While Scene to Song mainly looks at musicals already part of the canon, I definitely want to highlight new musicals and musicals in development.
The Great Gatsby
Running October 12th through November 12th at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, this adaptation of The Great Gatsby looks like an intriguing take on the novel I last read in high school. There are a few adaptations of this story now that this classic is in the public domain, but I’ll go with this one with lyrics by the writer of Tuck Everlasting and Amelie and music by the writer of Little Women.
Creative Team: Book by Kait Kerrigan, Music by Jason Howland, Lyrics by Nathan Tysen
Synopsis: This world premiere musical adaptation of the acclaimed novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the impassioned tale of eccentric and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby in his tragic pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, the woman he’s loved since his youth.
Learn more about The Great Gatsby and get tickets.
Something Wonderful
Some additional recommendations for October:
Article: “How Complete Was Stephen Sondheim’s Final Musical?” Another article on Sondheim and Ives’s Here We Are.
Obituary: “Steven Lutvak, Composer Behind the Tony-Winning Musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Dies at 64.” “Mr. Lutvak made his Broadway debut with A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder in 2014, for which he supplied the music, and co-wrote the lyrics with Robert L. Freedman. The musical won the Drama League, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Tony Awards for Best Musical…. According to Sultan, Mr. Lutvak leaves behind several works that were in development. ‘Steven was working on a number of new projects that were slowly nearing fruition,’ wrote Sultan in an Instagram post. ‘We are all the poorer that we won’t get to experience these projects in their finished forms. Mostly, we are all the poorer that we won’t get to enjoy Steven’s warmth, talent and wit anymore.’”
Hosted by writer Shoshana Greenberg, Scene to Song brings on a guest to talk about a musical, musical theater writer, or a topic or trend in musical theater. The theme music is by Julia Meinwald.
You can write to scenetosong@gmail.com with a comment or question about an episode or about musical theater, or if you’d like to be a podcast guest. Follow on Instagram at @ScenetoSong, on Twitter at @SceneSong, and on Facebook at “Scene to Song with Shoshana Greenberg Podcast.” Support the podcast on Patreon.
Shoshana Greenberg is a lyricist, librettist, singer, and theater journalist. Her musicals include Days of Rage with Hyeyoung Kim and Lightning Man with Jeffrey Dennis Smith. She has also written the opera “The Community” with Kevin Cummines. Her songs have been heard at venues from Lincoln Center to the Duplex, where she performed her one-woman show Not Coming Back. She’s written for American Theatre Magazine, is a contributing editor for the publication Musical Theater Today, and created and hosts the musical theater podcast Scene to Song. She holds an M.F.A. from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU and a B.A. from Barnard College.