Gershwin: I Can’t Be Bothered Now

Gershwin: I Can’t Be Bothered Now

George Gershwin is my official “Favorite Composer.” After all, you have to have an answer ready when people ask that question, and Gershwin’s music is certainly very close to me—like my own skin, my own blood. Gershwin songs are usually very cheerful, but they always...
Sondheim: Buddy’s Blues

Sondheim: Buddy’s Blues

For me, “Follies” is the greatest of all modern musicals. But it’s almost impossible to get it just right in production. James Goldman’s book is difficult—brilliant but somewhat flawed—so it needs a subtle, clever director. The cast is large, and everyone, from...
Coleman: If You Hadn’t But You Did

Coleman: If You Hadn’t But You Did

I have loved the song “If You Hadn’t But You Did” ever since I heard the original cast recording of Two on the Aisle (where it was performed by powerhouse Dolores Gray, who sounds as if she could sing Amneris). Cy Coleman is at his peak, and lyricists Betty Comden and...
Contact

Contact

We have tickets to see American Dance Machine for the 21st Century next Saturday night. They are a group that revives classic dance sequences from musicals, and apparently they do superb work. In the last few years I have discovered a primal relationship to Broadway...
Strauss: The Composer’s Aria

Strauss: The Composer’s Aria

This week our SoTD curator is Laura Lee Everett, the Director of Artistic Services at OPERA America, who’s had a long and varied career in opera—stage managing, mentoring young artists, facilitating the creation of new works, and more—at companies all across the U.S.,...