The Eclectic Musical Theatre Radio Show - Episode Four
Your Regular Uplifting Musical Theatre Playlist
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Here’s the link to this week’s music:
SPOTIFY Eclectic Musical Theatre Playlist Episode 4
APPLE MUSIC Eclectic Musical Theatre Playlist Episode 4
EPISODE FOUR
No Way -Feat: Adrianna Hicks FROM Six Live On Opening Night Broadway Cast Recording
SIX is a global phenomenon with productions in several cities, touring the UK and even on cruise ships. What I love about this track is that it captures the rock concert energy of the piece with enough reverb and crowd response to put you right in the room. Halfway through you half expect the horn riff to transport the song into a Wanna Be Startin’ Something mash up. And Adrianna Hicks’ vocal is both rich and rhythmic with runs in all the right places.
Best Man Wins-Andrew Durand, Kevin Cahoon, Grey Henson and the Company FROM Shucked (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Coming over like a cross between the Devil Went Down to Georgia and Florida Georgia Line, Best Man Wins is, nevertheless, a classic musical theatre song about preparing for a conflict - think Jet Song or Hurt Someone. I love the energy and drive of the song and can’t wait for the show to make it across to London.
The Road You Didn’t Take - Philip Quast FROM Follies (2018 National Theatre Cast Recording)
Follies will mean one thing to you when you are 18 and something completely different when you are 50 - and I have seen the show at both ages. A show about love and keeping up appearances but also about what might have been. In this wonderful performance by Philip Quast, Benjamin Stone appears to be self aware enough to make us think that he is offering a reflection on life in general. But don’t be fooled by its seemingly blithe delivery and beautiful melody because this is a hard edged cynical take on how living a life that is externally beautiful will eat away at your insides that cleverly lays the clue for Ben’s eventual mental breakdown. And how often have I dreamed of having a voice like Philip Quast?!
Daddy (Reprise) - The Company FROM These Trees Are Made of Blood by Darren Clark (Original London Cast Recording Southwark Playhouse 2015)
Darren Clark has written some incredible shows including the recent Benjamin Button and the wonderful The Wicker Husband. But this show about the Argentine military’s ‘Dirty War’ that led to the disappearance of around 30,000 civilians shows a tougher edge. There are hints of tango in the opening violin and tango theme before Anna Marie Piazza gives a masterclass in building vocal and emotional intensity in this powerful piece about loss.
All The Young Dudes - Nicholas Christopher, Lynn Craig, Michael Esper, Sophia Anne Caruso and the Company FROM Lazarus (Original Cast Recording)
In essence, Lazarus is a David Bowie juke box musical - but what a juke box it is! With a plot inspired by the 1963 novel The Man Who Fell To Earth about a humanoid alien who cannot die or return home Lazarus was, like Bowie, both part of the mainstream and a little apart.
Road To Hell - Andre de Shields and the Company FROM Hadestown (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Funky, folky and jazzy, Hadestown is a shining example of a show that gets creatively developed, reworked and perfected over time- the show took 12 years from its first performance in Vermont to get to London and another year to get to Broadway but the wait was worthwhile! It doesn’t sound like anything else and manages a plot that explores mythology and politics at the same time.
Wish I Were Here -Alice Ripley & Jennifer Domino & J Robert Spencer FROM Next To Normal (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
This is one of the shows that reminds us that a well written musical can offer insights into pretty much any subject. Next to Normal shows us how mental health issues impact the sufferer and those around them but also that often times people with psychiatric problems are fully aware of them. This song presents us a mother and daughter sharing hallucinations and drawing parallels between drug and ECT induced episodes.
Soar (Live) - The Company FROM Henrietta A New Musical (Original Live Cast Recording)
I love this song from new musical Henrietta by the massively talented Alex Parker and Katie Lam. Commissioned by the National Youth Music Theatre this show explores the complexity of being a child during wartime - in this case a Jewish child in Amsterdam in 1944. This song starts off feeling like the happy song of hope from a Disney movie but transitions into a darker and more foreboding piece as the Second World War and its attendant horrors close in. From an open sky the song transports you to a claustrophobic place - where there was hope and a future there is only fear and survival.
Open Up Your Door - Featuring Maimuna Memon FROM Standing At The Sky’s Edge (Original Live Cast Recording)
I literally cannot get enough of this song or the soundtrack to Standing At The Sky’s Edge. A worthy Olivier Award winner and now transferring from the National Theatre to the West End. This show is about real people and real lives in a real place. As I’ve said before it is the working class musical we have been waiting for since Blood Brothers and this vocal performance by Maimuna Memon is gorgeous, tender, seductive and a thing of absolute beauty!
Take That Look Off Your Face - Marti Webb FROM Tell Me On A Sunday (Original 1980 London Cast Recording)
Tell Me On A Sunday was commissioned by the BBC as a one hour special before it became a full theatre piece. The one woman show was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black, and is a song cycle telling the story of an English girl who travels to the US in search of the love that she cannot find at home. The part has been played by some incredible women including Clare Sweeney, Bernadette Peters (who won a Tony for it) and Jodie Prenger. This song perfectly encapsulates the feelings of denial and then anger that we feel when we discover that someone has cheated. Marti Webb had a top 3 UK hit with this original version of the song and was nominated for a best actress Olivier Award for her performance in the show. Turn it up loud, jump the octave and shout “I KNEW BEFORE!!!!”
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