Variations on a Theme: Show Tunes

This month we are looking at show tunes! And since there are a lot of shows with tunes out there, this is heavily skewed to ones that I like, and therefore heavily skewed towards Cole Porter and the Gershwins. I tried to throw in a couple more obscure ones that I like as well, and didn’t pull twice from the same show. Start snappin your fingers and tappin your toes!

1. "I've Got Rhythm" from "Crazy For You" by George and Ira Gershwin

This is classic Gershwin, about love and about dancing at the same time. It’s the big dance number from “Crazy For You” which is why it goes on for so long, that’s all tap dancing. The beat is simply irresistible!

2. "Electricity" from "Billy Elliot" by Elton John

The musical “Billy Elliot” tells the story of a young working class boy who wants to become a dancer. The music is all done by Elton John, and I think it’s superb. This song comes at a part of the show when Billy is sitting for an interview, and the interviewer asks him why he dances. I just think that it captures so well the feeling of losing yourself in art, and why artists have to create, no matter what form of art it is.

3. "I’ve Got You Under My Skin" from "Born to Dance" by Cole Porter

This is such a good Cole Porter tune. It has been covered by everyone from Frank Sinatra to the Four Seasons. The lyrics are catchy, but at the same time get at the essential feeling of infatuation and having someone “under your skin” as it were.

4. "I'm Not That Smart" from "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" by William Finn

This is another contemporary musical, centered around a group of kids at a spelling bee. This song is sung by a student who isn’t the smartest, just happens to be good at spelling. His character is so innocent and endearing, while so amusing, that his song is one of my favorites from the show.

5. "Accident Waiting to Happen" from "The Drowsy Chaperone" by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison

“The Drowsy Chaperone” is basically what you would get if you made my life into a musical. It’s about this older man who loves jazzy musicals. He puts on a record of his favorite (“The Drowsy Chaperone” of course) and it comes to life on stage! It pokes fun of all of the tropes, from the dancing gangsters to the deus ex machina at the end. This song is sung by the leading man of the show, while blindfolded on roller skates. It’s very relatable.

6. "Nice Work if You Can Get It" from "A Damsel in Distress" by George and Ira Gershwin

This is one of my favorite Gershwin tunes, been covered by Frank Sinatra, Billie Holliday, a whole ton of people. I’m surprised that it isn’t more well known. It recently was the title of a new Broadway musical that took Gershwin songs from all different shows and put them to a different plot. Anyways, this song is great because it riffs off of the whole love being better than money idea by comparing dating to a job. Which has strange capitalist themes, but I’m ignoring that and focusing on how cute the song is.

7. "All I Ask Of You" from "The Phantom of the Opera" by Andrew Lloyd Weber

To be honest, I really don’t care for Andrew Lloyd Weber as a composer. He composes as though he’s throwing darts at a music staff, there’s no logic to his melody. And half of his songs sound the same (see: “Evita” everything sounds like freaking “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”). Having said all that, there is a soft spot in my heart for this song. It’s simple, it’s melodic, and it sums up caring for someone very well.

8. “Hello, Dolly!” from “Hello, Dolly!” by Jerry Herman

Ah yes this is a classic show tune. Probably best known for the Louie Armstrong version. This show in general seems to be able to put a smile on anyone’s face, with its earnest characters. I enjoy the title track so much because that’s what we all want, to walk into a room and have other people greet us and say that this is where we belong.

9. "One Day More" from "Les Miserables" by Claude-Michel Schonberg

It’s the penultimate track, therefore it is time to bust this number out! “One Day More” is the song before intermission for “Les Mis” so it’s quite the show-stopper. All of the characters come together to sing about how the next day is going to change their lives. Which I think is a really cool theme to link them all. There’s a lot of overlapping melodies and counter-melodies, I just find it fun to try and pick them apart and recognize which characters are which.

10. "Blow Gabriel Blow" from "Anything Goes!" by Cole Porter

And we will end with one of my favorite musicals, “Anything Goes!” This is a classic Cole Porter show, but it has been revived multiple times with slightly different songs and plots. However, no body dares to touch this song. It’s sung by an evangelist nightclub entertainer (I find it hilarious that no one in the show finds that combination odd) and the whole cast gets whipped up into a frenzy. It’s just so fun!

That’s all we got this week for a very specific subset of show tunes, haha! Next month we will be having fun with Film Scores so stay tuned for that!