So Much Stuff to Sing

Yes, there are now 100 episodes of Shannon in New York City and Erik in Prague discussing the American Musical. To celebrate, we decided to each compile a list of 5 songs that, for us, represent what makes the musical the wonderful art form it is. The musical can do things that nothing else -- no other art form -- can do, and we think these songs illustrate that. In this episode, we discuss the fi...

We come to the conclusion of our miniseries of anthems, and we've saved one of the best for last. We're talking "I Am What I Am" from  La Cage aux Folles , with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, which became an anthem for LGBTQ Pride almost as soon as it was first sung in 1983. All clips are from 2016's Trailblazer Honors events featuring Ginger Minj and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of...

From the hard work and determination of show business to the let it all hang out and just be spirirt of the hippie movement, our anthem series continues with "Aquarius" from  Hair . Written by James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermot, "Aquarius" become synonymous with the hippie movement with an assist from The Fifth Dimension. Be prepared for lots of talk of very bad astrology! All clips are...

Anthem number two! This time, we're looking at an anthem for this business we call show: "There's No Business Like Show Business," written by Irving Berling for 1946's Annie Get Your Gun . While that's still a popular show, the song has definitely broken free and is now widely recognized as perhaps the definitive song about the ups and downs of a life lived on the stage. For this episode, we'll be...

Time for a new miniseries! This time, we're looking at songs originally from Broadway shows that found a greater life outside of them as anthems. Anthems of movements, times, places, industries -- Broadway has given us many anthems over the years. Arguably one of its earliest is one that everyone knows but may not know that it originated in a Broadway show: "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" by Y.E....

Well, it's that time again -- time to say goodbye to Sondheim for another year. But we're going out with a wide-ranging and multi-faceted discussion of all things  Merrily We Roll Along centered around one of the only purely happy songs in the show: "It's a Hit." All clips are from 1982's Merrily We Roll Along: Original Broadway Cast Recording featuring Lonny Price as Charley Kringas, Jim Walton a...

For the first time in over 4 years and 90 episodes (!), we return to  Merrily We Roll Along , Sondheim's greatest flop and now one of the biggest hits on Broadway. We'll looking at  Merrily for our next two episodes, actually, since it has multiple songs that fit this miniseries quite nicely. First up, we have the Act 1 closing number, "Now You Know." All clips are from 2023's Merrily We Roll Alon...

We're continuing our miniseries on Sondheim's conversation songs. This episode, we ask a very simple question: can a song simulataneously be about absolutely nothing and abosolutely everything? And we answer it with a resounding, "Yes," -- at least it can if the song is question is "Someone in a Tree" from Pacific Overtures . Join us as we try to pick apart the strands of this masterpiece and disc...

From "Waiting for Life" to "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs" -- it's Sondheim time once again. This year, we're focusing on conversation songs, a sub-genre Sondheim may have himself invented. We begin with the aforementioned octet (!) from 1971's  Follies and talk about why this song may be the key to understanding the whole show. All clips are from 1985's  Follies in Concert  are protected by the...

We wrap up our miniseries on "I Wish" songs with "Waiting for Life" from  Once on This Island by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Topics include whether being made into a tree is a good thing,  The Little Mermaid , and whether Ahrens and Flaherty were the right fit for this source material. DW: This episdoe contains mentions of racism, sexual assault, and self-harm. Listener discretion is advised...

And we're back again with another "I Want" song, but we're still in the 1970s. This time we're tackling  The Wiz and it's end-of-show I want song, "Home." Topics include Stephanie Mills, Diana Ross, and why the 80s really, really sucked.  Editor's Note: Yes, this episode sounds different. New computers, new set-ups, etc. We're still ironing out the kinks. Also, the original cast album is cuirrentl...

We're just getting started with I Want songs, and we're tackling another classic. This time, from 1972's  Pippin , we're talking about "Corner of the Sky." We talk Stephen Schwartz, Bob Fosse, and where cats and children fit. Strap in. All clips are from the 1972 Original Broadway Cast Recording of Pippin featuring John Rubinstein as Pippin and are protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 1...

We're back! We're starting our 5th year a little late, but as opinionated as ever! We're looking at "I want" songs here in 2024, and we're starting with one of the most famous and beloved examples: "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" from Lerner & Loewe's Golden Age classic  My Fair Lady . But is it beloved by your intrepid hosts? Only one way to find out...   All clips are from the 1956 Original Broadway Ca...

Oh, it's a jolly holiday season here at So Much Stuff to Sing! This year, we're looking at one of the all-time great film musicals, Walt Disney's  Mary Poppins . With songs written by Richard and Robert Sherman, and featuring seminal performances by Dick van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynnis Johns, and (in her film debut!) Julie Andrews, the film is both a landmark of cinema and a timeless masterpiec...

To round out our off-Broadway miniseries, Shannon and Erik take a look at "Beautiful" from the online hit Heathers: The Musical , and don't always like what they see. Are they just the wrong audience, or is this the wrong adaptation? All clips are from 2014's Heathers: The Musical (World Premiere Cast Recording) featuring Barrett Wilbert Weed are used in accordance with the Fair Use Exemption for...

From one queer, cult, off-Broadway hit to the next, it's time for Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell's Hedwig and the Angry Inch and what is arguably its thesis song: "The Origin of Love" Shannon is escited because of Eddie Izzard, and Erik is excited because of Plato. All clips are from 1999's  Hedwig and the Angry Inch: Original Cast Album featuring John Cameron Mitchell are used in accorda...

Happy Halloween, everyone! By sheer coicidence, our Off-Broadway miniseries timed up with spooky seaon, creating a wonderful synchronicity whereby our episde about "Science Fiction Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Show is coming out just before Halloween. Wait...did you not know that Rocky Horror was a smash London and L.A. musical before becoming a movie? Well, grab a seat in the back row an...

We're back -- a little late -- but we come bearing a new miniseries! This time, we're heading off-Broadway to explore the wide range of shows and songs that fall under that collective banner. We start with one of the either best -- or least -- well-known musicals of all time, depending on which co-host you ask. Yes, it's 1960's  The Fantasticks which ran off-Broadway for over four decades, becomin...

We finish our miniseries on 11 o'clock numbers with one of the defining shows and numbers of Broadway's current era: "She Used to Be Mine" from  Waitress . The discussion gievs us a chance to talk pop versus Broadway, how Sara Bareilles conquered Broadway, and proper theater etiquette. CW for discussions of domestic violence, abuse, and murder. All clips are from the 2019 v ideo " Shoshana Bean Si...

And now for something truly and genuinely completely different. Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's  Caroline, or Change first premiered on Broadway in 2004, and while the show wasn't a success either at the box office or the Tonys, it made an impact. Another recent Broadway production similarly failed to enflame the ticket-buying public, but it helped cement the show as something of a modern classi...

Another 11 o'clock number, please! This time, we're talking 1950's Guys & Dolls , Frank Loesser, and Nicely-Nicely Johnson -- yes, it's time for everyone's favorite gangster revival number, "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat."  All clips are from 1992's Guys and Dolls: The New Broadway Cast Recording featuring Walter Bobbie as Nicely-Nicely Johnson and are used in accordance with the Fair Use Exem...

We're back and starting a brand new miniseries. This time, we're looking at the so-called "eleven o'clock number" in a vairety of its permutations. First up, we have an archetypal example of the genre -- "Fifty Percent" from 1978's Ballroom . Trust us, you may now know the show, but you need to know the song. All clips are from 1999's My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies featuring Dorothy Loud...

Our final title song is also our most recent. We're back to Michael R. Jackson's  A Strange Loop , which has opened -- and closed -- on Broadway since we last discussed it, but not without winning the Best Musical Tony.  All clips are from 2022's  A Strange Loop: Original Broadway Cast Recording featuring Jaquel Spivey as Usher and are used in accordance with the Fair Use Exemption for criticism a...

Another title song, and this time it's a title song that opens the show and sets up the rest of the show. We're talking about  In the Heights again, exploring how Lin-Manuel Miranda uses its opening number to set up both the main characters and most of the plotlines that we need to know. All clips are from 2021's   In the Heights: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack featuring Anthony Ramos as Usnav...

We're continuing with our title songs miniseries, and we're back with Kander and Ebb for the first time in a while. This time, we're talking about "Kiss of the Spider Woman," and Shannon makes a shocking confession about this song.  All clips are from 1993's Kiss of the Spider Woman: The Musical - Original Cast Recording featuring Chita Rivera as Aurora and are used in accordance with the Fair Use...