All tagged A Little Night Music
This week’s debate takes us back to 1973, a year were anything was likely to happen and where two musicals (out of four nominees) were really the chief contenders for Best Musical, and two others that had much to offer but would ultimately be outshined. This was, after all, the decade where the team of composer Stephen Sondheim and director Harold Prince would revolutionize musical theatre.
Angela Lansbury is a treasure of the American Theatre. Though she was born in London, she has enjoyed a long and auspicious career on American soil, first as an actress in the old Hollywood movies system in films such as Gaslight, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Harvey Girls, and also as a television star for 12 seasons of Murder, She Wrote. It is, however, for the Broadway stage that Lansbury has been her most daring and sparkling. Today, we celebrate the Broadway musicals that starred Angela Lansbury.
By 1973, the combination of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and director Harold Prince had revolutionized Broadway with two compelling musicals, both featuring non-linear storytelling and taking a brutally honest look at life, its trials and tribulations, and everything in-between. Those musicals were (of course) Company and Follies. For their next Broadway outing, Sondheim and Prince would venture into less groundbreaking territory structurally, but with no less artistry and impact.
This might seem like a ridiculous subject for a piece about Broadway showtunes, but the more I thought about it, the more fascinated I became by the subject. In songwriting, there is no copyright on titles, so titles can repeat. I can sit down and write a song about Broadway and remembering fondly, then title it “Give My Regards to Broadway.” As long as the music and lyrics are different, it is perfectly acceptable (and legal) to do so. This got me thinking: what showtunes are there that share the same title? It turns out, there are several. Here is a sampling of some that I found.
