All tagged Follies

When the West End and Broadway Came Together for Christmas

When the West End and Broadway Came Together for Christmas

Mark Robinson
Music That Makes Me Dance

This week I was thinking about a holiday special that ran on Britain’s ITV that captured the beauty and spectacle of musical theatre in the late 1980s. Save the Children was the name of the program, and the piece was created as a benefit for the Save the Children Foundation, an organization dedicated to make the lives better for children the world over. It brought together the stars and casts of the West End and Broadway musicals that were the hits of the day, and, with the performers in costume and playing on the impressive sets of their respective shows, they sang beloved Christmas carols with a splendor and glory that stuck with this Broadway enthusiast for three decades.

Hello, Bernadette! A Compilation of Videos Celebrating Ms. Peters

Hello, Bernadette! A Compilation of Videos Celebrating Ms. Peters

Mark Robinson
Music That Makes Me Dance

With Bernadette Peters taking the stage as Dolly Gallagher Levi in the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!, I thought it would be fun and appropriate to create a compilation of some of Ms. Peter’s finest musical performances on stage, television, and the big screen. Just like the waiters at Harmonia Gardens are ecstatic to have Dolly return to her favorite haunt, we are beyond thrilled to have her back where she belongs in a Broadway musical. I hope you enjoy this tribute to one of Broadway’s finest leading ladies. 

Remembering Barbara Cook

Remembering Barbara Cook

Mark Robinson
Music That Makes Me Dance

It rained a little on Broadway this week with the passing of Barbara Cook, a legend of the Broadway musical whose clarion soprano and boundless emotion took songs into the outer stratosphere. Cook, who has been a presence on the Broadway scene since the 1950s in both musicals and concerts, died on August 8 at the age of 89 after a long illness. Her legions of fans are mourning the loss of the great lady who, among myriad roles, originated the role of Marion Paroo in the 1957 production of The Music Man.   

Ranking Stephen Sondheim

Ranking Stephen Sondheim

Mark Robinson
Music That Makes Me Dance

Stephen Sondheim is perhaps the most revered and worshipped composer-lyricist in the American Musical Theatre, and though he has earned that status with an extraordinary canon of work, certain musicals he has written are obviously better than others. Opinion and personal preferences, of course, play into one’s feelings about his shows. As an experiment to sort out my enthusiasm and criticism of his work, I have ranked Sondheim’s musicals from his worst to his best.

Let the judgment begin…

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