Topic: THE TIME IS NIGH (Read 19711 times)

bk · « **Reply #90 on:** February 14, 2006, 02:58:24 PM »

And one for Mahler. At long last page four.

Tomovoz · « **Reply #91 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:01:37 PM »

Quote from: MBarnum on February 14, 2006, 02:48:38 PM

Finally won that WB Stars sing Christmas songs LP....when I get it I will have it transferred to CD for my listening enjoyment!

and of course you have listening friends in OZ!

bk · « **Reply #92 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:07:18 PM »

Quote from: Tomovoz on February 14, 2006, 12:33:47 AM

My favourite BK produced tracks are "With You"/"Gifts Of Love" by Marin Mazzie and "Lion Tamer" by Kristin Chenoweth.
By tracks are from the Stepen Schwartz Album which is by far the most played and loved of the many excellent albums produced by BK.

All right - I'll comment on some of your choices. I spoke at length about Kristin's Lion Tamer in today's class. First I played it, then the class gave their opinions on why it was such a great vocal and really how atypical it is for Kristin. As is my usual practice, I didn't rehearse with her at all, and when she arrived at the studio, I just said my usual "why don't you go through it once and let me hear what you're doing." Of course, I always record the once-through - after she finished doing that take I told her she could go home. She was shocked, but then I played the track and she just looked at me and I said, "It will never be better than that because that is a perfect vocal." And her reply was, "I just sang it from the heart." And that, as they say, was that.

The Marin Mazzie track (the put together of With You and Gifts of Love) was my idea. I thought the two songs would work really well together, and I knew I could weave the accompaniment of one under the other, which is what I like to do with put-togethers. There was one huge problem, however - the last stanza of Gifts of Love's lyric just didn't work for the put-together, being very character and show specific to The Baker's Wife. I called Stephen Schwartz and told him what I thought and asked if he could write a new last verse. One hour later I had it and that is what you hear on the album. Miss Mazzie had to do two or three takes, but the final version of the song shows her off to great advantage, I think.

bk · « **Reply #93 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:09:03 PM »

Quote from: S. Woody White on February 14, 2006, 04:04:07 AM

Favorite track? Rebecca Luker singing Anything Goes. Hands down.

And thank-you again to BK for suggesting I get the album. I was searching for a companion disc to send to my father for his birthday, having already decided to send him Christianne Noll's Ira Gershwin album. The reccomendation was spot-on; both discs are two of Dad's favorites, and mine as well.

Rebecca's album is wonderful. Her arranger, Patrick Brady, is amazingly clever and creative - I think my only input into the arrangements was the "time travel" aspect of the title track. We were originally going to go much further with it, but it just worked perfectly the way Patrick finally put it together.

George · « **Reply #94 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:10:40 PM »

Favorite BK Tracks (in alphabetical order):

Ballyshannon - Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley
Broadway Baby - Lea DeLaria
Brotherhood of Man - Liz Callaway and Ann Hampton Callaway
Codependency Duet: Nobody Does It Like Me/You Can Always Count on Me - Randy Graff
Cowboy Waltz - Guy Haines
Hey, You!/Faro-La, Faro-Li - our very own DR Jason!! (and Judy Kaye and The Scarlettes )
If We Only Have Love - Laurie and Claudia Beechman (one of my all-time favorites)
I'm Still Here - Dorothy Loudon
Joshua Noveck - Tammy Minoff
Lion Tamer - Kristin Chenoweth
Losing My Mind - Dame Edna!
My Heart Is So Full of You - Liz Callaway
Never Will I Marry - Liz Callaway
New Words - Liz Callaway
One Of The Beautiful People - Liz Callaway
Pitiful Penniless Bums - Guy Haines and Brent Barrett (a.k.a. the WSMA)
Theme from 2001 - Debbie Gravitte (whose brilliant mind came up with this??)
Water Under the Bridge - Debbie Gravitte
What Can You Lose? - both Judy Kuhn and Guy Haines' versions for different reasons (wouldn't it be cool if they did the duet version together?)
Who Killed Teddy Bear - Tammi Tappan Damiano

bk · « **Reply #95 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:12:08 PM »

Quote from: elmore3003 on February 14, 2006, 04:26:10 AM

Good morning, all! Well, today I go to Philadelphia and meet Peter Nero. I'll leave here around 10. and I still haven't decided on my train reading, perhaps the new MOZART'S WOMEN by Jane Glover. I just finished Anthony Rapp's memoir on RENT and his mother's death, WITHOUT YOU, which I admired more thsn I liked. I also have the new book MANHUNT, about the Lincoln assassination, so I have 2 hours to decide.

TOD: "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" by Liz Callaway.
"Cowboy Waltz" by Guy Haines

Liz's Flowers track is an interesting case of taking what is basically a one-note song and tranforming it into a drama. When they first sent me a work tape of her singing it, it was just one verse after the other all sung and played the same. When I spoke to she and her arranger Alex about it, I said I didn't really feel the song was strong enough for the album, but if they really wanted to do it that my take was that it had to start innocently and then get darker and darker (the anti-war feel) and Alex heard that loud and clear and did a brilliant job of realizing it.

Tomovoz · « **Reply #96 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:13:43 PM »

Thank you for the comments BK.

bk · « **Reply #97 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:16:02 PM »

Quote from: Matt H. on February 14, 2006, 07:31:20 AM

My favorite BK produced track. Well, I've talked about this song so much I know I sound like a broken record, but I can't help it. I have always found the song hauntingly beautiful and the performance perfection:

Debbie Gravitte's "Water Under the Bridge."

Runners-up: From the SONDHEIM AT THE MOVIES CD, I also adore "The Glamorous Life" and "What Can You Lose?"

I remember Debbie and I had a really hard time with Water Under The Bridge. I'd heard Liza's version and hated every minute of it - I just didn't 'get' the song at all. All during rehearsals for Unsung Sondheim, Debbie and I kept plugging away at it, to no avail. Yes, we had the more pop-ish arrangement, but the lyric was just befuddling to us. I finally called Steve on the phone and he said he wasn't surprised, as the song as written for the film it was supposed to appear in, was a pop song and the girl who's singing it is sort of having a breakdown while she's recording it.

That made sense, but didn't really help us. I finally sat down with Debbie and we made up a little story for the song and that was the trick - it worked and her vocal is superb because of it.

bk · « **Reply #98 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:24:15 PM »

Quote from: Charles Pogue on February 14, 2006, 09:02:19 AM

Some favourite BK-produced tracks:

Guy Haines singing I'm Glad To See You Got What You Want; Getting Nowhere Fast; Point Of No Return; Evenin' Star...

I Love all of No Way To Treat A Lady...

More anon...There are so many...

Getting Nowhere Fast was written for Mr. Haines by Todd Ellison and Stephen Cole. When he first got the song he loved the music but had problems with a few of the lyrics - he made suggestions for changes which he felt would help clarify the point of the song, and Mr. Cole graciously made the adjustments and Mr. Haines was very happy.

Evening Star - I'd been wanting to record it for years. It has my favorite Harvey Schmidt melody ever. The song had never worked in any incarnation of the show (110 In The Shade), and one day, while listening to a tape of it, I figured out why. It just wasn't complete. It had two verses but no bridge and it needed a bridge. The minute I figured that out I knew that that had been the problem with that song all along. I called Mr. Schmidt and gingerly asked if he thought that he and Tom could write a bridge - and I told him that if they did that Guy would record it. Mr. Schmidt felt that Mr. Jones wouldn't want to do it, and he didn't think he necessarily wanted to go there either. So, I forgot about it until three days later I got a Fed Ex containing a cassette tape. Mr. Schmidt had written a beautiful bridge. He still felt that Mr. Jones wouldn't want to do the lyric, but I asked him to please ask and even guilt-trip him if he had to, as I'd recorded and been a champion of so much of his work. Whatever was said worked because a few days later I had Mr. Jones' new lyric to the bridge and it was a beauty. We recorded the song and they loved it.

Flash forward: It's now included in most productions of the show.

bk · « **Reply #99 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:25:45 PM »

Quote from: JoseSPiano on February 14, 2006, 09:33:33 AM

As for the Topic of the Day...

"New Words"

OH! And...

"Getting Married Today" - on "The Stephen Sondheim Album"

New Words was done "off the page" exactly as written by Mr. Yeston. What Mr. Yeston didn't write was elmore's gorgeous orchestration, which has never been bettered.

bk · « **Reply #100 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:30:39 PM »

"# Theme from 2001 - Debbie Gravitte (whose brilliant mind came up with this??)"

When we decided to do the MGM tribute, Debbie set about choosing the songs. The 2001 idea came to me immediately. She fought me on it for weeks, but I would not be dissuaded. We decided to let Steve Orich create the entire thing in his computer. So, one day (after pleading with me not to have to do it) we recorded her singing a variety of notes, which Steve was then going to import into the computer and manipulate on the keyboard. While she was recording it, she kept making hilarious comments.

When Steve put the track together he used all the funny comments and brilliantly realized the track and it's the highlight of the album for me because it's so outre. She loved it, too.

Ginny · « **Reply #101 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:51:56 PM »

Quote from: Ginny on February 14, 2006, 04:38:47 AM

TOD - Judy Kuhn's "Time After Time" and Shauna Hicks' "Take Me with You, Soldier Boy"

BK - any comments on my choices?

elmore3003 · « **Reply #102 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:59:17 PM »

Quote from: bk on February 14, 2006, 03:16:02 PM

I remember Debbie and I had a really hard time with Water Under The Bridge. I'd heard Liza's version and hated every minute of it - I just didn't 'get' the song at all. All during rehearsals for Unsung Sondheim, Debbie and I kept plugging away at it, to no avail. Yes, we had the more pop-ish arrangement, but the lyric was just befuddling to us.

I had forgotten all that and now it comes back! I didn't do the arrangement and I had forgotten all about it. I've been enjoying Susan Egan's "Joshua Noveck" more than Tammy's lately.

TCB · « **Reply #103 on:** February 14, 2006, 03:59:30 PM »

First of all, where in tarnation is everyone

4:00 p.m. on the Left Coast, and only 100 post. You would think it was Valentine's Day or something!

Ginny · « **Reply #104 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:04:39 PM »

DR Elmore - Are you back from Philadelphia? How was your trip?

elmore3003 · « **Reply #105 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:06:59 PM »

Quote from: bk on February 14, 2006, 03:25:45 PM

New Words was done "off the page" exactly as written by Mr. Yeston. What Mr. Yeston didn't write was elmore's gorgeous orchestration, which has never been bettered.

Dear Friend BK, that is the sweetest valentine I've ever received in my life, and I thank you. Like Mr Haines' singing of "The Cowboy Waltz," Liz's version of "New Words," from the day I first heard it, reached down my throat and tore out my heart. That's what I tried to score.

Yes, he's back from Philly! Footage at 11!

elmore3003 · « **Reply #106 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:19:55 PM »

The trip was fun. Peter Nero and his wife were quite lovely, and Ron is always a hoot. We got to visit for about 30 minutes before the rehearsal began. Sam Davis, who is working on the new musical version of THE PIRATE at the Prince Musical Theatre came down as well; he did the arrangement of "Old Black Magic" that I scored for Ron, and a lovely arrangement of "Slow Boat to China." The orchestra was wonderful and my three charts sounded good. I got a taxi back to the station, exchanged my 7:00 ticket for the train at 4:38 and got home quite speedily.

I'm missing my friend Milla's show tonight, and I hope she has a great turnout. There should be a full report on it from DR FJL.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #107 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:20:54 PM »

Quote from: S. Woody White on February 14, 2006, 02:42:10 PM

Or, as some of us like to think of it, with Quinn and Kedrova and Westenberg.

College classmate.

I stand corrected.

One nice b/w photo of Westenberg in the gatefold LP.....shall I scan it for you?

Ginny · « **Reply #108 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:27:23 PM »

Here's what my DH Richard gave me for Valentine's Day - one is Pure Extra Dark Chocolate; one is Extra Dark with cranberries, blueberries and almonds; and one is Extra Dark with macadamia nuts and cranberries. YUM!

Jrand73 · « **Reply #109 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:30:51 PM »

Ah DR ELMORE - you did the arrangement for "New Words"....ah!!

My hat is off to you! I have "signed" that song a few times and it never fails to move the audiences. I have a few hand signs of my own during the music.... I can't say enough about that song, and I see that a few other DR's have also included it in their choices.

The first time I did it was at the cast party for a production of INTO THE WOODS. A friend of mine who played the baker was moving away with his family after spending about four years with our theatre group, and I just said before I started, this is for Mike & Holly and the girls....

Jrand73 · « **Reply #110 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:31:34 PM »

DH RICHARD can do my shopping anytime!

Jrand73 · « **Reply #111 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:32:46 PM »

I am appalled that I did not list among my favorites (and very close to the top):

The tracks from ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN music by Ronald Stein, on the NOT OF THIS EARTH CD!!

Ginny · « **Reply #112 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:40:23 PM »

Quote from: JRand55 on February 14, 2006, 04:31:34 PM

DH RICHARD can do my shopping anytime!

DRJRand! The funny thing is that the Hershey Store in Times Square didn't have all 3 varieties. Richard found them right here at our local Kroger.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #113 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:49:34 PM »

Quote from: Ginny on February 14, 2006, 04:40:23 PM

DRJRand! The funny thing is that the Hershey Store in Times Square didn't have all 3 varieties. Richard found them right here at our local Kroger.

LOL....I can believe it! There is very LITTLE they don't have at the Kroger store....except cashiers.

bk · « **Reply #114 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:53:06 PM »

Quote from: Ginny on February 14, 2006, 03:51:56 PM

BK - any comments on my choices?

Love Judy's Time After Time, but other than giving her a suggestion or two, didn't have anything to do with the arrangement, other than liking it.

For Take Me With You Soldier Boy, I had a very specific thing in my head, and when I worked that out with Lanny Meyers, he did a great job of giving me exactly what I wanted, and what I wanted was for it to sound like a classic girl singer big band song - certainly Mr. Berlin didn't write it that way, in fact it was really just a sketch I found in his trunk, but I liked it and Shauna did a great job with it.

bk · « **Reply #115 on:** February 14, 2006, 04:57:31 PM »

Wrote four pages of musical. Here is the current conundrum - I was, unfortunately, very public about doing this musical when David and I started writing it back in 2001. It was, in fact, based on a film script of mine that I'd written in 1992. David sort of solved its problems and we began work. Now, there is a musical that's been kicking around for the past three years that is suspiciously like ours - called It Came From Beyond. Our costume designer did its costumes and she told me a bit about it - it sounded to me like the plot devices they used were not very good, but the ideas are basically the same - a spoof of low-budget 50s sci-fi movies. It Came From Beyond has been playing for a month or so - got okay but not great reviews (not that THAT matters here in LA) and I know some "people" have been to see it (re other productions) - so the question is to mush on or not mush on. My instinct is we should because what we're doing is, I'm sure, much funnier than what they do (that's the big complaint about their show - not funny enough), and I'm sure our musical score is quite different from theirs. But the idea is the same and I wish I'd kept my big trap shut back then.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #116 on:** February 14, 2006, 05:00:37 PM »

There were two HARLOWS back in 1965 - let the public decide!

Jrand73 · « **Reply #117 on:** February 14, 2006, 05:03:37 PM »

The better one will be the one people remember.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #118 on:** February 14, 2006, 05:03:48 PM »

THE SEA HAWK is on TCM tonight!

elmore3003 · « **Reply #119 on:** February 14, 2006, 05:17:15 PM »

Dear Friend BK, there were two back-to-back WILD PARTY's, and wasn't there something else similar to ZOMBIE PROM? I know of at least three versions of REEFER MADNESS, so what can I say? Go for it!

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Author Topic: THE TIME IS NIGH (Read 19711 times)