And Now For The Answers(2)…

1.  The Happiest Millionaire, “Valentine Candy or Boxing Gloves”, Cordelia Drexel Biddle. The line given seems a perfect description of adolescence and fits Cordelia as she ponders her future.  Is she going to box with boys or date them?  Up till now she’s been a Daddy’s girl, acquiescing to whatever he has proposed.  However, she’s beginning to wonder who she really is outside of her father’s wishes.  Lesley Ann Warren offers a wistful, yet highly emotional rendition of this difficult stage in her life in Walt Disney’s last film.
2. Goldilocks, “Shall I Take my Hat and Go?”, George Randolph Brown.  The show was written by the Broadway critic Walter Kerr and his wife Jean.  The title confused the audience as did the mixed up ending.  Fortunately, the charming and tuneful score by miniaturist, Leroy Anderson, is a delight for the ears.  Russell Nype sings this song with an exuberant boyish innocence and a touch of pathos.  A superb rendition of an unduly neglected song.
3. The Apple Tree, “Eve”, Adam.  By selecting three stories:  “The Diary of Adam and Eve” by Mark Twain, “The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank Stockton and “Passionella” by Jules Feiffer, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick wished to show the emotional and often turbulent aspect of male-female relationships. Not always a smooth blend of tales, nevertheless,  the show offers a complex and intriguing score, highlighted by top notch performances by Alan Alda, Barbara Harris and Larry Blyden.  Alan Alda has just the right amount of bewilderment and confusion when confronting the first member of the opposite sex.
4. Funny Girl, “Henry Street”, chorus of neighbors from Henry Street.  The song is a celebration of Henry Street’s first Ziegfeld star to be:  Fanny Brice.  Errata:  the line should be corrected to:  “…young D.D-esses” and “loony” should be “looney.”
5. Bloomer Girl, “Evelina”, Evelina Applegate and Jeff Calhoun.  A playful, teasing song that introduces the main characters.  In the original production, Celeste Holm sings the song for comic effect, while Barbara Cook sings for purity of tone in the 1956 TV production.  Even Steven.
6. On the Twentieth Century, “Repent”, Letitia Primrose.  Imogene Coca sings this song by subjecting her comical voice to some unexpected twists.  Her hypocrisy shines through when she admits that she’s glad she didn’t repent before she did it all!
7. My Fair Lady, “A Hymn to Him”, Henry Higgins.  Many performers have played the main character, but Rex Harrison remains our favorite misogynist.
8. Li’l Abner, “Love in a Home”, Li’l Abner and Daisy Mae.  In Act 2, the main characters fantasize about the home they might have had before Abner was caught by Appassionata Von Climax and whisked off to Washington.   Peter Palmer and Edith Adams sing this romantic song.
9. The Music Man, “The Sadder-but-Wiser Girl for me”, Harold Hill.  This song reflects Harold’s penchant for women “who have been around.”  He wants affairs not committed relationships.  As he sings, “I hope and I pray for Hester to win just one more “A”.”  Robert Preston reveals the criminal and the dreamer to perfection.
10. Babes in Toyland, “I Can’t do the Sum”, Jane.  In the original 1903 production, Jane sings this song in a garden, while the Widow Piper’s children sit on a wall and tap on their slates as if working a problem.  Of course, these non sequiturs have no solution!  Kim Criswell gives a slightly frustrated version in 1978 on New World Records.  This star of Cincinnati University Singer’s and Theater Orchestra became an even bigger star on Broadway!