Post Golden Age
Holy shit! I'm back! Huge apologies for it taking so long for me to get back into the audition book posts. But here we go, picking up where I left off...
Post Golden Age
But first... A little disclaimer. As you read through this blog series you'll start thinking...
“Why do I need so many songs in my book! Aaron, seriously, you are asking me to find so many songs! That’s too many songs! I mean, I’ll find that many songs, but come on, man!”
Yes, I am making it sound like you need a TON of songs in your book. That's not necessarily true. I'll explain all of that in a wrap-up blog when I get to the end of this whole series. But don't worry, I don't think you need to have 1,341 songs in your book. But there is a reason I'm going through everything I'm going through. It'll all make sense at the end. I promise.
Where were we?
BYE BYE BIRDIE - This is where I consider the Post Golden Age era to begin, I really think this period ends with HAIR in 1967, but I'm extending it until 1970 when I think Contemporary Theatre really started, with COMPANY. Again, feel free to yell at me about my arbitrary choices of dates for American Musical Theatre. But I think it's a pretty solid beginning and ending set of dates. And personally, I don't really care if you yell at me, I have a wife and a 3-year old. Plenty of people already yell at me in my life. Love you babe.
This period is a relatively weird period for the American Musical, it contains a bunch of different kinds of shows, from BYE BYE BIRDIE to OLIVER to HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING to SHE LOVES ME (one of the best musicals ever written, period.) to FLORA THE RED MENACE to 1776 to SWEET CHARITY to HAIR. It's a pretty eclectic mix of musicals and styles and writers. So let's break it down by year.
But first if you don't know the score to SHE LOVES ME. Buy it, right now. Or listen to the YouTube Playlist below. Do not pass GO until you listen to this entire score.
Okay... By the year. This is just a quick 5 per year from 1960-1970. This is by no means a definitive list of anything... Just the first 5 musicals I could think of for each year, or I could find on Google.
1960
Jerry Orbach sings "Try to Remember" from The Fantasticks
BYE BYE BIRDIE
CAMELOT
THE FANTASTICKS
OLIVER!
TENDERLOIN
1961
CARNIVAL!
HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING
MILK AND HONEY
STOP THE WORLD – I WANT TO GET OFF
SUBWAYS ARE FOR SLEEPING
1962
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM
LITTLE ME
NO STRINGS
A FAMILY AFFAIR (John Kander's first show, and the only show he wrote without Fred Ebb in Ebb's lifetime)
MR. PRESIDENT (Irving Berlin's last show)
1963
110 IN THE SHADE
HOT SPOT
SHE LOVES ME
HERE'S LOVE
HALF A SIXPENCE
One of the original openings to A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM
1964
ANYONE CAN WHISTLE
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
FUNNY GIRL
GOLDEN BOY
HELLO, DOLLY!
MAN OF LA MANCHA
THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT – THE SMELL OF THE CROWD
1965
DO I HEAR A WALTZ?
DRAT! THE CAT!
FLORA THE RED MENACE
THE HAPPY TIME
ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER
1966
THE APPLE TREE
CABARET
DAMES AT SEA
EVENING PRIMROSE
SWEET CHARITY
1967
HAIR
HALLELUJAH, BABY!
HOW NOW, DOW JONES
YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN
1968
JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS
JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT
PROMISES, PROMISES
ZORBA (Best opening number ever, I will fight you.)
Life Is - ZORBA - the best opening of a musical ever. If you don't agree with this assessment... You are wrong.
Also - 1969 Tony Awards sposored by Virginia Slims... Those were the days.
1969
1776
CELEBRATION
DEAR WORLD
OH! CALCUTTA!
1970
APPLAUSE
COMPANY
MINNIE'S BOYS
PURLIE
TWO BY TWO
Writers:
Purlie - 1970 Tony's. Best Tony performance ever. Hands down. Seriously, Melba hits a Q sharp at the end of I GOT LOVE.
Charles Strouse
Jule Styne
Betty Comden & Adolph Green
Lerner & Loewe
Schmidt & Jones
Lionel Bart
Bock & Harnick
Meredith Wilson
Stephen Sondheim
Bob Merrill
Jerry Herman
Frank Loesser
Bricusse & Newley
Kander & Ebb
Mary Rodgers
Martin Charnin
Lee Adams
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Burton Lane
Cy Coleman
Dorothy Fields
Galt MacDermot
Carolyn Leigh
Clark Gesner
Jacques Brel
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Burt Bacharach
Hal David
Sherman Edwards
Peter Shickele (of PDQ Bach fame)
Larry Grossman
coming up... contemporary musical theatre
We'll break this down mostly by composer. Things get super wish-washy now with how they are broken down. So I think composer is the best way to do it. I'll make this a 2-parter. Then we'll dig into Pop/Rock Musicals with a special guest to help me out.
Glad to be back digging into the audition book. These posts are mostly a run-down of musicals and writers. But we'll tie it all together in some wrap-up blogs.
February and March classes have been announced, make sure you check them out! I also have a surprise planned for Thursday, Feb 1st, so make sure you are signed up for the Newsletter to find out what it is. Official free class announcements will be made tomorrow as well. These classes will only be open to Newsletter subscribers at first. Make sure you sign up for our Newsletter on the Home page or the top of the main Blog page.
Get your sh*t together. Stop blowing it!
