As a child I loved reading Oscar Wilde’s fairytales and The Happy Prince became embedded into my psyche. I have been adapting the story for the musical stage, and I hope you don’t think it too self indulgent that as I sign off, I share a song from it here with you. Well, I guess it’s a big […]
Read MoreAs I was passing London’s legendary Jazz venue Ronnie Scott’s the other night, I asked a man who was playing that night and he replied Chaka Khan. Having possibly noticed my far away look ‘of good times once had on the dance floor’ and feeling he was talking to a Chaka admirer, he tested me saying, ‘if […]
Read More‘Witty, genius, obscene, maverick, cuddly, unique’ are just some of words that are often used to describe my musical hero Dudley Moore. His career was tragically cut short by a long and brave struggle with the brain degenerative illness PSP. The stage director, Jonathan Miller, insists that despite all Dudley’s success in show business, he […]
Read MoreI was at the first performance of the musical Floyd Collins at Playwrights Horizons, New York in 1996 and its haunting beauty has remained with me ever since. It was baffling to me how a man down a mine shaft with a leg trapped under a rock could make engaging subject matter for a show, but I […]
Read MoreWe’re featuring a week of musical theater tunes from music researcher and longtime NYFOS subscriber Amy Asch. This post originally ran on June 30, 2017. June 30 [well, July 24th this time around] is close enough to July 4 that I’d like to conclude this week with “Ballad for Americans,” a patriotic cantata for soloist, […]
Read MoreWe’re featuring a week of musical theater tunes from music researcher and longtime NYFOS subscriber Amy Asch. This post originally ran on June 29, 2017. It was not consciously planned, but the songs I chose to start and end this week are both idealistic. By contrast, today’s pick involves serial murder and cannibalism. For those […]
Read MoreWe’re featuring a week of musical theater tunes from music researcher and longtime NYFOS subscriber Amy Asch. This post originally ran on June 28, 2017. “April in Paris” was recorded by all the big mid-century pop singers; secondhandsongs.com lists more than 60 versions. But my favorite recording omits the lyric. Here is the Count Basie Orchestra, swinging […]
Read MoreWe’re featuring a week of musical theater tunes from music researcher and longtime NYFOS subscriber Amy Asch. This post originally ran on June 27, 2017. In this April 1926 recording (made in London for English Columbia), George Gershwin plays and Fred Astaire sings and taps. To paraphrase the Passover Haggadah: if George Gershwin plays and […]
Read MoreWe’re featuring a week of musical theater tunes from music researcher and longtime NYFOS subscriber Amy Asch. This post originally ran on June 26, 2017. I first encountered Candide in a college production that my high school’s Thespian Club attended. It was exciting and irreverent and the “Make Our Garden Grow” finale had me walking on air. […]
Read MoreThis week we are rerunning a series of Songs of the Day dedicated to collaborative pianists by NYFOS co-founder Michael Barrett. This post originally ran on June 24, 2016. Ending the week on a transcendent, serene note, I’m returning to Leonard Bernstein at the piano with baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Mahler’s “Ich bin der Welt […]
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