Remembering Song & Dance

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black created a heartfelt, funny, touching and palpably heartbreaking musical when they wrote Tell Me On A Sunday. Written as a one-woman show for British actress-singer Marti Webb, Tell Me On A Sunday was presented at the Sydmonton Festival in 1979. Telling the story of an English woman who has just moved to the United States, the musical follows her as she navigates her new home (first NYC, then Los Angeles) and explores the possibilities of love and career, writing letters to her mother back in England detailing her experiences. This is the basic premise for the first act of a musical that would come to London’s West End in 1982 under the title Song & Dance. 

Broadway, Monsters, and Jazz Hands: Making the Macabre Sing and Dance for Halloween

It’s that time of year for spooks, witches, and the scary things that haunt us in our nightmares. It is Halloween, where the macabre makes us want to tap dance, the maudlin has us breaking out into a showstopper, and murder has us stealing an extra bow. Occasionally, there is a Broadway musical that comes along, reveling in the gross, gruesome, gory, and mentally deranged, Today, we are celebrating those Broadway musicals that capture the spirit of Halloween.

Remembering Ballroom

A Broadway musical that failed to run, but that has a great deal of love and affection from die-hard Broadway fans, is the 1978 Ballroom. Drawing its inspiration from the 1975 made for TV film Queen of the Stardust Ballroom written by Jerome Kass, the musical was director-choreographer Michael Bennett’s follow-up to his masterwork A Chorus Line. Unfortunately, the show struggled to find an audience but left behind a handful of warm memories for those who could appreciate its charms.

Ranking Disney on Broadway: Celebrating and Analyzing 25 Years on the Great White Way

It is hard to believe that it has been 25 years since Disney produced its first musical on Broadway, changing the trajectory of family musicals (and Times Square) forever. Today, I take a look at the nine musicals Disney Theatricals have brought to the Great White Way, offering my opinions on what worked, what didn’t, and rank the titles in order of my least favorite to my most favorite. All opinions are my own and please note that, though I look at these nine with a critical eye, I find something wonderful in everything Disney has to offer. This list includes only musicals that have made it to Broadway (no Freaky FridayThe Hunchback of Notre DameHercules, or The Jungle Book) and no concerts (sorry King David). Stay with me as I work my way to my choice for #1.