Broadway 2 A Day: 1962 - 1964 (Oliver, She Loves Me, Hello Dolly & Funny Girl)

Hello again! Almost three months down on this challenge. If you still read these updates on a semi-regular basis I appreciate it more than you know.

This has been a great hobby for me throughout the winter and I'm excited to keep going. We're almost out of what is considered "The Golden Age of Broadway" so I'm excited to see how things shift. 

This week had some classics and I think a couple are really worth the listen. Let's dive in. 

• Little Me
• Have I heard of it before? No
• Did I enjoy it? No this was boring, would probably be more fun to watch
• Synopsis: Little Me is the autobiography of the optimistic, yet spectacularly accident-prone, Hollywood star Belle Poitrine (née Schlumfert), who rises from poverty on the wrong side of the track to wealth, culture and a position in society. She was born in Venezuela, Illinois and lives with her highly dubious Momma! In her teens, Belle set her sights on Noble Eggleston, who lives on the right side of the tracks but whose mother puts an abrupt end to their ambitions. Biding her time, Belle succeeds in landing a rich, 80-year old, skinflint, Mr Pinchley. When he dies under suspicious circumstances, (in a close embrace the gun that he kept in his pocket went off accidentally killing him). Belle is arrested and put on trial for murder. She is acquitted, however, but the notoriety of the trial brings her a vaudeville offer and romance with Val du Val who modestly considers himself to be the world's greatest entertainer. (The Guide to Musical Theater)
• Favorite song: Little Me
• Oliver!
• Have I heard of it before? Of course! I've only seen parts of the movie but this one is a classic. 
• Did I enjoy it? Yeah there's some catchy songs and power ballads
• Synopsis: Bringing Charles Dickens’ beloved novel to life, Lionel Bart’s Oliver! takes audiences on a wild adventure through Victorian England. Join young, orphaned Oliver Twist as he navigates London’s underworld of theft and violence, searching for a home, a family, and - most importantly - for love. When Oliver is picked up on the street by a boy named the Artful Dodger, he is welcomed into a gang of child pickpockets led by the conniving, but charismatic, Fagin. When Oliver is falsely accused of a theft he didn’t commit, he is rescued by a kind and wealthy gentleman, to the dismay of Fagin’s violent sidekick, Bill Sikes. Caught in the middle is the warm-hearted Nancy, who is trapped under Bill’s thumb, but desperate to help Oliver, with tragic results. With spirited, timeless songs like “As Long as He Needs Me,” “Food, Glorious Food,” and “Where Is Love,” Oliver! is a musical classic. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: As Long As He Needs Me (especially the Patti LuPone version)
• Tovarich
• Have I heard of it before? Nope
• Did I enjoy it? No, this was boring
• Synopsis: When upper-class Parisian Charles Dupont and his family hire Tina and Michel as their servants, they have no idea that the domestics are in fact Tatiana, the Grand Duchess Petrovna, and her husband, Mikail, Prince Ouratieff. Recent exiles from the Russian Revolution, Tatiana and Mikail befriend the Dupont family, keeping their true identities a secret -- until one night when Soviet official Gorotchenko arrives for dinner. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: I Go To Bed
• She Loves Me
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, I freaking love this show. Especially the 2016 revival which was the first musical production to be live-streamed. 
• Did I enjoy it? See above. 
• Synopsis: She Loves Me is a euphoric romantic comedy with a soaring score. Amalia and Georg work together at a modest Hungarian parfurmerie, and have disliked each other from the very beginning. He thinks she’s stuck up, and she thinks he’s arrogant and mean. But each rapturously writes to a lonely hearts pen pal when the work day is done, and it doesn’t take long for the audience to see that they’re in love without realizing it. Inevitably through some of the most iconic songs in the musical theatre canon ("Vanilla Ice Cream", "She Loves Me", "Will He Like Me?"), Georg and Amalia discover the truth as well and rejoice in their love for each other at the story’s sweet and musically delightful conclusion. (Stage Agent) It's based on the same source material as You've Got Mail.
• Favorite song: Good Morning, Good Day
• Here’s Love
• Have I heard of it before? Nope
• Did I enjoy it? No, boring music and weird plot
• Synopsis: Here's Love tells the classic tale of Kris Kringle, a fat, white-bearded gentleman claiming to be the real Santa Claus. During the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, the man hired to play Santa Clause shows up drunk. Thus, Kris is hired as a last-minute replacement. He is so good at his job that the children all believe him to be the real Santa Clause. Further, he helps spread a wave of love throughout New York City, fostering camaraderie between Macy's and Gimbel's Department Stores, giving happiness to a 6-year-old girl and bringing love to a divorced, cynical single mother. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Overture (you all know what that means)
• Jennie
• Have I heard of it before? Nope
• Did I enjoy it? This was pretty middle of the road for me
• Synopsis: Jennie is the story of the indomitable Jennie Malone barnstorming at the turn of the century with her profligate actor-impresario of a husband, James O'Connor, their two children and his “mellerdrama” troupe of hapless players. (Masterworks Broadway)
• Favorite song: I Still Look at You That Way
• 110 in the Shade
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, only because I knew Audra McDonald was in it
• Did I enjoy it? Yes, this was a sleeper hit for me. It had a couple weird songs but overall I really liked it.
• Synopsis: Based on the hit play and movie The Rainmaker, 110 in the Shade focuses on one unmarried woman named Lizzie living in a small western town besieged by a long drought. Lizzie is dealing with another type of drought: her love life. Intelligent yet plain, she is worried that she will soon become an old maid with no one to love her. When a charismatic man named Starbuck arrives and claims the ability to make rain, Lizzie believes he is a con man with no abilities whatsoever. Little does she know that this man will change her life forever. A beautiful musical in the vein of Rodgers and Hammerstein, 110 in the Shade centers on Lizzie’s quest for self-acceptance and her choice between two suitors: the rainmaker Starbuck and the divorced Sheriff File. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Raunchy 
• The Girl Who Came to Supper
• Have I heard of it before? Nope
• Did I enjoy it? No, this was another boring one
• Synopsis: The show tells the tale of an American chorus girl, Mary Morgan, wooed by a Balkan archduke, the Prince Regent of Carpathia, during the 1911 coronation of George V. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: This Time It's True Love
• Hello Dolly
• Have I heard of it before? Of course.
• Did I enjoy it? Yes! There are some good "big Broadway numbers" but it's not one of my ultimate faves. 
• Synopsis: Matchmaker Dolly Levi is a widow, a matchmaker, and also a professional meddler --but everything changes when she decides that the next match she needs to make is to find someone for herself. Set in New York City at the turn of the century, Hello Dolly! is boisterous and charming from start to finish. Hello, Dolly! features such memorable songs as “Before the Parade Passes By,” “It Only Takes a Moment,” “Put on Your Sunday Clothes,” and - of course - the title number, “Hello, Dolly!” Dolly herself is one of the strongest and richest starring roles for a woman ever written for the musical theatre, and famous Dolly Levis have included Carol Channing, Ethel Merman, Pearl Bailey, Mary Martin, Barbra Streisand, and most recently, Bette Midler and Bernadette Peters. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Put on Your Sunday Clothes
• What Makes Sammy Run
• Have I heard of it before? Never
• Did I enjoy it? I gave up on this one in about 10 minutes, not gonna lie. 
• Synopsis: Told in first person narrative by Al Manheim, drama critic of The New York Record, this is the tale of Sammy Glick, a young uneducated boy who rises from copyboy to the top of the screenwriting profession in 1930s Hollywood by backstabbing others. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: I Feel Humble
• Funny Girl
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, I saw the movie and also Glee performed half the numbers...
• Did I enjoy it? Yes! This show really does have some beautiful and genuinely funny songs.
• Synopsis: In this bittersweet, classic musical drama, the vibrant and beautiful young Fanny Brice starts out as a bit player on the New York City vaudeville stage, but works her way up to stardom on Broadway. Valued for her vocal and comedic talents by the renowned theater impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, Fanny thrives, but her relationship with her suave, imprisoned businessman husband, Nick Arnstein, is another story. (Wikipedia)
• Favorite song: I'd Rather Be Blue (unconventional pick, I know)
• Anyone Can Whistle
• Have I heard of it before? Yes, there are a couple songs that have been on my rotation for awhile but I didn't know the plot very well.
• Did I enjoy it? Mostly the songs I already knew
• Synopsis: What is insanity? For corrupt Mayoress Cora Hoover Hooper and her cronies, it is a threat to money-making scheme for the bankrupt town. When water suddenly springs from a rock, Cora sets her sights on making money from pilgrims desperate to receive the healing waters. But when Nurse Fay Apple, the dedicated and skeptical nurse of the local insane asylum, brings her patients to the so-called miracle, Cora’s plans are threatened and she turns to psychiatrist J. Bowden Hapgood to straighten out who is mad and who is sane. But he instead declares everyone insane, and the town enjoys its madness in the face of conformity. An early musical from Stephen Sondheim’s canon, Anyone Can Whistle is a satirical and absurdist romp about falling in line vs. being whimsically free. (Stage Agent)
• Favorite song: Anyone Can Whistle