A Chorus Line of Musicals From Our 1970s Record Cabinet - Part 2
Unknown Speaker 0:00
I would bet my bottom dollar that most of our listeners, or a good chunk of them, have a distinct Annie memory, like I know my sister does, and my memory is almost her memory, because she talked about earnest. I mean, she was all into that hard knock life and slam stuff down, and she was so excited that we actually had a bucket that she could use.
Unknown Speaker 0:25
Will
Unknown Speaker 0:37
make you happy.
Unknown Speaker 0:40
Hi and welcome back to the conclusion of a chorus line of musicals from our 1970s record cabinets. Last week, Carolyn, our producer and editor, was held prisoner on a flight that sat on the tarmac for so long that it kept her from uploading Monday's episode for release the next day. It's like the reverse of missing your flight. She made her flight, and that caused her to miss the deadline. She just sat there while the clock ticked, watching the deadline come and go. And so last week, we released half of the episode, the done half, and today, it's time for part two. And so welcome back for the exciting conclusion of a chorus line of musicals from our 1970s record cabinets, those records our parents collected in the 60s and 70s and had heavy rotation on the stereo console in your living room, making them a part of our history too. We Gen Xers grew up with some of the best Broadway musicals in history, and thanks to our parents, they may have sneaked their way into our hearts via soaring anthems and heartbreaking ballads and a shit ton of Julie Andrews and Shirley Jones. We didn't all live in New York City, of course, and we didn't all go see Broadway shows, but still, our parents knew and loved the latest Broadway crazes enough to spend their hard earned money on the soundtracks that came from them. And as a result, these are often the songs we knew every word to because we sang them loudly, possibly in the backyard, while fantasizing about playing Annie on stage. And so thanks for coming back for part two of a chorus line of musicals from our 1970s record cabinets. Enjoy.
Unknown Speaker 2:22
You. Well, get in your series farmers and cowmen and travel through corn as high
Unknown Speaker 2:32
as
Unknown Speaker 2:33
what? Because we're going to talk about
Unknown Speaker 2:38
Oklahoma, Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plane.
Unknown Speaker 2:44
Can sure smell sweet when the wind comes right behind the ring.
Unknown Speaker 2:48
Okay.
Unknown Speaker 2:51
Oh god, okay. So again, thank you to my mama for introducing me to this musical, which to this day is in my top three cringy parts at all. I'm holding my mom's original album that, again, I spent hours poring over all these pictures. And if you're watching this episode on YouTube at all, you might remember all these pictures in the album, and they come from the movie. So the stage musical Oklahoma began on Broadway in 1943
Unknown Speaker 3:21
crazy, yeah, it premiered at the St James theater on March 31 1943 and as Carolyn just mentioned, it was written by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein the second.
Unknown Speaker 3:32
And yes, there is an original cast album of that 1943 Broadway musical. It was really groundbreaking, because, get this, you guys, it's considered the first original cast album of a Broadway musical. So like I just showed, we had the 1955 movie soundtrack, which we had, say you did too, of course, like we said, with the flawless Shirley Jones as Laurie and Gordon McCray as curly, and that album charted number one on the Billboard Pop Album Chart in 1956
Unknown Speaker 4:00
Wow. And it's been in continual print since still printing that sucker out. That's amazing. Well, I believe Oklahoma was one of the first, if not the first staged musical I ever saw. I saw it outside somewhere. I don't remember, but I fell in love with it. And to this day, if it's being performed somewhere, like even at, like a community theater, I'll go see it. I love it, and mostly I think because the memories I associate with it and the movie as well. And as a child, I just latched onto it hard, all of it, the stories, the costumes, the romance, the songs. So yeah, as you might have guessed, I played Oklahoma endlessly, if I wasn't playing Funny Girl, right?
Unknown Speaker 4:45
What a Surrey was? Yeah, I learned the house. Do you know what a Surrey for sure? Yeah, all and and the eyes and glass curtains that'll roll right down. I didn't understand that lyric, and my mom would tell me it's eyes and glass curtains that'll roll right down, in case there's a change in the weather. Wheels are.
Unknown Speaker 5:00
Yellow. The upholstery is brown. The dashboards genuine leather with eyes and glass curtains you can roll right down in case there's a change in the world. But when I played it all by myself, and sometimes my sister was just reminding me last week that we did act these out together a lot, I in my memory, I did it mostly alone because I had to be both Lori. I had to be ADO Annie because, I mean, come on, singing I can't say no is the most fun to act out. I'm just a girl who can't say no. I'm in a terrible fix.
Unknown Speaker 5:35
I always say, Come on, let's go. Just when I ought to sing Nick
Unknown Speaker 5:42
then I was also curly. I was will. Was singing about, you know, Kansas City, and I was never Judd. Let me just go on record as saying I was never Judd. So I have a funny story, though. So as much as I love to perform as a child alone, and I was in dance and stuff like that, but I couldn't sing, and I can't, I still really can't sing. And I, I was very, I was very self conscious of my singing voice, let's just say. But when I was in high school, the High School Musical was Oklahoma, and I was like, out of my mind, like, this is it? This is so exciting. And my very close friend Lisa and I both dance together, and we would choreograph tap duets. So she's like, Come on, we have to, we have to audition. And I said, Absolutely not, because I was too terrified to do the singing part of the audition. And Lisa did, and she got in, and she was just in the chorus, but in the part when, when will sings the whole Kansas City song. She was one of the two girls come up and dance and they do a big tap number, and she was one of them. And it killed me, because she didn't ever really have to sing by herself. But I think had I auditioned, because we had done tap do it, since you would have been that person, I would have probably been the other person. And so I went to every single performance, and I French braided her hair with little bows at the back for all of her performances, I was so proud of her and happy for her, but sitting there through all like whatever, six performances or eight performances killed me, especially at the very end, because my favorite part is when you're split into two vocal groups, and they start very low, and they start Going, Okla Houma, Okla Homa, Okla Homa, Okla Homa and then you get the we know we belong to the land and the land, and they're still going Oklahoma. They're like, keeping the beat behind it, and they're like, all bouncing, like on their knees while they keep the beat behind it. And then they're all dancing when swirling, talk about swishing your skirts, you guys. I was so I'd sit in the audience every night and love it, but I was so regretful, right and now, but, but, you know, that's, that's 17 year old, Michelle. I was still way too self conscious. I didn't want to put myself out there. I could have made it stupid, fear stupid.
Unknown Speaker 7:56
I robbed you. I know, but, you know, let's just write Oklahoma. Great, like I said. Now, yes, problematic scenes, yes, but let's put it. Let's keep it firmly back in 1943
Unknown Speaker 8:09
when it was written. And I love it.
Unknown Speaker 8:20
I God, I love
Unknown Speaker 8:27
it. See, I just got nipple lightning. I do every single time. It's the it's the opening and the closing, the opening and the closing, and I'm just like a blubbering fool. Okay, my next pick is Fiddler on the Roof. You
Unknown Speaker 8:50
aka Fiddler again for the theater kids just fiddler. They probably did superstar before they did fiddler. And when I was a kid, I never saw the 1971 movie or the stage show, but I knew all of the names of the characters because of my dad, because I think did every high school theater department, did fiddler, all of them did, and my dad was involved in a lot of those productions. So I knew Tevye and Golda and huddle and Seidel and model and perchic and laser Wolf and fruma Sarah. I knew them all without ever having seen the show. I finally saw it when they did it at my high school, which was populated primarily by like super blonde, Gentile Northern Europeans, which means that there was a lot of darkening of the eyebrows and darkening of the hair, which seems very inappropriate by today's standards. I'm not sure how they would handle it now I have no idea,
Unknown Speaker 9:41
but the original Broadway production of the show opened in 1964 and it was the first Broadway musical in history to surpass 3000 performances. It was breaking new ground. So Fiddler tells the story of Tevye, a milkman, and his family in a Russian village around the year.
Unknown Speaker 10:00
Around 1905 as he tries to marry off his daughters in the midst of a tremendous amount of change, and he's grappling with how they can maintain their Jewish faith and their customs, while his daughters are asking all sorts of questions, like, you know, should we marry for love, or do we marry the man that our Father chooses for us? Do we have to do that? And all of this is just breaking Tevye heart, and this is where we get one of the show's most memorable songs, which is tradition. Tradition.
Unknown Speaker 10:42
Fiddler is also where I first learned the concept of a matchmaker, Matchmaker, matchmaker.
Unknown Speaker 10:52
And I'm like, What are they talking about? This matchmaker? So Yenta is the village's matchmaker, and it's her job to help tevia make good matches for his daughters. And I learned all about it from the iconic song, Matchmaker, matchmaker. Song by tavia's Three daughters as they dream about their future husbands, Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match. Find me a find catch me a catch.
Unknown Speaker 11:18
Matchmaker, matchmaker, look through your book
Unknown Speaker 11:23
and make me a perfect match. And Tevye is very fearful of losing his traditions. That's the whole theme of the show. He's fearful of losing his daughters. But there's also this constant fear of the pogroms that are happening in Russia. There's always the specter of Russian forces who could arrive and violently force them from their villages at any moment, at the drop of a hat. And that's the thread that runs through some of the darker and more brooding songs. They are always in danger. And because of this, because of the reality that they inserted into this story, Fiddler has become known as quote. I'm quoting here one of the first popular post Holocaust depictions of the vanished world of Eastern European Jewry, something to think about today, right as conflicts around the world and as as anti semitism is growing as it's on the rise. It's just something for us to think about, and it makes me think, like so many things today. We watched this in high school and thought of it as something from the past that could never happen again. This is never going to happen again. And sadly, that isn't true at all, as we all know from world events. So back in 1964 investors were really worried that Fiddler on the Roof might be considered again. I'm quoting too Jewish and it wouldn't attract mainstream audiences. They could not have been more wrong. It was an instant success. It won five Tonys. It became one of the most popular musicals ever to be performed by blonde children in suburban high schools around the nation. It's probably second only to Sound of Music, and in 2020 the cast recording was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being culturally, historically or esthetically significant. And I have to agree, yeah, yes. And you know, it's so interesting when you were telling us the storyline, it's like, oh, okay, like, am I going to want to go see a play about that? It's dark.
Unknown Speaker 13:28
I want a fun night out. That doesn't sound like a fun night out, but the way that you can take a storyline like that that is super important to know, let's face it, like we it's important to know this history and what these people were feeling and to be able to
Unknown Speaker 13:43
send that message through music and make it so
Unknown Speaker 13:48
entertaining in quotation marks, because, like you said, some of this is dark, but tell the story that way, that people are so engaged, and they're crying along with the characters, and they're so into the story that if you just read it on A page, kind of like you did. You back? Okay, maybe I'll go see something else that you're gonna bring me to tears. That is the reason musical theater exists. You just described the whole that's the whole reason we need musical theater. It's the reason for being, because it's not just entertainment. It's more than entertainment. It can deliver so much in the form of an emotional package, and make it it makes us that much more empathic. It's really important. So let's talk about that music, because I think this is the reason that it attracted a mainstream audience. It was because the music was so compelling. It was dark and brooding, but it was also ecstatic and celebratory, and much of the music from Fiddler is so full of movement, you can if you're just listening to it, you can feel people flying across the stage. You can visualize the people flying across the stage. And there is a lot of choreography, and there are a lot of people flying across the stage, but possibly the most well.
Unknown Speaker 15:00
Known and beloved song from Fiddler on the roof was the one that at least half of you out there had at your weddings. Yeah, is this the little girl I carried Carolyn's raising her hand? Yes, this was my father daughter. Dance, I don't remember growing older. Sunrise,
Unknown Speaker 15:20
sunset, sunrise, sunset,
Unknown Speaker 15:23
swiftly.
Unknown Speaker 15:29
My dad loved to dance, too, and so, like, he taught us to waltz and all that, from when we were teeny tiny, we'd, you know, put our feet on his feet, and he'd take us around. So, so it was very proper. Like, he was in form. Yes, I was so nervous that might have been the most nervous. In some ways. I was the whole wedding day. Oh my god. I wonder how your dad felt like I wonder if that was difficult for him, if he was listening to the words or not. I know it can't. I mean, I've witnessed several where the dads just blubber openly, just fall apart. I would love to hear from listeners, if you had, if you danced with your father, to sunrise, sunset, we want to hear from you. Did was it emotional? Did anybody fall apart? Yes. Carolyn, I'm calling on you. I do believe I might have some video. Oh, oh, I want to see this. Okay, if you have it, we've got to throw it on the YouTube channel, and then I can put it in a Weekly Reader. Okay. Sunrise, sunset has been described as this is another quote, but I just think it's so perfect, a heartbreaking parental cry to slow down the years, to keep their children young, wasn't it just yesterday when they were small, and it makes everyone cry like Cry Cry. Cry. But here's what I love. I love to see who played these roles on Broadway, because sometimes it's very unexpected people. This is the best the actor who originated the role of percik, the revolutionary, the man who huddle would marry for love, the man who originated that role on Broadway was, I'm not even going to ask you to guess, because you'll never get it. You'll never get it. It was Bert convey and
Unknown Speaker 17:17
when you listen to the song, you're like, Oh,
Unknown Speaker 17:20
I used to tell myself that I had everything, but that was only half true. Well, good for him. Good for him. I'm dumbfounded. That's the best that's gonna win the day, right there. That's gonna win the day. Yeah, the movie perchick is played by Starsky. I can't remember what Starsky, his name is, and he had the same dark, curly hair. Yes, what is David's soul? And,
Unknown Speaker 17:48
yeah, so he plays the revolutionary project, the revolutionary in the movie. And there were lots of people in the various revivals. Oh, wait, I skipped a very important one. Oh, here's another good one. It's not as good a Bert Convy, but this is also a good one in the original Broadway cast. So this is the voice that you hear on the original cast recording. The person who originated the role of Yenta the matchmaker was a stage actress who went by the name of Beatrice Arthur. Oh, yes, Bea Arthur was once known Beatrice also again 1964
Unknown Speaker 18:22
Okay, so yeah, so she it turns out that Norman Lear plucked a lot of people from the stage to populate his sitcoms in the 70s. And I didn't even know. I didn't even know Maude was the first TV role that that Bea Arthur ever played. She was a stage actress. Oh, wow. I had no idea.
Unknown Speaker 19:02
So my final choice that I wanted to share with you guys for Broadway musical is the sound of music.
Unknown Speaker 19:19
Of course, of course, of course. Of course. And again, this musical hits me hard. It's one of my probably top five memories as a child. Is what the first time I saw Sound of Music. I can honestly say that it might even be the top Oh, wow, okay, because we saw it at the movie theater. So Sound of Music was re released in 1973
Unknown Speaker 19:42
okay, oh, you just who screwed dude me. Okay, keep going, sorry. Debuted on Broadway in 1959
Unknown Speaker 19:49
the movie that we have come to know and love was made in 1965
Unknown Speaker 19:58
Yeah, was made 1965
Unknown Speaker 20:00
Five, which my parents actually saw when I was in my mommy stomach, because I was born in 1965 so we saw it in 1973 at the Sharpstown movie theater. My dad went, my whole family went to the movies. Like you guys have to know this is a huge, huge deal. Prior to this movie, my only experience at a movie theater would have been to see a Disney movie. Okay, cartoon. Yeah. So, like, Dad is doing something with us on a weekend, and so that, in and of itself, was so special. And then, like, the intermission and getting candy and just being together. But then, of course, oh my gosh, this movie, this movie like you're you leave there thinking, this isn't a Disney movie. Like your whole, my whole mind shifted on what a movie was. You've got to see that wedding. You have to on a giant and you have to see the whole Joe a deer sequence, on the whole dance sequence that, like, eight minute, you know, montage of them, and all the places you have to see that big. It has to be big. Yeah, it really does. So you can only imagine you guys how excited I was as we were going home. Because, you know what? I remember the Sound of Music Album. We had it. I remember seeing it in that, you know, pile of albums. I'd never really listened to the sound of music one, and I don't remember my parents really listening? So all I wanted to do was get home and get that sound of music album out.
Unknown Speaker 21:27
So I'd like us to take a moment of silence, because you can only imagine the depth of my disappointment. Oh my God, when I pulled that album out and it wasn't Julie Andrews on the cover, I feel your pain. And those kids were definitely not the ones who had just sung to me so long farewell. What was this blasphemy? Like, what is this? I was legit heartbroken and a little pissed off. I gotta say, yeah, they remember being angry. And I asked my mom, like, What the hell is this? And that's when she explains, oh, this is the original Broadway soundtrack. This, is, you know, sound of music was on Broadway first, and that's Mary Martin. And Mary Martin, she's wonderful, Carolyn. She was Peter Pan. And then my mind is going, well, she's a woman. How is she? Peter Pan, you know, going through all of that stuff, she was Annie Oakley, and Annie, get your gun. And then my mom said, and she was Nellie Forbush in my absolute all time, favorite musical, South Pacific. Long story short, I was heartbroken. And then, not only that, but there weren't the same songs. There were. Most of them were the same. So in the movie, we have I have confidence. I
Unknown Speaker 22:37
have confidence in sunshine. I have confidence
Unknown Speaker 22:40
in
Unknown Speaker 22:42
rain. I rain. I have confidence that spring will come again. Besides which, you see, I have confidence in me. I'm crying. I'm crying, yeah, I know. And something good, and those were not in the Broadway, oh, they're two of the best. So somewhere in my youth or child,
Unknown Speaker 23:07
I must,
Unknown Speaker 23:17
so it just seemed. And I told my mom this morning, when we were talking about this, I was like, Mom, this just goes right in there with I wanted, you know, the eyes eyed shirt alligator, but I got the one with the fox or whatever, like, I just was so close. But not what I want is the JCPenney version. And people are screaming right now because they're like, No, the Mary Martin album is amazing. And yes, my mom also thought Mary Martin was so amazing. She loved Mary Martin. I was like, What is this shit? We're not saying it's shit. We're just saying they were disappointed. We were it's gonna be something, yeah, maybe you're gonna you're like, This is gonna be the best piece of lemon cake I ever had. And then you take it and it's chocolate. Yes, you know what I that was my first movie, and I was only three or four. But my and I don't have memories of it, really. And I would say, of all the musicals that my sister and I acted out and played, because we lived in so many places, we had to be each other's playmate a lot of times. And we had this big farmhouse in Oregon that we lived in for like, a hot four months or something, and it had a big staircase and a big wrap around porch, and we would do the do a deer. We did the DO RE MI and we would jump down the stairs and jump back up the stairs. And then we did the so long farewell on that and we'd play sound of music out in the we had a swing set that was out in a cornfield, and so we would play it out there all the time. And I just think about how the when she sings, I must have done some.
Unknown Speaker 24:43
She says, like, good. She says, Good, yes, she does, yeah. And it's just so comforting. I would not want to miss that whole movie. And I've got to say all three of the musicals that I talked about today, one of the themes.
Unknown Speaker 25:00
Teams that ran through all three of them is my parents were so excited to share these with us like that was something that I just distinctly remember, like they're watching me watching this, like they want to share this with me because they had loved it so much you did not ask to go to the sound of music. No, and that was me too. Now I know that that is definitely when I saw it for the first time, and I went with my mom, and I'm pretty sure we went home at intermission, and she told me that was the end. So then when I saw it on TV, I'm like, what's happening right now?
Unknown Speaker 25:35
Get Linda on the phone. This is also becoming appreciating that wasn't that a good movie. I mean, it was five, so she's like, she'll fall asleep. I've got to go home for a nap time. And my memory, it ended at the wedding. That can't be, right? That's not that, yeah, that's point. But maybe it did. That is when intermission got
Unknown Speaker 25:53
married, and everything was great, and that worked, yes, not the theme of, really, of the whole movie, but you're missing the point. But it was a great ending. It felt like an ending. You walk up the aisle to a song about how irresponsible you are.
Unknown Speaker 26:08
Every girl's dream, right? My mom's liberty. Gibbet you are. So my parents got married in 1965 and my mom wanted to walk down the aisle to that song, and they're like, No,
Unknown Speaker 26:19
that doesn't make sense. You're a problem, right? Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 26:39
All right, well, leap in lizards. My love for this next musical, and soundtrack was off the charts, come out tomorrow, so you gotta hang on to you're always
Unknown Speaker 27:00
up y'all tomorrow.
Unknown Speaker 27:02
You're always
Unknown Speaker 27:05
so of course, we're talking about Annie. And my love for the soundtrack began in about 1980 when my mom took me to Seattle and my sister, I'm sure, to see the touring production. And it was it like was life changing for me, in a way, because, of course, little Michelle, who spent her entire childhood acting out musicals in front of her, you know, mirror by herself. Also, let's not forget how much I moved around, right? So these musicals and being these characters was a constant for me, and it was kind of like my friend, and it was a thing I could do no matter where I lived, right? I was desperate to become one of the orphans. I wanted to dance around with a mop bucket. I didn't need to be Annie. I just wanted to be an orphan. Probably then is when I immediately got the 1977 Broadway musical soundtrack. But Andrea McArdle, she was my idol after that. And in sixth and seventh grade, I had a group of friends, and all of us were convinced that we were all going to be
Unknown Speaker 28:03
the new Annie, or at least an orphan, and we spent hours and hours rehearsing the exact Annie way to spit out. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow. You know, that's how we learned about bottom dollar. We planned our auditions, what we were gonna wear, and I will never forget how jealous I was of Amy Cornett and Nikki McGuinness, because they sounded exactly perfect and like her. And it was like the buzz between like, have you heard Amy Cornett or Nikki McGuinness sing like Annie? Fun fact about that album. And I know you guys. I know everybody listening to everybody can say they sang along to that album. Oh, yeah, forever. Fun fact. Andrea McArdle, she was she only performed for 40 performances, but she was originally cast as pepper until we're talking weeks before this is going to open. And they decided that the Annie they had cast was too sweet, and Annie needed to have more like street smarts and so, so she was pepper. Andrea McCardell was pepper, so she gets moved to Annie and the poor girl who's thinking up until she just became her understudy. Can you imagine being that little girl then, very shortly after that, Sarah, Jessica Parker, was a very famous Annie Allison Smith. Do you guys remember who Allison Smith is? No What big sitcom she was a part of. She was Jenny on Kate and ally. So Jenny was Jane curtains, one of Jane curtains kids. And, yes, I want to know how we were so invested. Was this on TV like she came out in what 1980 did the movie? No night, it's,
Unknown Speaker 29:38
oh, that's a good question. I just watched Andrea McArdle. I just watched, and I'll put this in the Weekly Reader this week, listeners, Andrea McArdle was on Merv Griffin. There we go, daring. And so he introduces her, and he says she's starring in the new, you know, the new Broadway show, Annie, and she comes out, and they come out, you know, with the microphone, with the big cord that's going like, backstage.
Unknown Speaker 30:00
Age, so she has to, like, flop the chord around, and she sings tomorrow, and she's Pitch Perfect. She's so cute.
Unknown Speaker 30:08
And so we're all paying attention. She
Unknown Speaker 30:11
was, like, one of the productions, and like, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day,
Unknown Speaker 30:16
and then the movie with Aileen. Well, now I'm gonna forget, you know, the movie and Quinn and yeah. So that movie,
Unknown Speaker 30:28
then came out very shortly after, and then, of course, we were obsessed with that soundtrack and movie. I was always like, I didn't like that movie because of the whole Punjab, and he has to rescue her with a helicopter from like the bridge when she's being kidnapped by Lillian Brewster. And that's not in the musical. That's not in the and I didn't like that whole section. It was very scary. So I have my Playbill from when I saw the musical production, which was the first musical I ever saw. That was probably my first live, like real Broadway show where you got a playbill. And that was June 12, 1980 and I know that my sister and I were obsessed with it from then on. Yep. So there was something different, or maybe it wasn't different. Maybe this was there hadn't been a Broadway musical kind of aimed at Children's the kid factor. It is 100% the kid factor. I mean, I think we can ask so many of our listeners, and they would we all have Annie memories, and mine and my sister. I mean, she had the bucket, she had the whole thing. She just it was leaned right at us, and it's like, tomorrow became an anthem for Gen Xers. I mean, it is the anthem of anthems, and it was for children. Like, here was a child who was carrying a Broadway musical. And it was, I don't necessarily know that it was like we could do that too, or kids are people too, I don't know. But it just made us invest hard, really hard. I just remember, you know, per tomorrow, being the anthem for every 12 year old on the planet. At the time, I remember being in my in my on my swing set, and swinging and singing the song tomorrow, as if I were performing it on a stage, as if I were Andrea McArdle. And I remember, like, really focusing on projecting, oh yeah, I was really, like, trying to, like, get a little vibrato going. And I lived in a suburb, like one of those suburban neighborhoods where the backyards, there's not a tree in sight and there and your backyard just opens up into everybody's backyard. So essentially, I was giving a performance of tomorrow. But you're so in your own head when you're that age, you don't have any notion that people are watching you. Yeah, do this very I'm gonna say the word earnest, earnest alert. This very earnest performance on the swing set of tomorrow. Yeah, I just remember that. I just remember us with the bet your bottom dollar, that your bottom tomorrow I would bet, and you had to go, there'll be sun. I know that was hard. It was hard. I would bet my bottom dollar that most of our listeners, or a good chunk of them, have a distinct Annie memory, like I know my sister does, and my memory is almost her memory, because she talked about earnest. I mean, she was all into that hard knock life and slam stuff down, and she was so excited that we actually had a bucket that she could use, and she will tell that story over and over again. Not everybody saw the Broadway production or a touring production. It kind of didn't matter, because it was part of the Zeitgeist. It was, It's a hard knock light for us, it's a hard
Unknown Speaker 33:42
knock light, kissing. And now we're gonna bring it on home. You ready to bring it on home here? Yes, I'm trying to think what it is. Oh, you know, you know my favorite musical in my parents record collection, by far, by far, in an exponential sense, is one of the most iconic shows of the 1970s one of the most 70s of all the shows of the 70s. Not quite as 70s a superstar, but it's very, very 70s. It's body and body positive and inclusive and diverse and gay and thinky and introspective and Norm busting and ultimately triumphant. It was everything that the 70s tried to be. I am talking, of course, about the record breaking run of A Chorus Line.
Unknown Speaker 34:41
It was my everything. So guys, my everything. It won nine Tonys, a Pulitzer, and it's still one of the longest running shows in Broadway history. It was the longest running at the time in the 70s, until it got surpassed by cats. Anyway. So A Chorus Line is.
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The 1975 musical created by choreographer Michael Bennett and composer Marvin Hamlisch. And the only set is the bare stage of a Broadway theater, and the only costumes are the various leggings and leotards that you would actually wear in a dance class. And the story focuses on the 17 dancers auditioning for the spots in the chorus line of a Broadway show, not the lead roles, just the chorus. So it's a show that pulls back the curtain on what leads up to all of the shows that we've been enjoying for our whole lives. They're taking it's like they're taking us backstage and letting us see the real people before they put on all the stage makeup and the costumes. It was an unprecedented box office and critical hit. It was beloved by both audiences and critics alike. So when you put the needle down on this record, I immediately get a lump in my throat, and it stays there for every song. I can't even really sing along to this record because of the big lump, the big lump in my throat, and sometimes full on tears. When I was preparing for this episode, I was listening to the cast recording when I was out for a walk, and I was really trying to stop crying, because you can't just cry openly on a dog walk, because people will worry and they'll stop, and they will ask if you need help. But it was hard. I'm like, trying to wipe my eyes, looking like I have something in my eye. Oh, I got a gnat in my eye. And I've never been through an audition like this before. But for some reason, this show is profoundly personal for me, and the music is imprinted on me, so the whole theme of the show is made apparent in the opening number called, I hope I get it, or, God, I hope I get it, and it opens with the directions from the choreographer, going, step, kick, kick, leap kick touch again. Step, kick, kick, leap kick touch again. Step, kick kick touch again. Step, kick, kick
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kick
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touch
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again. Step,
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kick kick touch again, step,
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kick, kick kick touch, right? He's just barking orders, barking, barking, barking. And on stage is a dance sequence that is disguised as a real life audition, with the choreographer shouting directions and people bumping into each other and making mistakes. And it builds in intensity, both because of the music and the pace of the choreography, but also because there's this underlying tension in the lyrics. Each of those dancers is saying, God, I hope I get it. I hope I get it. And I really need this job. I really, really need this job. It's a brilliant layering of story and music and dance and meaning, and it just cracks your heart right open,
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especially when it's so frenzy, and you know, the different groups dancing are coming and going, and he's kicking people out and whatever. And then there'll just be a spotlight, and then just one of them will just so earnestly saying, Yes, oh God, I need this job, please. God, I need this job.
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And you see them, and you realize it's just so humanizing. So humanizing. Yeah, I'm getting chills as you talk about it later, also, like you just set it up for people who aren't familiar with this musical. Set it up really well about the and the entire thing is this audition process, and I remember being a very small child going to see this musical on stage. You know, as a very small child, I'm running around singing tits and ass, you know, after too. And thank you again to my mom for exposing us to theater and not being like, Oh, she can't go see that because it says tits and ass. But it's so cleverly done because how the producer or the director is sitting in the audience. Yes, behind you, you're in the audience, but the voice is coming from behind you, because you get transported into that audition room. Or it's an audition theater. That's another way they make it very humanizing this show incredibly. You feel like you're part of it, unlike maybe in an Oklahoma or an Annie or something, where you're watching something, you are watching it, but you're very much a part of it, because there's guys shouting out orders behind you, it's incredibly intense. And just like Michelle, my parents took my brother and me to see the stage production. It was a touring production when I was in fifth grade, and my brother was in second grade, which that was a big deal back then, like, you dressed up to go to the theater, and we were way too young, so much of it went right over my head, like, what is gonorrhea? I have no idea. I have no idea. Have to know. But that's great, you know. And that doesn't mean that I.
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Didn't love every single second of it, but I knew sitting there, I knew this was too adult for me, and there were no other kids in the audience at all, and my parents were unapologetic about that, absolutely for them, yeah, and at times it was embarrassing for me, because I did know what they were talking about. Sometimes in the song, hello 12, hello, 13, hello, love, which is basically an ode to puberty, which I did not want to talk about at all. Hello,
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12.
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Changes. Oh, above.
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Oh,
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but also the, I can't the iconic song that we all thought was called tits and ass, but it's actually called Dance 10, looks three. It's the song everyone was waiting for, because it's so brazen, it's so brazen, and it's and you're just sitting there as a child going, oh my god, am I going to get in trouble for listening to the song called tits and ass, and it's about a woman who has who wasn't getting hired for any job. So one day, she steals her dance card and sees that she got a for Dan, she was scored a 10 and for looks, she was scored a three. So she decides to take matters into her own hands, and in her own words, she left the theater and called the doctor for her appointment to buy tits and got myself a fancy pair tightened up the dairy, dairy, yeah, the nose with it. All that goes with it. It's so sick. Yeah, it was just so I didn't know if I was supposed to laugh. I didn't know if I was if it was okay for me to think that this was funny. And my parents had the album so they knew exactly what was coming, tits and ass, gonorrhea, erections, making out in the back seat with some hottie and realizing you don't want to do anything more because you're gay, and it's all in the songs. But it must have been important enough to my parents for us to have the experience of this cultural moment that they simply didn't worry about it. Yeah, yeah. And I do think, like Carolyn said, a lot of it goes over a child's head very much, but what you're getting exposed to is so much more important than anything that they could fear. I think I have, I mean, to this day, it's an indelible memory, like I get. I'm getting choked up right now just thinking about the experience of it and and what that album has meant to me for the last 50 years. It's really, really powerful. And I think that the thing that is universally known about A Chorus Line, whether you've seen it or not, is the ending of the show with the song. One. It's that iconic Chorus Line moment when the dancers who have won a place in the chorus are revealed as they come out on stage in costume. Now, one by one, the dance wear is gone. They've got the gold lapels, the gold top hats, and they get into formation, and they end with that classic Chorus Line, kick line that just brings people to their feet, singular
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sensation, every little
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step he takes
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once,
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really combination every move that he makes,
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one smile and suddenly nobody else
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will do you know, you'll never be lonely with you, brings people to their feet, but it go, but it's a and can you remember like each time a person would be revealed
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to
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be like because you're so excited with each reveal, but you're also sad because you Know the other people who aren't on the stage did not make it. They didn't make it after bearing their everything, they bared their souls. And that song has a double meaning, because the song is about a woman who was one singular sensation every little step she takes, one smile, and suddenly nobody else will do but it's also about the opposite, that the people in the chorus are now one. They perform as one. They are not chosen to stand out from one another. They are one entity, not individuals of singular talent. They were not chosen because they stood out. They were chosen because they blended in. They perform as a single machine, which is both thrilling and sad, and such is the life of a dancer in the chorus line, that's what your job is. So you can hear in the music, in this song, you can hear when they start the kick line, and when they do this is the end of the show, once they start kicking,
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they just start kicking, and they kick and they kick and they kick, and people scream and cheer and scream and cheer, and they don't stop kicking. It's like and they just keep saying one yes, it's just amazing. And people get chills. What.
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Long Give me
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your
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attention.
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To the
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so everybody listening, this is your permission slip signed by your PCPs parents to queue up your favorite musical for your next dog walk. Even if you're crying, that's okay. Just tell them you're listening to the sound of music, and they'll get it. They'll be like, oh, sorry, sorry. Keep going. Sometimes we forget about the things that used to bring us joy, and we are here to remind you You're welcome. Thank you for listening today, and we will see you next time,
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and we'd like to give a special thank you to some of our supporters on Patreon. I'm going to sing their names. You guys are no I'm just kidding. I'm not. Today, we're giving a special shout out to these patrons. Elizabeth, Cynthia, Nancy, Aaron Marcia, Michelle Dana, Mary Daisy, Mary Beth, Kim, Lisa and Joanna. Thanks so much for supporting us over on Patreon, you guys are the reason this whole thing keeps on trucking. Don't forget to leave pop culture Preservation Society podcast a review on whatever platform you listen. We know you love us, so show that love to others by giving us a nice review and telling other people about us. Yes, it really helps. In the meantime, let's raise our glasses for a toast courtesy of the cast of Threes Company, two good times, two Happy Days, two little house on the
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prayer got off on the prairie cheers,
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singular sensation every little step she takes the information,
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opinions and comments expressed on the pop culture Preservation Society podcast belongs solely to Carolyn the crushologist and hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates, and though we truly believe we are always right, there is always a first time the PCPs is written, produced and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional wjm studios and our beloved Mary Richards, Nanu. Nanu, keep on trucking and May the Force Be With You. You.