In my previous "life" I was a cabaret performer. I've always loved music of nearly every variety, but as a singer I was always drawn to the standards and to Broadway show tunes. So recently, when a good friend began taking singing lessons at HB Studio here in NYC, and she was instructed to sing only show tunes, she was a bit at sea for ideas.
I began coming up with tunes and before long show, after show, song after song and all the greatest performances I remembered were pouring forth. I have the CDs for, but have essentially worn them out, for: Chess, Mack & Mabel, And The World Goes Round, as well as the 2 volumes of Bernadette Peters' Carnegie Hall benefit performance from over a decade ago. Called Sondheim, Etc., and Sondheim, Etc., Etc., while a large portion of the tunes are by Sondheim she also includes some others.
I bought the CDs and shared them with my friend so she could discover for herself the beauty of some of these tunes. "Time Heals Everything" (always a favorite of my mother's), "Look What Happened To Mabel", and from Chess, "I Know Him So Well", "Nobody's Side" and "Anthem", which, while not a woman's song, was sung so incredibly stunningly by the late David Carroll that it never fails to bring tears to my eyes.
And The World Goes Round contains some hilariious numbers, including the naughty, "Arthur In The Afternoon", and "Colored Lights" - a great favorite of mine.
I love everything Bernadette sings, but "Other Lady", "I Never Thought I'd Break", "Sooner or Later" and the double-entendre anthem for single lovers
everywhere? "Making Love Alone".
What a wonderful way to revisit my past and get to know my old favorites again!
I've been humming ever since...
