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Film Soundtrack

Song Of The Day – “All Er Nothin’” from the Original Soundtrack to “Oklahoma!”

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OklahomaSoundtrackThe Broadway version of “Oklahoma!” opened in 1943 and ran 2, 212 performances. With music by Richard Rodgers and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein III, the Pulitzer Prize-winning score gave us the standards “Oh What A Beautiful Mornin’,” “People Will Say We’re In Love,” “(Everything’s Up To Date In) Kansas City,” “The Surrey With The Fringe On Top,” “The Farmer And The Cowman” and the hit title song.

The 1955 Academy Award-winning film version starred Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, Eddie Albert and Charlotte Greenwood. Paul Newman, James Dean and Joanne Woodward all screen-tested for the film and were denied parts.

Here we have a Gene Nelson (as Will Parker)-Gloria Grahame (as Aldo Annie) duet with a great string arrangement and some of the most clever lyrics in the entire musical, opening a window to a sadly, by-gone era of articulate songwriting.

Song Of The Day – “Willkommen” by Joel Grey from the film “Cabaret”

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CabaretA funny thing happened to the Broadway Musical Cabaret during its adaptation to the big screen. It lost ten out of its original fifteen songs. Many of the original Broadway songs were in the play to express the emotions of the characters and move the plot line forward, something that the medium of film was able to accomplish by using visuals. As a result, Bob Fosse only retained the songs “Wilkommen,” “Two Ladies,” “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” “If You Could See Her,” and “Cabaret” for the film. The rest were dumped, as were characters and elements of the original plot.

Cabaret opened on Broadway in 1966 starring Jill Haworth, Bert Convy, Lotte Lenya, Jack Gilford and  Joel Grey. Grey would reprise his role as the Emcee for the film. The show was directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Ron Field and had a successful run on Broadway. The musical was based on the 1951 play I Am Camera which was written by John Van Druten, and Druten’s play was adapted from the 1939 short novel Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood.

The 1972 film starred Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey and was directed by Bob Fosse with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Kander and Ebb added new material to better fit the film’s plot including, “Mein Herr,” “Money Money” and “Maybe This Time.” Minnelli had been performing “Maybe This Time” for many years already, since it was not originally written for the film. As a result, it was not eligible for an Academy Award nomination.

Today’s Song Of The Day opens the musical with a solitary drum roll rather than an overture. The song introduces the show girls of the Kit Kat Klub, “Each and every one, a wirgin!”, where much of the action takes place. Most of the action that takes place in the club reflects what was going on outside in the real world of Nazi Germany. The song and film clip are classic Joel Grey in his signature role, playing up the kitsch factor in tantalizing fashion for the cameras. You’d be hard pressed to find another actor as “on” as Grey in this role. Indeed, the soundtrack outsold the Broadway recording spurred on by the film’s success, but also because Grey and Minnelli turned in indelible performances on screen and in the recording studio.

The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 1973, winning a total of eight, including awards for Best Director (Bob Fosse), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Liza Minnelli), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Joel Grey), Best Cinematography (Geoffrey Unsworth), Best Film Editing (David Bretherton), Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score (Ralph Burns), Best Art Direction (Rolf Zehetbauer, Hans Jürgen Kiebach, Herbert Strabel) and Best Sound (Robert Knudson, David Hildyard).

It was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, but lost both to The Godfather. As a result, Cabaret holds the somewhat dubious distinction for winning the most Academy Awards while not winning the Best Picture award.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Jack’s Lament” by Danny Elfman from “Nightmare Before Chiristmas”

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Halloween is in the air…and so is the greatest Halloween and Christmas film ever made! Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” has become a modern-day classic. The film had a ten-year gestation period and was released in October of 1993. The soundtrack was composed and mostly performed by Danny Elfman, who was a member of the new wave band Oingo Boingo from 1976-1995. The band had their own Halloween-themed success with their minor hits “Dead Man’s Party” and “Weird Science”  (from the film of the same name). Elfman met Burton while working with Paul Reubens on “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure,” and has scored numerous Burton films including “Beetlejuice,” “Batman,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Batman Returns,” “Mars Attacks,” “Planet Of The Apes,” “Charlie And The Chocolate Factory,” “Corpse Bride,” “Alice In Wonderland,” “Dark Shadows” and the recently released “Frankenweenie.”  Elfman’s other credits include composing the “Simpson’s Theme,”  and music for “Pee Wee’s Playhouse,” “Desperate Housewives” (theme), “Milk,” “Spider-Man,” “Men In Black,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Dick Tracy” and many others. Pay close attention to the orchestration on this track, that’s where its magic fully lies. Elfman’s vocals are wholly theatrical and full of emotion. This song would later be covered by All American Rejects when the superb soundtrack was re-released with a bonus disc of rock covers for the deluxe edition a few years ago.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “You Are Woman (I Am Man)” by Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif

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Don’t ask me why I came up with this song for today, but here it is. Perhaps it was the visit with my 82 year old mother last night in New Jersey. She and my father played the “Funny Girl” Soundtrack, where this song is from, non-stop while I was growing up. Maybe it was watching the season premiere of “Boardwalk Empire” this evening which takes place during the roaring twenties, much like the story of Fanny Brice and Nicky Arnstein whom Streisand and Sharif portray in the movie and this clip. Or maybe it was just the wine I had tonight with my holiday dinner. Whatever the reason behind the pick, this track is one of the few instances where Streisand’s shtick truly works, and “Funny Girl” is one of the classic film musicals of the 1960s.

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Six Women (Me & Henry The Eighth)” by Cliff Edwards

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Cliff Edwards was a crooner, musician, voice actor and a star of film and TV. He got his start in the early 1920s playing ukulele in vaudeville acts in Chicago and became known by his stage name, Ukulele Ike. He was largely responsible for the popularity of the instrument during the era. He was probably best known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in the Walt Disney film, “Pinocchio” where he sang “When You Wish Upon A Star.” He also voiced the head crow in Disney’s “Dumbo” and sang the song “When I See An Elephant Fly.” He scored a number one hit in 1929 with his version of “Singin’ In The Rain,” and appeared in numerous films for RKO. Here’s a hilarious 1934 novelty from George White’s “Scandals” which was a film revue not unlike “Ziegfeld’s Follies.”

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “I Wanna Be Like You” by Louis Prima and Phil Harris

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Disney lyricist Robert Sherman has died at the age of 86. Robert Sherman and his brother Richard wrote the songs for such Disney classics as “Winnie The Pooh,” “Mary Poppins,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “The Aristocats,” “The Parent Trap,” “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and the Disney theme park theme “It’s A Small World.” The duo also wrote the hits “Tall Paul” by Annette Funicello, “You’re Sixteen” by Ringo Starr and “Let’s Get Together” by Hayley Mills. This joyous jazz-tinged favorite hails from the 1967 Disney film, “The Jungle Book,” and is sung by Las Vegas star Louis Prima and Phil Harris, who is best known for his novelty hit “The Thing.” The song has been covered by everyone from Phish to Los Lobos to Smash Mouth to The Jonas Brothers.