The first answer in this edition of the Music for Charity challenge is, of course, Stephen Sondheim (The title of this post is something of an inside joke with a buddy of mine.) and a Sondheim song or lyric (or both) is the title for all 24 posts in the Winter in Lisbon 2023-2024 series. The other references are all in the section headers. Here I strayed a bit. They may or may not be from Sondheim’s oeuvre but they are all from musicals.
I provided what I believed were some obvious and rather heavy handed hints. The first came by way of capitalization. I used traditional capitalization patterns for all show and song titles. The second was that all the italicized section headers and only the italicized section headers were relevant to the contest.
Because this blog has no monetization and they are provided for educational purposes, videos from YouTube are included under the fair use provision of the copyright act. Videos and copyrights remain the property of their owners. Unless otherwise noted (or necessary), I will use Original Broadway Cast (OBC) or revival cast recordings.
NOTE: It you are using the Text to Speech feature, you need to pause its reading to prevent it from continuing to process the text over any music video you want to watch or listen to.
With that out of the way, here are the answers:
Out of a Little Dream Bom dia Lisboa. Voltel (de Novo!).
The song here is Little Dream. It’s Sondheim’s addition to The Birdcage – the movie version of Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman’s 1983 musical La Cage aux Folles.
Sounds like a fine place to start.
This section header is the lone element in the post that belongs in the contest. It’s from the song Let’s Make Believe We’re in Love from the musical adaptation of the movie Footloose.
Putting it Together.
There’s no additional language to try to hide this title. The song and the post’s title are one and the same. Putting it Together is from the musical Sunday in the Park With George. Who better to listen to sing this than Barbra Streisand.
Jet Song.
Of course, the song in this section header has nothing to do with an actual jet. Or any form of air travel for that matter. But the title of the song from West Side Story worked for me. Since I didn’t see the recent remake, I’ll stick with the version from the 1961 movie.
Lisboa – Scene Three – Will I still feel Passion?
This might be the first post title that’s a little tricky. It contains both an alternate song title Scene Three and the play’s title Passion. The song title is, as you’ll see in the video, Garden Sequence. However, it’s also known as Scene Three and, although I will accept either, I thought that title was the more appropriate one since this was my third trip to Lisboa.
With my family by my side.
I stepped away from Sondheim for this one. This is a lyric from the song Creepy Old Guy musical adaptation of the movie Beetlejuice. I chose it because of the arrival of my family and because, even if I don’t always see myself this way, I’m confident that someone somewhere thinks of me as a creepy old guy. (And I even provided a twisted hint in the post’s text when I wrote, “I’m admittedly an old guy even if I don’t necessarily see myself as creepy”.)
Merrily We Roll Along – more new experiences.
As it was with Putting it Together, Merrily We Roll Along is the title of both a song and the show that features it. This is the Broadway revival cast.
Live, Laugh, Love or Make the Most of Your Music.
This is another one that’s a bit tricky. To solve it completely, you had to be observant and have exceptionally deep knowledge of Sondheim’s oeuvre or have done excellent research. Your observation had to come from noticing that the word ‘or’ in the section header is the lone non-italicized word. This was because Live, Laugh, Love was in the original production of Follies but was replaced by Make the Most of Your Music for the 1987 London revival. If you identified either, good job. If you found both, you earned a bonus point. The first is from a Broadway revival.
This one is from a Sondheim collection and features the London cast.
The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea.
What better way to foreshadow my family’s boat ride along Portugal’s southern coast than to continue my Sondheim tribute with this song from Pacific Overtures. (Okay, from a geographic perspective it would have been better if the musical had been called Atlantic Overtures but then the musical would have probably been much less interesting.) For this one, I was able to find an extended clip from the original Broadway production.
Skies are sunny and clear.
I chose this lyric from the song Long as I’m Here With You from the musical adaptation of Thoroughly Modern Millie because the rainy early morning had provided my family (who made the boat ride better by their company) provided us a rainbow as the day grew pleasant and clear. This is Sheryl Lee Ralph.
Saturday – Do I Hear a Waltz?
For this musical, Sondheim collaborated with a pair of theatrical geniuses Richard Rodgers who wrote the music and Arthur Laurents who adapted his play The Time of the Cuckoo for the musical Do I Hear a Waltz. Because Steve Lawrence died as I was writing this post, I’ve chosen Eydie Gorme’s recording of the title song.
Castle on a Cloud.
For the first time in this series a single post contains two referential section headers. I think I did it to see if folks were paying attention and had discerned the pattern of using italics as a signal so. since we visited the castle that Saturday morning, I jumped right in with Castle on a Cloud from Les Miserables and it’s both a title and a lyric hence the capitalization. The video is from the Tenth Anniversary Concert in London.
Graceful men lift lovely girls.
This lyric is lifted from a segment of the song At the Ballet from A Chorus Line and should require no further explanation regarding my reason for choosing it even if I did cut the line short to obfuscate just a little. The video is from the movie version.
Children and Art.
One of the focal points of planning for my family’s visit was to expose them – especially my grandnephews to a broad range of experiences. For the art segment we chose the Immersivus Gallery experience described in the post. Hence, my choice of the song Children and Art from Sunday in the Park With George performed here by Annaleigh Ashford.
At the Mother of Water where night waters do not break the moon.
The capitalization here might make this one a little tricky. Mother of Water refers to the location of the show o Reservatório da Mãe d’Água das Amoreiras (Mãe d’Água means Mother of Water) and is not attached to the song lyric from Chrysanthemum Tea that follows it. The song is part of the score of Pacific Overtures.
Children Will Listen.
This is a musical to music tie in. The post’s title Children Will Listen is from Into the Woods. I chose it because before I took them (and my sister and brother-in-law) to see the show at Lisboa em Fado, I was uncertain how they might respond to not merely listening to songs sung in Portuguese but to songs sung in the distinctive fado style which was probably unlike anything they’d ever heard. They listened and, certainly in the moment thoroughly enjoyed the show. This one features Bernadette Peters.
Foolishness can happen.
I was delighted to find another appropriate lyric from Into the Woods to use as this section’s header. And this one seemed particularly apt since we visited the Botanical Garden (so close to being in the woods) and the whimsical art installation promised a degree of foolishness at every turn as did our visit to Jardim Bordalo Pinhero. The song title is Any Moment / Moments in the Woods and the performer is Joanna Gleason.
Old Friends – Who’s like us? Damn few!
This post begins the week that my friends K & P spent with me in Lisboa. As I noted in the post, I’ve known K & P for more than four decades so that qualifies them as old friends. Since each post title refers to a Sondheim work, I thought I needed to add a lyric from the song to avoid any possible confusion with, for example, the Paul Simon song with the same title. The song Old Friends is from Merrily We Roll Along. You earned one point each for identifying the title and the lyric. At the date of this publication, a revival of the show is running on Broadway so with that in mind, here’s a take of that cast recording it.
Our Time.
I probably could have used the title Our Time in almost any post when I had company. I chose to use it here because I was making a temporal jump in the chronology of K & P’s visit. Like the post title, it is from Merrily We Roll Along and I’ll stick with the current cast recording.
Side by Side by Side.
One musical and one song provide both this post’s answers. The song is, of course, Side by Side by Side and it’s from the musical Company. I hope the genesis – coming from three friends embarking on a walking tour – requires no further explanation. The reason behind the section header lyric You who sit with us, You who share with us should be similarly clear.
The Little Things You Do Together.
For this post’s title I continued my references to Company with the song Little Things You Do Together. Again, given the context, it should require no further explanation. The performance features Elaine Stritch.
From hors d’oeuvres to dessert.
I didn’t expect readers to be immediately familiar with either this lyric, the song, or even the musical whence it came. I chose it because it’s particularly relevant to our food tour and because I wanted to add something a little more challenging to contest participants. Otherwise, neither the song title That Horrible Woman nor the show A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder are at all pertinent.
Add the sugar spread the plaster.
This returns to the musical by Steven Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman and a Sondheim lyric from the song Next! from Pacific Overtures and everything about it seemed to apply (okay, maybe not it’s theme or place in the show) from the Portuguese spread of sugar to Japan, to the discussion of the baking technique used to make Kasutera, to our consumption of one dish after another.
I’ve Got You to Lean On.
When I first started writing about our food tour, I noted that I’d relied heavily on some notes that K had sent to me. I chose the song I’ve Got You to Lean On from Anyone Can Whistle as a second acknowledgement because of my increasing dependence on those notes. This OBC features Angela Lansbury.
And he fed her fruit and nuts.
Given our stop at Frutos Secos de Mercado, the reason for this lyric should be obvious. What is likely not so apparent is its source. It’s from The Baker’s Wife and the song title is Meadowlark. I didn’t like the sound quality of the YouTube OBC recording,so I’ve found another sung by the brilliant Patti LuPone who originated the role.
The Ladies Who Lunch – and the gentlemen, too.
Anyone who knows Sondheim even a little has probably been wondering when the title The Ladies Who Lunch from Company would turn up in my writing about a food tour. It was inevitable particularly since our group of four included two ladies. I know I said I’ve give preference to OBC recordings but this one is simply too delicious not to use.
Roads are turning journey with them – A little learning Next!
It certainly didn’t take long to get to this post’s section header reference, did it? It’s from the song Next! from Pacific Overtures. Hey! I never promised not to repeat a song. No need to repeat posting the video. You can simply scroll up the page.
No Strings, Good Times, Just Chums, Company!
If you’d latched onto Sondheim (which I think you should have by this point in the blog) then you’d recognize that I provided the lyric – which is quite appropriate – and the song and show title. Of course, I wasn’t being overly generous because if I was going to use the song Company, (and I knew I would because as you should have gleaned by the frequent references Company is among my favorite Sondheim shows) I had to give away the show’s title. This time we’re back to the OBC recording.
Take away the secret meetings, take away the chance to fight.
Given the history of A Padaria do Povo, this line of lyrics from the show The Fantasticks that I lifted the song This Plum is Too Ripe seemed fitting. You can hear it performed by the 2006 Off Broadway cast in the video below.
God, That’s Good. That is delicious!
If you’re thinking you should never be writing about food and taking lyrics from any song in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street even if it is called God That’s Good!, I’d say you have a valid point. However, I’ve never been fully constrained by propriety so I did just that. This one features Angela Lansbury, Len Cariou, and Ken Jennings (no, not the host of Jeopardy! Ken Jennings).
You can eat if you are in the mood.
The bald truth is that I had some trouble finding a referential section header that fit this post so I dug into the archive and pulled a lyric from a show that I think is very much filled with the stereotypes of its time and very dated today. The song is Grant Avenue and it’s from the Rodgers and Hammerstein show Flower Drum Song. Not a bad tune, though.
So Much Happiness.
I included a snippet of lyrics to help you identify the one word song title Happiness from Passion. I chose the song and the lyric based on the end of our tour described at the end of the post. I also wanted to touch the irony of my placing at the end where a love duet will often traditionally fall while Sondheim had the audacity to place this love duet at the beginning of the show. If anyone discerned that, they earned a bonus point. I strayed from the OBC because I thought this live performance was quite interesting.
Forget about your sin give the audience a grin.
Another way to bring happiness is to draw from a truly comedic musical comedy. The above lyric is from Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from the musical Spamalot.
Me and My Town.
With no more company, most of the remainder of my stay and this record of it were going to be solely about the growing feeling between me and Lisboa that had it feeling quite like Me and My Town. The title of this song from Anyone Can Whistle sums it up even if most of the song’s lyrics express the opposite. Again though, I never promised a one to one correlation between a show’s or even a song’s content about my time or my feelings about Lisboa – just some possible relationship. We’re back with Angela Lansbury and an OBC recording.
And make me aware of being alive.
This section header represents another retro step in terms of Sondheim’s work with a lyric from a song in Company. The song is Being Alive and it appears near the end of the show. And while it’s clearly about Bobby finally deciding to take a risk on a personal relationship, it can also be heard as an ode to taking any sort of risk. What I will do is stray from these static music only videos because I like this Neil Patrick Harris performance.
The world turns to face the sun and start another day.
It had been awhile since I wrote a post with two entries and this lyric from the song Look At the Sky seemed to capture what was becoming my ordinary daily routine of living. It’s from the musical Urinetown. Here’s a Broadway workshop performance featuring Isiah Baston.
Color and Light.
Admittedly, I could probably attach this song title from Sunday in the Park with George to any post centering on art of any kind. And while Seurat had nothing to do with either Art Nouveau or Art Deco, I decided to use it in this post about my trip to the B-MAD. Here’s a clip featuring Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin from the original cast. (And no. Mandy does not say anything about Inigo Montoya.)
When I First Saw You.
I chose this title and lyric as a section header because it summed up my reaction to seeing the exterior of the B-MAD. It’s from Dreamgirls and this clip is from the film version.
This is Nice, Isn’t It?
It’s back to Sondheim for the second section header reference and this one’s here as much because I wanted to increase the level of difficulty as it is for its relevance to the content. However, since this is an alternate title, I will accept either one – This is Nice or This is Nice, Isn’t It? – that Sondheim used in the short-lived show Saturday Night. This is the original New York cast.
Every Day a Little Death.
From this title, a song in A Little Night Music, I’d guess this sounds like it’s going to be a depressing post but those who have followed might have been able to intuit that I’d be describing visiting a cemetery. Again, the title is appropriate to the post content but the lyrics aren’t.
Not entirely calm, serene, completely carefree.
This was was a little tricky, I admit. Here, the sharp-eyed would have noticed on their initial reading that only the words in bold above are italicized in the post. And that, of course, is a clue. The source material is the song Let Us Love in Peace from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Beautiful Game and it’s the original cast recording.
The God Why Don’t You Love Me Blues.
Both of these are going to be a bit of a stretch. The God Why Don’t You Love Me Blues is from Follies. (There’s another bonus point if you noticed its alternate title Buddy’s Blues that’s in a section header but deliberately not italicized.) It’s sole connection to the post is the usually blue color of the azulejos that adorn many Lisboa buildings being counterbalanced by the word’s etymology having no connection to the Portuguese word azul meaning blue. This is a “new” Broadway cast recording.
How many times have I told you no mayonnaise on the chicken sandwich?
Since it only connected to the restaurant’s name in the photo and I thought that it made the link so obscure, I provided the song’s title Goin’ Downtown in the body of the post that followed. The song is from Dreamgirls. This video is from the OBC recording.
Send in the Clowns – well maybe puppeteers.
It’s probably fair to say that some of the songs from West Side Story – for which Sondheim wrote only the lyrics to accompany Leonard Bernstein’s music – are among his most well known. I think it’s also fair to say that among the songs where he was both composer and lyricist, Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music would be at or near the top of the list of his most famous and most popular. My visit to the Puppetry Museum seemed the most fitting place to use it. In this instance, I’m using the Judy Collins recording not only because of its beauty but because I probably heard this version before I heard any other.
Life may be scary For Now but it’s only temporary.
I don’t know how I could have made this one much easier. The section header immediately preceding the one with the lyric provide the name of the show from which it’s drawn, Avenue Q (It is a puppet show, after all.) and the lyric contains the song’s title For Now that I capitalized to draw your attention. This is a cool Actors Fund cast reunion from the Covid times.
A little Bounce in today’s Road Show – I’m in my way.
This title is another opportunity for bonus points. Bounce and Road Show are alternate names for the same Sondheim work. If you picked that up, you earned an extra point. The post title also has a line of lyrics, I’m in my way, that continues into the first section header Still I’m doing as I please. The couplet is from Addison’s Trip. The reason I chose them should be obvious. This is from the Road Show version.
Gold! – Nuggets this thick.
Once again, I thought the one word song title Gold! wasn’t quite enough so I supplemented it with “Nuggets this thick” a line of lyrics from the song. Then, as I did in the previous post, I added another lyric from that song with the line “Glittering and littering.” And to make it somewhat easy you didn’t need to look any further than the show from the previous post. I accept Bounce, Road Show, or both. Just no bonus points this time.
That clinking clanking sound can make the world go ’round.
Since this post was about my visit to the Money Museum, I hope at least some of you were salivating in anticipation of a lyric from Money from Cabaret. Even though it’s the obvious choice, your patience is rewarded both with the reference and this Liza Minelli – Joel Grey performance in the movie.
Last week, This Week Americans.
This is the last post. It’s my last week and it has Americans hence, This Week Americans from Do I Hear a Waltz. I think I need write no more.
Late in the writing process I became attracted to the musical Bounce and made another reference to it with this first section header I Love This Town. And I do love Lisboa.
River in the Rain.
I’m not certain that River in the Rain fully counts as a Broadway song because Roger Miller recorded it long before it appeared in the musical Big River. But it was appropriate for the angry Tejo and it was also a chance for someone to earn another point.
I’m giving a bonus point to anyone who recognized the unitalicized but differently capitalized section header Another One Rides the Bus and calls it out in their answer. (No video since it’s not an official part of the contest.)
I’ve gotta have art.
It’s possible I used the song Heart from Damn Yankees in another contest or simply another context but I didn’t look. This isn’t an exact citation of the lyrics but it’s close and it’s italicized. Consider it a bonus point opportunity.
Some people can thrive and bloom living life in the living room.
It’s taken me to the last section header of the last post to touch one of Stephen Sondheim’s best known shows – Gypsy – although as with West Side Story, Sondheim was the lyricist this time to Jule Styne’s music. I hope I made it clear that this applies to DB, Daryl, and Mindi. Since I was never a big fan of Ethel Merman, and there are many versions of this song to choose from, I’ll stray from the OBC and use this one of Bette Midler performing it on the 1993 CBS television production.
And that’s it. Even if you didn’t enter the contest, I hope you enjoyed this trip through the works of Stephen Sondheim and some other musicals, too and that maybe even learned a bit along the way.
Até a próxima.