We’ve done something that we’ve not done in quite a while, and this week’s Dress Circle (2/25 7:00 p.m.) is the fruit of that labor: we cleaned (a little). The resulting program has been given the title “The Things Ya Find When Ya Clean,” and if you like it, there’s the propensity for many more programs like this.
This program features songs from four CDs that we’ve purchased over the years and were put in “safe places” which is basically to say that they disappeared from view, and we forgot about them.
The musicals we’re sampling come from both sides of the Atlantic, from off-off-Broadway to regional to off-West End and in concept only.
From this side of the “pond,” we’ll hear selections from the Jones Beach Marina Theatre production of a musical by Carmen Lombardo and John Jacob Loeb entitled “Arabian Nights.” Some of the cast includes Lauritz Melchior, Helena Scott, Hope Holiday, and William Chapman.
The off-off-Broadway revue came from the early 1960s and was one in the series of varied comedies produced by Julius Monk. “Seven Come Eleven” features a variety of skits and songs, and we’ll hear performances from Mary Louise Wilson, Ceil Cabot, Rex Robbins, and Steve Roland.
We’re also heading to Islington in London for a musical we missed that starred Hanna Waddingham who’s known for her turn as Rebecca in Ted Lasso on TV. “Space Family Robinson” is an adult take of the same comic book material on which the much loved American TV series was based.
Our final songs come from a concept recording of a musical based on “Spartacus” by Jeff Wayne and Gary Osborne. The two pieces from this score feature Catherine Zeta Jones, Anthony Hopkins, and Alan King.
We’ve never used anything from these shows in the past because we didn’t know where they were, so we’re hopefully going to remedy that this week. Tune in for what will probably a more varied program than we usually put together, but we can promise that it’ll be fun hour.
