Jerry Herman

It’s been a very strange summer so far, but it’s moving along, and we’re going to be welcoming the final full month of summer by looking at some of the shows that opened in New York in August on this week’s Dress Circle (8/3 7:00 p.m.). As we do this, we’ll be looking at shows that span 138 years of musical history.

This week’s Dress Circle (6/8 7:00 p.m.) is a return to one of our favorite topics, “Involuntary Musical Imagery” otherwise known as stuck song syndrome, sticky music, and cognitive itch, or, as the Germans call them, orhwurm. Of course, their earworms. Those pesky songs that you love to hate. You hear them, and they stay with you for a very long time afterwards.

“Every Single Moment” we find that “This Is the Moment” for several good songs from some musicals, and we’d like to ask you to “Take the Moment” and join us for this week’s Dress Circle (5/18 7:00 p.m.) when we’ll be musically “In the Moment.”

Over the years, we’ve often said that pieces were some of our “favorites,” and we do have many. We tried to wrangle them into a manageable size, but we still had enough for several programs. With this in mind, this week’s Dress Circle (2/23 7:00 p.m.) will look at some of our favorite overtures and opening numbers because we had far fewer of those than we did individual songs.

We’re a little early (and probably should be celebrating it after the fact), but January 31st is “Backwards Day,” and on this week’s Dress Circle (1/26 7:00 p.m.), we’ll turn to the musicals for songs about looking back, holding back, falling back, putting back, going back, and several more.

Sadly, we won’t be hearing from any Quokkas on this week’s Dress Circle (12/29 7:00 p.m.) even if they are said to be the happiest animals on the planet, but what we will have is a program of “happy” songs to get you prepared for a Happy New Year.

It’s time again for the ghosts to visit, and this year, we’re being visited by some Programs of Christmas Past on this week’s Dress Circle (12/22 7:00 p.m.) as we look at some listener favorites from past programs featuring songs from stage and screen musicals.

We’re continuing with our series of programs to prepare you for Thanksgiving and the holidays beyond on this week’s Dress Circle (11/17 7:00 p.m.). So far, we’ve looked at “home for the holidays,” and this week, we’re going to be looking at the things we’re truly thankful for: friends.

Shakespeare seems to get credit for a great many things, but this time, he deserves it even if the quote is a bit “off.” We’re “Gilding the Lily” on this week’s Dress Circle (8/15 7:00 p.m.), well, we’ve amassed songs about beauty and its secrets, dressing to impress or excess, and a few make-up tips from a variety of musicals.

To follow our April Showers program, we'll look at 14 songs in order to share some May flowers including lilacs, daisies, violets, a bunch of roses, and more.