ANYONE CAN WHISTLE THE MUSICAL THEATRE OF STEPHEN SONDHEIM In December 2021, the lights of Broadway were dimmed in honor of the passing of a giant of the American Musical Theatre: Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim was the most influential composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th Century. Mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II, he revolutionized Musical Theatre, creating the Concept Musical. ...
Read MoreAND THE BEAT GOES ON . . . THE SAGA OF TELEVISION AND AMERICAN ROCK AND ROLL From Doo-Wop to Disco, American Rock and Roll was the soundtrack of the lives of Post World War II teenagers who moved and grooved to a new sound that roared out of radios and television sets. Rock and Roll was the first popular music to define a specific age group who were ready to Shake, Rattle and Roll!...
Read MoreAnother Op’nin’ Another Show!The Saga of the American Musical Theatre In 2020, for the first time in the history of the Great White Way, Broadway went dark and the theatres closed. Broadway Times Square Times Square Times Square There is a legend that every performer leaves a bit of themselves on those magical stages. As the lights of Broadway went out, the spirits of all the...
Read MoreTHIS JOINT IS JUMPIN’ Swingin’ With The Big Bands Hey all you hep-cats and rug cutters! This Joint is Jumpin’ is a sentimental journey down musical memory lane where Americans hit the dance floor and jitterbugged to the Big Band sounds of Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Jimmy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Harry James, Chick Webb, Xavier Cugat, and Cab Calloway. Tracing the...
Read MoreBroadway, Up With A Twist! It’s happy hour with Richard Hanson and you’re invited! Each week sit back, relax and enjoy a cocktail with the composers of the Great American Songbook: George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, Harold Arlen, and Frank Loesser. The way we party may have changed, but the music of the great tunesmiths of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley...
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