Jim on Film
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This week, Playbill.com reported that Broadway stars Rebecca Luker and Brent Barret are appearing in a workshop of the show, which will be set in a recording studio. According to the article, On the Record will feature over fifty classic Disney songs. With the multitude of songs lining the evening, Disney fans can hope that the show will not only include Disney’s best known classics but some of its lesser-known gems as well. Compilations are a great way to introduce songs to new listeners, people who might be more likely to then check out a DVD or rent a video than they otherwise would have. But most important of all, there are many great songs in the Disney library that simply deserve to have a bigger audience. Tonight, when I wish upon a star, I’ll be wishing that Robert Longbottom and the rest of the creative team for On the Record will sing outside the box and will consider including songs from some of these works:
The Package Films
The package films from the 1940s have some really
enjoyable Disney songs, songs that need to hear the light of day again. There’s
the beautiful Baia and You Belong to My Heart from The Three
Caballeros, and while the whole song might be too long, Johnnie Fedora
and Alice Bluebonnet from Make Mine Music is also worth a look.
Fun and Fancy Free is filled with fun songs, like Lazy Countryside,
Too Good to Be True, and the catchy My Favorite Dream. The
Johnny Appleseed segment from Melody Time has some great songs, and
though Lavendar Blue (Dilly Dilly) is what’s best known from So Dear
to My Heart, Stick-to-it-ivity and It’s Whatcha Do with Whatcha
Got are much more fun. And whether it is one of the Bing Crosby songs or
Merrily On Our Way, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mister Toad has
something to offer as well.
Live-Action Musicals
While Disney most heavily promotes its
animation-added live-action musicals, such as Mary Poppins and, to a far
lesser extent, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Pete’s Dragon, they
forget what their other live-action musicals have to offer. Babes in Toyland
may be no great cinematic feat but Slowly He Sank Into the Sea, which was
written specifically for the Disney film, is loads of fun.
For In Search of the Cataways, the Sherman Brothers wrote several delightful songs. Hayley Mills is a gem, but it would be great to hear the hauntingly beautiful The Castaway’s Theme performed by someone who can really do it justice. And if not, Enjoy It is a song that everyone can enjoy.
Like Castaways, it’s hard to categorize Summer Magic as a musical, though it does have its share of songs. If Ugly Bug Ball and On the Front Porch aren’t exactly rousing numbers, they are very charming and very hum-able, and The Pink of Perfection, the song in honor of Deborah’s Walley’s cousin Julia, is funny.
Both horribly overlooked by the Disney studio and unjustly maligned by critics, the Sherman Brothers’ scores for The Happiest Millionaire and The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band are not only more mature than their more celebrated cousin Mary Poppins, but they seem like they’d be more at home on stage. From The Happiest Millionaire there’s the fun Bye-Yum Pum Pum, What’s Wrong With That, Let’s Have a Drink On It, I’ll Always Be Irish, and Detroit. Even the introductory Valentine Candy is moving, and the love ballad, Are We Dancing, is surprisingly romantic and beautiful. From The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, there’s the jaunty love song ‘Bout Time, the rousing Dakota, the ballad The Happiest Girl Alive, and the memorable Ten Feet Off the Ground, not to mention the lively West O’ the Wide Missouri. The best thing about these two musical scores is that they feel like classic Broadway but they retain the instantly memorable quality that we associate with the Disney name.
Even though Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Pete’s Dragon get remembered because of their use of animation, Disney has been far less eager to include their scores along with their finest. While the Sherman Brothers’ music for Bedknobs and Broomsticks and the Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn songs for Pete’s Dragon don’t hold up as well next to their Poppins, Millionaire, and Family Band siblings, both films do feature some songs worthy of inclusion. In Bedknobs and Broomsticks, there’s A Step in the Right Direction and Portobello Road, which are both great songs. In Pete’s Dragon, there’s the classic Candle on the Water, but there’s also Bazzle Dazzle Day which would be fun to hear.
Better known, though still not as likely to be included in the program, is Newsies. Many of the songs would be difficult to use with the small cast of a musical revue, but Sante Fe is definitely worth a consideration.
On the television front, Polly and Polly Comin’ Home, along with Stephen Schwartz’s excellent score for Gepetto, are worthy of the Disney name. In Polly, recent Tony nominee Phylicia Rashad had the opportunity to sing the powerful Something More as Aunt Polly, and from Geppetto, it would be grand to hear Empty Heart, And Son, or Since I Gave My Heart Away performed by someone who has as much musical theatre talent as he does musical theatre heart.