December 19, 1957: The Music Man opened on Broadway

Originally posted May 19, 2011. Last updated September 4, 2018.

The Music Man (cast/soundtrack) Meredith Willson (composers)

Opened on Broadway: December 19, 1957 Cast Album Charted: February 24, 1958 Soundtrack Charted: August 11, 1962 Sales (in millions): US: 1.0 C, 0.5 S UK: -- IFPI: -- World (estimated): 1.5 C+S Peak: US: 112-C, 2 S UK: 14 S Canada: -- Australia: -- C cast album S soundtrack

Quotable: --

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Genre: show tunes

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Album Tracks:

1. Main Title/ Rock Island
2. Iowa Stubborn
3. Ya Got Trouble
4. Piano Lesson If You Don’t Mind My Saying So ^s
5. Goodnight, My Someone
6. Ya Got Trouble ^s
7. Seventy Six Trombones
8. Sincere
9. The Sadder But Wiser Girl for Me
10. Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little
11. Goodnight Ladies ^c
12. Marian the Librarian
13. My White Knight ^c
14. Being in Love ^s
15. Gary, Indiana ^s
16. The Wells Fargo Wagon
17. It’s You ^c
18. Shipoopi *
19. Lida Rose/ Will I Ever Tell You?
20. Gary, Indiana
21. Till There Was You
22. Goodnight, My Someone ^s
23. Seventy Six Trombones ^s
24. Finale ^c

* Track comes right before “Till There Was You” on soundtrack.
^c indicates song that appears only on cast album.
^s indicates song that appears only on soundtrack.

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Singles/Hit Songs *:

Till There Was You
- Anita Bryant (1959) #30
- Valjean (1962) #100

* As was common in the pre-rock era, multiple versions of a single song from a Broadway show would become hits. All chart positions are from the U.S. Billboard pop charts.

Review: “The original Broadway cast of Meredith Willson’s most successful musical was headed by Robert Preston, who played the part of Harold Hill, a conman” R-C “intent on swindling the good people of River City, IA, by selling them on a fictitious boys' band.” R-S “Willson concentrates on percussive effects and rapid-fire spiels for Preston, though the musical standout is Barbara Cook as Marian the Librarian. Highlights of this perennial hit show include Seventy-Six Trombones and Till There Was You.” R-S “Coming along in the summer of 1962, four and a half years after the Broadway opening, the film version of The Music Man appeared in an era when Hollywood was more likely to be faithful to stage musicals, rather than dramatically altering them, as had been the practice in the past. R-S The movie version “found Robert Preston re-creating his starring role as conman Professor Harold Hill…and some minor roles were also filled by the Broadway originals. More important, Meredith Willson’s score was rendered intact, the only change being a revision of the song My White Knight into Being in Love.” R-S “The major casting change was the substitution of Shirley Jones, who had a box-office track record, for Barbara Cook, who did not, in the role of Marian the librarian. Cook may have been preferable, but Jones handled the part well, too.” R-S “Musically, the big change had to do with scale; the Broadway pit orchestra and original cast were replaced by a vast Hollywood orchestra and chorus, and musical director Ray Heindorf made the most of the larger effects on songs like ‘Seventy Six Trombones’.” R-S “Still, the music fan who already owned a copy of the original Broadway cast recording didn’t really need to plump for the original motion picture soundtrack, which didn’t keep the album from racing up the charts…as the film became one of the year’s top grossers. But it remains true; unless you are a Shirley Jones fan or want to hear future Andy Griffith Show co-star and film director Ronnie Howard sing Gary, Indiana with a lisp, stick to the Broadway version.” R-S Review Sources: R-C William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide (cast album) R-S William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide (soundtrack)

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Awards:

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Alicia Keys hit #1 with “No One”

Updated 1/18/2019. image from contactmusic.com

No One Alicia Keys

Writer(s): Alicia Keys, Kerry Brothers Jr., George M. Harry (see lyrics here) Released: 9/11/2007 First Charted: 9/8/2007 Peak: 15 US, 9 AC, 110 RB, 6 UK, 2 CN, 3 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales *: 4.0 US, 0.6 UK, 5.6 world (includes US + UK) Radio Airplay *: 0.8 Video Airplay *: 395.93 Streaming *: -- * in millions

Review: Keys told Billboard magazine “This is one song that just wrote itself. A lot of the snogs didn’t happen like that. It was one of the last songs I wrote. I needed to say this. It’s full force, classical yet vintage, desperate yet triumphant. I want people to feel my soul.” HT100 She told MTV News Canada that the song is about “the way that so many things are around you all time to try to distract you” WK in relationships. While Keys sometimes had a tendency “towards bloat, overstuffing her songs and albums with not particularly original ideas; she’s pared down her vision since, becoming both more disciplined and more eccentric.” DS With “No One,” however, she created “perhaps the most straightforward, even basic pop this decade has seen, are so obvious as to convert even the most chart-skeptical.” DS Popjustice called it one of her best singles to date. WK Digital Spy’s Alex Fletcher called it a “simplistic yet beautiful, fluttering, piano-tinkling ballad.” WK Paste’s David Mead said it “showcases a new depth and width to the tone of her voice.” WK It was the most-listened-to song on American radio in 2008 with 3.08 billion listeners, SF as evidenced by the song topping multiple Billboard pop and R&B-oriented charts. For the week ending December 29, 2007, Keys became the first artist in the history of the R&B/hip-hop charts to have songs at #1 and #2 (“Like You’ll Never See Me Again”) without help from any duet partners or featured artists. SF The song did well internationally as well, hitting #1 in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey. SF Resources and Related Links: Alicia Keys’ DMDB Encyclopedia entry BB100 Billboard “All-Time Hot 100” (9/08) DS Don’t Stay Up Too Late (blog) SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Note: Footnotes (raised letter codes) refer to sources frequently cited on the blog. Numbers following the letter code indicate page numbers. If the raised letter code is a link, it will go directly to the correct page instead of the home page of a website. You can find the sources and corresponding footnotes on the “Lists” page in the “Song Resources” section.

Awards:

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Fifty Years Ago Today: “Great Balls of Fire” charted (11/23/1957)

image from culturemap.com

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Jerry Lee Lewis “Great Balls of Fire”

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Writer(s): Otis Blackwell, Jack Hammer (see lyrics here)

First charted: 11/23/1957

Peak: 2 US, 1² CW, 3 RB, 1^{2 (Click for codes to singles charts.)}

Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 5.0 world (includes US and UK)

Radio Airplay (in millions): 1.0 Video Airplay (in millions): --

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Review: Some of rock ‘n’ roll’s earliest architects walked a fine line between their religious Southern upbringings and the shockingly sexual and aggressive style that defined early rock music. With a musical prowess birthed as much from the black honky-tonks as the Assembly of God Church, ^CL-114-5 Lewis concocted an uncomfortable blend of music inspired by God and the devil. His “onstage terrorization of the piano” ^FR-50 earned him the nickname “The Killer.” It also got him booted out of Bible college. ^CL-114-5

Nowhere was Lewis’ musical dichotomy more on display than with “Great Balls of Fire.” Jerry Lee’s signature song was “full of Southern Baptist hellfire turned into a near-blasphemous ode to pure lust.” ^RS500 Lewis realized the shock in 1957 of such sexual innuendo coming from a Southern music man ^SF and initially refused to sing the song. ^RS500 He and Sun Records’ founder Sam Phillips delved into a theological argument which was eventually swayed Sam’s way by the ever-flowing liquor during the session. ^RS500

Sam Phillips turned to Otis Blackwell to pen the song as a follow-up to Lewis’ first hit, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” Blackwell had a proven track record, having written “the biggest record of the rock ‘n’ roll era” with Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel.” ^CL-114 This poor kid from Brooklyn, New York, was the first black man to really tap into the Nashville sound, dominating the country and rock charts in the mid to late-‘50s. ^CL-116

As for Blackwell’s writing partner, Jack Hammer, there are contradictory stories. One account says his sole contribution is coming up with the title and selling it to Otis Blackwell, ^LW-118 while another account says the name is a pseudonym for Blackwell. ^AMG

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Resources and Related Links:

• Jerry Lee Lewis’ DMDB Encyclopedia entry

Note: Footnotes (raised letter codes) refer to sources frequently cited on the blog. Numbers following the letter code indicate page numbers. If the raised letter code is a link, it will go directly to the correct page instead of the home page of a website. You can find the sources and corresponding footnotes on the “Lists” page in the “Song Resources” section.

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Award(s):

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Leona Lewis debuted at #1 in the UK with “Bleeding Love”

Updated 1/18/2019. image from bsidesbadlands.com

Bleeding Love Leona Lewis

Writer(s): Jesse McCartney, Ryan Tedder (see lyrics here) Released: 10/19/2007 First Charted: 11/3/2007 Peak: 14 US, 74 RB, 17 UK, 11 CN, 15 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales *: 4.7 US, 1.2 UK, 7.7 world (includes US + UK) Radio Airplay *: 0.7 Video Airplay *: 192.77 Streaming *: -- * in millions

Review: Leona Lewis rose to fame in the UK as the winner of the third TV season of The X Factor in 2006. She was awarded a recording contract with Sony BMG and released “A Moment Like This” as her debut single. The song also served as the first single for Kelly Clarkson in 2002 after she won the first TV season of American Idol. In February 2007, One Republic’s Ryan Tedder teamed with singer/songwriter Jesse McCartney to write “Bleeding Love” for McCartney’s third album, Departure. He said he was “thinking about being in love so much that it hurts. I was away from my girlfriend for four months at the time and I really wanted to [quit] and fly home.” WK One account suggested that McCartney’s record company rejected the song, but another story says record executive Clive Davis specifically wanted the song for Lewis. SF In any event, when Tedder heard Lewis, he said hers was “one of the best voices I’ve ever heard.” WK In her hands, the song transformed to a tale of a woman who is emotionally hurt by her lover, but accepts the pain and continues to love him. WK She recorded the song and released it in October 2007 as the first single from her debut album, Spirit. It debuted at #1 in the UK WK selling 218,000 copies – more than any debut week since “A Moment Like This.” SF It went on to be the UK’s best-selling single of 2007 WK and iTunes’ most downloaded single of 2008. SF It also hit #1 in 35 countries, WK including the United States in April 2008. The song was nominated for Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. BBC America thought it sounded like dated filler from a long-lost, late ‘90s Mariah Carey album, WK but About.com praised Lewis for “her stunning voice that is equal parts Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and her own restrained gracefulness.” AB’00 Digital Spy called it a “brilliantly smart pop record.” WK Billboard’s Chuck Taylor called it “a colossal and timeless debut” WK and Metromix Atlanta called it “the most seductive diva anthem of the decade.” MX Resources and Related Links: Leona Lewis’ DMDB Encyclopedia entry AB’00 About.com (2009) “Top 100 Pop Songs of the 2000s” MX Atlanta Metromix (11/24/09) Best songs of the decade SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Note: Footnotes (raised letter codes) refer to sources frequently cited on the blog. Numbers following the letter code indicate page numbers. If the raised letter code is a link, it will go directly to the correct page instead of the home page of a website. You can find the sources and corresponding footnotes on the “Lists” page in the “Song Resources” section.

Awards:

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Fifty Years Ago Today: Elvis Presley charts with “Jailhouse Rock” (9/30/1957)

image from abaenglish.com

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Elvis Presley “Jailhouse Rock”

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Writer(s): Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller (see lyrics here)

First charted: 9/30/1957

Peak: 1⁷ US, 1¹ CW, 1⁵ RB, 1⁴ UK (Click for codes to singles charts.)

Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 0.79 UK, 9.0 world (includes US and UK)

Radio Airplay (in millions): -- Video Airplay (in millions): 106.3

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Review: As bad as Elvis movies could be, the songs that soundtracked them were often worse. Still, Elvis had “his celluloid moments” and perhaps never better than in Jailhouse Rock. ^HL-88 Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, “the first important non-performing songwriters of the rock era,” ^TB-31penned the prison songs for The King’s third movie. It was their first movie score, ^SF but the pair were known for their R&B hits, one of which was the jail-themed “Riot in Cell Block #9” by the Coasters. ^CR-706 They’d also written a couple of Presley hits already – most notably “Hound Dog”, first recorded by Big Mama Thornton. ^RS500

Leiber and Stoller’s score “was perfect” but nothing could match the energetic title song. ^HL-88 Inspired by “Comeback” by Memphis Slim, ^KL-47 “Jailhouse Rock” sported a tongue-in-cheek nature on par with the Coasters’ material. However, Elvis ignored the lyrical jokes, such as the gay-prisoner-themed line about one inmate telling another “You’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see” and “sang it as straight rock & roll.” ^RS500

As for the dance routine involving dancing convicts in their cells, it was choreographed by Elvis himself, ^BR1-29 making it his only full-fledged example of such work in one of his movies. ^HL-88 It is often cited as an early influence on the development of music video. ^JA-108

The song was a huge hit, topping the U.S. pop, R&B, and country charts. It was the first #1 debut in the UK charts. While common today, it was considered impossible at the time. ^HL-89 It returned to the peak in January 2005 when released to commemorate Presley’s 70th birthday, making it the oldest single top ever top that chart and one of three to top that chart twice. The other two, also released posthumously, were Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord.” ^SF

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Resources and Related Links:

• Elvis Presley’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry
• Jerry Leiber’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry
• Mike Stoller’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry

Note: Footnotes (raised letter codes) refer to sources frequently cited on the blog. Numbers following the letter code indicate page numbers. If the raised letter code is a link, it will go directly to the correct page instead of the home page of a website. You can find the sources and corresponding footnotes on the “Lists” page in the “Song Resources” section.

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Award(s):

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Sept. 26, 1957: West Side Story debuted on Broadway

Originally posted March 7, 2011. Last updated September 2, 2018.

West Side Story (cast/soundtrack) Leonard Bernstein/ Stephen Sondheim (composers)

Opened on Broadway: Sept. 26, 1957 Cast Album Recorded: Sept. 29, 1957 Cast Album Charted: March 17, 1958 Soundtrack Charted: October 23, 1961 Sales (in millions): US: 2.5 c, 8.0 s UK: 0.6 c, 0.1 s IFPI: -- World (estimated): 3.1 c, 8.1 s Peak: US: 5 C, 154-S UK: 113-S Canada: -- Australia: --

Quotable: “Takes up the American musical idiom where it was left when George Gershwin died.” – John Chapman, New York Daily News WK

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Genre: show tunes

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Album Tracks:

Cast Album:

1. Prologue
2. Jet Song
3. Something’s Coming
4. The Dance at the Gym
5. Maria
6. Tonight
7. America
8. Cool
9. One Hand, One Heart
10. Tonight
11. The Rumble
12. I Feel Pretty
13. Somewhere (Ballet)
14. Gee, Officer Krupke!
15. A Boy Like That/I Have a Love
16. Finale

Above track listing based on 2000 Decca reissue. Songs with an asterisk (*) are on original 1946 cast album.

^c Songs unique to cast album.

Soundtrack:

1. Overture **
2. Prologue
3. Jet Song
4. Something’s Coming
5. The Dance at the Gym
6. Maria
7. America
8. Tonight
9. Gee, Officer Krupke!
10. I Feel Pretty
11. One Hand, One Heart
12. Quintet
13. The Rumble
14. Somewhere
15. Cool
16. A Boy Like That/I Have a Love
17. Finale

** Songs unique to soundtrack.

Notes: The 1998 reissue of the cast album added nine instrumental tracks.

Singles/Hit Songs:

Click here for the chart codes for singles/hit songs.

Maria
- Johnny Mathis (1960) #78
- Roger Williams (1962) #48

Tonight
- Ferrante & Teicher (1961) #8
- Eddie Fisher (1961) #44

Somewhere
- P.J. Proby (1965) #91
- Len Barry (1966) #26
- Barbra Streisand (1986) #43

* As was common in the pre-rock era, multiple versions of a single song from a Broadway show would become hits. All chart positions are from the U.S. Billboard pop charts.

Review: West Side Story is hailed as “one of the greatest musicals of all time.” RU Conceived by Arthur Laurents as a modern take on Romeo and Juliet, he recruited Leonard Bernstein for the music, Stephen Sondheim for the lyrics in what would become his Broadway debut, and Jerome Robbins as the choreographer and director. It opened on Broadway on September 26, 1957 at the Winter Garden Theatre and “ran for 732 performances (a successful run for the time), before going on tour.” WK It won Tonys for choreography and scenic design, led to an Academy-award winning film, and became a favorite of “schools, regional theatres, and occasionally by opera companies.” WK Jerome Robbins first approached Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents in 1949 with his idea of adapting Romeo and Juliet as a contemporary musical. A first draft called East Side Story focused on conflict between a Catholic family and a Jewish family living in Manhattan on the Lower East Side. It was shelved for its similarity to plays lie Abie’s Irish Rose, WK but revived in 1955 when Laurents was approached to adapt the novel Serenade by James M. Cain. That project didn’t make it either, but it connected Laurents with Stephen Sondheim. Along with Bernstein and Robbins, they decided to return to the East Side Story. WK The musical faced understandably difficult challenges. Critics “said the score was too rangy for pop music” WK and with more dancing than any previous Broadway show WK it would be problematic to find a cast who could sing, dance, and act. Laurents wanted James Dean as Tony, but he died before even hearing about the role. WK However, the eventual production was well received by audiences and critics. It “galvanized Broadway with its vivid reinvention as a parable of racial intolerance and generational conflict.” SS “The story appealed to society’s undercurrent of rebellion from authority that surfaced in 1950s films like Rebel without a Cause” WK and “the musical also made points in its description of troubled youth and the devastating effects of poverty and racism.” WK “The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theatre.” WK Musically, Bernstein “integrated Latin percussion and jazz into his electrifying score” EV alongside “symphonic grandeur” RU “and a rarely heard (in Broadway) toughness.” RU Bernstein’s efforts “dazzlingly translating New York’s unique vitality into a musical idiom.” EV Set in the mid-1950s in New York City, the story explores the rivalry between two street gangs of different ethnicities. The Sharks are Puerto Rican and the Jets are working-class white. The protagonist, Tony, is a Jet and falls in love with Maria, who is the sister of Bernardo, the Sharks’ leader. During a challenge dance (Dance at the Gym) between the Jets and the Sharks, Tony meets Maria. Bernardo breaks up their attempted kiss and sends her home, but Tony serenades her outside her bedroom (Maria) and they profess their love to each other (Tonight). WK The next day at the bridal shop where Maria works, she asks Tony to stop a planned fight between the Jets and Sharks. Tony tries to stop the fight (The Rumble), but when Riff, the leader of the Jets, is stabbed by Bernardo, Tony kills Bernardo in a rage. Maria is devastated when she hears, but still decides to run away with Tony. “As the walls of Maria’s bedroom disappear, they find themselves in a dreamlike world of peace (Somewhere).” WK After Maria’s friend Anita is nearly raped by the Jets, she claims Chino killed Maria in jealousy. When Tony hears, he decides he has nothing to live for. He confronts Chino, begging to die, and is shot by him just as he sees that Maria is actually alive. The Jets now move towards the Sharks, wanting to avenge the death of another friend. With Chino’s gun in her hand, Maria tells everyone that hatred is what killed Tony and the others and that now she too can kill because she hates. However, she drops the gun in grief and gradually the gang members on both side “assemble on either side of Tony’s body, showing that the feud is over.” WK A film adaptation, directed by Robbins and Robert Wise, was released on October 18, 1961. As ground-breaking as the show was on Broadway, it became another animal entirely when transferred to film. It was the second highest-grossing film of the year in the United States and won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. WK Natalie Wood was cast as Maria and Richard Beymer as Tony. The singing was handled by Marni Nixon and Jimmy Bryant. The “lavish widescreen presentation broke fresh ground by taking the story to its most impressionable audience, the teenagers who could identify directly with Tony and Maria, and opened up Jerome Robbins’ kinetic choreography through bravura camera work.” SS While “the 1957 original Broadway cast recording still holds up today, …[it] isn’t as good as the movie soundtrack” RU which “was not merely a huge seller but a unique touchstone for an otherwise rock-oriented audience.” SS It “spent more weeks at #1 in the charts (54) than any other album in history” WR and “made more money than any other album before it.” WK It also won the Grammy for Best Soundtrack or Cast Album. Review Sources/Related DMDB Links: Leonard Bernstein’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry Stephen Sondheim’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry WR William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide c SS Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com s RU Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide s EV Elisabeth Vincentelli, Amazon.com c WK Wikipedia c

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Awards:

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