2 Wednesdays: July 29 and August 5, 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM EST
List songs—sometimes called “laundry list songs” or even “catalog songs”—are said to date back to the ancient Greeks. In modern times, they appeared in 18th & 19th century operas, and certainly blossomed in Gilbert & Sullivan’s operettas in the late 19th century. In the 20th century, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin made them popular on Broadway. In the time since, others—including Rodgers & Hammerstein, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and others—have carried this tradition on in their musicals.
Join James Sokol for this special mini-series focused on these songs, which are often funny, sometimes even “escalating to absurdity.” Other times, they can even be dark and introspective, but always interesting! Audio and video performance clips from musicals of the Golden Age to contemporary classics bring the magic of Broadway into our discussion. Come for the songs, stay for the fun!
Image: classical-music.com
Frequency
Weekly, Limited Series