All Together Now! - George Harter; Unknown

today i'm katie orr present it's a celebration of musical theater i'm kate mcintyre theater groups in lawrence in manhattan one ego in kansas city are joining with theaters all across the nation to put on all together now the weekend of november thirteen i decided to reach out to my favorite musical theater aficionado george harder george was the founder of musical theater heritage in kansas city and the longtime host on a night on the town which aired on k pr pro about two thousand to two thousand fifteen george it is great to see you know to be clear musical theater heritage is not one of the theaters that is putting on all together now but i've asked you to take a look at some of the songs that they're featuring in this production theaters get a chance to choose which of those pieces they want to put on george looking through the list if you were to put on altogether now tell me about some of the signs that you would feature well they have a company in there was stephen sondheim

nineteen seventy and tom i think that that's a very important musical kind of musical in nineteen seventy because i think that it represents stephen sondheim becoming stephen sondheim his first project was originally from west side story nineteen fifty seven in mortgages to lyrics he really preferred to the music that his mentor oscar hammerstein of rodgers and hammerstein they said no you need to work with these people and you know were discrepancies he was like really took the job well then that worked out then he told a party line to what he was told a few years later nineteen fifty eight it was hard to write the music and the lyrics for gypsy but an ethel merman said no i don't want this broadway new five reading my music so they brought in julie styne and salam ones of writing lyrics only again then i think it was any one could whistle

disaster i think i read six performances fulfill a promise to oscar hammerstein to work with richard rodgers of the opportunity came about so sondheim did lorenzo leave or do i hear a waltz with richard rogers' music not a pleasant experience of all finding it is sixty one he has an opportunity to write music finally and lyrics for funny apple will form did very well but that show is really a throwback two days of onno which was good training but finally in nineteen seventy stephen sondheim had forces to control and for the first time he wrote music and lyrics that were hard to follow that it was a show that was admired rather than light it was a show that fans of rodgers and hammerstein didn't get all

qualities which sondheim and carrie throughout his career so it was the first time song i really became sondheim it but it's very it's a very well crafted musical it's about relationships and it's about how difficult it is to be married and how difficult that is not to be married bobby is a thirty five year old who on his birthday cake as various scenes with various types of friends and they sing about their relationships that anecdote into relationships is well known for singing the ladies who lunch hour i'd like to propose a toast years to the ladies who lunch everybody laugh and it's become one of her signature songs for the rest of her career well not only did they write that song specifically that these are robots all specifically for elaine stretch of a stretch despite the whole

character of joy into energy and company had happened one night when george firth he wrote the original and short one act plays the company is based on well george ferguson really stretch went into a bar about two am and in new york and she was already well lubricated and she went up to the bartender said just give me a bottle of vodka and a floor plan that right there that inspired the ladies who worked for the company we hear you could drive a person crazy i did

you can drive a person crazy company one of the selections from all together now the other companies across kansas and across the country across the globe are putting it all together now the weekend of november thirteenth today and keep your prisons and fizzing with george harder my favorite musical theater aficionado about some of the pieces being featured in altogether now george talk about another one of those missiles from fiddler on the roof from nineteen sixty four you know jerry bock and schiller several times why did faint glimmer of became so successful and they in the first i thought you know we really try our very best to make every show as successful like the rothschilds or she loves me it has something to do with the way they depicted the jewish faith in the jewish tradition

along the road has been translated into more languages and a new musical in the history and it prompted more to help people understand what jewish people believe in what their traditions and taylor than anything else and bargain hard work dissuaded from from writing and how chris enlisted producer was dissuaded by his his theater buddies because i thought he was really kind of bad form to take your religion and turning into carts i just isn't done because and everybody in the musical theater industry in new york it's a privilege jewish and in fact are so how brands invited stephen sondheim to launch sorties to try to talk him into doing the score for ten years and has daughters to become to the roof and saw and i knew that as with comedy

brought to prisoners with a sheldon harnick and jerry bock and said before you go any further now like and i'm busy with some other projects i recommend these difficult job yes yes yes greenlee says nice job

i'm melissa block it's b when

it rains do you that's matchmaker matchmaker from fiddler on

the roof one of the pieces being featured in all together now george toles about another one well it is lillian written in french on the show schoenberg and a lot will be will they were actually pop songs very successful three minute radio pop songwriters and in paris back in the seventies eighties and the word doing very well and they were with their families stood together to take a vacation to london they decided to see a show in the west end they saw a production of grease loved it and thought you know look how that represents american culture and that you know this quarter grace the songs were contemporaries of the time to try to capture the flavor of the fifties don't think they thought how could we do that with french culture to start talking about a very cool what happened we write french pop

songs and capture french flavor about something in our culture what in french culture is universal known the world over is victor hugo's les miserables let's write a musical about that do you intend to unions planned head eyes houston

says nice or

is funny to me years ago nico

and the thing with george harder we're talking musical theater on today's k pr presents else about and appease all over i think this is interesting musical because lionel bart couldn't read music could write down music he had to have yet to hire somebody you could even play the piano what line or would do is he would come up with the melodies in his head at home the doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo and then the pianist would pick out the right notes down what it's incredibly inefficient way to write a musical yes

yes yes yes dreams yes joe hi there we're talking musical theater on today taking our present in connection with altogether now worldwide musical theater extravaganza going on the

weekend of november thirteen years in lawrence kansas city manhattan when ego and all across the country are putting on all together now sunset member george harder to talk about some of our favorites george if you could pick out another one i seen was on here and we talked about a company being gen zinni stephen sondheim fighting is true voice for the first time and becoming the stevens on the wheel well no or i wish we didn't those classic stephen sondheim for his comments started to exempt themselves company but then in the woods comes along in one eighty eight eighty seven somewhere in the mid late eighties and sondheim and his collaborators us stephen sondheim themselves getting pretty frustrated because even though some in the party george won a pulitzer prize was being produced in a place that

was making any money off company and a little night music had not yet become classics audiences have not caught up with his shows yet and so you sat down with couple of collaborators and he said you know if we could write a musical that people would actually like and that schools and regional theaters would actually produce you know we could produce a little annuity for ourselves and our old age they could make some money if we put on playlists people actually enjoyed listening to some of the people who understand the sound with the old oh

geez many businesses his

head is the eight hour hours a rain sixteen we

came to play no no it's b a

pony today anti pierre presents i'm visiting with george harder about musical theater leaders all across kansas and the country are putting on all together now the weekend of november thirteen so we're talking about some of the musical selections from altogether now george i see their guys and dolls is on the list years nineteen fifty i've heard it's set up to observe from musical theater critics and experts that guys and dolls is the best example a story being told in the language of the american musical comedy now that doesn't mean that it's better than my fair lady which was the most financially successful musical of all time or hamilton or any other favor but as far as the

language and the style that is uniquely american musical comedy guys and dolls dancers for the finest example of a version on and that's the reason why a lot of theater companies around the country who normally dont do musicals will put on guys and dolls from time to time because it's such a good example of a story being told the sun that they're featuring an altogether now is when my favorites from guys and dolls and that's so than iraq in the boat sense of color response it's a gospel number oh yeah with

us it is i do this piece it's been oh yeah

lee it's b the plane with the pope it's b

that fit down you're rockin the boat from guys and dolls it's one of the musicals been featured in all together now it has been put on the weekend of november thirteen in lawrence manhattan benito kansas city all across the country all across the world you can find out more at the musical theater international website george we have time for just one more piece to feature on today's keep your prisons what will it be a seattle radio tomorrow song from annie borat or last time nineteen seventy seven when a musical theater song wound up in the top forty and animal coral sign that on every talk show and it's got to be a real ear worm i interviewed charles strouse in the new yorker and it came and talked to one of my on broadway theater groups and saris and you'll be the upright brought down to the second floor and charles strouse played tomorrow and science for my

group but you know so when you do you can you can find that he said that though he had no idea that that was going to catch on the way good and had he's had so many are people writing to him in telling stories about how they lost a child or they lost a loved one and that song help them with the grieving process which has been a great source of satisfaction to charles strouse he said that he actually borrowed a melody from himself because it was a very similar melody he wrote for a shared commercial radio there was only her locally that he wrote the early eighties career before it took off and put the heat said that that there had been for that song or perhaps nobody would really remember and today he wrote and he was

thirteen collaboration with more charming it was more a charlatan who actually came up with the idea to write a musical based on the comic strip little orphan annie and when marsh arm bar where was where the regional jets website storage facility dr sharman approached a variety of composers about writing the music for his idea lorcan at their musical and anyway the law and the charles strouse kept talking to him well let's give it a shot i asked the piece we'll go out on that tomorrow by little orphan annie i'd been visiting with george harder georgia says as always just been a pleasure that if you use such a gimmick entire keep your prisons is a collection of kansas public radio at the university of kansas law

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