Brush Up Your Shakespeare

[00:52] Marquette Neighborhood Association presents the Orton Park Festival.

[00:55] Friday, August 28th through Sunday the 30th for another round of music and culture.

[01:01] Enjoy unforgettable live sets from Loving Cup, Jane Hobson, The Sadie's, Sharp Pins,

[01:07] Cat and the Hurricane, Graham Hunt, Blair Crimmins and the Hookers and more.

[01:12] All beneath the historic oak trees of Orton Park.

[01:14] Explore local food, craft beer, artists, kids games and the world famous Orton Auction.

[01:21] The whole festival kicks off on Friday with a performance from the Forward Marching Band

[01:25] and a magical aerial show by Psychropia Aerial Dance.

[01:29] Festival hours vary all three days, so get the full schedule at facebook.com slash Orton

[01:35] Park Fest.

[01:36] The Orton Park Festival returns Friday, August 28th through Sunday, August 30th, bringing

[01:42] you what's festive in Madison for over 50 years.

[01:45] This is WORT 89.9 FM Madison.

[01:52] It's two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon.

[01:54] Do you know where your theater kids are?

[01:57] They're tuned in right here to 89.9 FM Madison, Wisconsin at WORT.

[02:03] I'm DJ Shan.

[02:04] This is Better Living Through Show Tunes.

[02:07] Let's get into it, my friends.

[02:08] It's the end of summer in Madison and gosh, that hurts to say, but one of the loveliest

[02:16] things about summer in this part of our world is it means a lot of people making

[02:22] a trek west to take in some Shakespeare, and it kind of shocked me to realize that I've

[02:27] never done this themed show.

[02:30] So for the next hour, sit back, relax, and brush up your Shakespeare.

[02:42] Just a claim a few lines from Othella, and they'll think you're a hell of a fella.

[02:48] If your blonde will respond when you flatter her, tell her what Tony told Cleo Patter

[02:55] If she fights when her clothes you a-mussin', what a close mutton to a-mussin'

[03:01] Brush your Shakespeare, and they'll all count out

[03:06] Your Shakespeare, start quoting him now

[03:18] Your Shakespeare, and now women, you will bow

[03:25] With the wife of the British ambassador, try a crack at a Troilus and Cressida

[03:31] Just recite an occasional sonnet, and your lap will have honey upon it

[03:37] If she says your behavior is heinous, kick her right in the carri-o-lanis

[03:43] Your Shakespeare, now will soothe a yellow

[03:51] How in faith an yellow

[03:54] How your Shakespeare, start quoting him now

[04:10] Brush up your Shakespeare, and now women, you will wow

[04:16] Better mention the merchant of Venice

[04:19] When her sweet pond of flesh you would menace

[04:22] If her virtue had froze, she'd defend well

[04:25] Just remind her that all's well, that ends well

[04:28] And if still she won't give you a bonus

[04:31] You know what Venus got from Madonna's

[04:34] Brush your Shakespeare, and they'll all count out

[04:45] Your Shakespeare, if your guile is a Washington Heights dream

[05:10] Treat the kid to a Midsomer night's dream

[05:13] If she then wants an old by herself night

[05:16] Let her rest every eleventh or twelfth night

[05:19] If because of your heat she gets huffy

[05:22] Simply play on and lay on the guile

[05:26] Brush up your Shakespeare, and they'll all count for soothe

[05:32] And they'll all count out

[05:35] Think style

[05:36] And they'll all count we trowel

[05:38] And they'll all

[05:48] And that was, of course, Brush Up Your Shakespeare from Kiss Me Kate

[05:52] Based on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew

[05:55] That was the revival cast recording

[05:58] Which starred Kelly O'Hara, Will Chase, and Corbin Blue

[06:02] Just, it's so funny that, I don't know, Taming of the Shrew

[06:07] Not my favorite, not a lot of people's favorite

[06:10] Kiss Me Kate works on a lot of levels

[06:12] And mostly it's because of Cole Porter

[06:14] And those brilliant, brilliant puns you just heard

[06:18] Gosh, I love Cole Porter

[06:20] Next, I'm gonna do a little bit of run of Romeo and Juliet riffs

[06:25] Starting with the one that I think most people think of when they think about

[06:29] Shakespeare being turned into a musical

[06:31] And that's West Side Story, of course

[06:33] Gonna play the original cast recording of Something's Coming

[06:38] Which I think is one of the best translations of soliloquy

[06:41] To musical theater, just a beautiful song

[06:44] Excellent work between Sondheim and Bernstein

[06:47] Wonderful

[06:49] Then we'll have, just for funsies, Romeo and Juliet from Reefer Madness

[06:55] Which you will hear Kristen Bell of Frozen and The Good Place Fame

[07:00] Singing the part of Mary Jane

[07:02] This song answers the question of

[07:04] What if you just stopped paying attention in English class?

[07:08] And then finally we'll hear a little something from And Juliet

[07:12] We'll talk more about that one once we get to the end of this run

[07:15] But for now, enjoy Many Takes on Romeo and Juliet

[07:51] It's only just out of reach Down a block on a beach under a tree

[08:01] I got a feeling there's a miracle due Gonna come true, comin' to me

[08:06] Could it be? Yes it could

[08:12] Something's comin', something good If I can't wait

[08:17] Something's comin', I don't know what it is

[08:21] But it is gonna be great

[08:25] With a click, with a shock, phonal jingle, doral knock

[08:30] Open the light

[08:33] Something's comin', don't know when, but it's soon

[08:36] Catch the moon, one-handed cat

[08:39] Or a, or a whistle

[08:47] Come on, liver

[08:56] To me, will it be? Yes it will

[09:04] Maybe just by holdin' still

[09:07] It'll be there

[09:11] Got something, come on in, don't be shy

[09:14] Meet a guy, pull up a chair

[09:17] The air

[09:23] And something great

[09:26] Is comin' really just out of reach

[09:36] Down a block on a beach, maybe too much

[10:00] Fair Juliet, what's thou likeest yon hot chocolate?

[10:04] Oh Jimmy, where ever did you learn to speak like that?

[10:08] Oh, it's fancy talk from Romeo and Juliet

[10:11] Cause when a guy wants to woo a girl

[10:15] He needs, you know, the right language

[10:18] Are you trying to woo me, Jimmy Harper?

[10:21] Your words that make a guy sound smart

[10:32] Well I guess that's why they invented Shakespeare

[10:36] His articulations of a lover's puppet

[10:39] Is as fearless as the sea

[10:46] My love as deep the more I get to thee

[10:50] Oh, you sound so dreamy when talk like Shakespeare

[10:53] A big vocabulary should be customary

[10:56] We're a snowy duck ever here

[14:55] Was Lorna Courtney and the cast of And Juliet

[14:58] Singing Since You Been Gone

[15:00] Made popular, of course, by Kelly Clarkson

[15:03] And Juliet is a jukebox musical

[15:06] Celebrating the works of pop songwriter Max Martin

[15:10] Who wrote for everybody from Kelly Clarkson

[15:13] To the Backstreet Boys, to Britney Spears

[15:15] And on and on and on

[15:17] It's a really fun show

[15:19] The premise is

[15:21] Everyone, except for maybe Jimmy and Mary Jane

[15:23] From the previous song

[15:25] Knows that Juliet dies at the end of Romeo and Juliet

[15:28] But what Anne Juliet presupposes is

[15:30] Maybe she didn't?

[15:32] If you get that reference

[15:34] A thousand friendship points to you

[15:36] But it's a really lovely thing

[15:38] And it introduces Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway

[15:41] As characters struggling with the ending

[15:44] Of Romeo and Juliet, specifically Anne

[15:46] Asking Will to maybe re-examine

[15:49] Why this young girl needs to suffer

[15:51] Just so very much

[15:53] For a man

[15:55] It's a romp

[15:57] I'm so glad that it exists

[15:59] And yeah, what a great show

[16:02] Now we're gonna get to my very favorite representation

[16:05] Of Shakespeare as a character

[16:07] In a musical

[16:09] We're gonna go through a couple songs from

[16:11] Something Rotten

[16:14] Which, if you've not seen it

[16:16] It is a just

[16:18] Terrific, hilarious love letter

[16:20] To both Shakespeare and musical theater

[16:22] Christian Borrell and the original cast

[16:25] Got to play Will Shakespeare

[16:27] And it's just so much fun to listen to him

[16:31] This was the most I have ever laughed in a theater

[16:34] Up until I saw Titanic

[16:36] And honestly, they're kinda neck and neck for laughs

[16:39] So, here comes

[16:41] Hard to Be the Bard, performed by Christian Borrell

[16:44] And then the incredible

[16:47] Musical within a musical

[16:49] Something Rotten slash Make an Omelette

[16:51] Enjoy!

[17:21] To my room where I resume my attempt to write a hit

[17:24] Just me and my beer and the terrible fear

[17:27] That I might be losing you

[17:29] And it's hard

[17:31] It's hard, it's really, really hard

[17:33] So very, very hard

[17:35] Easy but honey, believe me, it's hard

[17:38] It's hard, it's hard

[17:40] It's incredibly hard

[17:42] So inconceivably, unbelievably hard

[17:47] It's hard to be the bard

[17:49] Honestly, I don't know how I do it

[17:53] There's only so much of me to go around

[17:56] I got so many fans or so many demands

[17:59] I can hardly go take a piss

[18:01] Be a theater freak or the autograph seeker

[18:03] I don't want a piece of this

[18:05] It's a cost that I bear, I'm like Jesus

[18:07] I swear it's a burden, but I suffer through it

[18:10] It's all part of the game, the trappings are fame

[18:12] Somebody's gotta do it

[18:14] And I know, I know, I gotta go

[18:16] And get back to my pen and ink

[18:18] Don't make me do it, don't make me go through it

[18:21] Can somebody get me a drink?

[18:23] Cause it's hard, it's hard

[18:25] It's hard, it's really, really hard

[18:27] It's sexy, but it's hard

[18:30] This brazen debris, this amazing, it's hard

[18:33] It's hard, it's hard

[18:35] It's so annoyingly hard

[18:37] So unavoidably, unenjoyably hard

[18:40] It's hard to be the bard, baby

[18:45] I know writing made me famous

[18:47] But being famous is just so much more fun

[18:51] You see, what people just don't understand

[18:53] Is that writing's demanding, it's mentally challenging

[18:55] And it's the bore, it's such a chore

[18:57] To sit in the room by yourself

[18:59] Oh my god, I just made it

[19:01] And you're trying to find an opening line

[19:03] Or a brilliant idea

[19:04] And you're pacing the floor and hoping for

[19:06] Just a bit of divine intervention

[19:09] That one little nugget, that one little spark

[19:11] Then you reek out, you find it, you're ready to start

[19:13] So now you can write, right?

[19:15] Wrong, you're not even close

[19:16] You remembered the dammit

[19:17] Your place's gotta be an iamic

[19:19] But dammit

[19:20] So you write down a word

[19:22] But it's not the right word

[19:23] So you try a new word

[19:24] But you hate the new word

[19:25] And you need a good word

[19:26] But you can't find the word

[19:27] Oh, where is it?

[19:28] What is it?

[19:29] What is it?

[19:30] Where is it?

[19:31] Blah-dee-dee-dee

[19:32] Blah-dee-dee-dee-dee

[19:33] Sir?

[19:35] You ask for information

[19:36] On what Nicholas Bottom is writing

[19:37] Or spy, is he with the news?

[19:39] Did he see me losing it?

[19:41] He's half blind, sir

[19:42] Oh good, then he only saw half of it

[19:44] You see what I did?

[19:45] Yes, yes, yes, wonderful

[19:47] Speak, man, what news?

[19:49] I saw Nick Bottom, I did

[19:51] He paid a souce there to foresee

[19:53] What Shakespeare's greatest play would be

[19:55] That sneaky little thief

[19:57] Why doesn't he come up with his own ideas?

[20:00] It's hard

[20:01] No, it is, isn't it?

[20:03] It's really the worst

[20:04] It's hard

[20:05] Makes me wonder why I didn't think of that

[20:08] It's hard

[20:09] Hard to alleviate the pressure to create

[20:13] It's hard

[20:14] Hard to do something as good as the last thing I did

[20:16] That was already crazy

[20:18] It's hard

[20:19] He is stealing from the bar

[20:21] Well, a hoist who lies for time

[20:23] He is a clever disguise

[20:26] He can pay for his genius lies

[20:28] He can do all the tedious stuff

[20:30] The work that's terribly and thoroughly hard

[20:34] Nick Bottom, I think Shakespeare needs to find out

[20:39] What Shakespeare's next big hit will be

[20:41] It's hard

[20:42] It's hard

[20:45] It's hard

[20:46] It's hard

[20:49] It's hard

[20:50] It's hard

[20:51] It's hard

[20:52] It's hard

[21:10] It's hard

[21:11] It's hard

[21:12] It's hard

[21:19] There's something rotten

[21:20] There's something rotten

[21:23] You can spell it

[21:24] You can tell it's something rotten

[21:26] Now the kingdom is shot

[21:28] And it's all gone to part

[21:30] Heaven help us

[21:31] There is something rotten

[21:38] My father, newly dead

[21:40] And the funeral boiled eggs now coldly furnish forth the marriage table

[21:44] Methinks another chef might have whisked our disparate eggs together as one

[21:49] Pray, nephew, what dost thou mean?

[21:52] Well, I'll tell you

[21:53] The fruit of life can't always taste like sweet persimmons

[21:57] Sometimes it's hard to swallow, I'm afraid

[22:01] But when life has handed you some lemons

[22:06] Then handed back a mug of lemonade

[22:10] My father said this to me

[22:12] That he did and then he blew me

[22:15] Away with wisdom, simple and concise

[22:19] He said, Eggbert, life is merely what you make of it

[22:24] So he'd sacrifice

[22:33] You make wine from sour grapes

[22:35] You got a flat pancake

[22:37] Hey, call it a crepe

[22:38] When life gives you eggs

[22:40] Make an omelette

[22:43] You get cola from a nut

[22:45] A dirty worm makes silk from out of his butt

[22:48] When life gives you eggs

[22:50] Make an omelette

[22:53] The solution to your troubles

[22:55] It gives you eggs

[23:10] You gotta make that omelette

[26:11] There's so many contestants for the funniest bit in that song

[26:54] But I do think it's the

[26:57] It was white and yellow and white and yellow

[27:00] The Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat riff

[27:03] Complete with the sopranos wailing the counter melody over it

[27:08] So, so deeply funny to me

[27:12] As a kiddo who was

[27:16] Felt like I had to be torn between my love of Shakespeare

[27:19] And my love of musical theater

[27:21] And feeling like I was betraying one for the other

[27:24] Honestly, something rotten

[27:26] Feels like just the greatest payoff for Lil' Shan

[27:30] Because it's just

[27:33] It's so loving

[27:35] So funny

[27:36] Just terrific

[27:37] Love, love, love

[27:39] And because it is absolutely dense with references

[27:43] Brian Darcy James in the original Broadway cast

[27:46] One of my very favorite performers

[27:48] As you've often heard me go on about on the show

[27:51] He played the character of Nick Bottom

[27:54] Nick Bottom, of course, is the name of the

[27:58] The Weaver

[28:00] Bottom the Weaver

[28:01] In Midsummer Night's Dream

[28:04] Who is turned into a donkey

[28:06] There's a lovely joke at the end of Something Rotten

[28:08] About Shakespeare really making an ass of Nick Bottom

[28:12] Funny every single time

[28:15] So, of course, that segues us nicely into

[28:18] Our Midsummer Night's Dream section of today's show

[28:21] Starting with one of my earliest

[28:25] Earliest love affairs in musical theater

[28:27] The Fantasticks

[28:29] Which is a riff on

[28:31] You could say Romeo and Juliet

[28:33] But it's probably more

[28:35] It is more accurate to say Pyramus and Thisby

[28:37] The play within a play for Midsummer Night's Dream

[28:40] Which stars Nick Bottom

[28:43] Which kind of became the blueprint for

[28:46] It's a lot

[28:48] I'm nerding out

[28:50] I need to stop

[28:51] But The Fantasticks is just such a beautiful

[28:54] And simple show

[28:56] And this, like Ann Juliet, asks the question

[28:59] Of what if Pyramus and Thisby didn't die

[29:01] After getting together

[29:03] What comes after that night

[29:07] What is the next morning like

[29:09] And that is answered in this

[29:11] Probably my favorite song from the show

[29:13] Besides The Overture

[29:15] This is the Act II opener

[29:17] Where things are just a little off

[29:21] I'm about to play a bunch of weird songs

[29:23] So I'm going to hop in a little bit more often

[29:25] Just to give you some context for things

[29:27] But let's get started with

[29:29] This plumb is too ripe

[29:49] Their moon was cardboard

[29:51] Fragile

[29:52] It was very apt to fray

[29:54] And what was last night's scenic

[29:56] May seem cynic by today

[29:58] The play's not done

[30:00] Oh no, not quite

[30:01] For life never ends in the moonlit night

[30:04] And despite what pretty poets say

[30:06] The night is only half the day

[30:09] So we would like to truly finish

[30:11] What was foolishly begun

[30:13] For the story is not ended

[30:15] And the play is never done

[30:16] Until we've all of us been burned a bit

[30:18] And burnished by the sun

[30:21] Plumb is too ripe

[30:32] Sorry

[30:33] Please don't watch me while I'm eating

[30:39] Sorry

[30:43] You are about to drown that magnum

[30:45] Sorry

[30:46] You're standing in my cup

[31:19] And sunsets take away

[33:02] This plumb is too ripe

[33:08] Just so much fun

[33:09] This next song is real non-traditional for this show

[33:13] There is no cast recording

[33:15] For this Midsummer Night's Dream musical

[33:18] But I want to include it because

[33:20] One long-time listeners of the show

[33:23] Know how much I love disco

[33:25] And this was directed and conceived of

[33:29] By Diane Paulus

[33:31] Who's one of the most respected directors

[33:34] Right now on Broadway

[33:36] She did The Hair Revival with Gavin Creel

[33:38] She directed Masquerade

[33:40] Currently running in New York

[33:42] Not off Broadway, not on Broadway

[33:44] The immersive phantom experience

[33:46] Diane Paulus is no joke

[33:48] And she put together

[33:50] I cannot believe I'm about to say this on the air

[33:53] The title of this adaptation

[33:55] Of A Midsummer Night's Dream

[33:57] Is The Donkey Show

[33:59] Yep

[34:00] There is very little out there about this musical

[34:03] But people have pieced together what

[34:06] It was a jukebox musical, all disco songs

[34:08] People pieced together the playlist for it

[34:13] I have to imagine that this song was sung by Helena and Hermia

[34:17] I hope someday, honestly, it gets a revival

[34:20] It was done in 1999

[34:22] I'm for sure intrigued

[34:24] They for sure need to rename it

[34:26] Um...

[34:28] Yeah

[34:29] But anywho

[34:30] Please enjoy the ever fantastic

[34:33] And friends of Broadway themselves

[34:35] Barbara Streisand and Donna Summer

[34:37] Singing No More Tears, Enough is Enough

[34:40] Boring me to tea

[35:12] After all these

[35:16] No sunshine

[35:22] No moon

[35:23] No stardust

[35:25] No sun

[35:28] But he turned out

[35:55] I love nothing

[36:06] This next one part of me toyed with being like

[39:26] Ooh, can you like, I'm gonna play it

[39:28] You have to guess what, you'll never guess

[39:30] It's so insane

[39:31] Uh, I hope you like sci-fi

[39:33] I hope you like the music of the sixties

[39:35] I hope you like William Shakespeare

[39:37] Because here comes Return to the Forbidden Planet

[39:40] Which is a take on the Tempest

[39:43] Uh, this song is the animals

[39:45] We've got to get out of this place from 1965

[39:48] In this wild, wild, but really fun cast recording

[39:54] Um, it's a jukebox musical of all like sixties era songs

[39:59] It's fun, it's great

[40:01] This one has a kind of abrupt ending

[40:03] So I'm gonna play right on through to the next song

[40:05] After it, which is Jailhouse Rock

[40:09] From All Shook Up

[40:11] Which is an Elvis jukebox musical

[40:14] Of meh, kind of a pastiche of all of the comedies

[40:18] It's mostly Twelfth Night

[40:20] There's a little as you

[40:21] There's very little much ado

[40:22] God, my kingdom for a musical version

[40:24] Of much ado about nothing

[40:26] It's my favorite

[40:27] As a suggestion for any budding writers out there

[40:30] Uh, carpenters

[40:32] Carpenter's songs would do real well

[40:34] With much ado about nothing

[40:36] You're welcome

[40:37] Uh, but here's Return to the Forbidden Planet

[41:33] For your time is due

[41:35] What's your daddy in bed?

[41:39] What's his helping attorney?

[41:42] He's been working and slaving his life away

[41:48] Oh yeah

[43:52] Find a partner, use the word in his whole cell box

[45:29] It's just so much fun

[45:30] That was performed by Cheyenne Jackson

[45:32] Friend of the show

[45:33] He played Danny

[45:34] The Living Statue

[45:35] And 30 Rock

[45:36] He played

[45:37] Let's see what else

[45:38] Oh he was Sonny Malone

[45:39] In Xanadu

[45:40] Which I have played so many times for y'all

[45:43] And he also most recently played Mary's teacher

[45:46] In O'Mary

[45:48] Right alongside Jane Krakowski

[45:50] Which, gosh, it seemed like they had a blast on that one

[45:53] Up next we've got

[45:55] The Boys from Syracuse

[45:58] Which is a take on comedy of errors

[46:01] It's a Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers piece

[46:04] Really some great, great pieces in it

[46:07] That have mostly been kind of taken out

[46:10] And put into other shows

[46:12] For better and worse, this song in particular

[46:15] I fell in love with

[46:16] Ha Ha

[46:17] When it was in the Cinderella

[46:20] That starred Whitney Houston and Brandy

[46:23] Really fabulous performance by Bernadette Peters

[46:26] On this song

[46:27] But you really can't beat this recording

[46:30] By the peerless Rebecca Luker

[46:32] Please enjoy

[51:05] That was

[51:59] Follow the Rainbow from Two Gentlemen of Verona

[52:02] I had a really nice through-line plan for this entire show

[52:05] And would you believe it?

[52:07] This is not shocking

[52:08] It all fell apart with me trying to include

[52:11] Two Gentlemen of Verona

[52:12] An endless problem play

[52:15] In so many different ways

[52:16] And today it is my problem play

[52:18] It's an interesting show

[52:19] Roll Julia was in the original cast on Broadway

[52:22] It has one of the most puzzling posters I've ever, ever seen

[52:26] For a Broadway show

[52:27] But, you know, it's worth talking about

[52:31] I like playing it for you

[52:32] I am coming to an end to my time, my dear friends

[52:36] I'm sorry to say it

[52:37] But good news

[52:38] You've got On the Horizon coming up next

[52:40] And I will be joining you for one last show

[52:44] That's right

[52:45] September, first Sunday of September is my last time

[52:48] Doing Better Living Through Showtoons

[52:50] Scheduled

[52:51] I have offered to be a swing, as it were

[52:55] But yeah, so please tune in

[52:57] I have so enjoyed my time with you

[53:00] We're going to end with arguably the greatest of Shakespeare's plays

[53:04] A couple of songs in shows that are based on Hamlet

[53:09] The first of which being The Last Blues from Rockabye Hamlet

[53:12] And the final song I think you will all recognize

[53:17] If you want to argue with me

[53:18] You go right ahead and find me on the WORT website

[53:23] And tell me how I'm wrong, but I'm not

[53:26] I hope you have a terrific Sunday

[53:28] And I look forward to chatting with you again soon

[60:40] At 2 p.m. it's Louisiana's great Soul Blue singer Crystal Thomas

[60:44] Performing with an All-Star band

[60:46] Then at 4 p.m. it is time for the duo of Annika Chambers

[60:49] And Paul DeLaurier from Florida to take the stage with their band

[60:53] Closing out the day at 6 p.m. is none other than Rick Estrin

[60:57] And the Night Cats coming out from the Bay Area

[61:00] There will be vendors to provide an assortment of tasty foods, beer, and wine

[61:05] Ticketing and camping information is available at Crossroadsbluesociety.com

[61:10] That's the 17th annual Crossroads Blues Festival

[61:13] On Saturday, August 29th at Liren Park in Rockford, Illinois

[61:18] You are listening to WORT, Madison

[61:37] At L-I-T-E-W-I-R-E dot net

[61:40] Or by phone 888-825-2005

Playlist

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