Shan's Farewell Show

[00:36] FPC Live presents Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, September 19th.

[00:46] Born into a musical family in Los Angeles, Herb Alpert teamed up with producer Lou Adler in the

[00:52] late 50s and began a career as a songwriter. After a visit to Tijuana, Alpert multi-tracked his

[00:58] trumpet onto a rejected song and scored his first hit, The Lonely Bull. In 1965, the classic album

[01:04] Whipped Cream and Other Delights outsold The Beatles and Frank Sinatra and not only launched

[01:09] massive tours but coincided with Albert founding A&M Records. Herb Alpert is back on the road at

[01:16] 91 with a new Tijuana Brass band playing all your favorites along with a multimedia show and a Q&A

[01:22] with the audience. More information is available at madisonorpheum.com. FPC Live presents Herb Alpert

[01:30] and the Tijuana Brass at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, September 19th. You are listening to W.O.R.T.

[01:38] Madison. It's two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon. Do you know where your theater kids are?

[01:45] It's A-okay. They're tuned in for DJ Shann's last ever Better Living Through Show Tunes show

[01:51] here on 89.9 FM W.O.R.T. Madison, Wisconsin. Thank you so, so much for being here with me today.

[02:01] Um, yeah, I'm gonna try not to get too melancholy about it, but good luck. You all know how much

[02:07] I cry on this show. Uh, but we're gonna do it just one last time.

[02:37] With Britain and France on the verge of war. Is this the best time? I want to be born against

[02:42] partisan fighting. But pick up a pen, start writing. I want to talk about what I have learned,

[02:48] the hard-won wisdom I have earned. As far as the people are concerned, you have to serve.

[02:55] You could continue to serve. One last time. People will hear from me. One last time. We get this

[03:07] right. We're gonna teach them how to say goodbye. We're strong. Move them along. If I say goodbye,

[03:33] lives me when I'm gone. Scripture says everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree,

[03:47] and no one shall make them afraid. They'll be safe in the nation we've made. I want to sit

[03:56] under my own vine and fig tree, a moment alone in this nation we've made. Last time.

[04:20] Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional

[04:25] error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have

[04:30] committed many errors. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will view them with

[04:37] indulgence, and that after 45 years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright seal,

[04:46] the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as I myself will soon

[04:52] be to the mansions of the rest. I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat,

[05:00] in which I promise myself to realize the sweet enjoyment of partaking in the midst of my

[05:06] fellow citizens, the benign influence of a good laws and the will of free government,

[05:13] the ever-favorite object of my heart, and a happy reward as I trust of our mutual care.

[05:23] Dangerous last time.

[05:31] Oplight man, turn off my look. It's done now. The guy won now. And the band has no more songs to

[06:54] play. It's the ending, so I'll say goodbye.

[06:58] Partly because of the title, partly as a send-off from Moulin Rouge, which just closed on Broadway.

[10:01] That was Aaron Tveit singing goodbye from the kind of, I shouldn't surprise me anymore. It

[10:06] always surprises me though, just how good Catch Me If You Can is as a musical. Mark Shaiman did

[10:12] the music. It's terrific. Carrie Butler's phenomenal on the recording. It's a good one.

[10:19] It's a really good one. Ooh, I'm a little quiet. Sorry about that.

[10:22] Yeah. And before that, of course, was Christopher Jackson and Lin-Manuel Miranda along with the

[10:26] original ensemble of Hamilton performing one last time. But that is enough melodramatics for now,

[10:34] because if I had one bit of wisdom to impart about show tunes and loving them, it's that

[10:41] when people are like, I don't like musicals because nobody breaks into song and dance.

[10:46] Yeah, they actually do quite a lot, and it's fun. It's silly, and it's okay for it to be silly

[10:52] and stupid. It doesn't have to be smart. It doesn't have to be deep. Sometimes it just,

[11:00] yeah, it just embraced that with glee. Maybe not with glee. I misspoke.

[11:06] Anywho, here is Roger Bart on the disaster soundtrack, singing Don't Cry Out Loud.

[11:17] Don't do it, Tony. Be a man.

[11:21] Daddy said don't. Don't cry. Just keep it inside and learn how to hide your feelings.

[11:35] Oh, God, that's cold. Fly high and proud. And if you should fall, remember you almost had it.

[12:25] It sounds like it's too late.

[12:29] Let me begin with a hardy ho ho and a tale that nobody tells well.

[12:42] I've not come all the way from NCINO to be treated like sewage that smells.

[12:49] I'm certainly not that surprised, for this story is older than time.

[12:58] Me peg-legged pirate and brethren and I are society's slug-ridden sly.

[13:05] We've all been cast out to scallywag rogues with fire and our beards in our eyes.

[13:12] There's a side to us pirates that nobody knows, and it's soft as a baby's backside.

[13:20] Some of us just want adventures, the open wind in our earrings.

[13:29] Why are we constantly misunderstood? Don't you know pirates have feelings?

[13:35] Poor, kept in life, simple truth to sink, and we fingernails filthy and dirt.

[14:25] Pernet loads unbelievably slow, and meet at times around seven-thirty.

[14:57] Have it so, nobody comes. Captain Kidd hosts a marathon, but nobody runs.

[15:10] Long gone silver, invented the bloom, and I am no disburse.

[16:17] And never fear, you haven't missed it. Talk like a pirate day is September 19th.

[16:22] It's just around the corner. There's still time to get your tricorn,

[16:26] and your peg leg, and your eye patch, and celebrate the way that poor pirates would want you to.

[16:31] They deserve it. So do you. That was Poor Pirates from Spongebob Squarepants, a musical.

[16:38] One of my absolute favorites. That song brings me so much joy, no matter what's going on.

[16:44] Just love singing that one. When I was a girl, I had a favorite album. It was Sarah Brightman's

[16:52] The Songs That Got Away. I was a teenage soprano, which sounds like a 1950s horror movie,

[17:00] and classically trained soprano at that. So that really meant that my only

[17:05] Broadway person to look up to was Sarah Brightman. At least, you know, as a child in the 90s.

[17:13] And so I found this album of hers, The Songs That Got Away, which is a celebration

[17:17] of songs from musicals that had really short runs, songs that got cut from musicals,

[17:23] basically songs that just don't get a lot of attention. And that was my first introduction

[17:28] to this song and plenty of others, but it also kind of sparked in me before Wikipedia,

[17:35] before any of that, but just the joy of deep diving musicals and finding things that weren't

[17:42] obvious, right things that weren't just at my local library or that I'd seen the movie version

[17:48] of. And it was kind of an awakening for me. And the song in particular just I have always,

[17:54] always had a soft spot for. And I'm kind of surprised I've never played any version of

[17:59] it on the show before. I had to double check that. It's from the musical The Baker's Wife,

[18:05] which had a very short stint on Broadway recently had an off Broadway run with Ariana DeBose.

[18:11] And it just can never seem to find its footing. But I don't know why when you hear the song.

[18:19] This is Metal Arc, as performed by Sarah Brightman.

[19:05] But the metal arc for the old king of love. So the song got flew when the king came down.

[21:10] This metal arc found dying. Every time I had that, I cried in a starry item stormy.

[21:26] Oh, just when I thought my heart was finally lost before singing purpose, I'm the one.

[21:48] Times were innocent in love. We'd play guitar and sing and give peace a chance.

[23:57] I was going to change the world's world. How it turned out to be that the world changed me.

[24:13] The years weren't kind, to be honest. I miss that. Oh, funny how it all turns in myself less.

[26:05] Follow my heart more. What if the mother and me could be messy and free and hold it together.

[26:10] And the other side of that metal arc coin is Wild from The Lost Boys new musical. That is the

[27:37] Santa Carla recording session recording with Casey Levy. I'm so sorry. I always get her name wrong

[27:43] because I've only ever read it on liner notes. She's amazing. Also featured on that particular

[27:50] recording is my favorite modern scream queen, friend of the show Patrick Wilson. Patrick,

[27:57] I know you listen. Can you let us know when we're getting that big fish revival

[28:01] with you starring as in the lead, please? Please and thank you. Yeah, gosh, I love Wild.

[28:09] It's such a good song. Honestly, the whole Lost Boys soundtrack is pretty terrific.

[28:14] If you've not checked it out yet, it is widely available now with the onstage cast. It's

[28:21] terrific. Up next, yeah, more songs that I just plain like. This next one from a musical,

[28:30] I'm not wild, wink, wink about. But this song, gosh, I love this song. I love singing it. I love

[28:37] listening to it. It's darling. It is, so it blows me away. It is composed by the same team who did

[28:46] ragtime. Yeah, they did Suicicle, the musical. Here is Notice Me Horton. I'm a little long in

[28:56] the tooth to play Gertrude McFuzz, but Notice Me producers. It's taking all my courage to approach

[29:14] you, not to mention all my stamina to follow you across the hills and deserts. But I feel as if

[29:19] I'm ready to confess to you the feelings that I've hidden with great diligence and labor.

[29:27] Behind the facade of your odd little next door labor. Very large feet,

[29:42] and I'm not very of my pitiful, but I've now got a tail that is something to see.

[31:09] Up hope, I was hooked from the start when I noticed your kind and your powerful heart.

[32:02] This you, and this apron, and it's a patron, I gaze to be yours never. She is, but she's messy,

[33:02] but she's kind of tired, and a beauty I know. Speaking of musicals that always manage to catch

[36:08] me off guard, I often think like, eh, I don't really care for Waitress. And then I have

[36:13] a rough day, and I hear that song, and it's such a good gut punch. It's just the best kind of...

[36:23] It's just the best kind of musical theater. It's so good. Good job, Sarah Bareilles. This is also

[36:29] going to be a show about me not knowing how to pronounce anybody's name. Sorry. I really am

[36:34] sorry. If you thought that I was going to get through my last show without playing any chess,

[36:40] you are a silly goose. Here's chess.

[36:42] All time favorite songs in the musical theater canon. And if I had to express myself as

[44:16] a human being in like three minutes, and all I got was a song, it would be Anyone Can Whistle.

[44:23] It's from Stephen Sondheim's very, very little produced musical of the same name.

[44:29] It's a wild show. I love it so, so much. I'm actually really curious how it would play

[44:34] with modern audiences. But that song in particular is just so achingly beautiful. And

[44:42] until I had been planning this show, and I went through literally a dozen different recordings

[44:48] of Anyone Can Whistle, I did not know that that artist did a recording of that song ever.

[44:56] Savvy listeners will have recognized one of my personal favorites, Jane Krakowski,

[45:03] singing that, which I love as a reminder that for as funny as she is,

[45:08] she can do vulnerability so, so well. And I really love her take on that song.

[45:15] But now, vulnerability is out the window. Again, just like if you thought I wasn't going to play

[45:21] chess, are you new here? We're also going to have to do a little bit of Xanadu. Here's magic.

[46:05] That was the first song that I put on this playlist when I was putting it together.

[54:16] That's Midnight Radio by Stephen Trask from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, as performed by

[54:22] John Cameron Mitchell, who just finished a tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of the movie.

[54:30] Um, that is bringing us very, very close to the end of our time together, my friends.

[54:36] I want to thank you again for joining me, especially on a Sunday afternoon of a holiday

[54:42] weekend. There are so many places you could be right now, and you're listening to this,

[54:48] and I appreciate you. I want to give thanks to my fellow cohort, co-hosts, our cohort for

[54:55] Better Living Through Show Tunes, Katie, Kirk, and Allison. Please keep tuning in.

[55:02] There is a slot open now. If you are interested in becoming a host at WORT and you've got a passion

[55:08] for show tunes, definitely check out WORTFM.org and reach out. See if this is the right fit for

[55:17] you. Bring your special flair and your love of musicals to the airways.

[55:24] WORT is a pretty special place that we get to do these kind of things. Madison's a

[55:30] beautiful home to do it in, and we are quite lucky, and I have really appreciated doing this

[55:36] for the last three years. Up next, you've got On the Horizon, always a good time,

[55:42] always a great show. Please stick around and do yourself right on a Sunday afternoon.

[55:49] Get good mellow. Learn some new songs. And in your life, please take care of yourselves.

[55:57] It's hard out there. Life is not a musical, unfortunately, or it's one of the sad ones

[56:04] sometimes. So look after yourself. Look after each other. Find the silliness. Embrace it.

[56:11] It's A-OK. There's enough that's serious in the world. And keep fighting the good fight.

[56:18] We need you. OK. Yeah, I was like, I'm not going to cry. That's wild. No, here we are.

[56:26] Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for welcoming me into your time

[56:31] and your love of show tunes. It has meant the world to me. And I hope that this isn't really

[56:40] goodbye. Just hear you later. And goodbye to my favorite alien, Tim Curry.

[57:31] It's been the same. Like I'm outside in the rain. Free. Find the game. Cards for sorrow. Cards for pain.

[58:39] PC Live presents Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday,

[60:27] September 19th. Born into a musical family in Los Angeles, Herb Albert teamed up with

[60:33] producer Woo Adler in the late 50s and began a career as a songwriter. After a visit to Tijuana,

[60:39] Albert multi-tracked his trumpet onto a rejected song and scored his first hit, The Lonely Bull.

[60:45] In 1965, the classic album Whip Cream and Other Delights outsold The Beatles and Frank Sinatra

[60:51] and not only launched massive tours but coincided with Albert founding A&M Records. Herb Albert is

[60:57] back on the road at 91 with a new Tijuana Brass Band playing all your favorites along

[61:02] with a multimedia show and a Q&A with the audience. More information is available at

[61:08] MadisonOrpheum.com. FPC Live presents Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass at the Orpheum Theater on

[61:15] Saturday, September 19th. You are listening to WORT Madison. Labor Fest is back Monday,

[61:30] September 7th from 12 p.m. to 5 30 p.m. on the Madison Labor Temple grounds at 1602 South Park

[61:37] Street. This free public event will include music by artists Hipston't Lie Shakira Tribute Band and

[61:43] the Crystal Leary Band. There will be food and beverages available for purchase, kids activities

[61:48] and more. There will also be a special Labor Day collection of donations for children whose

[61:52] families are homeless or in unstable housing.

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