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thesweatycollectiontyrant · 6 years

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110 in the Shade

I decided to make it as pleasing as possible for myself to just profile each musical in alphabetical (and numerical? hence 110 in the Shade) order, starting with a gorgeous classic, 110 in the Shade.

Background Info

This is a musical that opened just after the Golden Age. It’s kind of in that area of musicals that people don’t really know how to refer to. Others in the area are a lot of Bock and Harnick musicals, like Fiddler on the Roof and She Loves Me, also, Jerry Herman favorites, Mame and Hello, Dolly!

Writers

The show has music and lyrics by the team of Harvey Schmidt who actually died exactly a week after my 18th birthday and Tom Jones who did not die exactly a week after my 18th birthday. Schmidt and Jones wrote other works together including, The Fantasticks (one of the longest-running shows in history), and the marriage profile, I Do! I Do! starring the likes of Robert Preston and Mary Martin (with a low Db), who were quite the duo, if you’d ask me. The book was by N. Richard Nash, who actually wrote a play called The Rainmaker, that was produced a few years prior.

Da System

The way I’m going to do this is that I’m going to write while listening. I’m always going to include the cast recording I chose to listen to.

Side note: Most of the time, I’m going to choose especially with classic musicals cast recordings that I feel have the best voices. ALSO, while I do listen to the entire show, I’m gonna just talk about highlights.

Who’s Singing?

For 110 in the Shade, I decided to go with a studio recording from 1997, starring Karen Ziemba as Lizzie Curry and Ron Raines as Bill Starbuck.

Time to dig into this loaded show.

Let’s Do This

For a while, I listened to the recording with Audra McDonald (one of my favorite voices of ALL time, period) as Lizzie, but eventually, I noticed that they transposed a lot of songs for her. Which by all means is okay although a bit surprising for a soprano, but I wanted to hear the way it was intended. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of Steve Kazee’s voice as Bill Starbuck (choppy vibrato), so I searched for a recording for something that is true to the original material, but recent. Thankfully, this recording served everything I was looking for. Another thing that’s funny listening to Karen Ziemba sing this instead of Audra McDonald are these two things: When I think of Karen Ziemba, I think of her phenomenal dancing and the fact that she’s an alto. When I think of Audra, I think of her amazing acting and the fact that she’s a soprano. It’s funny to me that they had Karen Ziemba do the part. Maybe, she was a soprano back in the day. However, despite her alto-ness, she really has quite the range and went OFF in this recording. Very pleasantly surprised.

As I listen to the score, I can say that it is incredibly picturesque. The Overture is both riveting and solemn. It reminded me a lot of Rossini’s William Tell Overture with the whole Morning section mixed with some Fireball. The orchestra is phenomenal. The orchestrations are very lush; something like a mattress that eats you up, but doesn’t make you sink. It’s very full for such a Western-esque score, and it’s perfect to me. It’s a lot like Copland’s Rodeo.

During the opening number, you find out from the Greek chorus (kinda) of townspeople. There’s a drought and it’s gonna be Another Hot Day. The opening number is special because it introduces many themes that happen all the way through the show. The interesting thing is that they introduce them in a way that it doesn’t get annoying to the listener. The motif is formed in many different ways all the way through the show. Also, most of the singing in this number is unison or counterpoint between the men and the women on different themes. The unison singing (while it can be beautiful at times) really gives you that bored sense of I Don’t Care What Happens Today Get Me a Palm Tree I’m Hot.

“Lizzie’s Comin’ Home” is very fun and gives you something you don’t get to hear as much. A trio between three men ("Sincerely, Me" anybody?), Lizzie’s father, H.C. Curry, and her two brothers, Noah and Jimmy. Nice harmonies at the end, and definitely something that could be performed in a concert/cabaret setting.

A few things happen: Lizzie gets her “I Want” song, addressed to Love, so she can get her a mans. The dudes sing about poker and stuff (which is actually a fun number, and a great example of a “Blow High, Blow Low” male ensemble number).

Then the male lead is introduced. Bill Starbuck(s)(?) claims to be a rainmaker (what about a coffee maker? wow now I need caffeine). He leads all the townsfolk in a SUPER DUPER FUN ensemble number that I honestly love, simply titled “The Rain Song”. It’s so exciting and something that you can listen to to get your blood pumping. WOW Ron Raines’ voice. Ooft. Love it.

“You’re Not Foolin’ Me” is a fun duet between Lizzie and Starbuck where they are doubting each other to the point that it’s comical, sort of Beatrice and Benedick meet “Anything You Can Do”.

“Raunchy” is the ultimate definition of a hoot. I don’t need to say anything else. Just watch Audra McDonald do cartwheels at Radio City Music Hall.

“Old Maid” serves as Lizzie’s nervous breakdown that she truly might never find love. She’s just met this guy who she thinks she might like, but she’s not sure, because she’s never really had a chance before, and now he comes along and she doesn’t know what to do, so she just resorts to imagining the thought of being alone forever. This is a fantastic example of amazing songwriting, from changing meter, repeated themes, chord voicing, orchestrations, character arc, everything. This is a great example of a song to give a superstar Soprano who has some fantastic acting chops.

Act Two traditionally opens with an ensemble number *squeals in excitement* called “Everything Beautiful Happens at Night”. It gave me some “Clambake” vibes, as it was written in waltz time, and has some really beautiful and interesting harmonies that just fed my musician soul like I had some Cracker Barrel. Then there’s a fun dance routine with either tapping or softshoe that sounded like tons of sweat, or as my high school theatre teacher called it, success.

Starbuck gets a really nice solo called “Melisande” which is a sort of tale he tells Lizzie. I’ll have to listen again to get specifics yikes but y’all know.

“Simple Little Things” is a nice little (kind of redundant, but still beautiful and necessary) solo for Lizzie.

Kristin Chenoweth made a little appearance in “Little Red Hat” which is more or less of a throwaway duet with one of Lizzie’s brothers, whom she is dating.

The Finale culminates in an enormous celebration by the ensemble when the rain finally comes and the temperature drops from 110 while they’re in the shade to a melancholy 100 in the shade. RIP I guess. The number has some fun A-flats for the Tenors and Sopranos. An interesting ending to a genuinely fun show.

Audition Songs

Cool thing about future posts. Most of the shows that I post about, I have access to vocal scores for, so if you’d like PDFs of songs for auditions or anything, just let me know, and I’d be more than happy to send to you! YouTube links will be posted with the title of the song.

Regarding this show in particular, while I mentioned that this is not in the Golden Age, per se, this is still a perfect show to take to an audition that asks for a Golden Age song.

“Love, Don’t Turn Away” - Lizzie, D4-F5

The song has a charming quality. Good idea for auditioning for a Rodgers and Hammerstein show, like Cinderella. It’s for a Soprano, but can easily be sung by a Mezzo, as it doesn’t go too high.

“Raunchy” - Lizzie, G3-Ab5

This song is so so so so so funny. Coincidentally, this would also be good for a Rodgers and Hammerstein/Bock and Harnick/Lerner and Loewe audition. Maybe something along the lines of Amalia Balash or Eliza Doolittle. The song is for a soprano. The situation is that she’s explaining to her dad how she’s gonna get her mans. There are some harmonies at the end between her and her dad that could easily be cut for an audition. That’s where the high Ab happens, so if you choose to cut the section where they sing the “Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo”s, the song goes up to a G5, which is only a half-step difference.

“Old Maid” - Lizzie, B3-G5

This song is featured in the infamous The Singer’s Musical Theatre Anthology: Soprano, Volume One. Disclaimer: I’m not hating on the series of books; I’m hating on the idea that many voice teachers across the country simply choose the same songs for their students to sing. While this is in the anthology, It is more of an unpopular one. Which is good *maniacal laugh*. This is a great song to show your dramatic acting ability, ladies. It’s an awesome song to take to a Weill or Bernstein audition because of its opus nature, but also it’s great to bring to an audition for the composers and roles mentioned in the above paragraph. This is a fantastic song.

“Melisande” - Starbuck, G2-G4

This song is pretty range-y, but it’s a story-telling song. It’s a good song to have fun with. Very appropriate for a Baritone or Tenor.

“Simple Little Things” - Lizzie, B3-E5

Not much to say about it other than I think it’s really pretty. Starbuck has a weird line at the end you can cut if you use it.

To Wrap It Up

This is actually a really fantastic show. I love the plot. Lizzie really grows up over the show, and shows that even people who are a little silly can find love too. This show is a really good choice for high schools. You can cast it as big as you need by adding to the townsfolk. Not sure if they have a lot of individual lines, but it could be solved easily. The revised version, offered by Tams-Witmark only has twelve characters. Crizzazy. I know the original version, also offered by Tams-Witmark has a similar get-up, but gives the option to add more to the ensemble. If you’ve got a dynamite soprano who can act really well, this is the way to go. It’s a very accessible show, and something that could really bring a group of people together.

Get it.

#musical theatre #110 in the shade #inga swenson #audra mcdonald #ron raines #classic shows #classic musicals #theatre #broadway #karen ziemba #western #audition help #audition songs #lizzie curry

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