Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning
Wednesday, May 31, 2016
That’s Soooo Fabulous!
(Our Annual LGBTQIA Pride Show)
+ KC Pride Fest June 2–3-4 + The 71st Annual Tony Awards!
+ Claire Adams, Ross Brown, Jerad Tomasino & The Crossroads Flock Party
We celebrate The Pride Season with our annual show, “That’s Soooo Fabulous!”
1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
from: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to All That Jazz / 1980
[WMM’s theme song]
2. Judy Garland – “Intro / Keep Your Sunny Side Up”(outtake)
from: The Judy Garland Show – the show that got away /Hip-O /2002 [orig. taped June 24, 1963]
3. Cyre – “Holiday (Circuit Mix)”
from: Gay Classics – Outrageous / Hot JWP / 2001
4. Dos Fallopia (Lisa Koch) – “Definition: Lesbian”
from: My Breasts Are Out Of Control / Tongueincheek Records / 1994
5. Bambi – “Lets Sing A Gay Little Spring Song”
from: Bambi (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) / Buena Vista Pictures / 1996 [1942 Disney]
6. Lily Tomlin – “Obscene Phone Call”
from: This Is a Recording / Universal Records / 1971
[The album consists of comic sketches of Tomlin in her most famous character, Ernestine, the nosy, aggressive, and sharp-tongued telephone operator. The album’s tracks include monologues in which Ernestine tangles over the phone with Joan Crawford, Gore Vidal (“Mr. Veedle”), Martha Mitchell, and J. Edgar Hoover. It was recorded live at the intimate Ice House in Pasadena, California. The album, Tomlin’s first, won her a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording. Tomlin became the first woman to win this award for a solo recording (in 1962 Elaine May won for an album with Mike Nichols; in the years since only Whoopi Goldberg and Kathy Griffin among female comedians have won the award.) The album peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 200 albums list, the highest charting solo comedy album by a woman ever on the chart.]
7. Sharron Alexis – “Please Don’t Be Gay”
from: Sordid Lives (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) / Varese Sarabande / 2001
8. RuPaul – “I Met Him on the Dance Floor (Interlude)”
from: Realness / RuCo / March 2, 2015 [RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960), best known as simply RuPaul, is an American actor, drag queen, model, author, and recording artist, who first became widely known in the 1990s when he appeared in a wide variety of television programs, films, and musical albums. Previously, he was a fixture on the Atlanta and New York City club scenes during the 1980s and early 90s. RuPaul has on occasion performed as a man in a number of roles, usually billed as RuPaul Charles. RuPaul is noted among famous drag queens for his indifference towards the gender-specific pronouns used to address him—both “he” and “she” have been deemed acceptable. “You can call me he. You can call me she. You can call me Regis and Kathie Lee; I don’t care! Just as long as you call me.” He hosted a short-running talk show on VH1, and currently hosts reality television shows RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag U.]
9. Company – “Opening: I Hope I Get It”
from: A Chorus Line – Original Cast Recording / Columbia / 1975
10. Dos Fallopia (Lisa Koch) – “Definition: Pro Choice”
from: My Breasts Are Out Of Control / Tongueincheek Records / 1994
11. Grace Jones – “The Crossing (Ooh The Action…)”
from: Slave To The Rhythm / Island Def Jam Records / 1985
12. Al Franken and Phil Hartman – “Daily Affirmation Theme”
from: Original Soundtrack to: Stuart Saves His Family / Milan / 1995
13. Hedwig & The Angry Inch – “Tear Me Down”
from: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Hedwig & The Angry Inch / Hybrid / 2001
10:15 – That’s Sooo Gay
14. The BTC Orchestra – “The Liberace Fanfare”
from: Behind The Candelabra (Music from the HBO Original Film) / Elektra / May 20, 2013
[2013 American drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of pianist Liberace and the secret affair he had with young Scott Thorson, based on Thorson’s memoir, Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace (1988). It premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2013. It aired on HBO on May 26, 2013 and won multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. It was released theatrically June 7, 2013 in the United Kingdom. The film features Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott Thorsen.]
28 Jan 1978, Los Angeles, California, USA — Liberace spoofs a day in his own life during a television special, including a scene where he baths in his $55,000 marble bathtub. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
15. Liberace – “The Impossible Dream” [Vinyl]
from: Liberace Sends You Love [3 record set] / Brookville Records – ABC Records / 1974
[Born in West Allis, Wisconsin, his career spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television, and endorsements, Liberace became world-famous. During the 1950s–1970s he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world and embraced a lifestyle of flamboyant excess both on and off stage. He publicly denied being gay during his lifetime, and sued those who said he was. Towards the end of his life his chauffeur, Scott Thorson, sued him for palimony. He died of an AIDS-related illness in 1987.]
16. Jim Nabors – “It Takes All Kinds To Make The World Go Round”
from: Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. / Sony / 1965
[Jan. 29, 2013, Hawaii News Now reported that Jim Nabors married his partner of 38 years, Stan Cadwallader, at Seattle, Washington’s Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Jan. 15, a month after same-sex marriage became legal in Washington. An urban legend maintains that Nabors married Rock Hudson in the early ’70s, shortly before Nabors began his relationship with Cadwallader. At least publicly, the two were never more than friends. According to Hudson, the legend originated with a group of “middle-aged homosexuals who live in Huntington Beach” who sent out joke invitations for their annual get-together. One year, the group invited its members to witness “the marriage of Rock Hudson & Jim Nabors,” at which Hudson would take the surname of Nabors’ most famous character, Gomer Pyle, becoming “Rock Pyle.” Those who failed to get the joke spread the rumor. Hudson was also gay but closeted, and because of the fear that one or both of them might be outed, Nabors & Hudson never spoke to each other again.]
10:22 – The Music from Kansas City Pride Fest 2017
17. Frenchie Davis – “Stand (By Me)”
from: Stand (By Me) – Single/ Frenchie Davis Music Group / October 9, 2015
[Franchell “Frenchie” Davis was born May 7, 1979, and is an American Broadway performer and a soul, dance/electronica, and pop singer. She first came to public attention in 2003 as a contestant on the singing competition show American Idol. Davis began performing in Rent on Broadway soon afterward, and was a member of the cast for four years. In 2011 Davis reached the top 8 on the first season of singing competition The Voice. Davis was born in Washington, DC and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from Howard University in 2014 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.]
[Frenchie Davis plays KC Pride Fest, Sun, June 4, at 6:00 at The Richard L Berkley Riverfront Park.]
18. Betty Who – “Mama Say”
from: The Valley / RCA Records / March 24, 2017
[Betty Who is Jessica Anne Newham who was born on October 5, 1991, She is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician based in the US. She is signed to RCA Records. Who is best known for her 2016 single, “I Love You Always Forever” which peaked inside the top ten in Australia.]
[Betty Who plays KC Pride at Richard L Berkley Riverfront Park, Sat, June 3, at 10:40 PM]
10:30 – Interview with Bill Svoboda
Bill Svoboda serves as Producer for KC Pride Fest, June 2nd, 3rd, & 4th, at Berkley Riverfront Park under the guidance of the KC Diversity Coalition, the not-for-profit service organization that presents KC Gay Pride. Bill started his career over 25 years ago in the event planning industry working for the Greater KC Chamber of Commerce. In 2002 he started EventPros, Inc., planning Festivals, Corporate and Association events all over the country. He was one of the original producers of the KCRiverFest and the KC Marathon – Health & Fitness Expo. Bill also produces the KC Jazz Festival.
Bill Svoboda thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Kansas City PrideFest, at Richard L Berkley Riverfront Park, 1298 Riverfront Dr. KCMO.
Friday, June 2nd, Saturday, June 3rd, and Sunday, June 4th / More Info: gaypridekc.org
Friday, June 2nd 6:00 PM – Midnight – Emcee: Dirty Dorothy – 6 to Midnight
6:00 PM Rozz Smith
6:01-7:45 DJ Chef Nguyen
8:15-9:15 Material Girl
9:45-11:45 DJ Citizen Jane
9:45-11:45 Men of Skin
Saturday, June 3rd, 12:00 Noon – Midnight – Emcee: Widow Von’du – Noon to 5pm / Emcee: Flo and Melinda Ryder – 5pm to 12 AM
12:00 PM Rozz Smith
12:40-1:20 Logan Bradley
1:50-2:50 Radial Red
2:55-3:10 Tucker William
3:15-3:20 Kate Cosentino
3:25-3:30 Morgan Messer
3:35-3:40 Dove
3:45-3:50 Scarlett Webb
4:15-4:20 Sapphire Reign
4:25-4:30 Nikita Wood-Rowe
4:35-4:40 Rozz Smith
4:45-5:05 Buttwiser’s Bash
5:10-5:25 Black Pride
5:30-5:45 The Ratchet Housewives of Westport
5:50-6:05 Shauna Knapp
6:20-6:50 Heartland Men’s Chorus
6:55-7:15 Mayor, Congressmen
7:30-7:45 Transfinity KC Chorus
8:00-8:15 KC Sunshine
8:30-9:00 Missie B’s
9:30-10:15 Well Strung
10:40-11:25 Betty Who
Sunday, June 4th: Noon – 7:00 PM- Emcee: Monique Heart – Noon to 5:00 pm / Emcee: Buddy & Budweiser – 5pm to 7pm
12:00 PM Rozz Smith
12:01-12:45 DJ DJ
12:45-1:15 Project Pride
1:30-2:30 Lovergurl
2:45-3:00 Sidekicks
3:30-4:30 Mad Libby
5:00-5:45 David Hernandez
6:00-6:45 Frenchie Davis
6:50 Thank You / Closing Speakers
The Commerce Bank Kid’s Zone: Saturday and Sunday from Noon to 6:00pm (Included with festival ticket) – All ages are welcome. Includes the Ironman obstacle course, Tinker Bell moonwalk, Dual Slide and Triple Lane Fun Run! The zone also features a face painter, balloon artist, and circus performers. Outside of the zone look for Renaissance Fair characters, the LGBTQIA Youth Hangout, and a professional kite flyer!
LGBTQIA Youth Hang Out: Saturday and Sunday from Noon to 6:00pm (Included with festival ticket) – Games, prizes, music, photo booth and goodie bags!
Food Fair: Friday, Saturday, Sunday – Food trucks and other local cuisine
Market Place: Friday, Saturday, Sunday – Vendor and Sponsor Booths
Body Shop: Friday, Saturday, Sunday – Workshops and Free Health Checkups
Animal Adoption Booths: Sat & Sun, 12 to 6:00 – Dogs, cats, birds available for adoption
KC Gay Volleyball: Sunday (Starting at 1:00pm) – Players will be participating in exhibition games on multiple courts set up on the grass on the west side of the grounds.
Sand Volleyball Tournament: Saturday (10:30am to 5:30pm) first ever partnership between Bistro Brigade and the Kansas City PrideFest. Proceeds benefit AIDS Walk KC. All genders, orientations, and ages 18+ are encouraged to sign up. Festival ticket included. Register Here: https://goo.gl/o1T435 (Watchers are welcomed!)
Renaissance Festival Characters will be roaming: Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Gay Pride Kansas City is a mix of volunteers and board members who represent a wide cross section of the Kansas City LGBTQIA community. What motivates these individuals is their drive to offer the Kansas City LGBTQIA community great informational and educational events which move the community forward.
Presented by: Kansas City Divercity Coalition: PO Box 32413, KCMO 64171
Phone: (816) 960-3400 / Email: pridefestkc@gmail.com
KC Pride Fest – June 2nd, 3rd, & 4th, at Berkley Riverfront Park, KCMO, presented by KC Diversity Coalition, a not-for-profit service oganization. For more information about tickets, vendors, directions, events, or to volunteer, visit: http://www.gaypridekc.org
10:45 – “Just say the lines and don’t bump into the furniture.”
I think my parents had a tougher time hearing that I wanted to become a Theatre Major than when I told them I was Gay. Please know, that I believe the theatre is full of all sexual orientations, straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender…just like the rest of the world. The theatre, however, is Queer friendly, accepting of LGBTQIA, it has always been a place where so many gay kids found their freedom and identity. The theatre gave gay kids their first glimpse into a world not found in their sheltered, small towns. Here in this next set is a song from Noel Coward from a album I found in my college library my freshman year. The plays of Noel Coward were captivating to me, the lyrics, wit, and diction of Noel Coward in action, is a treat.
After Noel we’ll hear Paul Lynde from the Original Broadway Cast Recording of “Bye Bye Birdie,” followed by Charles Nelson Reilly talking about his experience in “Bye Bye Birdie” while auditioning for “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” Charles Nelson Reilly was playing three parts in Bye Bye Birdie winner of The Tony Award for Best Musical of 1960. How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying won the Tony for Best Musical in 1961 and Reilly won The Tony for his portrayal of Bud Frump.
10:47 – Songs about “Tots” and “Kids” and “Coffee”
19. Noel Coward – “What’s Going To Happen To the Tots”
from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]
[Born Dec. 16, 1899 / died Mar. 26, 1973. English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called “a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise”. Coward did not publicly acknowledge his homosexuality, but it was discussed candidly after his death by biographers including Graham Payn, his long-time partner, and in Coward’s diaries & letters, published posthumously.]
Paul Lynde
20. Paul Lynde & Marijane Maricle -“Kids”
from: Bye Bye Birdie! (Original Broadway Cast) / / 1960
[Paul Lynde’s sexual orientation was an open secret in Hollywood, although, in keeping with the prejudices of the time, it was not acknowledged or discussed in public. In a 2013 radio interview, Dick Van Dyke recalled the wrap party for Bye Bye Birdie. A series of men gave short speeches, each one praising Ann-Margret and predicting success and stardom for the young actress. When it was Paul Lynde’s turn to speak, he began, “Well, I guess I’m the only one here who doesn’t want to fuck Ann-Margret.” In 1965, Lynde was involved in an accident in which a young actor, reputed to be his lover, fell to his death from the window of their hotel room in San Francisco’s Sir Francis Drake Hotel. The two had been drinking for hours before 24-year-old James “Bing” Davidson slipped and fell eight stories, an event witnessed by two policemen, yet the event was largely kept out of the press, thus saving Lynde’s career. Despite his campy television persona, Lynde never publicly came out as gay and the press generally refrained from commenting about it. In 1976, a People magazine article on Lynde featured him and Stan Finesmith; the latter was dubbed Lynde’s “suite mate” and “chauffeur-bodyguard.” In the 1970s, this was as close as the press would come to hinting at his sexuality.]
21. Charles Nelson Reilly – “The Audition”
from: How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying / Victor / 1961
22. Charles Nelson Reilly, Claudette Sutherland, Company -“Coffee Break”(CD#22) (2:36)
from: How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying / Victor / 1961
23. Judy Garland – “Half – Time Tags”(sponsor announcement)
from: The Judy Garland Show – the show that got away /Hip-O /2002 [orig. taped June 24, 1963]
10:59 – 71th Annual Tony Awards
We heard Charles Nelson Reilly talking about his audition for “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” winner of The Tony Award for Best Musical in 1961. Charles Nelson Reilly would go on to star in the 1964, world premiere of “Hello Dolly,” written by gay composer Jerry Herman, who has won several Tony Awards for his musicals “Mame” and “La Cage Aux Folles.” This year “Hello Dolly” has been produced on Broadway, for the fifth time and starring Bette Midler in the title role.
One of the most diverse awards shows on television, has always been, The Annual Tony Awards, to recognize achievement in Broadway Theatre. The 71st Annual Tony Awards will take place on June 11. Hosted by Kevin Spacey, the ceremony will be held at Radio City Music Hall in New York, and will be televised live on CBS.
For many Queer kids growing up in rural areas, this broadcast was the biggest night of LGBT programming. Shows like “Torch Song Trilogy,” “A Chorus Line,” “Avenue Q,” “La Cage Aux Folles,” “The Normal Heart,” “Rent,” “Angels in America,” “Kinky Boots,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” and “Hairspray,” are just some of the Broadway plays and musicals that tell the stories of LGBT people. The live television broadcast gave queer, theatre-nerds like me, a glimsp into the world where we could find ourselves.
On June 1982, on my 19th birthday, I remember watching television with my father as Harvey Fierstein won the Tony for Best Actor in a Play that he wrote called Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family. The play also won for Best Play, and I watched as producer John Glines as he made his historic Tony speech acknowledging his lover and co-producer, Larry Lane. It was a new world.
This year the 71st Annual Tony Awards will be honor nominees for Best Play: “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” starring Laurie Metcalf, Chris Cooper (who was born in Kansas City), and Jayne Houdyshell (who was born and raised in Topeka) all are nominated for Tony Awards; “Indecent,” written by Paula Vogel; “Oslo,” and the play “Sweat” which is also the winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. For Best Musical, the nominees are: “Come from Away,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Groundhog Day The Musical,” and “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.”
For Best Revival of a Play, the nominees are: “August Wilson’s Jitney,” “Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes,” “Six Degrees of Separation,” and “Present Laughter” written by Noel Coward. And for Best Revival of a Musical, the nominees are: “Miss Saigon,” “Hello Dolly.” and “Falsettos” starring openly gay actor Andrew Rannells who was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and originated the role of Elder Price, in the musical “The Book of Morman,” and is nominated again this year, and is in the same category as another “Book Of Morman” veteran, openly gay actor Gavin Creel, for his role as Cornelius Hackl in Hello Dolly, a role originated by gay actor Charles Nelson Reilley, 52 years ago.
In celebration of the 2017 Tony Awards, we present a scene from Present Laughter, but not from the the 2017 production starring Kevin Kline, instead from the playwright himself Noel Coward, who wrote 38 plays, more than 300 songs, and multiple musicals, revues, and operettas. Present Laughter has been produced on Broadway four times and we’ll hear a scene from the play from a recording called, “Duologues” featuring actress Margaret Leighton, from 1957. From there, we will hear Christian Borle & Andrew Rannells, singing, “What Would I Do?” from “Falsettos,” followed by Kate Baldwin, Gavin Creel & 2017 Broadway Cast of “Hello, Dolly!” performing “It Only Takes a Moment.” All nominated for 2017 Tony Awards.
24. Noel Coward – “Present Laughter” [3 minute excerpt]
from: Noel Coward Duologues (feat. Margaret Leighton) / Caedmon Records / 1957
[Present Laughter is a comic play by Noël Coward in 1939, first staged in 1942. The plot follows a few days in the life of the successful and self-obsessed light comedy actor Garry Essendine as he prepares to travel for a touring commitment in Africa. Amid a series of events bordering on farce, Garry has to deal with women who want to seduce him, placate both his long-suffering secretary and his estranged wife, cope with a crazed young playwright, and overcome his impending mid-life crisis (since he has recently turned forty). The story was described by Coward as “a series of semi-autobiographical pyrotechnics.” In the 1970s Peter Hall wrote “what a wonderful play it would be if – as Coward must have wanted – all those love affairs were about homosexuals”. Whether or not Coward would have agreed, in the 1940s the transformation of real-life gay relationships into onstage straight ones was essential. The play nevertheless contains many references to Coward’s own life. Monica is “unmistakably Lorn Loraine”, Coward’s long-serving and much-loved secretary. Morris has been seen as Coward’s agent and sometime lover Jack Wilson, and Henry as Binkie Beaumont. Liz, played originally by Joyce Carey, is thought to be based partly on the actress herself, who was a member of Coward’s inner circle. During 1956, Coward abandoned Great Britain for tax reasons, becoming a permanent resident of Bermuda. He bought a chalet in Les Avants, Switzerland, in 1959, and that became his primary residence as of 1964, although he continued to live much of the time in Jamaica. Meanwhile, he returned to playwriting with two of his works, both billed as light comedies, playing in London: South Sea Bubble (April 25, 1956) and Nude with Violin (November 7, 1956). The latter also had a production on Broadway that Coward directed and starred in, his final appearance as an actor in New York. It opened November 14, 1957, and ran 80 performances, followed by a West Coast tour in 1958, during which it alternated with Present Laughter. Prior to that, however, Coward also had been “in New York,” as the title for a follow-up for Noel Coward at Las Vegas put it, recording the studio LP Noel Coward in New York in the fall of 1956 for release on Columbia in 1957. The same season, he and actress Margaret Leighton made spoken word recordings for Caedmon Records of scenes from his plays, plus the second act of The Apple Cart, in which they had appeared together in London in 1953. The LP Noël Coward & Margaret Leighton in Noël Coward Duologues, and after a 2nd recording session of Coward’s poetry in January 1958 came The Apple Cart & Poems by Noël Coward. In 2005, these recordings, along with other recordings of Coward’s writings performed by Simon Jones, were gathered together by Caedmon into the 5-CD set The Noel Coward Audio Collection.]
25. Christian Borle & Andrew Rannells – “What Would I Do?”
from: Falsettos (2016 Broadway Cast Recording) / Sh-K-Boom Records / December 16, 2016
[Falsettos is a musical with a book by James Lapine and William Finn, and music and lyrics by Finn. The musical consists of March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, the last two installments in one trio of one-act Off-Broadway musicals (the first was In Trousers). The story involves Marvin, his ex-wife Trina, his psychiatrist Mendel, his son Jason, his gay lover Whizzer Brown, and his neighbors Cordelia and Dr. Charlotte. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1992 and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, of which it won Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. It was revived briefly on Broadway in 2016, and this revival performance has been nominated for five Tony Awards. The 2016 production opened on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre on September 29, 2016 in previews, and officially on October 27, directed by Lapine. Christian Borle, Andrew Rannells, Stephanie J. Block and Brandon Uranowitz play Marvin, Whizzer, Trina, and Mendel respectively. Other cast includes Tracie Thoms as Dr. Charlotte, Betsy Wolfe as Cordelia, and Anthony Rosenthal as Jason. The production shuttered on January 8, 2017. Two performances were filmed on January 3 and 4, 2017, to be repackaged into a presentation for the PBS program Live from Lincoln Center series to be aired at a later date.]
26. Kate Baldwin, Gavin Creel & 2017 Broadway Cast of Hello, Dolly! – “It Only Takes a Moment”
from: Hello Dolly! / Sony Music Group / May 12, 2017
[Hello, Dolly! is a 1964 musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder’s 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955. Hello, Dolly! was first produced on Broadway by David Merrick in 1964, winning a record 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, a record held for 37 years. The show album Hello, Dolly! An Original Cast Recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. The album reached number one on the Billboard album chart on June 6, 1964 and was replaced the next week by Louis Armstrong’s album Hello, Dolly! The show has become one of the most enduring musical theatre hits, with four Broadway revivals and international success. It was also made into the 1969 film Hello Dolly! that was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and won three. The role of Dolly Levi in the musical was originally written for Ethel Merman, but Merman turned it down, as did Mary Martin (although each eventually played it). Merrick then auditioned Nancy Walker. Eventually, he hired Carol Channing, who then created in Dolly her signature role. Director Gower Champion was not the producer’s first choice, as Hal Prince and others (among them Jerome Robbins and Joe Layton) all turned down the job of directing the musical. The musical, directed and choreographed by Gower Champion and produced by David Merrick, opened on January 16, 1964, at the St. James Theatre and closed on December 27, 1970, after 2,844 performances. Carol Channing starred as Dolly, with a supporting cast that included David Burns as Horace, Charles Nelson Reilly as Cornelius, Eileen Brennan as Irene, Jerry Dodge as Barnaby, Sondra Lee as Minnie Fay, Alice Playten as Ermengarde, and Igors Gavon as Ambrose. Although facing competition from Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand, Hello, Dolly! swept the Tony Awards that year, winning awards in ten categories (out of eleven nominations) that tied the musical with the previous record keeper South Pacific, a record that remained unbroken for 37 years until The Producers won twelve Tonys in 2001. After Channing left the show, Merrick employed a string of prominent actresses to play Dolly, including Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, Pearl Bailey (in an all-black version with Cab Calloway, Mabel King, Clifton Davis, Ernestine Jackson and a young Morgan Freeman), Phyllis Diller, and Ethel Merman after having turned down the lead at the show’s inception. Two songs cut prior to the opening — typical Mermanesque belt style songs “World, Take Me Back” and “Love, Look in My Window” — were restored for her run. On January 19, 2016, it was announced that Bette Midler would play the title role in a Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!. Previews began March 15, 2017, with an opening date of April 20, 2017, at the Shubert Theatre.[23][24] This production is scheduled for a ten month run with the final performance to be that of 14 January 2018. The production is produced by Scott Rudin, directed by Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Warren Carlyle. David Hyde Pierce plays Horace Vandergelder. Other principal casting for this revival includes: Kate Baldwin as Irene Molloy, Gavin Creel as Cornelius Hackl, Jennifer Simard as Ernestina Money, Taylor Trensch as Barnaby Tucker, Will Burton as Ambrose Kemper, Melanie Moore as Ermengarde, and[27] Beanie Feldstein as Minnie Fay. Donna Murphy will play the role of Dolly at the Tuesday evening performances beginning in June 2017.]
11:14 – Underwriting
27. Claire & The Classical Revolution – “Enough”
from: In The Blue 7″ EP / Independent / December 12, 2015
[Released on 7″ Vinyl and Digital Download. Song by Claire Adams, Arrangement by Teri Quinn, Produced by Peter Lawless, Recorded, Mixed, & Mastered by Duane Trower at Weights & Measures Soundlab A 14-piece musical entity with Claire Adams on vocals & guitar, Peter Lawless as conductor, Christina Wince on flute, Teri Quinn on clarinet, Brandon Crawford on bass clarinet, Mark Lauer on bassoon, Jen Oliverio on trumpet, Austin Peiffer on trombone, Joseph Felton on tuba, Erik Hassell on violin, Alyssa Bell on viola, Eman Chalshotori on cello, Sarah Lahasky on contrabass, and Stephanie Williams on drums.]
[Claire Adams plays the Crossroads Flock Party, Friday, June 2, at 5:45 PM]
11:20 – Interview with Claire Adams, Ross Brown and Jerad Tomasino
Claire Adams, Ross Brown, and Jerad Tomasino on the May 31, 2017 edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley.
Kansas City based singer, songwriter, and musician, Claire Adams, has been an integral part of multiple area bands including: Claire & The Crowded Stage, Appropriate Grammar, and Hidden Pictures. With Katy Guillen the two perform as a duo called Quirk & Ruckus, and with Katy Guillen and drummer Stephanie Williams, Claire performs as a trio called Katy Guillen & The Girls, who last year release one of our favorite full length albums called Heavy Days. Katy Guillen & The Girls are on the road most of the year, on on Saturday June 10 they will play Knuckleheads with Friends! This special, one time evening will feature special guests Chris Meck on guitar, Ryan Heinlein on trombone, Alyssa Murray on keys, and Ernie Locke on harmonica. Kansas City’s very own 2017 IBC winner, Brody Buster, will be opening the show, and will also jump up for a couple tunes!The trio is launching Kickstarter campaign this Thursday for the International Blues
Ross Brown and Jerad Tomasino are co-founders of The Crossroads Flock Party. They are also members of the band Fullbloods, who last year on February 26, 2016 released one of our favorite albums of the year, “Mild West” on High Dive Records. Claire Adams, Ross Brown and Jerad Tomasino join us to discuss The 6th annual Crossroads Flock Party! this Friday, June 2, at 5:00 to 11:00 PM, at 19th & Wyandotte, in KC’s Crossroads!
Claire Adams, Ross Brown, and Jerad Tomasino, Thanks for being with us on WMM.
The 6th annual Crossroads Flock Party! June 2, 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM, 19th & Wyandotte
Arc Flash 5:00 PM
Claire Adams 5:45 PM
HighWesthus 6:30 PM
The Whiffs 7:15 PM
Dreamgirl 8:00 PM
Natural Man & the
Supreme Court 8:45 PM
Reptil 9:30 PM
BLKFLANL 10:15 PM
Performances & Installations – Pop-Up Charlie’s Big Idea – Kansas City’s favorite gilded doodle wizardPop-Up Charlie will be taking your responses to one of his burning questions and giving them life on paper. Made possible by our friendly neighbors at Missouri Bank.
Escapist Skateboarding Demonstration/Free Skate – Catch some serious skating business going down right across from the main stage starring our friends from Escapist Skateboarding. Bring your deck and this completed waiver over for a free skate!
Lucia Aerial Performing Arts – Don’t look down! Witness the spectacle of Lucia Aerial Performing Arts students as they put on three late evening performances.
Free Bike Valet- Roll up to Crossroads Flock Party like a VIP and have your bike safely stored by BikeWalkKC’s Bike Valet, made possible by Boulevard Brewing Company.
Food & Drink – Grab some street food from local food joints Mildreds, The Sundry, and The Bite, then wash it all down with beer and cocktails from the Flock Party bar, made possible by our friends at recordBar.
28. Arc Flash – “Future”
from: High Dive Records presents Belly Flop / High Dive Records / April 22, 2017
[High Dive Records Complilation feturing 27 tracks from the band’s on their label including: ACBs, Bummer, Shy Boys, The Fog, Fullbloods, The Conquerors, Empty Moon, Psychic heat, Rooftop Vigilantes, Fourth of July, Organized Crimes, Ghosty, Arc Flash, The Whiffs, Sbacky, Bonzo Madrid, and PINKO. This song is also on Arc Flash’s 2017 full length, Carbon Copy, released March 31, on High Dive Records. Arc Flash are James Tomblinson on guitar & vocals and Mark Osman on drums. The duo is based in Lawrence, KS.]
29. Claire and the Crowded Stage – “Dance Rock”
from: Kamikazee / Independent / July 20, 2013
[All songs by Claire Adams. All arrangements by The Crowded Stage: Claire Adams vocals, ukulele, guitar; Katy Guillen guitar, vocals, mandolin; Brent jamison keys, vocals; Katelyn Boone bass, vocals, keys; Peter Lawless accordion, bass; Jerod Rivers percission; Stephanie Williams drums; Teri Quinn clarinet, guitar. (additional members include Ben Byard, Mark Laurer and Russell Thorpe. Tecnicolor was Recorded in Kansas City mixed at Sangha Studios by Claire Adams, mastered at Weights+Measures soundlab by Duane Trower.]
30. ANOHNI – “Watch Me”
from: HOPELESSNESS / Secretly Canadian / May 6, 2016
[ANOHNI is formerly known as Antony Hegarty or Antony, an English-born American singer, composer, and visual artist. She is best known as the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons. Anohni was born in 1970 in the city of Chichester, England. Her family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1981. In 1990, she moved to Manhattan, to study at New York University, where she founded the performance art collective Blacklips with Johanna Constantine. Entering a musical career, she began performing with an ensemble of NYC musicians as Antony and the Johnsons. Their 1st album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released in 2000 on David Tibet’s label Durtro. Their 2nd album, I Am a Bird Now (2005), was a commercial and critical success, earning Anohni the Mercury Music Prize. In 2016, Anohni became the 2nd openly transgender person nominated for an Academy Award; she was nominated for Best Original Song, along with J. Ralph, for the song “Manta Ray” in the film Racing Extinction. HOPELESSNESS, is a dance record with soulful vocals & lyrics addressing surveillance, drone warfare, and ecocide. A radical departure from the singer’s symphonic collaborations, the album seeks to disrupt assumptions about popular music through the collision of electronic sound and highly politicized lyrics. ANOHNI on vocals, beat programming, keys, piano; Daniel Lopatin on beat programming, keys; and Ross Birchard on beat programming, & keyboards.]
David Bowie
31. David Bowie – “Rebel Rebel”
from: A Reality Tour / ISO – Columbia – Legacy / January 25, 2010
[Recorded November 22-23, 2003, Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland. Originally written for a mooted Ziggy Stardust musical in late 1973, “Rebel Rebel” was Bowie’s last single in the glam rock style that had been his trademark. The song is notable for its gender-bending lyrics (“You got your mother in a whirl / She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl”) as well as its distinctive riff, which rock journalist Kris Needs has described as “a classic stick-in-the-head like the Stones’ ‘Satisfaction'”.Transsexual rock artist and former Bowie associate Jayne County claims that “Rebel Rebel” was based in part on County’s own song “Queenage Baby”, which was recorded in January 1974 by Bowie’s Mainman Records, but not released at the time. The song later surfaced on the independent 2006 release Wayne County at the Trucks, and some critics, upon hearing the track, echoed County’s claims. The 2004, live version features David Bowie – vocals, guitars, stylophone, harmonica; Earl Slick – guitar; Gerry Leonard – guitar; Gail Ann Dorsey – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Under Pressure”; Sterling Campbell – drums; Mike Garson – keyboards, piano; Catherine Russell – keyboards, percussion, acoustic guitar, backing vocals. A Reality Tour was a worldwide concert tour by David Bowie in support of the Reality album. The tour commenced on 7 October 7, 2003 at the Forum, Copenhagen, Denmark continuing through Europe, North America, Asia, including a return to New Zealand and Australia for the first time since the 1987 Glass Spider Tour. The tour grossed $46,000,000, making it the ninth-highest grossing tour of 2004. At over 110 shows, the tour was the longest tour of Bowie’s career. Bowie played Kansas City, May 10, 2004, at Starlight Theatre. I was there, seven rows from the stage.]
32. Lou Reed and John Cale – “Small Town”
from: Songs For Drella / Sire – Warner Bros. / 1990
[Dedicated to the memory of Andy Warhol, their mentor, who had died unexpectedly in 1987. Drella was a nickname for Warhol coined by Warhol Superstar Ondine, a contraction of Dracula and Cinderella, used by Warhol’s crowd. The song cycle focuses on Warhol’s interpersonal relations and experiences, with songs falling roughly into three categories: Warhol’s first-person perspective (which makes up the vast majority of the album), third-person narratives chronicling events and affairs, and first-person commentaries on Warhol by Reed and Cale themselves. The songs on the album are, to some extent, in chronological order.]
33. The Smiths – “Handsome Devil (John Peel Session 5/18/83)”
from: Hatful of Hollow / Sire / November 12, 1984
34. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]
[WMM Closing Theme]
Next week on June 7, we present The Best of MidCoastal Releases of 2017 …So Far, with special co-hosts Marion Merritt & Nico Gray, plus special guests Chase Horseman and Dwight Frizzell.
Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org
Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
http://www.kkfi.org,
http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org,
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM
Show #684
Wednesday MidDay Medley 