SHOW-STOPPERS

 It is called “bringing the House down”, those magical moments in the breathless theatrical auditorium or viewing the thrilling silver screen from the back stalls, when you shout “Encore!”, clap madly and cherish the musical moment forever. You may in time retreat to your bath (like Bertie Wooster who favoured Sonny Boy) and lustily sing your own medley of Songs from the Shows to your heart’s content, though to the possible pain of your wife, family and neighbours.

I will not dwell on the venerable show-stoppers like Mozart’s Voi Che Sapete from Figaro or I’ve Got a little List from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado. My focus is on the 20^th century offerings from musical comedies, movies or pop concerts. You will all have your own special favourites and I suggest you produce your own personal nostalgically tear-stained song-sheets at once and run your bath.

Sometimes the show-stopper is just a catchy tune. I recall as a very young lad in 1948 seeing Dolores Gray in the London production of Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun at the Coliseum. She thrilled us all with Doin’ what Comes Natur’lly

Folks are dumb where I come from,
They ain't had any learning.
Still they're happy as can be
Doin' what comes naturally (doin' what comes naturally).

 Later in 1957 a similar simple catchy tune was the making of early rock star toothy Cockney Tommy Steele whose Singing the Blues had all Britain whistling.

More often the show-stoppers were wildly romantic and the lyrics were OTT. My dear Mother swooned at Mario Lanza belting out, tonsils a-quivering, Sammy Cahn’s Be my Love in the 1950 movie The Toast of New Orleans.

Mario Lanza - Be My Love

Be my Love, and with your kisses set me burning;

One kiss is all I need to seal my fate,

And, hand-in-hand, we'll find love's promised land.

            There'll be no one but you for me, eternally,

            If you will be my Love.

 

The same kind of genre is illustrated by the hugely popular Love is a Many-splendored Thing from 1955, on the soundtrack of a pretty dull movie

Once on a high and windy hill
In the morning mist two lovers kissed and the world stood still
Then your fingers touched my silent heart and taught it how to
sing
Yes, true love's a many splendored thing.

But the greatest show-stoppers are from the wonderful era of Hollywood musicals. Top Hat (1935) has two unforgettable Irving Berlin moments. My own favourite is Fred and Ginger singing and dancing Isn’t it a Lovely Day to be Caught in the Rain?

Let the rain pitter patter
But it really doesn't matter
If the skies are grey
Long as I can be with you it's a lovely day

Fred and Ginger caught in the Rain

 Even more famous is the supremely elegant song and dance sequence with Fred singing, in his delightful light tenor, Cheek to Cheek and Ginger twirling in an ostrich feather confection.

Heaven, I'm in Heaven,
And the cares that hung around me thro' the week
Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak
When we're out together dancing, cheek to cheek.

Fred and Ginger Cheek to Cheek

 Fred Astaire did it again, this time with Judy Garland, in yet another Berlin hit, the 1948 Easter Parade when they both entranced us with A Couple of Swells.

We would sail up the Avenue, but we haven't got a yacht
We would drive up the Avenue, but the horse we had was shot
We would ride on a trolley car but we haven't got the fare
So we'll walk up the Avenue Yes, we'll walk up the Avenue
Yes, we'll walk up the Avenue till we're there.

Fred and Judy Garland - A Couple of Swells

 The 1950s were vintage show-stopping years, as who could resist the lushly romantic 1958 Lerner and Loewe song Gigi sung by Louis Jourdan amid the beauties of Paris?

Gigi, while you were trembling on the brink
Was I out yonder somewhere blinking at a star?
Oh Gigi, have I been standing
Up too close or back too far?

Musicals are not only fun and love; there is often a more solemn story-line and that is where the anthem type of song comes in. A classic is Jerome Kern’s Ol’ Man River, made most famous by Paul Robeson in the 1936 movie version of Show Boat.

Ah gits weary
An' sick of tryin'
Ah'm tired of livin'
An' skeered of dyin',
But ol' man river,
He jes'keeps rolling' along.

A more comic anthem was that sung by Stubby Kaye in the 1953 London production of Lerner and Loewe’s Guys and Dolls. His performance as Nicely-Nicely Johnson singing Sit Down your Rockin’ the Boat at a Salvation Army mission earned him encore after encore.

Stubby Kaye rocks the Boat

For the people all said beware
You're on a heavenly trip
People all said beware
Beware, you'll scuttle the ship.
And the devil will drag you under
By the fancy tie 'round your wicked throat
Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down
Sit down, you're rockin' the boat

I could go on much longer but I am sure you get my old-fashioned flavour. I loved other show-stoppers too like Edith Piaf launching into Je ne Regrette Rien or Abba’s peerless disco-anthem Dancing Queen; yes, I was one of those old fogies dancing in the aisle at Mama Mia! …and loving it.

I finish with my all-time great show-stopper, You’ll Never Walk Alone from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1945 Carousel.

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of the lark

Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on walk on with hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone.

The 1956 movie version has the hero Billy Bigelow climbing a celestial staircase to return to Heaven, with the surging song taken up by an angelic choir. It is a highly emotional moment and it has a particular poignancy for Liverpool Football Club currently, whose beloved anthem it is.

Liverpool supporters Never Walk Alone

        

SMD

17.09.12

 Text Copyright Sidney Donald 2012