Broadway Legacy, 1930-1947:
Girl Crazy to Brigadoon

A Celebration of the American Musical Stage

Celebrate a century of one of America’s greatest contributions to the world of art - the Broadway musical - through word and song with Michael Ballam.

Possessing a PhD in Music History and Literature, Dr. Ballam has performed on the major stages of America and Europe in a vast repertoire that spans every form of the musical stage, from Broadway shows such as “Carousel,” “Oliver,” “West Side Story,” “Man of La Mancha,” “Stop the World,” and “Paint Your Wagon” through operettas including “Merry Widow,” “Mikado,” “Pirates of Penzance,” and “Die Fledermaus,” to grand opera such as “Carmen,” “La Boheme,” “La Traviata,” and “Madame Butterfly.”

Survey the development of one of the most fertile fields of art, planted and cultivated on American soil, through the passionate perspective of this consummate performing historian.

Includes excerpts from the following:

Tape Three- Girl Crazy to Babes in Arms (1930-1937)

Lyricists/Composers: Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Kurt Weil, Rodgers and Hart

Shows: “Girl Crazy,” “Bandwagon,” “Gay Divorcée,” “Roberta,” “Anything Goes,” “Porgy and Bess,” “Jumbo,” “Babes in Arms”

Songs: Embraceable You, I Got Rhythm, The Song Is You, I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star, Night and Day, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Summertime, Begin the Beguine, My Funny Valentine, September Song

Tape Four - The Boys from Syracuse to Brigadoon (1938-1947)

Lyricists/Composers: Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers, Kurt Weill, Leonard Bernstein, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe, Wright and Forrest

Shows: “Pal Joey,” “Oklahoma,” “Song of Norway,” “On the Town,” “Carousel,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Brigadoon”

Songs: My Heart Belongs to Daddy, Bewitched, Oh What a Beautiful Morning, People Will Say We’re in Love, Strange Music, New York, New York, If I Loved You, Come Rain or Come Shine, There’s No Business Like Show Business, Come to Me Bend to Me, How Are Things in Glocca Morra?