DEMO SONGS
1. (They Say) It Always Hurts the First Time (2:05)
(from the 1946 musical "Is That Love I Smell?")
Vocal by Bets Malone
The prolific Grave White Way songwriter Felix Gelf, like George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, wrote some of the most beautiful love ballads ever heard on the Broadway stage. The sumptuous score for his 1946 musical "Is That Love I Smell?" contains what many consider to be Gelf's most purely romantic song.... the simple, yet profound, tune called "(They Say) It Always Hurts the First Time". 2. Chummy Chum Chum (3:24)
(from the 1940 musical "I'm Just Wilde About Oscar")
Vocals by Harry Groener and Kevin Earley
One of the Grave White Way's most daring productions, "I'm Just Wilde About Oscar", documented the true account of Oscar Wilde's imprisonment for his "relations" with British Lord Alfred Douglas. It was a politically significant show... one of the first Broadway musicals to ever deal with the subject of homosexuality. Or at least hint at it. The show cleverly eluded the subject of Wilde's sexual leanings by never mentioning the words "gay" or "homosexual" in the libretto or score. This melodic moment between Oscar and Lord Alfred could simply be interpreted as a "chummy" duet between two close friends. More savvy listeners, however, may catch wise to the hidden subtext of the lyrics. 3. Love Him More (3:50)
(from the 1959 musical "Mama's Boys")
Vocals by Valarie Pettiford, with Kirsten Benton and Bets Malone Scripted by renowned Polish historian Granczego Ziemniaki, the ambitious heart-tugger "Mama's Boys" dramatized a fictitious 1940 meeting between the mothers of Europe's three most fetching dictators... Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini. In a maternal effort to end the war, the ladies gather in Kishinev for borsch and a motherly peace attack. The song "Love Him More" is sung by Stalin's mother, the aged but lovely seamstress Ekaterina Dzuhugashvili. While her comrade mothers frown upon the childlike behavior of their little world conquerors, Ekaterina, in all her Russian wisdom, advises the ladies on handling a son. (Interesting note.... "Love Him More" was recorded by Nancy Sinatra for her 1966 album "Boots". Unfortunately, the song didn't make the final cut.) 4. Hey Helen! (3:48)
(from the 1962 musical "Hey Helen!")
Vocals by Teri Bibb and Alli Mauzey A storm of controversy confronted composer/lyricist Dickey Ernest when he decided to transform the affecting story of Helen Keller into a musical. Though both the play and film versions of "The Miracle Worker" had been enormously successful in the 1960's, perhaps the songwriter was erroneous in his assumption that "Helen Kellermania" was sweeping the country. The musical "Hey Helen!" closed on opening night. In this toe-tapping selection (the title number), Annie Sullivan, Helen's plucky dedicated teacher, has guided her pupil to a breakthrough moment. 5. Who's the New Guy? (3:07)
(from the 1970 musical "Nazareth High")
Vocals by Kevin Earley, Nikki Crawford, Bets Malone, Kirsten Benton and Stan Chandler One full year before Stephen Schwartz and Andrew Lloyd Webber would jump on the "biblical bandwagon" with their respective musicals "Godspell" and "Jesus Christ Superstar", the frenetic and inspirational rock opera "Nazareth High" opened on The Grave White Way. The musical depicted the lesser-known high school years of Jesus and his fellow students back in the class of 17 A.D, including a young chick named Mary Magdalene who has an obsessive schoolgirl crush on the "New Guy in Town". 6. My Heart is in My Chest (2:31)
(from the 1989 musical "Hiroshima Honeymoon")
Vocals by Kirsten Benton and Stan Chandler The poignant "spectacle musical" called "Hiroshima Honeymoon" was boldly operatic in its grandeur. Critics praised the show for its lush haunting score, but they were a bit harsh on the show's French lyricist, Alphonse Mont-de-Marson Saint Chatillon Louvierre, noting that his lyrics for the musical were strangely simplistic. Theatre historians dispute this claim, suggesting that Louvierre was actually making a very sly commentary on the lyrical vacuousness of certain other modern-day musicals. "Hiroshima Honeymoon" told the bittersweet tale of two mismatched lovers at the end of World War II. Cho-Anne is a Japanese fishpeddler. Christian is a cocky American bombardier. They are worlds apart, but oh so near. 7. A Merkin and Ball Medley: (6:17) Just a Fool For Broadway
Head Over Heels For Heidi
(from the 1946 musical "Is That Love I Smell?")
If You Love Me, Don't Love Me
(from the 1948 musical "Hug Me, Hamlet")
Big Brother Lullaby
(from the 1953 musical "I Sang No More in '84")
Yuba City!
(from the 1952 musical "I'll Be Jiggered!")
The Best Damn Hun in Town
(from the 1955 musical "Waltzing With Attila")
Bless the Pagan Children
(from the 1968 musical "Bless the Pagan Children")
We'll Build a Little Slaughterhouse
(from the 1957 musical "Makin' Cow Eyes")
Just a Fool For Broadway (Reprise) Vocals by Kirsten Benton, Stan Chandler, Stuart Ambrose, Bets Malone, Alli Mauzey,
Kevin Earley, Harry Groener, Teri Bibb, Nikki Crawford and Sean Smith
Perhaps no Grave White Way songwriting team was as immensely diverse as Arthur Keefe Merkin and Sidney Ball. These tuneful selections from the Merkin and Ball Songbook range from the sublime to the silly. "Head Over Heels For Heidi" is a whimsically romantic ditty, actually written in tribute to Arthur Merkin's wife, Heidi Piermont Merkin. "If You Love Me, Don't Love Me" is a fiery duet between two passionate lovers, Ham and Ophie, from the Shakespeare-inspired musical "Hug Me, Hamlet". "Big Brother Lullaby", from Merkin and Ball's adaptation of George Orwell's Utopian novel "1984", is both achingly beautiful and hauntingly foreboding. "Yuba City!" offers a rousing sung celebration of California's most exciting city (in fact, Arthur Merkin's birthplace). "The Best Damn Hun in Town" is pure farce, taken from the lighthearted charmer "Waltzing with Attila". "Bless the Pagan Children", written in the turbulent 60's, echoes the sentiments of pro-war patriots who had little empathy for "pagan" peace-loving protesters. And finally, we hear a perfect gem of a number called "We'll Build a Little Slaughterhouse" from Merkin and Ball's musical-comedy "Makin' Cow Eyes", the show that gave us one of the great female characters in American Musicals... Slaughterhouse June. The medley also opens and closes with that unforgettable, undeniably hummable Merkin and Ball anthem, "Just a Fool For Broadway". BONUS TRACK: 8. Darlin' Sally (3:49)
(from the unproduced musical "Village Idiot")
Vocal by Kevin Earley Grave White Way songwriters Poke and Larson abandoned the project "Village Idiot" in 1949 so as to devote more time to their lifelong project, a musical based on The Dead Sea Scrolls. What a pity. If the song "Darlin' Sally" is any indication of the rest of the "Village Idiot" score, the show might have been a theatrical masterpiece. The "village idiot" in question is a grizzled prospector named Slinky who rides aimlessly around town all day on a blind ass named Bucko. In one of the show's most affecting moments, Slinky curls up by a campfire and sings this gentle ballad in which he recalls a most memorable gal from his past who has forever remained in his memory... and his heart.