Songs of Broadway

Venue: Wang Gungwu Theatre
Date: 29 March, 2019 (Friday)

29 March (Friday), 6:30PM

Free Admission

This concert marks the third annual collaboration between Musica Viva and The University of Hong Kong Graduate House in presenting a free performance of the world’s best-loved songs for the enjoyment of members of the University community and the general public. Following ‘Songs of Italy’ (2017) and ‘Carnival of Songs’ (2018), the theme of this year’s concert is ‘Broadway Songs’ offering a rich selection of some of the most beautiful and popular tunes from the immensely successful hit shows of the Golden Age of Broadway musical comedies which originated from the Theatre District of Central Manhattan, New York City.

Programme

Annie Get Your Gun

Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. First production 1946. Winner of Tony Award for best revival in 1999.

1. There’s No Business Like Show Business

Annie Oakley is a brilliant sharp-shooter with her rifle. Members of the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Company persuade her to join their show.

Ensemble:
Phoebe Tam, soprano
Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano
Samuel Huang, tenor
Sammy Chien, baritone

2. Anything You Can Do

Annie falls in love with her rival sharp-shooter Frank Butler, but their egos often clash with each claiming to be better than the other. Eventually Annie deliberately loses to Frank in a shooting match and wins her man.

Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano
Sammy Chien, baritone

The King and I

Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. First production 1951. Tony Award for Best Musical, Best Actress and Best Actor, also an Academy Award for Yul Brynner as best actor in the film version of 1956.

3. Hello, Young Lovers

Young English widow Anna Leonowens is employed by the King of Siam to teach English and Western ideas to the royal family. She recalls her happy days of love with her late husband Tom.

Phoebe Tam, soprano

4. We Kiss in a Shadow

The King of Siam has accepted the shave girl Tuptim as a gift from the King of Burma. Tuptim is escorted to Bangkok by the young officer Lun Tha and they fall in love. They must, however, meet secretly and conceal their love from everyone, especially Tuptim’s new master, the King.

Phoebe Tam, soprano
Samuel Huang, tenor

The Pajama Game

Music and lyrics jointly by Richard Adler and Jay Ross. First production 1954. Tony Award for Best Musical 1954 and Best Revival 2006.

5. Hernando’s Hideaway

Gladys is secretary to the President and keeps the Rey to the accounts of a pajama factory in which the workers’ union is planning a strike to fight for a wage rise. She and Hines, the efficiency expert, are romantically attracted to each other. He wants to take her out for the evening. Gladys suggests going to the night club Hernando’s Hideaway.

Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano

6. There Once was a Man

Sid, the new superintendent of the pajama factory, and Babe, a leader of the worker’s union that is staging a strike, are falling in love despite the fact that they one on opposite sides of the love dispute. Here, they declare their affection passionately.

Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano
Samuel Huang, tenor

Kismat

Music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest based on themes of Alexander Borodin. First production 1953. Winner of Tony Award for Best Musical 1954.

7. Stranger in Paradise

The beautiful Marsinah visits a garden in old Bagdad and meets the young Caliph in disguise as a gardener. They sing this love duet that describes the transcendent feelings which love brings to their surroundings.

Phoebe Tam, soprano
Samuel Huang, tenor

8. And this is my Beloved

Marsinah is deeply in love with the Caliph. She tells her father about her beloved and the wonderful feeling being together with him.

Phoebe Tam, soprano

South Pacific

Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. First production 1949. Winner og 10 Tony Awards including the Best Musical, the Best Score and the Best Libretto.

9. Bali Ha’i

Bali Ha’i is a mystical island visible on the horizon but not reachable and is believed to be an exotic paradise. The matriarch of Bali Ha’i, and nick-named Bloody Mary, sings this mysterious song to naval officer Joseph enticing him to visit her island and meet her daughter.

Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano

10. Some Enchanted Evening

Emile, a French expatriate plantation owner on a South Pacific island, falls in love with Nellie, a young American navy nurse. He sings of his hope to see her again, hearing her laughter, and dreaming of it.

Sammy Chien, baritone

My Fair Lady

Music by Frederick Loewe, lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. First production 1956. Winner of Tony Awards for Best Musical 1957 and ten other categories.

11. I Could Have Dance All Night

Flower girl Eliza Doolittle has successfully learned how to speak and act as an upper-class lady. She expresses her exhilaration and excitement in the small hours of the morning, reluctant to go to bed.

Phoebe Tam, soprano

12. On the Street Where You Live

At a race meeting at Ascot, Freddy Eynsford-Hill, a high society young man, is fascinated by charm of Eliza. He visits the house where she loves and sings of his infatuation with her.

Samuel Huang, tenor

The Sound of Music

Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. First production 1959. Winner of Tony Awards for Best Musical 1960 and seven other categories.

13. The Sound of Music

This is the title song of the musical which introduces the principal character of Maria, a young novice in an Austrian abbey, singing of the joy she finds in nature among the hills and woods around the nunnery near Salzburg.

Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano

14. Edelweiss

Captain von Trapp is leaving his beloved Austria to avoid being forced to join the navy of Nazi Germany. Before his departure, he sings this song with his family as an expression of patriotism, using edelweiss the white flower as a symbol of his loyalty to his homeland.

Sammy Chien, baritone

West Side Story

Music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondhem. First production 1957. Film version of 1961 won 10 Academy Awards.

15. America

Young Puerto Rican immigrants argue among themselves over the good and bad qualities of American verses Puerto Rican life.

Ensemble:
Phoebe Tam, soprano
Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano
Samuel Huang, tenor
Sammy Chien, baritone

16. I Feel Pretty

Maria works in a bridal shop. She sings about being happy and feeling beautiful because she is loved by a wonderful boy, Tony.

Phoebe Tam, soprano

17. Maria

Young Jewish-American boy Tony sings this song when he learns the name of the Puerto Rican girl, he has fallen in love with is ‘Maria’. He calls out the name joyfully as he wanders around the streets in town.

Sammy Chien, baritone

18. Tonight

On the night of the dance in the community hall, Tony and Maria meet for the first time and they fall in love instantly. Tony visits Maria’s home afterwards and they meet again on the fire escape staircase in the back alley, singing together of the joy of first love.

Phoebe Tam, soprano
Samuel Huang, tenor

19. Somewhere

This song is sung off-stage by a female singer in the show. At the very end when Tony is shot, Maria sings the first few lines of the songs as he dies in her arms, signifying the hope that their love will survive somehow, someday, somewhere.

Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano

Man of La Mancha

Music by Mitch Leigh, lyrics by Joe Darion. First production 1965. Tony Award for Best Musical 1965 and four other awards.

20. I, Don Quixote

This is the first song of the show in which the author Miguel de Cervantes puts on makeup and costumes to assume the character of Don Quixote de la Mancha, knight-errant, ready to set out to find adventures.

Sammy Chien, baritone

21. What Does He Want of Me?

Don Quixote, in this delusions, addresses the servant girls Adonza as a noble lady, Dulcinca. This causes her to wonder, in puzzlement, what Quixote really wants of her.

Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano

22. The Impossible Dream

Exasperated, Adonza asks Quixote why he does the things he does. He replies that he must follow the Quest, and sings this signature song, ‘The Impossible Dream’, which is reprised at the end of the show by all actors on stage.

Ensemble:
Phoebe Tam, soprano
Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano
Samuel Huang, tenor
Sammy Chien, baritone