Hil-la-ry! Lemme tell ya about the big Broadway For Hillary show that happened last Monday, October 17. While I was on the 半岛体育 cruise in Italy, I got a message from Richie Jackson who鈥檚 married to Jordan Roth (who runs the Jujamcyn Theaters). Richie asked me if I鈥檇 music direct a big fundraiser for Hillary and I said 鈥淪i鈥� (I was in Italy). P.S. Richie鈥檚 a big time TV producer now (Nurse Jackie), but when we first met we were at Usdan, a summer arts day camp, and we were majoring in musical theatre. That was the year he starred as the Bird in The Robber Bridegroom, and I was one of 25 children finding our inner angst performing Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living in Paris. I remember my joyful (?) solo in 鈥淥ld Folks.鈥�
鈥淭he old folks never die鈥�
they just put down their heads and go to sleep one day.
They hold each other鈥檚 hand鈥�
like children in the dark鈥�
but one will get lost anyway.鈥� Fun! (Still devastated).
Anyhoo, Michael Mayer was slotted as director and thus began a lot of emails between us and the Harvey Weinstein office鈥攚ho was producing. I got to write some fun vocal arrangements and got together great back-up singers for the opening and closing number, plus a children鈥檚 choir who sang backup for Bernadette Peter鈥檚 鈥淐hildren Will Listen.鈥� On the day of the event, I took the red-eye from Vegas, which gave me a delicious three hours of sleep. I was so nervous I was gonna crash during the actual performance, but the fear of doing the show in front of mega-stars while livestreaming across the globe kept me in a panic-induced wakeful state.
First came the fabulous opening number, performed by Billy Crystal and ensemble and co-written by Billy and Marc Shaiman (and Sondheim!) to the tune of 鈥淐omedy Tonight.鈥� For your reading pleasure. Try singing it鈥ike I used to do reading the song parodies in MAD magazine.
鈥�HILLARY TONIGHT!鈥� Sung to the tune of 鈥淐omedy Tonight鈥�
SOMETHING DRAMATIC AND DEMOCRATIC SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE IT鈥橲 HILLARY TONIGHT!
SOMEONE APPEALING
NO ONE APPALLING
SOMEONE FOR EVERYONE
IT鈥橲 HILLARY TONIGHT!
NOTHING WITH TRUMP
NOTHING WITH PENCE
THEY WOULD MAKE
JOSEPH STALIN FEEL TENSE
JUST CLINTON LEADING
JUST TRUMP RECEDING
WE HAVE TO BANISH THE ALT-RIGHT
FOR OUR KIDS TOMORROW
HILLARY TONIGHT!
NO ONE PATHETIC
OR ANTI-SEMITIC
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
IT鈥橲 HILLARY TONIGHT!
NO RACIST BAITING
NO MUSLIM HATING
PANTSUITS FOR EVERYONE!
IT鈥橲 HILLARY TONIGHT!
NO BORDER WALLS
NO RUSSIAN HACKS
EVERYONE HERE
HAS PAID FEDERAL TAX
NO BLOWHARD BLABBING
NO WOMAN GRABBING
I鈥橫 SENSING VICTORY鈥橲 IN SIGHT
GIVE IT UP FOR BROADWAY
AND HILLARY TONIGHT!
Ensemble
SOMEONE REALISTIC
Billy
NOT MISOGYNISTIC
Billy & Ensemble
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
IT鈥橲 HILLARY TONIGHT!
Ensemble
NO PAYMENT STIFFING
Billy
WHY IS TRUMP SNIFFING??
Billy & Ensemble
STRONGER TOGETHER CAUSE
IT鈥橲 HILLARY TONIGHT!
Ensemble
BRING ON THE STARS
ALL AT THEIR PEAK
Billy
THEN FOR A NAP
TIM KAINE'S GONNA SPEAK!
Ensemble
ALTO AND TENOR
Billy
NO CAITLYN JENNER
NO ORANGE FACE TO GIVE A FRIGHT!
Ensemble
LIBERALS AND BERNIES!
Billy
LOTSA GAY ATTORNEYS!
Ensemble
NO CIRCUS ACTS AND BARKERS
Billy (as SJP & Matthew step out and back)
JUST BRODERICKS AND PARKERS
Ensemble
PERENNIALS!
Billy
MILLENNIALS!
Ensemble
HUNGARIANS!
Billy
LIBERTARIANS!
COURAGE!
Ensemble
LOVE!
Billy
STRENGTH!
Ensemble
FERVOR!
Billy
NOT ONE GODDAMN EMAIL SERVER!
Billy & Ensemble
NO SHIRTLESS THREAT ON PUTIN鈥橲 HORSE,
AND A HAPPY ENDING, OF COURSE!
Billy
NO ONE NEGATING!
NO ONE DEBATING!
LET鈥橲 RAISE BIG BUCKS SO WE CAN FIGHT
FOR A GOOD TOMORROW
Ensemble
HILLARY, HILLARY, HILLARY, HILLARY
Billy
HILLARY!
Billy & Ensemble
TONIGHT!!!
There were so many fantastic moments, but off the top of my head, highlights included Sarah Jessica Parker singing 鈥淭omorrow鈥� with Andrea McArdle. I remember Sarah telling me about when she first began doing Annie on Broadway. She was cast as one of the orphans as well as the Annie understudy and on her first night as an orphan, they told her she was actually going on for Annie! It was during the big snowstorm of 1978 and Andrea McArdle was taking a train up from Philly, where she鈥檚 from. The Amtrak was super-late because of the blizzard so they told Sarah she had to go on. Sarah, of course, wanted more time before she had to perform the title role (!!!!) and thankfully, they decided to hold the curtain way past 8 PM until the Amtrak arrived and Sarah was spared. The giddiness Sarah feels when Andrea sings is so wonderful. She鈥檚 still that 12-year-old girl obsessed with that original Bway kid belter.
During rehearsal, she kept looking over her head and back to me at the piano with a crazy smile on her face. Speaking of Andrea, here鈥檚 Andrea, Lilla Crawford and me doing a super fun 鈥淥bsessed鈥� that ends with both of them singing 鈥楾omorrow鈥� and sounding amazing!
Lin-Manuel Miranda called me on Sunday when I was in Vegas and told me he was gonna rewrite 鈥淭he World Was Wide Enough鈥� for the benefit to be about Hillary鈥檚 accomplishments. I thought I鈥檇 get a list of lyrics from him and figure out how they fit in the song. Turns out, when my plane landed Monday early AM I checked my email and found that he had sent me the new lyrics鈥lus a fully produced demo on the song! I was so crazily impressed/inspired. He just keeps creating. After listening, all I wanted to do was write a book and/or a Broadway musical ASAP.
P.S. So far I鈥檝e done neither, but I鈥檓 sure Lin is doing punch-ups on the Act II finale of whatever new show he鈥檚 written over the last week. Lin and Ren茅e Elise Goldsberry couldn鈥檛 be at tech and, during the actual benefit, Lin had to come late because it was the same night as the debut of the Hamilton documentary he was screening. During intermission, I met with Ren茅e backstage, and then Lin ran in to the dressing room where we were. We all talked through what the introduction was gonna be and tried it a cappella. Lin had just written it so he didn鈥檛 have it memorized and was relying on the teleprompter. But since he couldn鈥檛 come to the tech, he鈥檇 be reading the teleprompter for the first time during the actual performance. And there were a lot of lyrics. Thankfully, it turned out amazing and when I spoke to Ren茅e after the fundraiser, she told me that just from that two-minute performance, so many people were affected. She keeps getting emails from young people who weren鈥檛 planning on voting (!) but now are gonna vote. Yes to the arts changing lives! Watch this and VOTE!
YES debut new, perfect lyrics: "Anybody here wanna shatter a glass ceiling?!"
— Ashley Lee (@cashleelee)
Hillary was campaigning last Monday, so she was there via video message, but there were other Clintons there: specifically Chelsea and Bill! It was so fantastic. The band was onstage, so I was like ten feet in back of Bill the entire time he spoke. Here鈥檚 a picture of me listening/staring creepily.
And here is Bill with Cynthia Erivo:
The first near-mishap of the event happened early in the week leading up to it. I heard from various sources involved with the show that the Cynthia Erivo was going to sing the Judy Garland version of 鈥淏attle Hymn of the Republic.鈥� It鈥檚 fabulous! Watch:
I sent the sheet music and video to the amazing Cameron Moncur, who was doing our orchestrations, and spoke to Cynthia on Tuesday to figure out if she did it in Judy鈥檚 key. Well, it was correct that she was singing 鈥淏attle Hymn鈥� but she only knew the Whitney Houston version! Stop the orchestration ASAP! Luckily, ADD-style, I hadn鈥檛 yet started doing the vocal arrangement. I listened to the Whitney version and LOVED it, but there is no ending. It just fades out. I came out with a second half to the song that went into an old-school gospel feel and a big sassafrass ending, sent it to Cynthia, and she loved it. I鈥檓 going to see if I can find our version somewhere online so I can deconstruct it. She sounded amazing!
Anyway, the point is, the crisis was diverted. THEN: I got word that Anne Hathaway was planning on singing the 鈥淗appy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy鈥� Judy Garland/Barbra Streisand duet, and I was told to get a sassy singer to do Judy鈥檚 part. I texted Kelli O鈥橦ara, who was very excited but didn鈥檛 really know the song. She said she鈥檇 get right on learning the Judy part. Here鈥檚 the original duet:
Well, cut to the day of the show and it鈥檚 now almost the end of rehearsal. The last song to be sound checked was the duet. I meet Anne Hathaway for the first time and she and Kelli come to the piano. I play the introduction and I hear
Anne and Kelli: 鈥淔orget your troubles, come on get happy鈥︹�
Yes. Both ladies learned the Judy Garland part!
O-M to the G! This was an actual instance of the overused term 鈥渕iscommunication.鈥� I had gotten the missive that Anne wanted to do 鈥淕et Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again鈥� but not the correct info on what song she was going to sing in the duet! Kelli immediately volunteered to learn it even though she really didn鈥檛 know it. Anne was helping her learn it by singing each phrase to her. Anne would sing Barbra鈥檚 part and Kelli would echo her. Finally, Anne realized that she knew the Barbra part perfectly, and she volunteered to sing it. And it wound up being one of the biggest highlights of the whole night!
SEE PHOTOS FROM BROADWAY FOR HILLARY:
P.S. I know some people are asking where the H does this money go. Basically TV/internet ads to promote what the Democratic party stands for (gun control, marriage equality, care for the environment, women鈥檚 rights etc) and to pay for canvassers across the country who are making phone calls and literally knocking on people鈥檚 doors.
I had the amazing lyricist Carole Bayer Sager on Seth Speaks, my SiirusXM show. She just had her autobiography published called They鈥檙e Playing My Song, and it鈥檚 great. Boy, she鈥檚 written so many incredible songs! 鈥淐ome In From the Rain,鈥� 鈥淎rthur鈥檚 Theme (Best That You Can Do),鈥� 鈥淭hat鈥檚 What Friends Are For,鈥� 鈥淢idnight Blue,鈥� and so many more!
She told me that she was a teacher back in the 鈥�60s as well as working as a lyricist. She said she remembers hearing demo tapes of a certain composer who鈥檇 always sing her own songs before they were given to the pop singers of the 鈥�60s to record. Carole was always so impressed with that composer鈥檚 voice and thought she should record her own songs instead of giving them to others. That composer was鈥arole King! Brava! Carole (Bayer Sager鈥檚) first hit was 鈥淕roovy Kind of Love,鈥� and when the song became big she got a check for $34,000. She loved the cash but told us that she was struck by the inequity of it. She was a schoolteacher making $5200 a year and teaching was really hard. Yet, she wrote the song in a very short amount of time and made six times that amount! She decided to write more songs, but it took a decade until she was successful again鈥攁nd that was a decade later with Melissa Manchester. She wrote lots of Melissa鈥檚 biggest hits including the one Roger Bart sang in Disaster!.. 鈥淒on鈥檛 Cry Out Loud,鈥� which bizarrely is actually called 鈥�We Don鈥檛 Cry Out Loud.鈥� Who knew? I found this clip of Melissa singing it and sounding great, and, since the song mentions a clown and a tightrope, Melissa is supported (upstaged?) by a bevy of clowns as well as someone struggling on a tightrope. And, holy cow, it鈥檚 relentless.
Carole also described meeting Marvin Hamlisch for the first time. She was dressed in jeans and a casual top, and he was in three-piece suit. But, Melissa said, a three-piece suit was his version of jeans and a casual top. They had been placed together by a record executive to see if they could write as a team. Marvin told her that even if it didn鈥檛 work out that day, they could meet later on because he was on his way to Europe to score a James Bond movie. She immediately told him she always wanted to write a song for James Bond film and, in the spur of the moment, told him she would call it 鈥淣obody Does It Better.鈥� He perked up and played a melody to that lyric and that鈥檚 how they started writing that mega hit! She immediately thought that the perfect voice to do it would be Carly Simon because she has that earthy sexiness and the result was this:
Marvin and Carole soon became a couple, and as Carole told me about her first meeting I immediately said 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the first scene in They鈥檙e Playing Our Song! If you don鈥檛 know, Neil Simon was Marvin Hamlisch鈥檚 neighbor, and while he and Marvin were working on musicalizing The Gingerbread Lady, Marvin would tell Neil what it was like being a composer living with a lyricist. Marvin told me that one day a script appeared on his doorstep. As he read it, he realized it was The Gingerbread Lady musical. Instead, Neil took some of Marvin鈥檚 private stories and scripted them out! First, Marvin was like, 鈥淗ow dare he!鈥濃hen he was like, 鈥淲ait鈥his is good!鈥� And it was. It ran for a long time on Broadway, and a few years ago Sutton Foster and I got to do a one-night concert version for the Actors Fund. Here鈥檚 a li鈥檒 video of rehearsal:
In other news, I鈥檓 doing Deconstructing Broadway this Saturday in Los Angeles at Largo. Get your tickets .
In honor of Lillias White (from the original How to Succeed...) doing Ma Rainey鈥檚 Black Botton in Los Angeles鈥攚here I鈥檓 heading鈥攁nd Matthew Broderick singing at the Hillary benefit, here鈥檚 a deconstruction:
