2004 playlists and schedule
Stage Left airs Tuesdays from 4 to 6 AM.
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Top Albums of 2003
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Top Albums of 2004
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January
- January 7 - Unfinished Business 1: Music from recent and current films that I didn't get around to playing in 2003, including Master and Commander, The Cat in the Hat, The Cooler and The Last Samurai.
- January 21 - Unfinished Business II: More new releases left over from 2003, including original cast recordings of The Boy From Oz and Wicked and new CDs from Maureen McGovern and Twiggy.
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February
- February 4 - That's Fantastic: Fantasy and science fiction on stage and screen, including a new CD of science fiction film music by Neil Norman and a two-disc set of music from Star Trek films and TV shows.
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February 18 - Black Light: My annual Black History Month show, this time featuring a historical retrospective of great black performers from the Broadway and vaudeville stages.
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March
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April
- April 14 - Jesus Christ!: All Jesus Christ Superstar, all the time.
- April 28 - Brush Up Your Shakespeare: Shakespeare's birthday is usually celebrated on April 23rd (although, like Jesus, we're not really sure when he was actually born), along with St. George's Day. Put them together and they're a good enough reason for a show of music inspired by The Bard.
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May
- May 12 - New and Improved: Another look at new releases, including the soundtrack for the new film Van Helsing, a four-disc set of music for films about World War I and II, and a disc of rare live recordings by the young Frank Sinatra.
- May 26 - The St. Louis Muse: Another edition of our recurring feature focusing on musical theatre on local stages. This time you get tracks from Gypsy (at Stages through the end of June), Jesus Christ Superstar (at the Fox through June 6th), and Carmen Jones, Oscar Hammerstein II's 1944 revision of Carmen. Opera Theatre is doing the original through June 26th. But wait, there's more: new re-releases of soundtrack recordings from Dances With Wolves (1990) and The Chase (1966).
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June
- June 9 - A Pint of Porter: A celebration of Cole Porter on the occasion of his 113th birthday; he was born on June 9th, 1891.
- June 23 - Now Showing: This time it's a dip into the bin of new soundtrack recordings and a look at what's up on some local musical theatre stages.
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July
- July 7 - New and Improved: Another program of new releases, concentrating on music from the Broadway stage.
- July 21 - What's New: Another program of new releases, including the new musical Caroline, or Change - with book and lyrics by Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and music by Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie) - and the soundtrack for the new film The Door in the Floor. I'll also be playing songs from some of the musicals on local stages, including Pippin, The Sound of Music and Cinderella.
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August
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September
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October
- October 6 - The 20th Century Limited: For the fall pledge drive, a show featuring tracks from an upcoming 5-disc set
of Broadway's greatest hits, issued as a companion volume to a three-part PBS
series.
- October 13 - Peace Out: St. Louis theatre producer and playwright Joan Lipkin is my special guest for a program of songs about war and peace in celebration of Peace Out! An Artistic Resistance to War, a festival of anti-war performances based on texts by the group Poets Against the War, among other things. It takes place on Sunday, October 16th, from 7 PM to midnight at Center of Creative Arts (COCA), 524 Trinity Avenue in St. Louis.
- October 20 - Arms and the Man: In this Encore Performance (sounds nicer than "re-run") from January of 2003, I present music from then-recent war films. One of them (K-19: The Widowmaker) recounts what happens when domestic political considerations are allowed to trump real-world military judgement. Could there be a lesson there?
- October 27 - Spooks on Stage: The annual Hallowe'en show.
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November
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November 3 - The Country's in the Very Best of Hands:
Some observations on elections, politics and the like in the wake of the U.S.A.
presidential elections. And yes, the title is definitely ironic.
- November 10 - New and Improved: It's another encore performance, this time from March 17th, 2004: a program of (then) new releases, plus a couple of tunes from shows on local stages at the time.
- November 17 - What's New: More new releases, including the latest from St. Louis' own Craig Rubano.
- November 23 - Thanks for the Turkeys: Favorite failures from Broadway as the show expands to two hours and moves to a new time slot: 4 to 6 AM Tuesdays.
- November 30 - Now Showing: Some new and rather odd soundtrack recordings, including music from the animated series Battle of the Planets, a two-disc set of music and dialogue from 20 years of Carry On.. films, and new recordings of Ennio Morricone film music. The Storytime segment this week is the first chapter of Alice in Wonderland, read and sung by Cyril Ritchard, with music by Alec Wilder.
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December
- December 7 - It's a Mystery to Me: Inspired by the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis production of the musical version of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, it's a program of songs about crime, punishment and private eyes - including some tunes from Drood, of course. The Storytime segment is chapter two of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I also celebrate the birthdays of Walt Disney (December 5th 1901), Louis Prima {December 7th, 1911) and Frank Sinatra (December 12th, 1915).
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December 14 - Spiked!:
My annual Spike Jones birthday show (Spike was born on December 14th, 1911), with Musical Depreciation for all, including the City Slickers' version of Bizet's
Carmen.
- December 21 - We Need a Little Christmas: A program of Christmas cheer from the stage, screen and cabaret, including more than a little bit of holiday insanity from the likes of Stan Freburg, Spike Jones, and Tom Lehrer. But wait, there's more: a Frank Zappa birthday tribute (Frank was born on December 21st 1940). Don't be surprised if somebody slips Everclear into the punch.
- December 28 - Cocktails for Two: Or four, or maybe more. Happy new year!
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Questions? Comments? Write to Chuck Lavazzi at chuck@stageleft.org
www.kdhx.org
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