A new musical opens this weekend at the St. James Theater in New York: New York, New York: The Musical, based on the 1977 film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Mardik Martin and Earl Mac Rauch based on a story by Rauch. Featuring, of course, the famous title song, warbled by Frank Sinatra in 1979 (Sinatra's recording peaked at #32 in June 1980, becoming his final Top 40 hit).
That song was composed by longtime Broadway composers John Kanter and Fred Ebb. Other Kander/Ebb songs are used in the musical, along with some new ones composed by Kander with lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. And it's all directed by broadway legend Susan Stroman.
What does this have to do with the Musical Innertube? No, we don't have a stake in the musical (although we wish we did!). But we did talk with legendary Broadway music man David Loud about his career, some of which he spent working on musicals with Kander and Ebb.
The Musical Innertube - Blast from the Past - David Loud | The Musical Innertube
During that talk, David spoke about how Kander and Ebb, mostly through musical improvisation, arrived at the strangely wonderful rhymes employed by the song. Go 19 and a half minutes into the talk if you want to hear David's take on the lyrics.
More on the musical at Home - New York, New York (newyorknewyorkbroadway.com)
