Back-Pocket Songs
I’m sure it’s been done before. But just for me, right here, I’m publicly drafting a list of songs that I, as a theatre pianist, feel I should have in my back pocket.
Collaborative pianists who specialize in opera have all played Mozart’s Sull’aria, Puccini’s Quando m’en vo, and Verdi’s Brindisi countless times. Pianists who specialize in MT should be equally familiar with Sondheim’s Children Will Listen, Lerner and Loewe’s I Could Have Danced All Night, and R&H’s My Favorite Things. And don’t even get me started on contemporary theatre music…yet.
Because the potential scope of a list of all standard MT songs is unimaginably large, I will confine this list to songs that (for me, at least) need preparation (i.e., I can’t sight-read them at performance level). Instead, my plan is to have them almost performance ready and brush-up as needed when the situation calls for it.
This list will surely evolve in the coming years. Thanks for your patience, understanding, and abiding love for music.
Jerome Kern
George Gershwin
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe
John Kander and Fred Ebb
Leonard Bernstein
Glitter And Be Gay
Something’s Coming
Maria
Jule Styne
Stephen Sondheim
(Not) Getting Married Today
William Finn
Jason Robert Brown
Stars and the Moon
A Summer In Ohio
I Can Do Better Than That