There are Days and There are Days

The weather couldn't have been more perfect when I awoke this morning. I celebrated the fine day with one of my favorite series. Varase Sarabande released their Unsung Musicals and Lost In Boston collections in the mid-90's. I picked up all but the second Lost In Boston and the third Unsung Musicals titles at the wonderful Sun Rose Music and Books (now apparently Sun Rose Words and Music) in Ocean City about 15 years ago.

Did the first Unsung Musicals this morning. As you can tell from the title, this series collects songs from musicals that were major flops or short-lived on Broadway, or never even made it to Broadway, and were never recorded. My favorite song from the first collection is the absolutely ravishing ballad "Starfish," from a musical version of La Strada that closed on opening night in 1969 (despite featuring Bernadette Peters in one of her her earliest roles). Other excellent numbers include the delightfully desperate sales pitch "Postcards" from a show called The Bone Room, "There are Days and There are Days" from a failed stage biopic of Jackie Robinson, "Ragtime Romeo" from the Carol Channing vehicle The Vamp, the hilarious "Sherry!" featuring Christine Baranski and Jonathan Freeman being catty, and three numbers from the flop beauty pageant show Smile - it's title song, the touching anthem "In Our Hands," and "Disneyland," the last performed by none other than "Little Mermaid" Jodi Benson.

Pretty much spent work the same way I did yesterday - outside with the carts. Fine by me. It was a sunny, breezy, gorgeous day, into the mid-70's. Couldn't be more perfect for early September in Southern New Jersey. Probably due to the weather and to most area kids starting school full-time today. the Acme was dead all morning anyway. I did briefly mop the bathroom floors (they were genuinely dirty, for once), gathered trash, and got stuck dealing with that obnoxious head manager again when I was still finishing the bathrooms and couldn't get up front to help clean a spill quick enough. (At least it was just Sprite, nothing as complicated as yesterday!)

Took the long way home down Nicholson Road. It was too nice not to linger, and it's supposed to rain later in the week. Other than slight traffic around the Wal Mart/Marshalls entrance, it was even more quiet than the Acme. Even Nicholson Road wasn't that busy. I enjoyed a quiet ride, admiring the last of the late summer flora.

Went straight into writing when I got home and changed. Leia calls Ben from a phone booth as soon as they get Luke into the hospital and Lance manages to get them rooms at the Claridge Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City (now just the Claridge Hotel). He says he's glad they're safe and tells her that, while the police did arrest some members of the Imperial Gang, most are still at large, including Vader. Leia asks him point-blank if Vader is their brother Adam. Yes, Ben says, but he'll explain it when they get back to Ocean View. It's too complicated for pay phones, and he wants Luke to hear, too. Leia tells them that they're going after Hank. Ben doesn't like it, but he knows she's going to do what she wants.

Broke at 6 for dinner. Had leftovers and sweet corn on the cob while listening to more Unsung Musicals. The second entry in the series was the first I bought, and it's been one of my favorite CDs for years. Favorite songs from this one include the title song from Roadside, the ballad "Smashing New York Times" and the witty "Lawyers" from A Broadway Musical, the adorable "Everything In the World I Love" from a musical version of The Yearling, the rousing "Beyond My Wildest Dreams" from the magic show Merlin, and the duet "The Memory of Tonight" from a musical version of Arthur that has yet to play Broadway.

Switched to Lost In Boston as I cleaned the bathroom. This one spotlights songs that were cut from musicals that actually did run in New York. I have all of this series but the third one, which I could never find then (and seems to be equally hard to find now). Favorite numbers from the second disc include the gorgeous "Thousands of Flowers" and jaunty "Guess We May As Well Stay Married Now" from I Do! I Do!, "What am I Doing Here?" from Promises, Promises, "When Messiah Comes" from Fiddler on the Roof, and the devastating anti-war ballad "Just a Map" from The Rothchilds.

Moved on to the fourth and final Lost In Boston CD as I finished the bathroom. Songs cut from little-known flops and forgotten hits are spotlighted here. By far my favorite is the opener, "Thirty Weeks of Heaven," a comic ditty about the perils of being a traveling performer from By the Beautiful Sea. (They should have kept that in. It's funnier than anything on the cast album.) Other good ones here include "A Green and Private World" from the much-loved 60's flop Drat! The Cat, "If I Can't Take It With Me" from Golidlocks, "Hots Michael On the Piano" from Working (written and performed by Remember WENN creator Rupert Holmes), "Marking Time" from Pippin, "Have a Memory On Me" from The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, and three emotional character ballads from Ballroom, "The Job Application," "Who Gave You Permission?," and "Suddenly It's You."

Finished the night on a more sober note with The Rising by Bruce Springsteen, which I put on to honor 9/11. As a life-long Bruce Springsteen fan, I picked this one up as soon as I could in 2002, and I've loved it ever since. It's probably my favorite album of his. "Lonesome Day" and the title song were the major hits, but "My City In Ruins" may have meant even more at the time. Springsteen was talking about his beloved Asbury Park, which was still in economic decline in 2001...but it equally applied to a badly shaken and damaged Lower Manhattan. My favorites are the brighter uptempo numbers "Waiting On a Sunny Day" and "Let's Be Friends (Skin to Skin)."

And yes, I do remember them the 9/11 attacks. I was beginning my last semester at Richard Stockton College (now University) when the terrorists hit. I go into more detail in this entry from 2015, Memories On a Busy Day.