Missing Neil Simon
Neil Simon died this past Sunday (Aug. 26, 2018), and his humor ran through the lives of so many of us. I'm too young to have seen Your Show of Shows, but I saw a few of his many successful plays and several of the over twenty movies for which he wrote screenplays (for some reason I particularly recall Murder by Death).
Although he never wrote any song lyrics that I know of, he did write the books for a number of musicals (and was script doctor to quite a few more), so here are some songs from some of those. RIP, Mr. Simon, you are missed.
From Sweet Charity (book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields), "There's Gotta Be Something Better than This," sung by Chita Rivera, Donna McKechnie, and Bebe Neuwirth at a one-night only concert in 1997:
Video posted by primativo7
From Promises, Promises (book by Neil Simon, music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David), "I'll Never Fall In Love Again," sung by Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes, from the 2010 revival:
Video posted by englishlit
From They're Playing Our Song (book by Neil Simon, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and music by Marvin Hamlisch), "They're Playing Our Song," sung by Robert Klein and Lucie Arnaz:
Video posted by MrPoochsmooch
***
This really isn't about Jewish Stereo Types, but I feel obliged to point out that of course Neil Simon was Jewish--and so were Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields (or at least her father certainly was), Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Marvin Hamlisch, and Carole Bayer Sager.
Although he never wrote any song lyrics that I know of, he did write the books for a number of musicals (and was script doctor to quite a few more), so here are some songs from some of those. RIP, Mr. Simon, you are missed.
From Sweet Charity (book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields), "There's Gotta Be Something Better than This," sung by Chita Rivera, Donna McKechnie, and Bebe Neuwirth at a one-night only concert in 1997:
From Promises, Promises (book by Neil Simon, music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David), "I'll Never Fall In Love Again," sung by Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes, from the 2010 revival:
From They're Playing Our Song (book by Neil Simon, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and music by Marvin Hamlisch), "They're Playing Our Song," sung by Robert Klein and Lucie Arnaz:
This really isn't about Jewish Stereo Types, but I feel obliged to point out that of course Neil Simon was Jewish--and so were Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields (or at least her father certainly was), Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Marvin Hamlisch, and Carole Bayer Sager.
What a treasure!
ReplyDelete