Broadway Beat

Mrs. Bedrowsky

Shrisha: Do you hear that beat? It’s the sound of people entering the theater on the most famous street in the world.

Carly B: Do you hear that beat? It’s the sound of dancing feet and orchestras tuning up.

Nicholas D: Do you hear that beat? It’s the sound of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Radhika P: Lerner and Lowe, Webber and Rice.

Samantha T: Stephen Sondheim and Stephen Schwartz

Daniel: It’s the sound of Rent, Wicked, Hairspray and Grease!!

Reyan N: Do you hear that beat? It’s the sound that dreams are made of.

Morgan K: Do you hear that beat? It’s the sound of Broadway!

Samantha M and Reed L: And nobody can stop it!

Song 1: WeGot the Beat/You Can’t Stop the Beat! (from Hairspray)

You Can’t Stop The Beat

You can't stop an avalanche as it races down the hill
You can try to stop the seasons, girl, but you know you never will
And you can try to stop my dancin' feet, but I just cannot stand still!
'Cause the world keeps spinnin' round and round
And my heart's keepin' time to the speed of sound
I was lost 'til I heard the drums, and I found my way
'Cause you can't stop the beat

See the people walking down the street
Fall in line just watching all their feet
They don't know where they wanna go
But they're walking in time
They got the beat
They got the beat
They got the beat, yeah
They got the beat

Go-go music really makes us dance
Do the pony puts us in a trance
Do watusi just give us a chance
That's when we fall in line
'Cause we got the beat
We got the beat
We got the beat, yeah
We got it
We got the beat
We got the beat
We got the beat
Everybody get on your feet
We got the beat
We know you can dance to the beat
We got the beat
Jumpin',get down
We got the beat
Round and round and round
We got the beat
We got the beat...

****Ever since this whole world began
A woman found out if she shook it, she could shake up a man
And so I'm gonna shake and shimmy it the best that I can today
'Cause you can't stop the motion of the ocean or the sun in the sky
You can wonder if you wanna, but I'll never ask why
And if you try to hold me down, I'm gonna spit in your eye and say
That You Can't Stop the Beat!
You can’t stop today as it comes speeding down the track

Child, yesterday is histry and it’s never coming back

Cause tomorrow is a brand new day and it don’t know white from black

Cause the world keeps spinnin round and round
And my heart's keepin time to the speed of sound
I was lost 'til I heard the drums, then I found my way
Cause you can't stop the beat!
Ever since this whole world began
A woman found out if she shook it she could shake up a man
So I'm gonna shake and shimmy it the best that I can today!
Cause you can't stop the motion of the ocean or the sun in the sky
You can wonder if you wanna but I'll never ask why
And if you try to hold me down, I'm gonna spit in your eye and say
That you can't stop the beat!

you can't stop the beat

Ms. Osborn

Lindsay B: That’s right! You can’t stop the beat on Broadway!

Nathan A: Speaking of Broadway, do you know who was known as “The father of American musical comedy?”

Helen: Why sure! That was George M. Cohan.

Syd: That’s right! Do you know what the “M” stands for?

Helen: Ummmm. Maestro?

Syd: Nope!

Isaac: Mario?

Syd: Hardly!

Madeline: Marcello?

Syd: Not even close. George M. Cohan was a playwright, composer, entertainer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer. (takes a BIG breath)

Kelsey F: Marcus?

Haeley: His first big hit was Little Johnny Jones, a story about an American jockey who went to England to ride his horse Yankee Doodle in the Derby.

Connor: Macaroni?

Yasi S: So, here is our salute to Mr. George “Michael” Cohan.

Helen: Michael!! I knew that. I knew that!!

Song 2: Give my Regards to George M. Cohan

Give my regards to Broadway
Remember me to Herald Square
Tell all the gang at Forty Second Street
That I will soon be there
Whisper of how I'm yearning
To mingle with the old time throng
Give my regards to Old Broadway
And say that I'll be there, 'ere long

I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy
A Yankee Doodle, do or die
A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam
Born on the Fourth of July
I've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart
She's my Yankee Doodle joy
Yankee Doodle went to London
Just to ride the ponies
I am the Yankee Doodle Boy

You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev'ry heart beats true
'neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

Ms. Sims

Kaitlyn C: In 1957, a new show hit the Broadway stage.

Gopika: It was written by Meredith Willson. It was about a con man named Harold Hill who pretends to be a band director

Gabe T: and sells expensive band uniforms and instruments to the people of River City, Iowa.

Skylar: The show was a huge hit. It won five Tony awards, the highest honor for a Broadway show.

Abby M: Do you hear that beat?

Sierra L: It’s the beat of marching feet and seventy-six trombones!

Michael G: It’s the sound of The Music Man.

Song 3: Seventy-Six Trombones (from The Music Man)

Seventy-six trombones led the big parade
With a hundred and ten cornets close at hand.
They were followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuo-
Sos, the cream of ev'ry famous band.
Seventy-six trombones caught the morning sun
With a hundred and ten cornets right behind
There were more than a thousand reeds
Springing up like weeds
There were horns of ev'ry shape and kind.
There were fifty mounted cannon in the battery
Thundering, thundering louder than before
Clarinets of ev'ry size
And trumpeters who'd improvise
A full octave higher than the score!

Seventy six trombones hit the counterpoint,

While a hundred and ten cornets blazed away.

To the rhythm of March! March! March!

All the kids began to march, and they’re marching still

Right today! Marching still right today!

Ms. Sims (cont)

Catie B: Rodgers and Hammerstein were two of the greatest writers of Broadway shows ever.

Brady A: They wrote such classic as Oklahoma, South Pacific, Carousel and, of course, The Sound of Music.

Camille: It gave us tunes like “My Favorite Things, “Climb Every Mountain” and “Lonely Goather.” Here is “Do Re Mi:” from the hit musical “The Sound of Music”

Song 3.5 Do Re Mi

Do Re Mi

let's start at the very beginning
a very good place to start
when you read you begin with abc
when you sing you begin with do re mi
do re mi
the first three notes just happen to be
do re mi do re mi
do re mi fa so la te
do- a deer, a female deer
re- a drop of golden sun
mi- a name i call myself
fa- a long long way to run
so- a needle pulling thread
la- a note to follow so
te- a drink with jam and bread
that'll bring us back to do oh oh oh
do- a deer, a female deer
re- a drop of golden sun
mi- a name I call myself
fa- a long long way to run
so- a needle pulling thread
la- a note to follow so
te- a drink with jam and bread
that'll bring us back to
do oh oh oh

Camille: One of the most popular children’s musical is about a fiery orphan named Annie who must live under the miserable orphanage run by the horrible Miss Hannigan. Her hopeless situation changes dramatically when she is selected to spend a short time at the residence of the very wealthy and kind, Oliver Warbucks. Here is “It’s A Hard Knocked Life!”

Song 4: It’s A Hard Knocked Life

It's the hard-knock life for us!
It's the hard-knock life for us!
'Steada treated,
We get tricked!
'Steada kisses,
We get kicked!
It's the hard-knock life!
Got no folks to speak of, so,
It's the hard-knock row we hoe!
Cotton blankets,
'Steada of wool!
Empty Bellies
'Steada of full!
It's the hard-knock life!
Don't if feel like the wind is always howl'n?
Don't it seem like there's never any light!
Once a day, don't you wanna throw the towel in?
It's easier than puttin' up a fight.
No one's there when your dreams at night get creepy!
No one cares if you grow...of if you shrink!
No one dries when your eyes get wet an' weepy!

From the cryin’ you would think this place would sink!
Ohhhh!!!!!!!
Santa Claus we never see
Santa Claus, what's that?
Who's he?
No one cares for you a smidge
When you're in an orphanage!
It's the hard-knock life

It's the hard-knock life
It's the hard-knock life

Mrs. Stapf

Rishika B: The hit musical Wicked was written by Stephen Schwartz and debuted on Broadway in 2003.

Grace F: But his success began long before that. He wrote Godspell shortly after graduating from college…

David C: And at the young age of twenty-three, Stephen Schwartz was an instant Broadway success.

Jonah K: Seeing a great Broadway show, singing a great Broadway song, or even performing in a Broadway show can change you.

Joshua N: Just like making a new friend can change you.

Ethan: For the better?

Joshua N: Maybe

Brennan W: For worse?

Joshua N: Perhaps

Kamran M: Forever?

Joshua N: Well, maybe not forever, but certainly “For Good.”

Song 5: For Good (from Wicked)

I've heard it said,
That people come into our lives
For a reason
Bringing something we must learn.
And we are lead to those
Who help us most to grow if we let them.
And we help them in return.
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you.
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun,
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better
But because I knew you.
I have been changed for good.
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime.
So, let me say before we part:
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you.
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you'll have rewritten mine
By being my friend.
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea.
Like a seed dropped by a sky bird
In a distant wood.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better
But because I knew you...
Because I knew you...
I have been changed for good.
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done,
You blamed me for.
But then,
I guess,
We know there's blame to share.
And none of it seems to matter anymore.
Like a comet pulled from orbit
(Like a ship blown from its mooring)
As it passes a sun.
(By a wind off the sea)
Like a stream that meets a boulder
(Like a seed dropped by bird)
Halfway through the wood.
(In the wood)
Who can say if I've been changed for the better.
I do believe I have been changed for the better.
And because I knew you...
Because I knew you...
Because I knew you
I have been changed...
For good.

Ms. Ward

Hannah A: In 1996, the rock musical Rent hit Broadway.

Julia A: The show went on to win four Tony awards…

Bridget B: And ran on Broadway for 12 years!

Ishan D: The Broadway beat is the rhythm of life that can take us on fantastic adventures,

Reese F: exploring feelings that sometimes only music can capture…

Shivani: like a legion of honor…

Grace P: a belly of laughs…

Dylan T: a bundle of courage…

Sarah R and Jack E: or a season of love…

Song 6: Seasons of Love (from Rent)

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets
In midnights, in cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife
In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, a year in the life?

How about love?
How about love?
How about love?
Measure in love

Seasons of love
Seasons of love

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand journeys to plan
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?

In truths that she learned
Or in times that he cried
In bridges he burned
Or the way that she died

It's time now, to sing out
Though the story never ends
Let's celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends

Remember the love
(Oh, you got to, you got to remember the love)
Remember the love
(You know that love is a gift from up above)
Remember the love
(Share love, give love, spread love)
Measure in love
(Measure, measure your life in love)

Seasons of love
Seasons of love
(Measure your life, measure you life in love)

Mrs. Zimbelman

Haley A.: Since the first shows opened in the early 1800’s, the Broadway beat has been pounding steadily.

David A.: And it doesn’t show signs of slowing down.

Abby J: It takes a lot of effort to put on a Broadway show. The most successful ones are the shows where all the pieces come perfectly together.

Marie H: (overly dramatic) The singers singing…

Olivia T: (doing a dance step) …dancers dancing

Brian Z: (striking a dramatic pose)…actors acting…

Katie R: (encouraging the audience to clap) …audiences applauding…

Charles C: (interrupting and rolling her eyes)…and hams hamming it up!

Michael. S: Let’s go together to Broadway, where every day and every night, the beat goes on!

Ellie O: With We Go Together from Grease!

Song 7: We Go Together (from Grease)

We go together,
Like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong
Remembered forever
As shoobop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom
Chang chang changitty chang shoobop
That's the way it should be, wha ooohhh
h, yeah

We're one of a kind
Like dip da dip da dip doowop da doobee doo
Our names are signed
Boogedy boogedy boogedy boogedy shooby doowop shebop
Chang chang changitty chang shoobop
We'll always be like one, wa wa wa one

When we go out at night and stars are shinin' bright
Up in the skies above
Or at the high school dance where you can find romance
Maybe it might be love

Rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong
Shoobop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom
Chang chang changitty chang shoobop
Dip da dip da dip doowop da doobee doo
Boogedy boogedy boogedy boogedy shooby doowop shebop
Sha na na na na na na na yippity dip de doom

We're for each other
Like wop baba lumop a wap bam boom
Just like my brother
Is sha na na na na na na na yippity dip de doom
Chang chang changitty chang shoobop
We'll always be together wha oooh, yeah

We'll always be together
We'll always be together
We'll always be together