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Know any musicals with a lot of banjo?? — Page 2

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#26

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 12/14/05 at 9:31pm

You guys took mine! Smoke on the Mountain...


I hate that show...but i was in it...so...
and all that I could do because of you was talk of love...
#27

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 12/14/05 at 9:31pm

"I believe Wicked uses a banjo during at least on a couple of songs...I apologize if this is not the correct type of banjo that you specified."

Yeah, it is. They actually use it in 3 songs, the "Have Another Drink" section of "No One Mourns the Wicked," the intro and ending of "Thank Goodness," and on "Wonderful."
"Ev'ry-buddy wants ta get into de act!" - Jimmy Durante "Breathe from your hoo-hoo." -Kristin Chenoweth
#28

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 12/14/05 at 10:13pm

TOM SAYWER has a lot of banjo!
"Billy, put down that phylactery...we're Episcopalian." - Spelling Bee
#31

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 12/15/05 at 12:32am

"The Robber Bridegroom" and "Big River" stand out.
"It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance." - Elizabeth Taylor
#32

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 12/15/05 at 4:24pm

After a quick skim of the thread, I don't think anyone has said Sugar Babies, which has at least one minstrel style number featuring banjo.

I admit I don't know the difference between 4 and 5-string varieties.

Updated On: 12/15/05 at 04:24 PM

#33

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 12/16/05 at 2:55pm

BARNUM
WILL ROGERS FOLLIES
SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (guitar and banjo)
I believe PIPPIN
I ask in all honesty/What would life be?/Without a song and a dance, what are we?/So I say "Thank you for the music/For giving it to me."
#35

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 4/3/07 at 10:19pm

"I believe Wicked uses a banjo during at least on a couple of songs...I apologize if this is not the correct type of banjo that you specified."

Yeah, it is. They actually use it in 3 songs, the "Have Another Drink" section of "No One Mourns the Wicked," the intro and ending of "Thank Goodness," and on "Wonderful."

You guys took mine! The banjo in "Thank Goodness" is played by Greg Skaff, the second guitarist. The first guitarist is on mandolin. You can barely hear it on the CD because of the acoustics.

Also, while we're still thinking banjo, nearly EVERY single Kander and Ebb musical ever made, INCLUDING "Curtains".

JEEVES or the reworked version BY JEEVES has the only ALW song I like BANJO BOY!

But not a SINGLE banjo note is played. Ironic, isn't it?

And yes, PIPPIN, has its share of banjo moments, too, but if only for two songs. They are the dance section of "Glory," as well as parts of "War Is A Science."
"How could she just suddenly, completely disappear into thin water?" - The Little Mermaid
#39

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 4/4/07 at 2:19pm

The studio cast recording of SHOW BOAT conducted by John McGlinn has a prominent banjo part. It is a wonderful CD throughout, with the original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and a great cast including Frederica Von Stade and Jerry Hadley with the London Sinfonietta, on EMI Classics.
"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"
#40

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 4/7/07 at 12:47pm

Even though it's a play, the current revival of INHERIT THE WIND starts out with a banjo player and a few singers.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad

"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)

Updated On: 4/7/07 at 12:47 PM

#41

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 4/7/07 at 2:18pm

Assassins has lots of banjo during all the ballads, but when I did it at my college, I played all the banjo parts myself (I was the Balladeer).

~Steven
#42

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 4/24/07 at 3:27pm

Are you kidding Best12Bars? That's one of the hallmarks of modern film making! It would be a shame if that didn't make it to Broadway!

On another topic, the film doesn't have as much banjo as it does electric guitar or dobro or mandolin, because the songs in the film are more Southern rock-sounding.

Of course, this is still off-topic, but if you dig out some classic Sesame Street/Electric Company albums from about 1969-1992, they have a LOT of banjo in the orchestration. Maybe it was just Joe Raposo's thing. I don't know.

And there was also a lot of banjo in the recent ENCORES production of "Face The Music." There seemed to be a lot more banjo than guitar in the songs, but it didn't have enough moments where it truly stands out, like in CURTAINS or CHICAGO, etc.
"How could she just suddenly, completely disappear into thin water?" - The Little Mermaid
#43

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 5/6/09 at 5:16pm

And the current revival of Guys and Dolls puts banjo in places where THERE REALLY SHOULDN'T BE.

Listen to MARY POPPINS (the stage version); there are three or four great banjo moments. And there were also a couple of scarce banjos in the short-lived show "LENNON" to provide nothing more than incidental music for the era (John Lennon used to have a banjo band; some of the American government officials were perceived as "old-hat", and it was there for the NIXON'S THE ONE campaign jingle).

Of course, the music for CRY-BABY also ran the gamut in styles of music from bubblegum mid-1950s pop to rockabilly, so there was some big spots for both the ukelele and tenor banjo (for the Squares, of course).
"How could she just suddenly, completely disappear into thin water?" - The Little Mermaid
#45

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 5/6/09 at 5:40pm

Of course, I'd be remissed if we didn't mention that up-and-comer.

But does THE MUSIC MAN have banjo in it?
"How could she just suddenly, completely disappear into thin water?" - The Little Mermaid
#46

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 5/6/09 at 5:48pm

When they finish up the Broadway version of Deliverance, the banjo will be prominently featured. It's gotta be in the works, right?
#47

re: Know any musicals with a lot of banjo??

Posted: 5/6/09 at 6:31pm

Thoroughly Modern Millie made good use of banjo. I recently saw a community theater production in Red Bank, NJ. They did a very good show, but for one thing, no banjo!
I love the sound of a banjo, and I wish you success.

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