To purchase the original Broadway Cast Recording of THE LIFE, click on the image above.

7. “My Body” from The Life

I never knew anything about The Life until, during the 51st Tony Awards, seven fabulous women strutted out onstage and belted out this testament to the oldest profession. You know what? I still don’t know anything else about The Life, but I have listened to and watched this number many, many times. Maybe I should pick up the cast recording sometime and see if the show lives up to this number.

6. “The Proposal / The Night Was Alive” from Titanic

Titanic is my favourite Maury Yeston show. For me, it is a show full of favourite numbers: “In Every Age”, “What A Remarkable Age This Is”, “Doing the Latest Rag”, “No Moon” and “We’ll Meet Tomorrow” among them. And this is my favourite favourite, this little character driven couple of solos that ends up in a delightful and moving counterpoint. When I was at university, I performed this number in an open class with a friend of mine. I don’t think many of the people there got it – this was a department where serious drama was the order of the day – and the feedback was sweet but minimal. But I didn’t care. I got to sing this song, and that was all that mattered. Sure, I’d approach the piece differently today. It’s ten years down the line and I can analyse as well as I can intuit. Maybe I’ll find a forum in which to perform this piece again someday.

5. “Circle of Life” from The Lion King

The rest of The Lion King struggles to live up to its opening. From the moment Rafiki appears onstage belting her lyrics about looking at lions, the audience is hooked. After the introductory chant, the song proper starts and it is at this time that jaws across the auditorium start dropping. African animals of every description, from elephants to giraffes parade on stage and through the auditorium – truly “more to see than can ever be seen”, as the lyrics tell us. The sequence doesn’t drop one’s attention for a second. It’s thrilling. It induces tears. And it’s not only the staging. The song is a brilliant foundation for the action. It was my favourite song in the film and it should have won the Oscar over “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” in 1994. Wisely, the stage show doesn’t extend the song with the lyrics written for Elton John’s single version of the show, which dilute completely the power of what is said in the number as it is heard in the film and in the show. Some people think the philosophy the song puts forward is too simple. I think that it is straightforward, for sure, but just because its simple doesn’t mean its simple-minded. How much does one want a universal truth obfuscated anyway?