What a happy place! What a great song!

The other day I heard a wonderful rendition of a musical theater song I'd never heard before...shame on me! It was "Disneyland", a song from the 1986 musical Smile by Marvin Hamlisch and Howard Ashman, based on Michael Ritchie's similarly named and underrated 1975 feature.

Apparently, "The musical failed to sustain an appropriate tone, although Hamlisch and Ashman wrote some lovely songs and one, "Disneyland", has become an audition staple."

Unfortunately, I subsequently found out this music is out of print so if I want to access it I have to go to the library (eww!)

It is a great song about a young girl living in a dysfunctional family who is watching TV and dreams of going to Disneyland where life is perfect, or at least a whole lot better than the world she really inhabits. I got chills listening to it!

Here's the Wikipedia entry:

Smile is a musical originally produced on Broadway in 1986. It has music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Howard Ashman. The original production closed suddenly and unexpectedly after less than fifty performances.

Based loosely on the 1975 movie of the same name, Smile chronicles the 1985 California Young American Miss beauty pageant and the week preceding it. The main characters include Robin Gibson (Antelope Valley's Young American Miss) and Doria Hudson (Yuba City's Young American Miss), two girls who befriend and help each other throughout the week, Brenda DiCarlo Freelander, the ex-Young American Miss second-runner-up co-ordinating the 1985 pageant, and her husband Big Bob, an RV Salesman trying to help her through the week.

The original production featured Jodi Benson in the role of Doria who, almost presciently (considering Benson's later involvement with the Walt Disney corporation), sings the song "Disneyland."

"Disneyland" has become symbolic for the musical as a whole, being presented on numerous compilations of recordings from so-called "lost Musicals" (along with, in some cases, "In Our Hands" and the title song.) Smile is considered "lost" because no official cast recording was ever made. However, there does exist a demo tape which is a primary source for groups performing the show.

You learn something new every day!

Technorati tags: Broadway Music Movie Musicals Musicals Blog Blogs Theater Theatre Entertainment