Music And Lyrics

Hugh Grant, that prince of erotic dither, and Drew Barrymore, that queen of sweetly amorous emotion, generate a rare flirtatious zing in Music and Lyrics, an affable farce about a worn-out '80s singer-composer named Alex Fletcher (Grant) from a band called PoP! Barrymore plays Sophie Fisher, a former writing student who comes to his Upper West Side New York apartment to water his plants and ends up nurturing his creativity and finding her life's work as a lyricist. This movie doesn't pretend to be anything more than a cheerful night out, and on that count it scores: It will set a happy mood for couples and a lot of singles, too. PoP!

Summer arrives early in the state capital with the opening of the Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre's 46th season of presenting "theater under the stars," which begins May 24 with Cole Porter's classic "Anything Goes. " The musical, the updated, 2011 Tony Award-winner, will run Thursdays through Sundays through June 24. Following it are two shows that have never been performed at Summer Garden. Taking ASGT's outdoor stage July 5 to July 29 is "Avenue Q," the 2003 surprise Broadway hit that captured three Tony Awards, including best musical.

Danny Apolinar, 61, a composer and performer who helped write the 1960s rock musical "Your Own Thing," died Thursday of kidney failure in New York. He and Hal Hester wrote the music and lyrics for the 1968 off-Broadway musical, a satire loosely based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." It won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award as best musical and ran for three years in New York.

We've got good news and bad news for those clamoring to see how the iconic Baltimore movie "Diner" is adapted into a musical. First the good news: The show's debut is set. It will open in San Francisco this fall. The less good news: Because of the San Francisco dates, the anticipated fall opening of the show on Broadway is now being pushed back to spring of 2013. News broke last September that Barry Levinson has adapted "Diner," his well-regarded 1982 movie, for the stage, with music and lyrics by rock singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow.

New York -- "Dancing at Lughnasa," Brian Friel's play about five unmarried sisters in the Ireland of 1936, won the Outer Critics Circle award yesterday for best Broadway play of the 1991-92 season. "Crazy for You," with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin and book by Ken Ludwig, was named outstanding Broadway musical.Scott McPherson, author of "Marvin's Room," was given the John Gassner Award for an American playwright; his play also won the award for best off-Broadway play. "Song of Singapore" was chosen best off-Broadway musical and also won awards for its book, music and lyrics.

"If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere." "Life is a cabaret." When you hear these phrases, the music sounds in your head. That's one indication of how well songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb integrate music and lyrics. And, when they're writing for Broadway, as they have in such shows as "Chicago," "Cabaret" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman," they weave their songs so neatly into the fabric of the shows, they often seem inseparable. Nine years ago, however, Scott Ellis, Susan Stroman and David Thompson discovered new and witty contexts for Kander and Ebb's greatest hits, as well as some of their lesser-known gems.

* Bernie Wayne,Bernie Wayne, 74, the composer of "There She Is, Miss America," the beauty-contest theme song, died of heart failure Sunday at his home in Marine Del Rey, Calif., at age 74. He was a prolific composer who calculated in the mid-1960s that he had written about 1,000 songs, among them "Blue Velvet," "Laughing on the Outside, Crying on the Inside," "Patch of Blue" and "The Magic Touch." Two of his best-known pieces of music were not hit songs: the Miss America theme, first heard at the contest in 1955, and a commercial jingle, "Chock Full O'Nuts Is the Heavenly Coffee."

We've got good news and bad news for those clamoring to see how the iconic Baltimore movie "Diner" is adapted into a musical. First the good news: The show's debut is set. It will open in San Francisco this fall. The less good news: Because of the San Francisco dates, the anticipated fall opening of the show on Broadway is now being pushed back to spring of 2013. News broke last September that Barry Levinson has adapted "Diner," his well-regarded 1982 movie, for the stage, with music and lyrics by rock singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow.

FLAT ROCK, N.C. -- Last year, the national limelight shone on Flat Rock Playhouse when it launched Burt Reynolds' one-man show. This year, the media is focusing on the official North Carolina state theater for an even more famous visitor."

On the brink of losing his landmark Senator Theatre, Tom Kiefaber said last night he had raised the nearly $110,000 required to stave off today's scheduled foreclosure auction of the 68-year-old Baltimore movie palace. Kiefaber - whose publicized financial travails with the Senator brought a deluge of contributions from people eager to save it from the fate of many single-screen theaters around the country, said he had presented a bank representative with certified checks last night for the amount owed.

On the brink of losing his landmark Senator Theatre, Tom Kiefaber said last night he had raised the nearly $110,000 required to stave off today's scheduled foreclosure auction of the 68-year-old Baltimore movie palace. Kiefaber - whose publicized financial travails with the Senator brought a deluge of contributions from people eager to save it from the fate of many single-screen theaters around the country, said he had presented a bank representative with certified checks last night for the amount owed.

Hugh Grant, that prince of erotic dither, and Drew Barrymore, that queen of sweetly amorous emotion, generate a rare flirtatious zing in Music and Lyrics, an affable farce about a worn-out '80s singer-composer named Alex Fletcher (Grant) from a band called PoP! Barrymore plays Sophie Fisher, a former writing student who comes to his Upper West Side New York apartment to water his plants and ends up nurturing his creativity and finding her life's work as a lyricist. This movie doesn't pretend to be anything more than a cheerful night out, and on that count it scores: It will set a happy mood for couples and a lot of singles, too. PoP!

THE BROOKS and Dunn tune "Only in America" was released shortly before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but uncannily foreshadowed the powerful sense of national unity that arose in their aftermath; a perfect campaign anthem for a president trying to rekindle that sentiment. It begins with: "Sun comin' up over New York City," describes the aspirations and potential futures of kids on a school bus, and breaks into a refrain about "dreaming in red, white and blue ... where we can dream as big as we want to ... everybody gets to dance.

They call themselves We're About 9, in a good-natured assessment of their maturity level. But when the trio took the stage on a muggy evening last week to officially open the Columbia Lakefront Summer Concert Series, their youth slid into ambiguity. It was overshadowed by their clear, warm voices; comfortable music and lucid lyrics - despite the bugs, the haze and the temperature, which topped out in the high 90s. The 2 1/2 -year-old group, which describes its music as "suburban folk," is made up of Brian Gundersdorf, a 26-year-old who acts as the main organizer and songwriter; Katie Graybeal, the 22-year-old heart to Gundersdorf's head; and 21-year-old Pikesville native Pat Klink.

"If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere." "Life is a cabaret." When you hear these phrases, the music sounds in your head. That's one indication of how well songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb integrate music and lyrics. And, when they're writing for Broadway, as they have in such shows as "Chicago," "Cabaret" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman," they weave their songs so neatly into the fabric of the shows, they often seem inseparable. Nine years ago, however, Scott Ellis, Susan Stroman and David Thompson discovered new and witty contexts for Kander and Ebb's greatest hits, as well as some of their lesser-known gems.

Stephen Sondheim's "Follies" is much admired but seldom revived, and the production at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia gives you a good idea of just how wonderful and difficult this 1971 musical can be."Follies" is nothing if not theatrical: Old Follies stars reunite at a decaying theater as younger versions of themselves pop in and out of the action.The storytelling is unusually complex, at least by the standards of Broadway musicals, but it's an effective way to attack the themes of memory and regret.

Summer arrives early in the state capital with the opening of the Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre's 46th season of presenting "theater under the stars," which begins May 24 with Cole Porter's classic "Anything Goes. " The musical, the updated, 2011 Tony Award-winner, will run Thursdays through Sundays through June 24. Following it are two shows that have never been performed at Summer Garden. Taking ASGT's outdoor stage July 5 to July 29 is "Avenue Q," the 2003 surprise Broadway hit that captured three Tony Awards, including best musical.

THE BROOKS and Dunn tune "Only in America" was released shortly before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but uncannily foreshadowed the powerful sense of national unity that arose in their aftermath; a perfect campaign anthem for a president trying to rekindle that sentiment. It begins with: "Sun comin' up over New York City," describes the aspirations and potential futures of kids on a school bus, and breaks into a refrain about "dreaming in red, white and blue ... where we can dream as big as we want to ... everybody gets to dance.

Murder mysteries and musicals can be a tough combo. That's because songs and choreography have a way of crowding out intricate plotting. Add an ever-tricky touch of satire and the combination can turn a murder mystery-musical into its own corpse.But "Something's Afoot" -- a small-scale musical with a book, music and lyrics by James MacDonald, David Voss and Robert Gerlach -- is sufficiently well- crafted not only to overcome these potential difficulties, but also to keep you smiling despite the highly uneven production it is receiving at Arena Players.

Danny Apolinar, 61, a composer and performer who helped write the 1960s rock musical "Your Own Thing," died Thursday of kidney failure in New York. He and Hal Hester wrote the music and lyrics for the 1968 off-Broadway musical, a satire loosely based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." It won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award as best musical and ran for three years in New York.