The Dazzling Dozen
11.49 PM. I’ve about 26 hours until I leave on a jet plane (and, no, that’s not one of the songs). I’ve just finished checking transpositions, ensuring lyrics are gender and decade appropriate (the world’s, not mine!) and generally having a final run on troubling notes and text. As I’ve been repeatedly asked, "whacha singin’???”, now, as I’ve reached the point of fewer than 6 remaining non-glare page protectors, would seem to be the moment of final, final, and, yes, maybe I mean final, decisions on the dozen songs I’ll take to the conference. In no particular order, other than alphabetical by title:

1. Alice Is at It Again, Noel Coward
2. Being Alive*, Stephen Sondheim
3. Come on Strong, Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen
4. Come Rain or Come Shine, Harold Arlen
5. Could I Leave You?, Stephen Sondheim
6. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Bob Russell and Duke Ellington
7. Embraceable You, Ira and George Gershwin
8. I Only Have Eyes for You*, Al Dubin and Harry Warren
9. I Want to Be Bad, DeSylva, Brown and Henderson
10. Keep Young & Beautiful, Al Dubin and Harry Warren
11. My Baby Just Cares for Me, Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson
12. Sentimental Journey, Homer, Brown & Green
13. Stars and the Moon*, Jason Robert Brown
14. Taylor the Latte Boy (a cougarlicious adaptation), Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich
15. Too Darn Hot, Cole Porter
16. You’d Be Surprised, Irving Berlin

*These are simply there to provide stress relief. I can sing them in my sleep and, if provoked, can produce them on a second’s notice.

I know. I’ve left out Rodgers and Hart. I’ve omitted Hymn a L’Amour. And, while cresting the wave through the 60’s, I’ve ignored Carole King, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Burt Bacharach. I’ve also left out some fab songs recommended by dear friends (Mambo Italiano and Peel Me a Grape spring to mind) and songs I’d love to have included but which other members of my group at the conference (we’re split into 3 groups to produce a show) have marked as their own – At Last, I’m Gonna Live Until I Die, They All Laughed. Oh well, a line had to be drawn somewhere. Thankfully, it’s a line in the sand, as this is only the beginning of a repertoire and not a program in itself. It’s designed to show the faculty where I need help & what I can do well. More importantly, it’s designed to show me, with their help, where I need help & what I can do well.

I had the pleasure of observing a master class on Saturday, led by Andrea Marcovicci with Shelly Markham. Shelly will be on the Conference Faculty. He noted that, when he is working with a singer who is new to him, he always tries first to establish where their wit is. I don’t think mine will be hard to discern. I’ve never found that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach…just sayin’…

And BTW…to all of you, thank you from the bottom of my bum…it’s so much bigger than my heart! xxxx Thank you for caring. If I could ask just one last thing of you before I go, please – if you could just hum the verse of I Only Have Eyes for You a bit more loudly, I’d be ever so grateful.