Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat/The Siamese Cat Song/The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room - On the Record Cast

It's been a few months since I posted a track from the On the Record Broadway Musical.

The main bulk of this song is Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat from the Aristocats but you will also hear a sample of the Siamese Cat Song from Lady and the Tramp as well as the Tiki Tiki Tiki Room from the Enchanted Tiki Room ride in Disneyland.

Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat/The Siamese Cat Song/The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room On the Record Cast 2005

I'm Wishing/One Song - On the Record Cast

Our first introduction to Snow White is as she sings I'm Wishing at the beginning of the film. We quickly get a sense of her character: She is a happy girl, living in poverty but with a natural cheery outlook, but she, like so many Disney heroines, looks for so much more. Suddenly we are met with a new character, a Prince, who shares a sweet song with an embarrassed Snow White.

I'm Wishing and One Song are commonly paired together. They are together on the official soundtrack and many covers take advantage of this coupling. The version that I am posting today for Snow White Week is from the On the Record Broadway Musical and features Kaitlyn Hopkins with Ashley Brown as the echoing well.

The original voice of Snow White was Adriana Caselotti whose father, Guido Caselotti, was a music teacher and vocal coach. One day, while the casting director for Snow White was on the phone with Guido about casting the voice for the lead role, Adriana, who was listening in on another line, began to speak and sing in a child-like voice. Once Disney heard this, he knew that he had found the voice! She was paid 970 for her work.

Adriana never appeared in another movie, aside from a bit part in Wizard of Oz because she didn't want to ruin the magic of Snow White by having her voice heard in other places.

I'm Wishing On the Record Cast 2004

Will the Sun Ever Shine Again - Kaitlin Hopkins

The 2004 box office failure known as Home on the Range is an important one in Disney history because it was the last Disney Animation Feature Film to be released in their classic hand drawn 2D animation.

Michael Eisner, seeing the success of 3D films like Shrek, thought it would be a good idea to throw 80 years of Disney history out the window by shutting down their 2D animation departments. He replaced pencils and paper with computers. This was the future.

Fortunately for everyone, Michael Eisner is no longer in charge and the new guy, Pixar CEO John Lasseter, was put in charge. Lasseter, knowing how important 2D animation is to the world of animation, especially 3D animation, made it his first order of business to resurrect the 2D department! Their first feature film, The Princess and the Frog, is set to be released in 2009. I can't wait!

Home on the Range was released on this day in 2004 and featured the song Will the Song Ever Shine Again by Bonnie Raitt. This version of the song was included in the On the Record Broadway musical which showcases Disney music from the 20s all the way to the most recent work at the time, which was Home on the Range.

Will the Sun Ever Shine Again Kaitlin Hopkins 2005

Whistle While You Work/Give a Little Whistle - On the Record Cast & Company

Today's contribution to Big Band Week takes us to the world of showtunes. This medley of Whistle While You Work and Give a Little Whistle comes from the On the Record Broadway musical from 2005. Showtunes often use jazz bands in their music because of the big band style fits so well with all those people that are running around and dancing on stage.

After opening the show with a gentle A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, this song launches in and sets the mood of the show. You'll definitely hear the big band quality to the songs with the Company playing the instrumental part at the beginning but you'll also hear the showtunes aspect come out in the A Dream is a Wish interlude and with the Cast's over-the-top scatting.

All of the songs in On the Record were arranged by David Chase who does a remarkable job with this medley. He intertwines the two songs so much that at times I'm not even sure which one I'm listening to! The Give a Little Whistle While You Work line is very clever.

Keep an ear out for a few references to Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and Higitus Figitus!

Whistle While You Work/Give a Little Whistle On the Record Cast & Company 2005

Bella Notte/Les Poissons - On the Record Cast

It's the fifth Friday of the month and that means that I am going to fulfill a reader request. The first request I got was one from an anonymous reader asking for covers of Poor Unfortunate Souls and Les Poissons, obviously this person is a Little Mermaid fan.

Well, I don't really have any covers of either of these songs, except a version of Poor Unfortunate Souls by the Jonas Brothers. But I do have this one from the Disney's On the Record Broadway musical. It is a medley of Lady and the Tramp's Bella Notte and Les Poissons. Is this an unusual pairing for a medley? Yes. But it is part of the seventh session in the musical that features songs about animals (Bella Notte is a little bit of a stretch because it's not really about animals).

Take a listen anyway. It's cool how they mash these two songs together. And I don't really have anything to say about the history of this song or the performers or anything, except that today is the day that On the Record began performances in Chicago at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.

Bella Notte/Les Poissons On the Record Cast 2004

Silly Symphony - On the Record Cast

In 2004 Disney produced a Broadway musical that would feature over 70 over the songs from their ever impressive library. The musical was called Disney's On the Record and was about four young people who were brought together in a magical recording studio to record a compilation album. There's magic, there's romance, blah blah blah... but the most important part is that the soundtrack features two discs full of Disney cover songs!

Some of the songs don't stray far from the originals while others are quite different. Many are medleys, such as this one that I have posted today.

The main quartet on this soundtrack are Ashley Brown, Kaitlin Hopkins, Brian Sutherland, and Andrew Samonsky. Katlin Hopkins replaced Emily Skinner who was the original Diane for the live show.

This medley, dubbed the Silly Symphony, is made up of several Disney songs that feature nonsense lyrics. This medley is probably the best and most clever of all the songs in this musical!

It starts out with a verse from Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and features the choruses from Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious (Mary Poppins), Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (Pinocchio), Following the Leader (Peter Pan), Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (Song of the South) and Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo (Cinderella). The best part of the song is when they start singing all of them AT THE SAME TIME! Brilliant!

Then, to top it off, they use The Dwarfs' Yodel Song (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) as a bridge! Perfect!

In the liner notes it says that Higitus Figitus (Sword in the Stone) is the first song in the medley, but I can't seem to hear any of it anywhere. If anyone can't help me out with this please leave a comment! UPDATE: Thanks to Jane Dark who let me know that the fanfare intro is the chorus to Higitus Figitus! It's so obvious to me now! I don't know how I missed that before!

Also thrown in there are tiny snippets from Chim Chim Cher-ee (Mary Poppins), Hakuna Matata (The Lion King), and the Mickey Mouse March (Mickey Mouse Club). Wow. They put that together very well. This is the best song in the show and a masterpiece of a cover song.

Silly Symphony On the Record Cast 2005