Spotlighting Show Tunes That Sing a Social Song

Last spring, members of the Onion Community Theater in Sepulveda decided to stage a musical tribute to Broadway songwriters who penned socially significant familiar and obscure melodies.

The Unitarian-Universalist Society-sponsored group, known for longstanding commitment to social concerns, chose as the revue’s theme a 1937 Harold Rome tune called “Sing Me a Song of Social Significance.” The resulting production, “Broadway Sings Out,” combines more than 60 songs from Broadway shows, each one dealing with social concerns of the past that are relevant today.

The two-hour revue alternates satirical, funny tunes with poignant ballads and songs. The lively historical anthology includes both familiar and obscure songs written by well-known composers for shows staged on Broadway between 1902 and 1987.

The concert is divided into eight segments: sexism, racism, immigration, haves and have-nots, war and peace, politics and government, outcasts and environment, said Ray Malvani, concept developer and stage director of “Broadway Sings Out.”

“Each theme is taken in turn and includes a fast-moving medley of show-stopping solos, with two narrators to maintain continuity,” he said.

Malvani, a social activist and retired USC professor of gerontology, combined his interests in theater and social concerns and in 1984 began collecting socially relevant songs on research trips to libraries, archives and old record stores. He wrote the script over the summer.

“I looked in libraries under composers’ names, and sometimes I’d find shows I’d never heard of just scanning through record racks. In the Billy Rose Collection at Lincoln Center in New York I found the original script for ‘Showboat,’ and that’s also where I got the original words for ‘Strike Up the Band,’ which was written as an anti-war song.

“ ‘Rags,’ a show about immigrants working in the American garment industry, closed after four days, but its score, by Charles Strouse and Stephen Schwartz, was nominated for a Tony Award. It had two songs that fit our show perfectly, and we were able to get sheet music for them from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Library.”

Some of the songs are standards like “Ten Cents a Dance,” “The Girl That I Marry” and “I’m Just Wild About Harry.” “If I Were a Rich Man” is sung in six languages, including sign language, “to symbolize that Broadway messages go around the world,” Malvani said.

Other songs are less familiar. The 1933 Irving Berlin musical “As Thousands Cheer,” which introduced the classic “Easter Parade,” also included “Suppertime,” a powerful song about racism. And “If You Hadn’t but You Did,” from 1951’s “Two on the Aisle,” is a song about a woman who shot her unfaithful, chauvinistic husband.

“We had to decide if we wanted to use home-grown talent or hold open auditions. Some of our members were interested in participating, but since we hoped to reach out to other community groups, we felt we had to put on something professional. So we ran an audition ad in Drama-Logue and selected 10 really fine singers, including one of our own members,” Malvani said.

Emmy Award-winning music director and arranger Jack Elton volunteered for the job of music director after he read the script. Elton, a veteran of such productions as “The Carol Burnett Show” and “From Berlin to Broadway With Kurt Weill,” said, “I liked the idea of a musical revue that expressed something other than ‘boy meets girl and lives happily ever after.’ ”

“This was a chance for me to do something different, and it’s a challenge because I’m dealing with a lot of songs I wasn’t familiar with--material either not known or not done much. I think the show has great potential for college or community theater,” Elton said.

Barbara Atlas, the show’s producer and a bookkeeping consultant, said, “It’s been gratifying to watch young cast members singing songs they’ve never been exposed to and getting interested in their history and social significance.”

Why are theatrically experienced singers willing to devote so much time to the project without getting paid? Most cast members said they like the theme and also enjoy working with Elton.

Stage and television performer Danny Bolero said: “I wanted to do the show because it’s making a social statement, I wanted to work with Jack, and it’s a chance to learn new music. A lot of the songs sound like they were written yesterday, and they’re exciting to perform.”

Legal secretary Terri Cotter, who often performs in community theater, likes the opportunity to “do songs you might not ordinarily sing.” Preschool teacher Renee Hudson had done opera, jazz, contemporary and gospel but hadn’t had a chance to do much from Broadway.

Cal State Northridge math professor Wes Nathanson, who had a show biz fling before opting for academia, wanted to “get back into doing something on stage. It’s been fun but challenging. I was very enthused about the idea of putting together all these songs and creating a show, as opposed to doing something already staged.”

Larry Davidson, who has the most stage experience among the cast, frequently performs in local Civic Light Opera productions. “I felt this was a really important piece of work that should be presented to a lot of people,” he said.

Malvani is hoping for large audiences for practical as well as artistic reasons. “We’re risking more money than we’ve ever done, on things like ASCAP and BMI song licensing, musicians’ pay, on programs, flyers and postage and on child care for matinee performances.”

The production is costing about $8,000 to stage at the 225-seat theater. “The show has to make a profit because we’re setting aside other fund-raising activities in order to do it. It’s not like we can say this will help the homeless, which would be nice. We have to be clear that our volunteer energy has to go into supporting the Onion.”

Malvani would like “Broadway Sings Out” to find extended life on other community stages. “Here’s some clever and valiant work done by songwriters over the years that should be remembered, and we’d like to see the show carried on.”

Onion Community Theater , 9550 Haskell Ave., Sepulveda. Tickets are $25 for tonight’s opening gala; $14 other performances. Other performances are 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; 8 p.m. June 15; and 2 and 8 p.m. June 16. Information: (818) 772-4242.