{"id":465,"date":"2009-04-24T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/clients.chrisvanpatten.com\/theatreaficionado.com\/2009\/04\/a-lyric-you-probably-dont-know.html"},"modified":"2009-04-24T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-24T14:00:00","slug":"a-lyric-you-probably-dont-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/?p=465","title":{"rendered":"A lyric you probably don’t know…"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the opening number from the woefully unrecorded Broadway disaster 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, <\/em>as I posted earlier one of the few shattered remains of the original theatrical concept of a show-within-a-show… (they went through several tries with this slot before arriving on this one for NY). Now just imagine it with a syncopated, distinctively Bernsteinian sound (the melody was recycled as the second theme for Bernstein’s “Slava: A Political Overture”).<\/p>\n

Seriously, I obsess so much about this one, I should write a book about it… or maybe just unearth press photos of Patricia Routledge mid “Duet for One.”<\/p>\n

“Rehearse!” – 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue<\/em>
Alan Jay Lerner (m. Leonard Bernstein)
Let\u2019s start looking alive
When we arrive
It\u2019s gonna be great.
Keep that fervor ablaze
And one of these days
It\u2019s gonna be great.<\/p>\n

In the course of human events,
There\u2019s only one event that makes sense
Rehearse and rehearse
Rehearse and don\u2019t stop
And if we do and if we don\u2019t drop,
It\u2019s gonna be great.<\/p>\n

Grindstone under your nose
Up on your toes,
It\u2019s gonna be great.
Keep that fervor ablaze
And one of these days
It\u2019s gonna be great.<\/p>\n

If we all have plenty of grit
And if we don\u2019t fall into the pit
Of gloom and
Rehearse, rehearse and don\u2019t stop
And if we do and if we don\u2019t drop
It\u2019s gonna be great.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let go of the thread
Way up ahead
It\u2019s gonna be great.
Stitch wipe stitch
And you\u2019ll see eventually
It\u2019s gonna be great.<\/p>\n

Pray to God as much as you please
He\u2019ll only say,
\u201cGet off of your knees.\u201d
Rise up and rehearse
Rehearse and don\u2019t stop
And if we do and if we don\u2019t drop
It\u2019s gonna be great!<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start knockin\u2019 them dead
Looking ahead
It\u2019s gonna be great.
Let\u2019s make everything pop
For up at the top
It\u2019s gonna be great.<\/p>\n

Pray to God as much as you please
He\u2019ll only say,
\u201cGet off of your knees.\u201d
Rise up and rehearse,
Rehearse and don\u2019t stop
And if we do and if we don\u2019t drop
It\u2019s gonna be great!<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start looking alive
When we arrive
It\u2019s gonna be great
Keep that fervor ablaze
And one of these days
It\u2019s gonna be great.<\/p>\n

In the course of human events
There\u2019s only one event that makes sense
Rise up and rehearse,
Rehearse and don\u2019t stop
And if we do and if we don\u2019t drop
It\u2019s gonna be great.
Gonna be great!
Gonna be great!
If we rehearse!
If we rehearse!
Rehearse!
Rehearse!
It\u2019s gonna be great!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the opening number from the woefully unrecorded Broadway disaster 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, as I posted earlier one of the few shattered remains of the original theatrical concept of a show-within-a-show… (they went through several tries with this slot before arriving on this one for NY). Now just imagine it with a syncopated, distinctively … Continue reading A lyric you probably don’t know…<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1614,1701],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-1600-pennsylvania-avenue","tag-alan-jay-lerner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}