And so it is! The season of pastoral rebirth is upon us (don’t forget to balance an egg on its other end today!). It is 70 degrees out, sunny and I even spotted a subtle glimpse of purple crocus peeking out from our front lawn. After such a maudlin winter (and those wretched snowstorms everywhere) it’s always such a delight when the warmer weather returns. Though I do in fact have a love hate relationship with the season itself due to some severe grass, pollen and tree allergies, I still find much to appreciate in between the watery eyes and incessant sneezing.<\/p>\n
Spring hasn’t been lost on the musical theatre writers either. Oscar Hammerstein’s chorus for Very Warm for May’<\/span>s “All the Things You Are” starts with the line “You are the promised kiss of springtime that makes the lonely winter seem long.” (It’s a killer song, one of the all time great ballads). Hammerstein also gives Lt. Cable “Younger than Springtime” in South Pacific<\/span><\/span> as a starting point for a list of romantic platitudes. Rodgers and Hart wrote “Spring is Here” for I Married an Angel. <\/span>Inga Swenson spent her run in Baker Street <\/span>“Finding Words for Spring” while Jon Cameron Mitchell’s Dickon sang “Winter’s on the Wing” in The Secret Garden<\/span>.<\/p>\n But leave it to Rodgers and Hammerstein to write a song for a character who gets spring fever in the middle of August. It’s the song that often comes to mind when I find myself mired in the gloom of autumn and spring (especially when I’m out shoveling snow that comes up to my knees).<\/p>\n In honor of the new season, here’s Louanne Hogan dubbing for Jeanne Crain in the 1945 film State Fair<\/span>:<\/p>\n