At the Drop of Another Hat

At the Drop of Another Hat
Music Donald Swann
Lyrics Michael Flanders
Book Michael Flanders
Donald Swann

At the Drop of Another Hat is musical revue by Flanders and Swann, similar in format to its long-running predecessor, At the Drop of a Hat (1956). In the show, they both sang on a nearly bare stage, accompanied by Swann on the piano. The songs were linked by contemporary social commentary, mostly by Flanders. Highlights included "Ill Wind", in which Flanders sings rapidly about a pilfered horn to the tune of the Rondo from Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 4 and "New Built Up Area", a soliloquy by Flanders in which a disgruntled resident of Salisbury Plain complains of the newly erected Stonehenge.[1]

The revue premiered at the Haymarket Theatre in London on 2 October 1963 and ran until 21 March 1964. It was revived on the West End, at the Globe Theatre, from 29 September 1965 to 19 February 1966.

The show toured widely, including tours in Australia (1964), Hong Kong and England (1965) and in 1966 Canada[2] and the US.[3] A Broadway production played at the Booth Theatre from 31 December 1966 to 9 April 1967.

Songs (includes all versions)

First half
  • "The Gasman Cometh: A Ballad of Unending Domestic Upheaval (It All Makes Work for the Working Man to Do)"
  • "Sounding Brass"
  • "From Our Bestiary"
  • "Bilbo's Last Song"
  • "By Air"
  • "Slow Train"
  • "A Sloth"
  • "Bedstead Men"
  • "Los Olividados"
  • "More Songs for Our Time"
  • "The Rat Race"
  • "Sea Fever"
  • "Old Hat (Kokoraki)"
  • "Ill Wind" - (Mozart's Horn Concerto in E flat major, rondo finale with cadenza)
  • "Ostrich Song"
  • "First and Second Law"
  • "Twice Shy"
  • "From Our Bestiary"
  • "Say Who You Are (Carter)",

Second half
  • "All Gall"
  • "Horoscope"
  • "Old Hat (Madeira M'Dear)"
  • "Wompom"
  • "Twenty Tons of TNT"
  • "Friendly Duet"
  • "In the Bath"
  • "Armadillo Idyll"
  • "Lovely War"
  • "Motor Perpetuo"
  • "New Built-Up Area"
  • "In the Desert"
  • "Food for Thought"
  • "Prehistoric Complaint"
  • "Bedstead Men"
  • "Commonwealth Fair"
  • "A Song of Patriotic Prejudice"
  • "Hippo Encore"
  • "Guide to Britten"

Flanders and Swann's Bestiary

Included in the performance of At the Drop of Another Hat were several songs about animals. Most of the following songs were not included in the original cast recording, but issued with additional songs on a separate disc:

Note that many of the songs were originally from At the Drop of a Hat

Recordings

Notes

  1. 1 2 Flanders & Swann: At the Drop of Another Hat. Allmusic, accessed 19 July 2011
  2. Billboard, 17 December 1966, p. 56
  3. At The Drop of Another Hat. Flanders & Swann Online, accessed 19 July 2011

References

External links

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