Mark Pentleton

Today’s song comes from the one-woman show Tell me on a Sunday written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black. I’ve played two other songs from this show: Unexpected Song and Tell me on a Sunday itself, and I thought that this well-known song from the show would suit my 365songs project. It was released [...]

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I recently played the beautiful song A little fall of rain from Les Misérables when Amy mentioned she’d performed it as an audition song. Another song which I’ve not yet played from Les Mis is In My Life, so that’s today’s song. It marks the moment in the show where Valjean realises his daughter has [...]

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This song, from the Bernstein/Sondheim musical West Side Story was first published in 1956. In the musical it follows Tony’s solo, Maria (which I played in June) and in the song both Tony and Maria profess their love for each other. You may also be interested in my version of Somewhere from back in February.
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This song comes from the 1996 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Whistle down the wind. A pop version was released by Boyzone in the same year and reached #1 in the UK and Ireland.
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Today’s song comes from the musical Martin Guerre, written by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil of Les Misérables fame. Based on the real-life historical figure Martin Guerre, the musical was first produced in London in 1996. The young Martin Guerre is forced into an arranged marriage with Bertrande in order to produce a Catholic heir in [...]

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Today’s song is taken from the musical Chess. When Benny and Björn were writing the musical, Björn would add lyrics to Benny’s music to help give the song more rhythm and meaning. They then sent their “demos” to Tim Rice who wrote the final version of the lyrics. Heaven help my heart was actually recorded [...]

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Today it’s the final song in my Sunset Boulevard ‘trio’: Too much in love to care, sung by Joe, the struggling screenwriter and Betty, the script editor. I hope you’ve enjoyed these songs from Sunset Boulevard!
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Today I’m playing the first of a trio of songs from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Sunset Boulevard based on the 1950 film of the same name. With one look is sung by the principal character in response to the comment “you used to be big”. Norma Desmond states, “I am big – it’s the [...]

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I’m running a bit late with today’s song after almost two weeks of timely publication, but that’s because we’re just back from a family holiday in France and Belgium and the past two weeks’ songs were all preloaded! Fortunately, everything went according to plan and I hope you’ve all enjoyed the recent songs. It was [...]

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Last week I attended the end-of-term production of Hairspray at St Matthew’s Academy in Saltcoats. It was a brilliant performance and the entire cast and backstage crew did a fantastic job. A special mention goes to my nephew Ciaran and his cousins Amy and James who were all great on stage! I decided that the [...]

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Today’s song is the beautiful Someone else’s story from Chess. It was not in the original concept version of the musical when it was first released, but added to later versions and has now become one of the best-loved songs from the show.
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All this week my friend and former colleague Joan Herald has been starring as Mother Abbess in Mearns Castle’s production of The Sound of Music. I would love to have seen the production but my trip to Denmark this week has made that impossible. I’m sure that Joan did an amazing job, and indeed that [...]

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I’ve spent the last five days in Denmark working at the annual Apple Teacher Institute in Svendborg in the south of the island of Fyn. I thought therefore that I should really play something with a Danish theme, although this song isn’t really the most authentic option! It comes from the 1952 musical film about [...]

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Today’s song comes from the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. First performed as a 15-minute “pop-cantata” in 1968, the show has grown into a full-length West End and Broadway production featuring performers such as Jason Donovan, Philip Schofield and Donny Osmond.
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This song from the Bernstein/Sondheim musical West Side Story, was first published in 1956. It marks the moment when the character Tony discovers the name of the girl with whom he has just fallen in love. Just to make sure he doesn’t forget it, he repeats the name 29 times in the song!
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I hope I’m not tempting fate by playing this song too early in the summer! This weekend we’ve had beautiful weather and it really feels like summer has arrived. I’ve recorded Gershwin’s Summertime from the musical Porgy and Bess, written in 1936 and, as I’ve just found out today, based on a Ukrainian folk melody [...]

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This song was specially written for the film version of the musical Evita and was performed by Madonna in the film in the role of Eva Perón as she realises that her husband, Juan, has loved her all along. It’s a beautiful song and I hope I’ve done it justice.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:09 — 4.4MB)

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I’m making better time today! This song is one of the big ballads from the musical Miss Saigon. Perhaps I should have got my friend and Apple colleague Joe Moretti to provide the “solo saxophone” bit, but it wasn’t possible this time round. I hope you enjoy today’s performance.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:51 — 5.3MB)

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Today I’m marking the première of the musical Kristina in the Royal Albert Hall with the final song in our Kristina series, and it’s one of the pieces from the show which combines a number of themes heard previously. At this stage Kristina has lost her child and her husband is a stranger to her. [...]

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All musicals need an “eleven o’clock number”, the song which is a turning point towards the end of the second act. There’s no doubt that Du måste finnas is exactly that! Kristina has miscarried and she sits alone under the stars contemplating all the bad things which have happened to her. For the first time [...]

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