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 [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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 [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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.
Podcast: Download [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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 [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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 [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:26 — 6.1MB)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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 [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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!
Podcast: Download (Duration: [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I just heard last night that the musical Chess is coming to the Edinburgh Playhouse in September so I thought I’d do something from Chess for today’s song. Anthem is the powerful hymn-like song which is the first act finale from the show. In this song Anatoly Sergievsky (”The Russian”) sings “my land’s only borders [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Today’s song is the most famous song from the 1978 musical Evita, performed by the Eva Perón character, traditionally from the Casa Rosada, the seat of the government in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It has been covered by many artists, perhaps most famously by Madonna in the 1996 film version of the musical.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:47 [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.