Counting down to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - this blog's Jewish New Year tradition

 For Rosh Hashanah 

"Put Your Pain In the Hands of a Jew" - music by Skip Kennon, lyric by Fred Landau
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlzpDsd_q-k

Sung by Neal Mayer

We wrote that when asked to submit for a show whose script described the concept as "jokes used as Jewish novocaine" - 

Then the show dropped that concept,  but recording this was great fun! 

and Counting down to  Yom Kippur:

"I Will Survive" parody lyric by Fred Landau - "I'll be Inscribed":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxTuhLayowQ
sung by Jan Horvath

Celebrating the birthday of Whitney Houston the way our parody timeline usually celebrates

 Celebrating the birthday this weekend (Aug. 9) of Whitney Houston the way our parody timeline usually celebrates birthdays - 

Here's a parody of the Whitney Houston classic "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" -

Where's the musical theater connection? Well, the smash hit song became one of the goofiest, silliest jukebox-musical numbers ever, so we offered "The Hottie Guard," parody to the (maybe still Broadway-aimed?) stage version of "The Bodyguard" 

"I've Got a Chance for Some Hottie (Who's Studly)" - parody of I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" -

https://youtu.be/Pqkd0k6quMU

My July 4th tradition - The John and Abigail Adams Family Theme Song

 My July 4th theater parody tradition - 

The John and Abigail Adams Family Theme Song, which assumes some knowledge of the cast album of “1776”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bUcJKIYFyw

Lookback to some good times for my parodies ten years ago this week - The Times reprinted Lin-Manuel Miranda's tweet "Freddie the NYTimes commenter is a local treasure."

 Looking back on some good times for my parodies ten years ago this week - New York Times editor Daniel McDermon asked me to write a parody lyric noting the last post of the Times' ArtsBeat column. And in a "meta" moment, on June 1, 2016, the New York Times reprinted Lin-Manuel Miranda's tweet "Freddie the NYTimes commenter is a local treasure."

The full parody lyric and the full New York Times article are at this link.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/06/01/service-advisory-artsbeat-is-finished/

Our try at a MARY POPPINS/1776 mash-up, as we approach the U.S. 250th birthday

 Reprising our try at a  MARY POPPINS/1776 mash-up, as we approach the U.S. 250th birthday 

 The U.S. will celebrate our "Semiquincentennial" on July 4, 2026. There's still time to learn how to spell and pronounce it properly.

"SEMI-QUIN-CENTENNIAL"-  a YouTube parody for the whole family 

https://youtu.be/Co5e45C7atU

Looking back as we approach two decades of show-related video parodies: Some of our most-viewed videos

 Looking back as we approach two decades of video parodies:  Some of our most-viewed videos

Carolina in the Morning parody on Gov. Mark Sanford scandal 

135,000+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAFeLTchV8c

Aquarius parody in audience interaction at Hair 

 13,200+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQQnN5liEAw

Sarah Palin - parody of You're So Vain 

22,500+ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IGmbd3PDA4

I'm Still Queer - parody of Sondheim's I'm Still Here 

15,200+ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt40nQGc1I4

At the Chuppah - Copacabana parody 

27,300+ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V6cPuTuRDE

A Little Site Music - parody of Sondheim's A Little Night Music

Act one 8,000+  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2mMKTJhdMc

plus Act two 3,600+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iVjlnbTx1g

Fly Me to the Moon parody Fly me in the Nude (but it's G-rated despite the title) about Newark Airport full-body scanners

 51,000+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn3AcCmPL00

Another Christmas has music and lyric by me  

41,900+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfenKQ7sj1E

Bette Midler Hello Dolly "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" parody 

23,000+  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv4JujI26zM

Is It Mushy To Say I Love You? has music by me, lyric by Hunter Prillaman  

73,000+ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZZfjTLHl1s

Right Nearby has music and lyric by me 

44,000+ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri92dfRHYxg

and another from our channel

Reach Out - Skip Kennon wrote this song, it's from the show we wrote together "The Last Starfighter" 

22,800+ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qoNrjhnVxM

Theater Lookback - "The Hottie Guard" - "I've Got a Chance for Some Hottie (Who's Studly)" - parody of "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)"

 Celebrating the anniversary this week of the March 1987 filming in NYC of (IMHO) the most joyous 1980s pop music video, the seminal Whitney Houston classic "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" -

Where's the musical theater connection? Well, the smash hit song became one of the goofiest, silliest jukebox-musical numbers ever, so we offered "The Hottie Guard," parody to the (maybe still Broadway-aimed?) stage version of "The Bodyguard" 

"I've Got a Chance for Some Hottie (Who's Studly)" - parody of I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" -

https://youtu.be/Pqkd0k6quMU

Some optimism for our "Last Starfighter" musical comedy adventure - an official "Last Starfighter" movie script sequel, though in comic book form

Some optimism for our "Last Starfighter" musical - an official "Last Starfighter" movie screenplay sequel, though in comic book form

It's an official Last Starfighter sequel in comic book form - but hoping we can come up with some way to parlay this into more productions of our THE LAST STARFIGHTER musical, or maybe even sales/downloads/views of Bruce Kimmel's Kritzerland original cast recording.

"After 41 Years, the Greatest Sci-Fi Cult Classic of the '80s Is Officially Getting a Sequel" https://collider.com/sci-fi-cult-classic-the-last-starfighter-sequel-comic-series/ "Last Starfighter" musical comedy adventure - on Bruce Kimmel's Kritzerland site - Book by Fred Landau, Music & Lyrics by Skip Kennon. Based on the screenplay by Jonathan Betuel

https://kritzerland.com/starfighter.htm and on the YouthPLAYS site

https://www.youthplays.com/musical/the-last-starfighter-full-length-version-by-skip-kennon-fred-landau-466

LOOKING BACK AT 2025: SOME PARODIES OF 2025 BROADWAY EVENTS

 LOOKING BACK AT 2025: SOME PARODIES OF 2025 BROADWAY EVENTS

JUST IN TIME - Since Jonathan Groff himself has such open fun making fun of his own sweating and spitting, we did a parody-tribute to his Bobby Darin, suggesting that in the case of Mr. Groff, people might not only NOT mind being in a "splash zone," they might even pay extra for those seats.

"Mack the Knife Parody"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3eaFLReem8

Considering the worldwide talent search promised in the 2025 announcement for the new DREAMGIRLS - 

Do they really intend to do a revival without some really really big names in this mid-2020's star-crazy box office climate?

YOUTUBE PARODY - 2020's FANS REACT:

“It Takes Stars to Make Us Buy, My Love”
Tune of “Hard to Say Goodbye, My Love” from DREAMGIRLS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSV0h8S4Puc

To the song "What a Wonderful World" from Broadway's A WONDERFUL WORLD: THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG MUSICAL (2025 Tony nominee)

We offered a parody of the feel-good "What a Wonderful World" - a more realistic feel-less-good "2025 update"

"What a One-Percent World!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kjivj2eNMY

The idea of a Celine Dion parody show like TITANIQUE, that started small and (one assumes) is ready to charge Broadway premium prices of whatever the market will bear, is a joy to contemplate for those of us who traffic in parody! (We'd originally done this spoof back in summer 2019 about "Bat Out of Hell.")

"We're All in the Balcony Now" - Parody of "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (Celine Dion version) - 

https://youtu.be/smw2Qf3TIR8

With the affordability crisis being such a part of life (and the mayor race) in New York City, and meanwhile a three-actor Broadway play like "Art" having grossed $1.7-million per week and up, it felt like an appropriate time for this parody-tribute.

"Starry Starry Show" - PARODY - The high price of (the show) "Art" on Broadway

https://youtu.be/dKl25SQROCo

Parody of a parody show: As TITANIQUE, the Celine Dion parody show moves to Broadway

The idea of a Celine Dion parody show like TITANIQUE, that started small and (one assumes) is ready to charge Broadway premium prices of whatever the market will bear, is a joy to contemplate for those of us who traffic in parody! 

"We're All in the Balcony Now" - Parody of "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (Celine Dion version)

https://youtu.be/smw2Qf3TIR8

Recalling a very generous tweet from Lin-Manuel Miranda ten years ago

 Lin-Manuel Miranda is a really generous person, and will even give a nod to lesser-known writers, in much the same way that Stephen Sondheim did.  

Even in responding to online comments in the New York Times!  This happened ten years ago (Nov. 24 2015).

In my case, I've never met him (I still haven't), but Mr. Miranda saw some of my comments in parody lyric form in the Times reader comments section and encouragingly tweeted 

"Freddie the NYTimes commenter is a local treasure."

https://twitter.com/lin_manuel/status/669222699361771520

One of my all-time favorite "reviews" - that tweet even wound up on my parents' fridge in Florida.  My parents weren't all that familiar with Sondheim's work all that specifically, but they and their friends and neighbors in Florida knew who Mr. Miranda is, and this - along with several books I'd written of my lyrics - added validation with them, and their encouragement  that came from that.  

Writers need encouragement and Mr. Miranda went out of his way to do that.  And in what might be called a meta moment, the New York Times itself even reprinted online Mr. Miranda's generous tweet about my New York Times comments -

towards the bottom of this article

 https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/06/01/service-advisory-artsbeat-is-finished/index.html

Ten years later, I'm still looking for that breakthrough.  But that generous tweet ten years ago meant so much!

It's the 100th heavenly birthday of Kaye Ballard, the first person to record "Fly Me to the Moon" - one of my favorite songs ever to parody.

 It's the 100th heavenly birthday of Kaye Ballard, who was the first person to record "Fly Me to the Moon" - which is one of my favorite songs ever to parody.  

This is my Newark Airport security scanner take "Fly Me In the Nude" - but don't worry, it's G-rated despite the parody title. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMJvlkzntBg

Celebrating birthday week of "Carolina in the Morning" writer Gus Kahn

 Celebrating the birthday week of "Carolina in the Morning" writer Gus Kahn -

From 2012 -"Nothing Makes me Gladder Than To Be an All-That-Chatter in the Morning"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iahkfqVVUD4

Looking forward to MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG movie release -"All The Good Seats Are Going" -Sondheim parody

 Costs keep going up as overall profitability of Broadway for the investors looks less likely, and yet there's big money if a show has stars and the potential for screen and streaming.

Perfect example of star power and screen and streaming potential at work: the upcoming screen version of the smash big-name revival of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG

"All The Good Seats Are Going" - parody of "Good Thing Going"

https://youtu.be/iOnaRa7u4io

As we look forward to the MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG movie release, recalling how the Broadway revival of the legendary 1981 disaster MERRILY was one of the hottest Broadway tickets ever, not just the hottest Sondheim ticket.

"Starry Starry Show" - PARODY - The high price of (the show) "Art" on Broadway

With the affordability crisis being such a part of life (and the mayor race) in New York City, and meanwhile a three-actor Broadway play like "Art" having grossed $1.7-million last week, it felt like an appropriate time for this parody-tribute.

"Starry Starry Show" - 

PARODY - The high price of (the show) "Art" on Broadway

https://youtu.be/dKl25SQROCo

Here's "Comey, Make Believe" - Parody of "Only Make Believe" from SHOWBOAT

  Here's "Comey, Make Believe" - Parody of "Only Make Believe" from SHOWBOAT

POLITICS LOOKBACK TO WHEN PRES. TRUMP ACTUALLY CALLED JIM COMEY A "SHOWBOAT"

This is the YouTube link.

https://youtu.be/C7z6qHMAZBo

With announcement of DREAMGIRLS 2026 - YouTube Parody of "Hard To Say Goodbye, My Love"

 Considering the worldwide talent search promised by the new DREAMGIRLS - 

Do they really intend to do a revival without some really really big names in this mid-2020's star-crazy box office climate?

YOUTUBE PARODY - 2020's FANS REACT:

“It Takes Stars to Make Us Buy, My Love”
Tune of “Hard to Say Goodbye, My Love” from DREAMGIRLS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSV0h8S4Puc

Show Tune Parodies as a NYC summer ends: The $2-billion Waldorf Astoria renovation and Police use of facial recognition

 Some new parody YouTubes about goings-on in New York: 

Here's our YouTube for The Waldorf Astoria's $2-billion renovation/reimagining.  (As they say, a billion here, a billion there, soon you're talking real money!) 

"Everything Glows" parody to "Anything Goes"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALmjVTq1ODM

And with police intrusiveness on people's minds - Maybe a show tune parody can make the iffy use of facial recognition techniques more palatable to the public?

"You're Getting Busted By Your Face" - Parody of "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face"

 https://youtu.be/GR3XzrbKxjs

The link for new (mainly theater-related) parody lyric book - 6th in my "21st Century Oldies" series

 Here's the Amazon link for my new (mainly theater-related) parody lyric book - the 6th book in my 21st Century Oldies parody lyric series

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FLPRB2Z7?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

21st Century Oldies, The First Quarter Century: What A One-Percent World!

Sing-along parody lyrics by Fred Landau, 21st century events sung to the tune of musical favorites.

Topics and 21st century events included:
SKYROCKETING COST OF ENTERTAINMENT
CLIMATE AND GLOBAL WARMING
ECONOMIC CRASH & BAILOUT OF 2008
PANDEMIC & SOCIAL DISTANCING
POLITICAL TURNING POINT: THE 2016 ELECTION
APPENDIX: A COLLECTION OF BEATLES PARODIES

ABOUT FRED LANDAU’S PARODIES:

Fred’s parodies in the New York Times reader comments section caused Broadway legend Lin-Manuel Miranda to tweet: “Freddie the NYTimes commenter is a local treasure.”  The New York Times reprinted Lin-Manuel Miranda's tweet - bottom of this article https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/06/01/service-advisory-artsbeat-is-finished/index.html

Fred’s Sondheim, Sesame Street and Katy Perry parodies have also been written about in articles for The Village Voice by Michael Musto.  

https://www.villagevoice.com/hilarious-gay-spoof-of-im-still-here/ 

and  https://www.villagevoice.com/katy-perry-brought-sex-to-sesame-street/ 

Financial Times critic Brendan Lemon covered Fred’s parody of A Little Night Music on his site and said “A Little Site Music: Brilliant.”  

http://www.lemonwade.com/2009/11/25/a-little-site-music-brilliant/

Comedy great Mark Evanier called him “master parody-writer Fred Landau” https://www.newsfromme.com/2011/10/25/todays-video-link-545/ 

when writing about Fred’s YouTube videos. Fred's  YouTube parody work was also excerpted on Jeanne Moos reports on CNN (AC360, Situation Room).

Fred’s tribute to the new Sondheim Theatre (“Losing My Sign”) was included in the NYU Patell & Waterman History of New York course materials. Economics Prof. David Albrecht, who reports on economics in pop culture, named Fred’s AIG spoofs #2 and #9 in his Top Ten Bailout Parodies rundown.

FRED’S OTHER WORK

Fred’s work from the musical ACROSS STATE LINES got him a Finalist slot (top six of over 100 entries) in the Fred Ebb Award competition for musical theater writing. He received two Midtown International Theater Festival Award nominations for the book/lyrics and production of I NEVER MISS A LARRY KRAMER MUSICAL (which ran at NYC's Roy Arias Theater); the show's leading lady Jennifer Pace won the Best Actress award in a field of 25 shows.

He wrote the book for the musical THE LAST STARFIGHTER (Second Story Repertory summer 2018; Cleveland’s Blank Canvas Theatre Dec. 2022; debuted at New York's Storm Theatre; also NYMF - Theater at St. Clements); as well as the book and score for THE HAPPIEST OF TIMES (Triangle Theater, workshops BMI, ASCAP, Circle Rep).

In praising Fred’s work on THE HAPPIEST OF TIMES at ASCAP, critic/historian Martin Gottfried said the work “was defined by the invention of its creators. It sounded like itself and like nothing else...They invented their own language for musical theater and it had nothing to do with anything else that I’ve seen, really, in terms of musical theater.” Peter Filichia in Theater Week said “a stunning piece of writing by librettist-composer-lyricist Fred Landau.”

Fred graduated from Harvard Law School & has Masters degrees from Brooklyn College and NYU Law School. Other musical theater projects include VIVA MAX! - co-author of a musical based on Jim Lehrer's novel: and FAMILY MUSIC - co-writer (with Marian Wiener) of this musical about the effect of the Afghanistan War on a Long Island family in the ever-changing music business.  Fred also wrote SING ALONG WITH RICK, a novelization of the show FAMILY MUSIC, also available on Amazon.

My new (mostly theater-related) parody lyric book coming soon - the 6th book in "21st Century Oldies" series

 

My new (mostly theater-related) parody lyric book coming soon - the 6th book in my "21st Century Oldies" series.

More advance information is here, along with some promo parody videos

 https://music-and-comedy.blogspot.com/2025/06/starting-to-look-back-on-first-quarter.html

21st Century Oldies, The First Quarter Century: What A One-Percent World!

Sing-along parody lyrics by Fred Landau, 21st century events sung to the tune of musical favorites.

Topics included:
THE SKYROCKETING COST OF ENTERTAINMENT
THE CLIMATE AND GLOBAL WARMING
THE ECONOMIC CRASH & BAILOUT OF 2008
THE PANDEMIC & SOCIAL DISTANCING
THE POLITICAL TURNING POINT: THE 2016 ELECTION
APPENDIX: A COLLECTION OF BEATLES PARODIES