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

Starting to look back on the first quarter century on our YouTube parody timeline (from our theater-oriented viewpoint)

 Starting to look back on the first quarter century on our YouTube parody timeline, gearing up for my upcoming parody lyric book 

21st Century Oldies, The First Quarter Century: What a One-Percent World! - 21st century events sung to the oldies

These were some "long form" (7 to 10 minutes) parody snapshot mini-movies we did on what we (from our theater-oriented viewpoint) saw as major socially resonant events 2001-2025:  the first time even Sondheim went premium (in 2009-2010), the 2020 Quarantine, the 2008 economic crisis.

A LITTLE SITE MUSIC, or EVERY DAY A LITTLE NET - 10-minute mini-movie, the first time Sondheim went premium, as the ladies of A Little Night Music (Charlotte, Anne, Madame Armfeldt, Desiree, Petra and Fredricka) dealt with premium tickets to the starry 2009 revival of their show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVshwEolB9E - Vocals: Jan Horvath

WHEN I'M STUCK AT HOME, the 2020 Quarantine Through the Eyes of a Performer - 7-minute mini-movie, as a performer deals with theater closings by making masks (Make 'Em Masks) and then imagining socially distant roles in parodies of Rose in Gypsy (Together Wherever We Go), Joanne in Company (The Little Things You Do Together), Bianca/Lois Lane in Kiss Me Kate (Always True to You In My Fashion) and staying at "Home" with Dorothy and Toto in The Wiz 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7mTdB7C8fg - Feat. MJ (Emily) McAleesejergins

THE LEHMAN EULOGY, AN AIG BAILOUT PARODY MEDLEY (2008 economic crisis) - 8-minute parody-jukebox musical mini-movie, through parodies of Helen Reddy classics Delta Dawn, I Am Woman, Angie Baby, You and Me Against the World, Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUjCalZ7hiM - Vocals: Georga Osborne & Shauna Hicks

A show tune parody lookback - On ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo's apparent political comeback

 A show tune parody lookback - On ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo's apparent political comeback -

There IS very real precedent for a Governor resigning in disgrace in a sex-related scandal where it really looked like his career was over and done - but where the voters later decided otherwise!

From 2009 - Gov. Mark Sanford sex scandal - "Carolina in the Morning" parody -
His career looked over, but his later political success is now proof that "second acts" in politics are indeed possible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAFeLTchV8c

With the Tonys coming up, I offer our parody video rundown salute to the 2025 Tony nominations:

 With the Tonys coming up, I offer our parody video rundown salute to the 2024-25 season's Tony nominations:

OUR TOWN - Best Revival nominee - We didn't dare do a parody of this production's use of the smell of bacon (since we knew people involved), but we had spoofed the bacon aroma in the David Cromer revival in 2009, so we offer that:

"It's Pork! It's Pork! A Hell of a Smell"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6udCDp5ELYY

GYPSY - Again, we didn't dare do a spoof of the multi-nominated revival with Audra McDonald as Madame Rose - so offering a revival of our spoof of the truly psychotic Madame Rose that Imelda Staunton had done in London, 

"Some Roses"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3YPpAOMV_w

JUST IN TIME - Since Best Actor nominee Jonathan Groff himself has such open fun making fun of his own sweating and spitting, we DID dare do 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

A WONDERFUL WORLD: THE LOUIS ARMSTRONG MUSICAL -  nominated for Best Actor, James Monroe Iglehart.

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

OH, MARY! - We didn't dare try to  be funny ourselves in dealing with this play.  Instead, we offered up our "Mary song" for when regionals and local theaters do the "Oh, Mary!" cabaret segment and can't get the rights to the songs used on Broadway [with a video originally meant for suggesting replacement Mary's for "The Testament of Mary" which we'd dubbed "The Testiness of Mary"] 

"A Brand New Mary" - a song to cheer Mary up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSFtaG74LDc

SALUTE TO THE INSANE OUT-OF-CONTROL GROSSES FOR nominees GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK and GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS and also non-nominee OTHELLO

"We Coughed Up for Shakespeare" - Rich people react to being able to easily afford $700 to $921 tickets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOdZhff2jHs

Have Yourself a Very Skimpy Christmas - Parody show tune look at that "Kids can get two dolls instead of 30" concept

 In the "Presidents say the darnedest things" department - 

Here's our YouTube parody take on that "Kids can just have two dolls instead of 30 for Christmas" concept.  (At least, the President got us thinking about Christmas in May!) 

Thanks if you have time to watch!

"Have Yourself a Very Skimpy Christmas"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wopk_8xFl0I

As Mother's Day approaches - reprising our "Mother With the Hat" parody song

A cautionary Broadway parody fable for anyone buying tickets to go to the theater with Mom for Mother's Day -

Remembering the controversially-titled critically acclaimed Broadway play whose ads shortened an unprintable word to "Mother" and called the play "The Mother With The Hat" - 

which some opined looked like it could have been advertising the perfect show to see with Mom for Mother's Day. 

The "Mother" With the Hat Parody Song

https://youtu.be/1_gG1vJGOFk

Mack the Knife parody, about reviews of Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin on Broadway

 In parody tribute to the reviews about Tony frontrunner (and Tony winner last year) Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin in "Just In Time,"

"Mack the Knife" Parody on YouTube 

https://youtu.be/R3eaFLReem8

- noting that the reviews praised Mr. Groff's performance as sensational, and the critics AND the show also pointedly warned that Mr. Groff spits and perspires a lot, so be aware if you're in the front rows.  (Happily, Mr. Groff and the show clearly have a sense of humor about it.}. 

We offer the idea that while some may want to avoid a "splash zone," others may even be willing to pay extra to be in it!

P.S.  The opening premise of the parody, that the sharks sung about in "Mack the Knife" are just misunderstood, is an homage to the experts discussed in this New York Times story "Don't Call Them Shark Bites." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/nyregion/sharks-nyc-rockaway.html

For Katy Perry singing "What a Wonderful World" in space!

For Katy Perry singing "What a Wonderful World" in space - 

Offering in tribute-parody a reprise of our 2025 regular-person take 

"What a One-Percent World!" 

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

Coincidentally, there's a Jeff Bezos rocket ship cameo at 1:20 into the video.

(Parody of "What a Wonderful World" -  real song was recently heard in the 

Broadway musical "A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical")

With Scott Rudin so in the news - Some of our respectful parody-tributes related to Scott Rudin shows.

 

Since arguably the biggest New York entertainment news story 

this past week has been Scott Rudin, 

Some of our respectful parody-tributes 

related to some of Scott Rudin's shows.

None of these parodies are in any way making fun of Scott Rudin 

- this is more a parody-tribute medley.

For Bette Midler in Hello Dolly! - 2017

PUT ON YOUR TONY GOWN - Parody lyric by Fred Landau

 https://youtu.be/hv4JujI26zM

The "Mother" With the Hat Parody Song - music & lyric by Fred Landau

Recalling when the ads with the shortened title made it look 

to some like the perfect gift for Mother's Day.

https://youtu.be/1_gG1vJGOFk

For Hugh Jackman in The River 

LOOKBACK AT A BOX OFFICE “I GO TO RIO” TRIBUTE - 

"I RAID MY KEOGH"  - Parody lyric by Fred Landau

https://youtu.be/x7UReYZx2wI

For Hugh Jackman in The Music Man - 

A snapshot from Sept. 2020 when Broadway was still closed 

but the Winter Garden billboard went up, though we worried the show might not go on.

TILL WE SEE HUGH - Parody lyric by Fred Landau  

https://youtu.be/H6p1lzm6Rdc

For The Lehman Trilogy - 

trying to tell the 4-hour story in 3 musical minutes. 

I AM LEHMAN - Parody lyric by Fred Landau

 https://youtu.be/QEhraD0nwzw

COUGHED UP FOR SHAKESPEARE! - on the huge grosses for name-star vehicles Othello, Good Night and Good Luck & Glengarry Glen Ross

Here's our "no bells and whistles" YouTube on the current Broadway screen star vehicles, on the huge grosses for limited run name-star vehicles Othello, Good Night and Good Luck and Glengarry Glen Ross

This is a simple Audio Parody (with sing-along lyrics) COUGHED UP FOR SHAKESPEARE! - including a nod to the once-unimaginable concept of "David Mamet SRO at the Palace!"

https://youtu.be/dOdZhff2jHs

Remembering Mr. Sondheim on his birthday in the way this blog usually does - Some of our Sondheim-themed parodies

Some of the YouTubes from this blog's Sondheim-themed parodies - remembering Mr. Sondheim on his birthday in the way this blog usually does

 The producer of a few CDs I'd worked on, Bruce Kimmel, had gotten an OK to give me Mr. Sondheim's direct email address, 

and this 2009 YouTube parody was the first of a long series of videos from 2009 to 2013 where Mr. Sondheim looked at the parodies before they were recorded and even gave helpful notes. 

This was my “I’m Still Queer” -a  parody-tribute of Stephen Sondheim's “I’m Still Here” looking at four decades of New York City theatergoing 

Parody lyrics by Fred landau, sung by Bill Parry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt40nQGc1I4

- starting with theater right around Stonewall circa 1969 and going through 40 years of theater, a field that somewhat got identified with the gay demographic. 

I was especially thrilled when Michael Musto posted a Village Voice article that took note of this video.

"Hilarious Gay Spoof of 'I'm Still Here'"

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

---------------------

From just before the 2009 Broadway revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC - 

"A Little Site Music" -  a six-number, seven-minute mini-musical

Act One - with parodies of Every Day a Little Death, A Weekend in the Country and Liaisons - Parody lyrics by Fred landau, all six roles sung by Jan Horvath

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2mMKTJhdMc

Act Two is at 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iVjlnbTx1g

with parodies of Send In the Clowns, The Miller's Son and The Glamorous Life

-----------------------

From May 2020 during Broadway closing for pandemic lockdown

We imagined Broadway leading ladies rethought for the social distancing era

PATTI/SONDHEIM PARODY SALUTE - TOGETHER Parody medley - Joanne (COMPANY) / Rose (GYPSY) - 

parodies of "The Little Things You Do Together" & "Together Wherever We Go"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmwMqL3T7-Y

Parody lyrics by Fred landau, sung by Emily (MJ) McAleesejergins 

------------------------

On this decade's Sondheim premium pricing - 

"Another Hundred Millionaires Got Off of Their Phones"- 

Parody of "Another Hundred People" from "Company"

https://youtu.be/biOPO57uQ1M

---------------------------

This Youtube celebrated one of my favorite Ben Brantley London Journal reviews.

This parody was of Imelda Staunton's scorched-earth Rose in GYPSY:

SOME ROSES parody to "Some People"

https://youtu.be/L3YPpAOMV_w

Parody lyrics by Fred landau, sung by Sheree Sano

Five years this week since Covid hit us, and on a theater-specific level, Broadway closed - "WHEN I'M STUCK AT HOME" - our 7-minute movie-musical

 As we're being reminded, this week is five years from when Covid hit us, and when on a theater-specific level, Broadway closed. 

This was my YouTube channel's musical snapshot of where we were in Spring 2020, and maybe it can help to comparing Spring 2020 to where we are now - the business having gotten through it but with so much loss.

  

"WHEN I'M STUCK AT HOME" - our 7-minute mini-movie-musical - where we were in Spring 2020

https://youtu.be/s7mTdB7C8fg

The wonderful Emily McAleesejergins plays a performer trying to make the best of things: 

starting with "Make 'Em Masks"

then doing social-distancing parody versions of roles the performer would like to be doing rather than masking and isolating - 

Mama Rose (Gypsy)

Joanne (Company) 

Bianca/Lois Lane (Kiss Me Kate) 

and Dorothy at "Home" with Toto a while longer.

Day after Oscars - Lookback to our HOLLYWOOD GOWN musical parody series - parody of the song HOLLYWOOD TOWN

 With this year's Oscars notable for more men than usual dressing up in flashy finery - 

Thinking back to our channel's "Hollywood Gown" music video series, when one of the favorite Oscars fashion years to have fun with was the year James Franco appeared, ready to be kidded, dressed in that time's version of Hollywood finery. 

This parody lyric imagined what people on the red carpet might REALLY be thinking when evaluating other stars' gowns. 

HOLLYWOOD GOWN lookback 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-Wlq-xZcxs

The real song "Hollywood Town" is written by the wonderful Harriet Schock (and may be best known for the classic recording by Manfred Mann's Earth Band on their Angel Station album)

WHAT A ONE-PERCENT WORLD! - Feb. 2025 parody version

 

WHAT A ONE-PERCENT WORLD! 

https://youtu.be/5kjivj2eNMY 

Feb. 2025 parody version - 

Parody of the song WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD 

 

Parody lyric by Fred Landau. 

Many thanks to Sheree Sano for the vocal and video.

"SEMI-QUIN-CENTENNIAL"- for U.S. 250th B'DAY JULY 4 2026 - a "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" parody

A possible "Mary Poppins"-"1776" parody crossover -

Felt like an OK time to upload our YouTube to the upcoming 250th anniversary of U.S. independence!

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

"SEMI-QUIN-CENTENNIAL"- for America's 250th BIRTHDAY JULY 4 2026 -

https://youtu.be/Co5e45C7atU

A "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (the great Sherman Brothers song) parody

Remembering what "Off-Broadway" used to mean - with many of today's off-B'way tickets costing $400 and up

 Inspired by the recent Times article "Off Broadway, Labor Tension Heats Up"

With many of today's off-Broadway tickets costing $400 to $500 and up - remembering in a musical parody-tribute video what "off-Broadway" used to mean.

"Off-Broadway" - Parody-tribute to "On Broadway" 

https://youtu.be/9owl7UbBbLU

Reprising SALLY'S TALLEY'S FOLLIES now for Bernadette Peters & Danny Burstein both back on Broadway in Sondheim shows

 Posting this at this time for both Bernadette Peters and Danny Burstein being back on Broadway in Sondheim shows -  

This was a tribute to the glorious Danny Burstein going from playing opposite Bernadette Peters as 'Sally" in FOLLIES to playing opposite Sarah Paulson as "Sally" in TALLEY'S FOLLY.

SALLY'S TALLEY's FOLLIES - "Story of Sally & Sally" - From FEB. 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM-96oZeY3Q

With the new Hugh Jackman show setting records at Radio City, reprising our parody-tribute to the ticket prices!

With the new Hugh Jackman show setting records at Radio City Music Hall, reprising our parody-tribute to how we feel about buying pricy tickets to a Hugh Jackman show!

“I RAID MY KEOGH” - parody of “I GO TO RIO”   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPa84ySiryA