Do you ever find that a scene from a movie haunts you for months, sometimes years?

For me, I realized that those scenes in film or theater are always connected to a song. I also realized that those magic moments are almost always worth singing by themselves as folk songs, and as portraits of a psyche.

Sometimes you’ll find a piece in both screen and theater genres. In those cases, I’ve chosen the movie version date.

This set fills me with delight and new inspiration. And in a live show I make it a guessing contest with free movie tickets as a prize!

Here is my set list:

1934 The Gay Divorcee: Night and Day

1935 Top Hat: Heaven: I’m in Heaven

1935 Porgie and Bess: Summertime

1939 The Wizard of Oz: Somewhere Over the Rainbow 

1940 Pinocchio: When You Wish Upon A Star and Got No Strings

1942 Holiday Inn: I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas

1943 Stormy Weather: Ain’t Misbehavin

1945 Rhapsody in Blue: S wonderful

1945 I’ll Be Seeing You: same

1946 Blue Skies: same

1947 Brigadoon: Heather on the Hill

1951 American in Paris: Our Love is Here to Stay

1954 Peter Pan: Wendy’s Here to Stay, Lulaby, I’ve Got to Crow

1955 Lady and the Tramp: Bella Notte and He’s a Tramp

1956 My Fair Lady: On the Street Where you Live

1956 Carousel: If I Loved you and When You Walk Through a Storm

1956 High Society: True Love

1957 Tammy and the Bachelor: Tammy’s in Love

1961 Breakfast at Tiffanys: Moon River

1962 Music Man: Til there was You

1964 Mary Poppins: Stay Awake

1967 The Graduate: April, Come She Will, Sounds of Silance and Scarborough Fair

1968 Oliver: Where is Love?

1968 The Trouble With Angels: Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows

1968 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: same and Doll on a Music Box

1969 The Sterile Cuckoo: Come Saturday Morning

1970 Zabriskie Point: Tennessee Waltz

1970 Love Story: same

1971 Harold and Maude: If You Want to Sing out, Sing out!

1973 Godspell: By My Side

1973 Jesus Christ Superstar: I Don’t Know How to Love Him

1977 You Light Up My Life: same

1977 Pete’s Dragon: Candle on the Water

1977 The Joker is Wild: All the Way

1978-2005 almost every year, in Iran, in Japan, in Israel but starting with A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galexy: What a Wonderful World

1978 Foul Play: Ready to Take a Chance Again (Thanks to Ben:”Ben there’s a car driving down a highway by the coast and Barry Manilow is singing… whats the movie? and he gives me not only the movie but the exact YouTube clip of the scene!)

1978 Ice Castles: Through the Eyes of Love

1979 The Muppet Movie: Why are There So Many Songs about Rainbows?

1980 Xanadu: same, but more to come (Sara’s new favorite, now on Broadway, by the way)

1980 9 to 5: same

1981 Arthur: Arthur’s Theme

1982 The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas: I Will Always Love You and Hard Candy Christmas

1982 Annie: Maybe

1983 Flashdance: What a Feelin’

1985 Sweet Dreams: same and Crazy

1985 After Hours: I Don’t Know Where I Stand

1986 Chess: I Know Him so Well

1989 When Harry met Sally: Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

1991 Salmonberries: I’d Walk Through the Snow Barefoot

1992 Newsies: Santa Fe

1993 Bennie and Joon: 500 Miles

1995 Jane Eyre: Forgiveness

1996 Rent: 525600 Minutes

1996 Evita: Another Suitcase in Another Hall

1998 Quest for Camelot: I Will Fly on My Father’s Wings

2000 The Fantasticks: They Were You

2000 O Brother Where Art Thou: Kiss Me Mother Kiss Your Darlin

2001 Shrek: Hallelujah

2003 Wicked: For Good

2004 50 First Dates: Wouldn’t it Be Nice

2004 Closer: Can’t Take My Eyes off of You

2005 Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus: Hope Has Wings

2005 Walk the Line: Ring of Fire

2007 La Vie en Rose: same

2007 Juno: Anyone Else But You

‘2007 Once: Falling Slowly

2007 Enchanted: How Does She Know You Love Her?

2008 Mama Mia: What’s the Name of the Game?