Musical Theatre Love-Fest

Today has been a blessedly lazy day.  I read books and did the dishes (take that, Danielle!  I do, too do the dishes!)  Last night I couldn’t sleep, so I camped out on the couch with… er… Camp.  The movie, I mean.  It’s not the great American musical or anything (that designation is taken; read the rest of my posts) but it is good, mindless musical fun.  The plot isn’t stellar and the acting is B-rate at best, but the musical numbers are fantastic and the singing and dancing are great.  I love the songs in it- I think one or two of them may be original numbers written for the movie, but most of them are gleaned from other musicals. (The movie is about kids at a performing arts camp.  They produce a show like, every two weeks during the summer, plus a benefit at the end.  That’s basically the plot.  Seriously.)   Whoever wrote the script has a healthy love of Stephen Sondheim, as should all people who are obsessed with musical theatre.  They even got Mr. Sondheim to make a guest appearance in the movie.  

I was “Cinderella’s Stepmother” in Into the Woods my senior year of college.  It was one of the coolest experiences of my life, and it was the catalyst for my current love of theatre.  I had been in show choir productions in high school and I played in the pit orchestra the year before Into the Woods, but none of those things constituted a real theatre experience.  I had never played a role on stage before.  I am not an actress.  My friend, Rachael is an actress.  My friend Daniel is an actor.  They are also the most talented singers I know.  But I am just a singer, which made me especially glad to receive the role I did.  Since then, I have been in community theatre productions- Music Man (ugh,) Bye Bye Birdie (oh, God, the most horrific musical ever) and Big River (actually a fun and entertaining show, and the best one that the community theatre has put on in years.)  I was in the chorus of all those shows- well, except Music Man.  In that,  I was Ethel Toffelmyer, the “pianola girl” who was also one of the “Grecian urn ladies.”  Anyway, I’ve always had a lot of fun in the chorus.  

My friend, Laura, who is also an amazing actress and singer (how do I get myself involved with all these people?) asked me if I just never wanted a big role.  I reminded her that I was not an actress and also reminded her about my voice.  I studied classically in college, and my voice would be best served in an opera or a Gilbert and Sullivan musical.  Plus, remember that I can’t really act, and I’m also six feet tall.  I’m not exactly leading woman material.  But you know what?  If a role came along that was perfect for me and a director offered it to me, I would take it in a heartbeat.  I always want to try something new.  It would be they biggest struggle of my life and I would probably nearly kill myself doing it, but I would do it.  Because it would be fun.

All that said, here are my top five musicals, in order of how much I love them and why.
     

1. Children of Eden.  This show is by Steven Schwartz and it basically flopped.  I wish it hadn’t, because I think it’s one of the best shows that have come down the pike in the last fifteen years.  (It opened in London during the first Gulf War, and tanked.  It never even made it to Broadway.)  It follows the books of Genesis in the Bible from the Fall all the way through the flood.  (It’s a loose translation of events, which made some ultra-conservative, “Super Christians” at my school mad.)  Cofo did this my junior year of college, and I played the French Horn in the pit orchestra (multi-talented, you ask?  You haven’t heard me play.  Ugh.)  Besides having a great message and gorgeous music, it got me hooked up with some of the people I am still friends with to this day, five years later.  I wrote my Senior capstone term paper about this show: “Children of Eden: Art or Heresy?”  It was fifteen pages long.


2. Rent.  See the rest of my posts.  I think I have made my case clear.


3. Wicked.  Also by Stephen Schwartz.  What is not to like about this show?  It’s based on The Wizard of Oz, it was written by my favorite musical composer, the music is clever and intricate, and it has two great female roles.  They were originated on Broadway by my favorite Broadway actress (Idina Menzel) and one of my other favorite Broadway actresses (Kristin Chenoweth.)  I spent several long, tedious months memorizing this show in the passenger seat of Danielle’s car.  We’re planning on singing “What is this Feeling?”  sometime soon (the song is the touching story of two roommates who completely and utterly loathe and despise each other. Hmmm….)


4. Into the Woods.  Like I said, I was in this in college.  I love the campy grossness of it (people get killed, a lot of stuff gets stomped on by giants, and I personally got to shed blood onstage, which made my mom gag) and the slightly corny humor is a good juxtaposition to its thinly-veiled anti-war message.  We performed this in early 2002, months after September 11.  The music is tricky and wordy and challenging, and I loved every minute of it.  Everyone with a passion for musical theatre should get a chance to be in this show, because it’s a great learning experience.

The verdict is still out on number five.  I really like the music from Aida, but the plot isn’t that great.  And Jekyll and Hyde is a great story, but all the songs sort of sound the same, even though I really like them.  Then there are the off- Broadway shows I enjoy, like Bright Lights, Big City (love most of the music, but again, the story sucks) and Tick, Tick… Boom! (Another show by the person who wrote Rent, Jonathan Larson.)  And you never know, I may see some show soon and think, “There it is.  My fifth show.”  I’m really picky about things like that.  I placed Rent at number two, even though I think it’s the best of all those, because I can’t bear to make Children of Eden anything but number one.  It’s my favorite, it always will be.  It’s so special to me and it’s hard to explain why.  People who were there know why, and nothing will ever replace it in my heart.

Well, this has gotten long and drawn out, and I have to go to praise team practice.  So I think I will sign off for now and talk again at a later date.  Bye for now,


Brianne <><