@ This Stage: My high school boyfriend broke up with me in a Barnes & Noble Starbucks a few days after my mom and I saw Jesus Christ Superstar. He delivered the bad news, we said goodbye in the parking lot, and I turned right back around and made my way to the CD section in the back of the store to camp out beneath a Free Listening Device. That icy January night, I cued up “Everything’s All Right” from Jesus Christ Superstar and held on tight, sensing that a hurricane of heartbreak was coming for me in the night.
5 comments:
I thought this was a very good article. Written very well. I have always enjoyed Urinetown. I stage managed it in my undergrad. It is such a fun show to produce. It’s so funny and quirky but there is so much meaning behind everything that is said. I was surprised that this show seems so relevant right now because of what is happening in the political world. I am curious what the cast of this Urinetown thought when they went into work the next day to perform a show that could literally become us in the future even more so now; that’s scary. I wonder if the topic of this show will turn people away because it seems so relevant and doomsday. I think that audiences will actually go to see it more because it relates even more to them now and I think will motivate them to do something. To go out there and make a difference.
I really enjoyed reading this article. It reminded me of where I come from and who I've become regarding theatre. For quite some time I've said to myself that I'm only interested in theatre because I've just been doing it for so long and, hey, I'm pretty good at it. Why not continue doing something you're good at that you enjoy? Maybe not, love, but enjoy? This article kind of brought to my attention some feelings I hadn't really discovered yet about why I really like theatre. There is always a story to tell and you can always connect to it in one way or another. Theatre really is a reflection of humanity. I should of known this to be true, as if you asked me what the "origins" of theatre are, I'd say: "ceremony, ritual, imitation, and storytelling" as if reciting it from a textbook. They are what we moderately accept to be the "origins" but beyond that it is what "humans are" and therefore is a reflection of, in some aspects "humanity itself." I went pretty meta on this comment and it isn't directly related to the article but it certainly brought about some great personal discovery.
I loved this article for a few reasons, firstly because i stage managed Urinetown in my senior year of highschool, and i really love the show. but also because the article drew into question some of my views of theater. I have always viewed theater as a way of telling a story, or transporting the audience to a new place entirely, however it can also be a tool for examining society. I like to think of it as a giant multi-faceted mirror pointed at the world, each performance reflecting a different aspect of our society, whether it be the current political climate, or the sad state of climate change, theater can and should be a critique of society.
I'll start this comment with my own anecdote of high-school heartbreak. I was 17, and barely old enough to realize what I wanted out of a partner. However, convinced I needed a partner, I strong-armed a guy I'd known since elementary school into something. He eventually broke up with me because I wasa shitty girlfriend (I really was, I'm sorry Chris), and went on to got to Harvard and block me on facebook. Unlike the author, I didn't find myself crying in Barnes and Noble, or seek out a refuge in a musical. Instead, I found myself channeling my teen angst and insecurity into dubious designs, most of which I've since burned.
This comment was going to be about Urinetown and how the the importance and meaning of theatrical work changes throughout adolescence and adulthood, but I didn't grow up around huge amounts of memorable theater, and relied on West Coast rap and German industrial metal, not musicals, to vent my frustrations.
I guess my point is that a) we can't underestimate the importance of theater on the growth of our youth, and b) high school breakups tend to be pretty shitty, so-for any of you high schoolers out there- I promise it gets better.
Oh, I love this article. I feel almost exactly the same way about many musicals, as they point to very specific times in my life. There are three ways that musicals tie into my memory of personal relationships: either I was working on that show at the time that something happened, or we used to sing songs from this show together in the car, or I turned to this musical when I was sad or angry (or happy!) about something. Regardless of what began it, many of my memories are quite tied to the musicals they share space in my mind with, and when I hear them again I sometimes feel like I revert into the person I was, which can be good or bad. I have musical numbers that give me hope and numbers that fuel my anger, numbers that I can cry with and numbers that I love to belt along to when I'm extremely happy or excited. Musical theatre is a friend in itself, really, that carries (a lot of us) through many different times in our lives.
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