Thursday, July 28, 2016
The 10 great Broadway songs that made me love musicals
www.timeout.com: Growing up a straight white boy in small-town New Hampshire, I wasn’t exactly destined to care about Broadway musicals, much less love them and write essays about how we may be living in a new Golden Age. My parents didn’t collect cast albums and we lived 300 miles from New York in a village that didn’t even have a bar. We never watched the Tony Awards.
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It is amazing to hear about how other people became hooked on theater. Everyone has a path that led them to it, and each one is unique. Throughout the years, we hear songs that we will forever link to experiences that led us to theater, and it is beautiful. For the author of this article, The Impossible Dream is the song that first sparked an interest in him. For me, that song is Sunny Side to Every Situation, from 42nd Street. I was five years old when I saw the show at a local community theater, and between the music and tap dancing, I was hooked. Because I was so young when I saw the show for the first time, I do not remember all that much about it, but that particular song still stays with me as the first musical theater song that I loved. I always look for the good in a bad situation, which is what that song, and the whole show, is all about.
I felt very similar to David Cotes before coming into the theater scene a couple years ago. It never really interested to listen to musicals and their soundtracks. I typically like to listen to Hip-Hop/Rap, Soul, and Funk and it never sparked to reach outside my selective genres to listen to something completely different than what I was used to. But once I stared theater in 8th grade, I started to really like musicals. Whether I was forced to hear the same song hundreds of times in rehearsal or searching on my free time, I usually stumble upon a handful of songs that I love from musicals. Like Cotes, Dance at the Gym is one of my favorites. I was stuck in my theater constantly hearing the song and watching the choreography for it. And as the days passed, I started to really like the song. Also, in Man in "Full Monty" is a great one as well. When I watched that show at CMU this year, that was the one songs that stood out above the rest. And as I kept listening to different types of musicals, I realized that I'm not really stretching out of my normal genres because you're bound to find a musical that matches a genre or a specific sound you like.
This is so accurate. As techies, sometimes we think that we sing more than MT’s, and this is exactly why. We think of musicals/performances as more than just jobs, we literally remember the songs for years after the shows. We do such great shows, and these are just a handful. I agree with Wes Side Story, Hamilton, Wicked, Rocky Horror, Into the Woods, and Sweeney Todd. I actually haven’t seen the rest of the musicals on this list, but the ones I have seen, I love with my whole heart and soul. Sometimes I think that techies sing so much because they actually want to be on stage, but something’s hindering them. I could see that being the case for so many of my friends. Anyway, the music is the heart of musicals, really. If the music is good, then it doesn’t matter how bad the plot is, people will still listen.
Its always interesting to hear other peoples stories of how they got into theater. Everyone story is so different yet so similar for me i had been performing all my life. It just never felt right and when i got into high school i thought i was never going to set foot in a theater again but my drama teacher came in and asked me to join tech crew. Its so silly to say but she changed my life ever since then tech theater has become my life and i wouldn't change it. As a tech crew we bond with a show different than preformers but its a special we all get so close since we rely heavily on each other. Techies sing a lot we love the musical and sometimes i believe performers dont think we like shows. We do and were not performers cause we can't make it on stage we do tech because we love theater but don't like being on stage. All though some techie do both. Not matter what we all have are stories for why we do theater there so different yet all very similar.
It's so interesting how those destined fro theater fall into it without even realizing. So many people believe they aren't because they don't have the proper "look" or don't quite mesh into the stereotype, but the truth of the matter is that there is no type that belongs to theater, even the specific of musical theater. Its versatility is what makes me adore it so much. It's amazing watching from afar how people can transform from aloof to intrigued in a matter of just a couple of shows. The atmosphere of change and ability to experience things one might never have been privy to otherwise is such an integral part of the theater scene that is so underrated. I believe that is the part that draws people in and keeps them crawling back. There is so much possibility for escapism and emotional and mental fulfillment in theater that captures you without you ever knowing that I love so much.
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