Did you know that I like musicals? You didn't?
How do we know each other again? Obviously not very well...
Yes. I love musicals. I started watching musicals when I was little. Disney, of course, followed by watching, re-watching, re-watching, and re-watching The King and I until the VHS mysteriously "disappeared" one day. After the movie came out in theaters, my parents got me the soundtrack to Pocahontas and I would listen to it over and over on my boom box (once I got enough tickets at Chuck E Cheese to get one). Fifth grade I got to be in a school production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and I listened to the soundtrack a million times over. Luckily for my parents, I had a personal CD player with headphones at that point. I also got to go see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway when my family and I went on a vacation to New York.
These events planted the seeds, but it was in sixth grade when it became an all out obsession. My friend Diane introduced me to Phantom of the Opera and I can't tell you how many times I listened to those CD's. I won't go into the nerdery that happened that year surrounding that musical. I will only reveal that we got into it enough that we could sing harmony for various parts. Just from listening to it a bajillion times.
In the next few years of middle school, I discovered Les Miserables, Scarlet Pimpernel, Miss Saigon, and a host of other musicals. I drew pictures, read fanfiction, and hoped and prayed for these shows to tour to Portland so I could go see them. I did manage to get to see Les Miserables when I was in 7th grade. When I was buying my souvenir program, a lady in line asked me if I was enjoying the show and if I was happy my parents had dragged me out to see it. I informed her that I was the one who had dragged my parents to the show, not the other way around. Mom still only really remembers "Master of the House." *sigh*
I managed to be lucky enough to get a good group of friends in high school who shared my love of musicals. We would get together and listen to musicals, talk about our favorite parts, and just geek out over them. Through high school, we went and saw several shows together, including Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables (the Broadway tour and a fabulous production by a local high school), and Miss Saigon. I might be missing some, but those are the ones that pop out.
After entering college, my friends and I grew apart, though Facebook helps us keep up on each other's lives and allows us to chat occassionally. My collection of musicals continued to grow (as my poor roommates can attest to, though I did try to wear headphones and not abuse their kindness). My friend Mindy moved to New York for graduate school and I got to go visit her for a week and in that time we managed to see Phantom of the Opera, Addams Family, Wicked, and Cirque de Soleil. I would have chosen to spend less time "seeing sights" and more time at shows, but it was still a fabulous trip. And I managed to fit in a few more shows (5) when I went for a class last summer. Whenever I can, I try to see a show when it's touring or if a local group is putting on a performance. There's something about the theater that just makes me exceedingly happy, particularly musicals.
Over the years, I've managed to see quite a few shows (including seeing Jekyll and Hyde in Korea, which was amazing) as well as accumulate what some might say are far too many soundtracks. I would protest that these people who say you can have "too many" musical soundtracks were crazy... but then I counted that I have 56 soundtracks in my iTunes. And that's not counting Disney soundtracks, operas, and the musical episode of Buffy.
So, as of today (when I purchased Elisabeth das Musical... I have no shame), these are the musical soundtracks I have (7 of which are in languages besides English; German, Korean, French, Hungarian, and Japanese to be precise):
A Tale of Two Cities, Addams Family, Aida, Annie, Beauty and the Beast, Book of Mormon, Cinderella, Dreamgirls, Elisabeth das Musical (German cast), Evita, Finian's Rainbow, Grease, Hairspray, Into the Woods, Jane Eyre, Jekyll and Hyde Original Broadway Cast, Jekyll and Hyde 2012 Cast, Jekyll and Hyde Korean Cast (지킬 앤 하이드), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Kinky Boots, Kiss Me Kate, Les Miserables, Les Miserables French Concept Album, Light in the Piazza, Lion King, Little Mermaid, Little Women, Lizzie, Love Never Dies, Martin Guerre, Miss Saigon, Newsies, Next to Normal, Notre Dame de Paris French Cast, Notre Dame de Paris English Cast, Once, Phantom of the Opera Original Broadway Cast, Phantom of the Opera Movie Cast, Phantom of the Opera Highlights, Pippin, Pirate Queen, Ragtime, Rent Broadway Cast, Rent Movie Cast, Romeo and Juliet London Cast, Romeo and Juliet Hungarian Cast (Romeo es Julia), Romeo and Juliet French Cast (Romeo et Juliette), Saturday's Warrior, Scarlet Pimpernel Original Broadway Cast, Scarlet Pimpernel Concept Album, Secret Garden, SeraMyu (Sailor Moon... shut up), Spamalot, Spring Awakening, Sweeney Todd Movie Cast, Wicked
Now that I've bored you all with the history of my love (obsession?) for musicals, I guess I'll explain what I plan on doing with this blog.
Because I love musicals, I decided I wanted to have a place where I write my own thought of the musicals I love. To be honest, this is purely self-serving. I process things by writing (hence my various blogs, personal journals, and my BA in English teaching). Since I currently have few friends willing to gush with me over musicals (particularly now that I've more recently getting into musicals in other languages), I'm going to use this blog as a place to flesh out what I like and dislike about the musicals I obsess over. This will include the music, staging, acting, and other aspects of the musicals that catch my interest.
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