Thoughts & Things

Musical Theatre

I love musical theatre. I just love it. The dramatic elements, the comedic elements, the story elements, and the music that makes it what it is. I know that a lot of people see it as something that is full of cheese, and honestly maybe it is. Let's not pretend that cheese isn't delicious.

I have been to see a number of musicals. Some of them are bigger events, like The Lion King in Toronto. Others are smaller productions in a country playhouse. I have had the great pleasure of attending a single performance on Broadway, the 2014 revival of Les Miserables. This is one of the grand highlights of my life, and I still have the playbill that the actors autographed when I met them as they came out the side door.

I have never personally been in a musical unless you count the productions I host in my house. I am the person singing at the top of my lungs all the time. I am particularly fond of musical theatre numbers, as well as Disney songs. I can also be caught singing a great deal of Kate Bush songs, as well as the odd pop hit. It brings me joy. I have starred as both Fantine and Eponine in my shower, and no one can take that away from me.

The reason musicals are on my mind at the moment is that I saw a country playhouse production of Anything Goes with my grandmother yesterday. The lead actress sang as well as any Broadway star I have ever heard. Some of the jokes were absolutely on point. Oh, and it was rather racist. Yeah. I have seen the changes made from the original script, and I can definitely see the work they have done to make it less racist. That said, it was still uncomfortable. I mostly just tried to think of it as just being very of its time. It is sad, however, that there is probably not a way to keep the show in tact if all of the racism were removed; it is fairly ingrained in the story.

I will finish on this thought: I wish I could see all of the musicals! It is completely not fair that I will most likely never see something like Hamilton or Allegiance. I wish going to shows on Broadway could be a practical thing in my life. I wish that part of current media were accessible to the general public. The world would be a better place if we could all see every musical we wanted to!