MFT: Musicals

Hi all,

Today I’m going to talk about one of my absolute favourite things in the world: musicals. I don’t know how I could start this post other than telling you how much I genuinely love musicals. I can’t even convey my love for them in words, I just, I don’t know how to say this, I just couldn’t live without them.

I’ve always liked musicals, mostly films that I’d watched, for example Mary Poppins or Mamma Mia or the Sound of Music, but it wasn’t a burning passion like I posses now. However, this changed when I listened to Dear Evan Hansen for the first time on Thursday 17th May 2018 – a date I have written down to remember, as it’s such a momentous day for me.

I’m struggling to write this post if I’m being honest, because I just have such a love for musicals that I’m struggling to articulate myself and write something coherent. I’m going to persevere, but I’m sorry if some of this doesn’t make sense.

Dear Evan Hansen is the musical I will always credit for kickstarting my love of musicals, however my favourite musical before this was Wicked. I hadn’t listened to the whole soundtrack, but Defying Gravity had been on of my favourite songs for a long time. Then, in the summer of 2018, I got the chance to see the actual stage performance of Wicked, and for that I am so grateful. I finally listened to the whole soundtrack in preparation and realised what great songs I’d been missing out on, but let me tell you, nothing can compare to actually hearing those songs in the actual theatre. I’m going to be completely honest with you: when the performance started, the orchestra had literally played 2 notes and I started crying. I just could quite believe I was actually there, actually seeing Wicked in person. Wow – I’m getting emotional just thinking about it.

Anyway, from there my obsession just escalated. I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest musical fan, because I’ve not listened to that many yet, but I’ve listened to fair few and have a long list of others I want to listen to.

The thing about musicals, and the reason why I love them so much, is the music. Which sound obvious and like a stupid thing to say but it’s honestly the truth. Songs in musicals can really move me emotionally and dictate how I feel and make me feel so involved with the story, musicals are a really immersive experience for me. Again, struggling to articulate what I want to say, but the first time I listened to Dear Evan Hansen I cried, a lot. And the second time. I’m getting better now but sometimes it does get me a bit.

I’m going to talk a bit about some particular musicals now that I like. Obviously there’s Dear Evan Hansen, which holds a special place in my heart, both for being the gateway into the musical world and also just because it’s fantastic. Something special about this play is also that the soundtrack doesn’t reveal that much of the real story of the play. It kind of… it portrays a story that’s definitely good, however the actual story is so much more in depth and complex and I really wasn’t expecting it. 100% my favourite song is Waving Through A Window which is genuinely beautiful and fantastic and makes me a little emotional every time I hear it – speaking of making me emotional, the little Waving Through A Window reprise in Disappear… wow. I particularly love Ben Platt as Evan (and also Andrew Feldman?!?!?! Like what how is he that good when he’s only 16?!?!?!), and also Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (the composers) who, quite literally, could compose anything and I’d listen to it.

Speaking of Pasek and Paul, another favourite musical of mine is The Greatest Showman. When it first came out I didn’t watch it, as I wasn’t too fussed about it and didn’t understand all the hype about it, but I finally watched it a couple of months ago, and now I really do understand all the excitement that surrounded it. It’s genuinely amazing, and if you haven’t seen it, even if you’re not a big fan of musicals, you definitely should. My favourite song from it is probably A Million Dreams, but I also love The Other Side, Rewrite the Stars, and From Now On (also, this might be a bit odd to say, but Hugh Jackman’s low note about 40 seconds into Come Alive is FANTASTIC)

(side note – I swear my computer is spying on me, because I’m currently listening to a playlist that’s literally 9 and a half hours long on shuffle, but as I typed that the next song came on and it’s From Now On – creepy, right? Not that I’m complaining, I love this song!!)

I don’t want to call it my favourite musical, as I love a lot of musicals, but if I was forced to pick a favourite then it’s likely I would say Be More Chill (which has just gone to Broadway!!! It’s so exciting!!!). I don’t even know what to say, other than wow. I love Be More Chill. It’s just… amazing. Whereas Dear Evan Hansen is real-life, and The Greatest Showman is real-life/historical, Be More Chill is more of a sci-fi musical. Sci-fi normally isn’t my thing, but I genuinely adore Be More Chill. It’s just… great and cool and has amazing music and an amazing story. My favourite character is definitely Michael Mell, played by George Salazar, who I also love. Him and the composer of Be More Chill, Joe Iconis, actually have anther album together called Two Player Game, which isn’t a musical but I think deserves an honourable mention in this post because not only do I love it lots but it’s also made up of songs from Be More Chill, other musicals that Joe has written and also some other songs that aren’t from musicals (I don’t think?) but are very musical-esque and have a story to them. My favourite song from Be More Chill is probably More Than Survive (also a big fan of the More Than Survive reprise), although at first it was Michael in the Bathroom (which I still do love, don’t get me wrong). Honestly, I genuinely love all of the songs in the soundtrack, but especially The Squip Song (Rich Goranski is probably my second favourite character), Halloween and Voices in my Head. As for Two Player Game, my favourites are Broadway, Here I Come, Andy’s Song, The Answer and Kaboom.

My thoughts are all over the place right now just thinking about all the musicals I love, but I’m going to talk a bit more about Wicked now. I spoke a bit about this earlier but just have a couple more things to say (being honest, I’m never finished talking about musicals, but I’m trying not to bore anyone too much). First of all, maybe this is just because I only listened to the full soundtrack once before seeing the actual show, but like Dear Evan Hansen the music doesn’t give too much away, or at least there’s a very different meaning to some of the songs when they’re put in context, for example Defying Gravity. Speaking of, Defying Gravity is definitely definitely my favourite song from Wicked, but I’m also a big fan of The Wizard and I, Dancing Through Life, I’m Not That Girl (the I’m Not That Girl reprise, while not one of my favourites, makes me EmOtIoNaL – but then again so do most reprises) and One Short Day.

The Phantom of the Opera is the next musical I want to talk about. I’ve not listened to the cast recording from the actual stage play of this, but I have watched the 2004 film that was made (I don’t actually know if the soundtracks are any different now I think about it…) I think my favourite song is Think of Me, however there’s a special place in my heart for the Angel of Music (in a music group at school we played a Phantom of the Opera mashup and I had a solo in this song) and I also like Masquerade, which can be described in no way other than as a banger^TM. However, the main thing I want to talk about in relation to the Phantom of the Opera is something I didn’t like about it, which is that lots of the dialogue was in song form, which I get is the whole point of a musical, however sometimes I found it hard to understand what was being said.

Grease is another musical I absolutely love. The first time I saw Grease was actually not the film, but was a school play I went to watch, and I loved it so much that I bought the DVD and watched the film… and then bought the film album. However, having watched the film, I think I actually preferred the school play version I watched? Maybe it was because of the atmosphere, actually watching a live play, or maybe it was because I knew lots of the people performing, so basically what I’m saying is it’s not that the film wasn’t good, because it was. I like how there’s a variety in types of songs: some very upbeat and some much more sombre and melancholy. My favourite song I think is probably Those Magic Changes, although (obviously) I’m a big fan of Summer Nights and You’re the One that I want.

I quickly just want to mention Beauty and the Beast, not just the Disney film, but also the stage show, which I didn’t even know existed until a month or so ago?? Obviously there songs like Belle, Be Our Guest, Gaston, Something There and Human Again from the film which I love, but I’m also a big fan of the Beast’s song If I Can’t Love Her from show.

I’m going to stop going on about my favourite songs of musicals now, because it’s probably quite boring for you to read, although I could go on and on about lots more: Hairspray, Annie, Les Misérables (the film – I haven’t yet listened to the stage play soundtrack – again, are they even different?)… the list goes on. However, like I said at the start of this post, I’m not the biggest musical fan, because there’s so many (especially big ones) that I haven’t listened to.

Three musicals that I want to listen to are Moulin Rouge, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, all of which I like one song from and so want to listen to the rest. From Moulin Rouge it’s Come What May – it’s just such a dramatic and powerful song and that’s literally the only reason why I like it, but that’s good enough. From Percy Jackson it’s Good Kid, which is just such an emotive song (it gives me lots of feelings) with such great music, and I have great respect for anyone who ever sings it (I’ve seen videos of Chris McCarrell and Troy Iwata) as it’s very… strenuous (? I think that’s the right word) and obviously requires a lot of skill. From Everybody’s Talking About Jamie the song that I love is The Wall in my Head. I think it’s a song that so many people can relate to, but it has that fighting spirit to it, and that’s why I like it so much. Also, I’m not really sure why, but I love that you can hear John McCrea’s accent in the song.

There’s also a bunch of musicals that I want to listen to that I’ve not heard any songs from yet: Rent, Book of Mormon, Newsies, Heathers and Falsettos, for example. They’re kind of the “standard” musicals that people like and I’ve seen all over the internet, so I have good expectations for them. I’ve also heard that Once On This Island is a good musical so I want to listen to that, and also Alice has recommended that I listen to Hamilton. Perhaps when I’ve listened to all these I can come back and write a follow-up post to let you know how I feel about them. Because it’s not like I’ve written enough about musicals already…

I’m going to wrap this post up soon, but before it ends I just want to talk a bit about probably one of the most integral parts of musicals, that really doesn’t get enough recognition: the musicians. I’ve talked about composers and I’ve talked about actors, both of whom I have great respect for, but I also really respect the musicians that really bring the shows together. Without the pit orchestra or the band playing, musicals wouldn’t be nearly as good. Personally, I feel that the music underneath the singer is actually what makes songs from musicals so emotive and powerful and moving and as fantastic as they are. My dream job would be a musician in a pit orchestra (especially an orchestra, rather than a band), however it’s a dream I’ve had to accept will never come true, as I don’t play an instrument that would ever be needed on it’s own (I’d have to play another part too), I can’t sight read (which is important as the musicians often don’t get many rehearsals before the actual show) and I don’t have the confidence to play professionally. But still, I can dream.

Anyway, that’s all I have for this post. To anyone who’s made it this far and actually finished this post – over 2600 words of my rambling about musicals – I commend you and your perseverance. I’m sorry that it has been such a long one, but as you can probably tell, musicals are something near and dear to my heart and I have a lot of feelings that I wanted to express. If you want to talk to me at all about musicals, or perhaps have other recommendations on soundtracks to listen to, please please do leave a comment on this post or message our instagram – I would love to talk to someone about this topic. Again, well done for making it this far, and thanks for reading.

~ April