I love musicals. I've known for years that I love them. Still, even now, I'll start listening to a Broadway-style song, and it will irritate me to no end for the first 45 seconds. The performers act with their singing, and at first, it sounds like obnoxious overacting. However, as the singers continue, they never waver in adding as much oomph as possible, and I realize it's not obnoxious overacting. It's unashamed theatricality, and I love it! So much emotion. That's the other part I love. Musicals contain so much emotion because the characters are allowed to sing out their feelings in expository fashion, and it's believable because, well, they burst into song in the first place. If you can take that, you can take their expository singing. It's so much drama, in such a fantastic way. Like soap operas, only good, with singing and costumes and occurrences that never take place in real life. Musicals are forever young.
Wicked
Wicked is a fractured version of The Wizard of Oz. In Wicked, the Wicked Witch of the West (or Elphaba) is the hero, shunned by the multitudes because she was born with green skin. The wizard is the villain, who, I think, steals the voices of the anthropomorphic animals of Oz. He also tries to kill Elphaba. Forever determined to be good, Elphaba makes it her mission to stop the evil wizard. Because of this, the people of Oz label her "wicked." Idina Menzel plays Elphaba, and Kristin Chenowerth plays Galinda. I hope they make a movie of this musical because, even after listening to and reading about it, I'm not sure what all happens. All its songs are so clever. I shall take you step by step through the three that here appear.
The Wizard and I
She sings so wonderfully, so fiercely, it's hard not to sing along. As you can see, it's a happy song, but it holds some pretty ironic foreshadowing. Elphie envisions a "celebration throughout Oz that's all to do with me." She'd be so happy she could "melt." Now, I may not have to tell you this, but all of Oz will celebrate only because she literally melts. Of course, she doesn't know that. So I'll let you decide whether it's really a happy song.
What is this Feeling?
This is so smart and funny. I may be stating the obvious again, but replace the word "loathing" with "love" or "loving" throughout the song, and you'll see it could just as well be a love song...but it's not! It's a hate based on superficial qualities, brought on in an instant, expected to last forever, but doomed to end, all just like infatuation. "It's so pure, so strong!" Heh! Ri-ight.
Dancing through Life
This song presents meaning in layers. First comes the obvious truth that life IS "more painless for the brainless." If one doesn't think, one never hurts. If one doesn't care, one is never saddened. Next comes the spoiler that Fiyero later becomes the Scarecrow. Supremely sneaky, I'd say.
I love all the songs not only because they're easy on the ears but also because they're smart. They're all worth listening to. *Hint*
Jekyll and Hyde
I find this song so pretty, and the picture pretty cool. I like other songs from this musical, but this one sticks most in my mind.
No One Knows Who I Am
Spiderman Turn off the Dark
Yes, they have created a Broadway musical of Spiderman. At first, this seemed like a completely ridiculous idea. How can the Spiderman we know from the movies be contained in a tiny stage when he should be swinging around from New York skyscrapers? From the preview below, though, they will have some pretty amazing effects. And you know, the movies didn't capture it well, but Spiderman is a pretty emotional chronicle, as I know it from the 1992 TV series. It's like a soap opera, but glorious, with goblins and black holes and science and genetic mutation and cloning, instead of lame stuff like ex-husbands. In other words, Spiderman's sort of perfect for a musical.
Preview
I hope it does well, so that it runs a long time, so that I can still go see it when I'm rich.
Rise Above
I like this song well enough. It's a bit repetitive, but, eh. I'm not sure if they've released more songs. To be honest, I only started looking today because I didn't feel that two musicals was enough for this post.
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