musicals!! (stage, movies, concept albums...)

[owlhari]

musicals are one of my favorite art forms in existence! though i love movie musicals and story concept albums, there's something about stage musicals that i will forever love. i've been a theatre kid since i was twelve, but i've loved musicals ever since i watched wizard of oz and mary poppins for the first time as a toddler.

what are your experiences with musicals? do you have a favorite? any niche ones that you love but no one else has ever heard of? have you seen any stage musicals in person? or just ramble about how much of a theatre kid you are!

personally, i couldn't pick a favorite musical! but some of my most beloveds are beetlejuice, newsies, hadestown, amélie, and 35mm. the latter is more of a concept album but it still counts, and it's probably the nichest thing i love. speaking of concept albums, steam powered giraffe's the vice quadrant is a two-hour sci-fi opera with a lot of underlying lore. starkid's musicals are very good as well!

i've seen beetlejuice and back to the future on broadway (both at the winter garden!) which were incredible, life-changing experiences in different ways. i'd been a fan of beetlejuice since i first listened to a bootleg audio (before the cast recording even released), and finally seeing it in person was wonderful. i saw bttf recently as part of a college field trip. because the tickets were very cheap for broadway, i thought it wouldn't hurt to just buy it and "go in blind." i didn't look up anything except a trailer, didn't listen to any songs. it was amazing, and the whole experience reignited the dormant theatre kid in me.

i'm a backstage person forever and always. practical effects, lighting, the logic of staging, i love it all! my favorite hobby is to watch stage musicals and figure out how they tick. stuff like "they made this character run offstage in this scene so they could do a quick change" or "the ensemble is doing a big dance number to distract from someone setting up the practical effects in the back"

[MrsMoe]

I love musicals! Especially horror-centric ones. My favorites are Hadestown, Sweeney Todd, Ride the Cyclone, Little Shop of Horrors, and Beetlejuice. I absolutely agree with you about how cool practical effects and staging are. Broadway shows with unique and creative set designs are my absolute weakness. It's the kind of stuff that makes me want to work in theater myself.

I'm so glad you've brought up concept albums, since I love those as well. My absolute fav will always be The Wall by Pink Floyd (my fav album period), but I also love Hospice by The Antlers, Self-ish by Will Wood, The Black Parade by MCR, Kid A by Radiohead, and Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie.

[glitterpigeon]

im not a super knowledgeable about musicals person, but my favourite is chess! it's very special to me and though i think tbh it's not that good, theres like a little part of the story that is very very important to me and could be amazing if expanded on properly. but maybe that's just the "I could fix it" curse talking. I love it, I love how different all the different versions are. idk im tired an my hand hurts but tell me if you want to hear more!

[night-at-the-musian]

I used to do musical theater as a young'n! I remember having roles in Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Seussical. I've been trying to get back into theater as a whole, and I've been experimenting with drag to get comfortable with performance again. I was cast as the villains or as the big and hammy types. Pros of knowing how to properly project!

My heart always goes to the backstage crew. Tech, lighting, costuming, everyone. The actors are the face, but without everyone else, the show cannot go on. I always made sure to grab a dozen donuts for the backstage crew when I did my shows. I'll keep that tradition alive when I get my show schedule dealt with.

My favorite musicals include Chicago, Newsies, Beetlejuice, and (if rock operas count) Pink Floyd's The Wall. This list will also expand to feature the upcoming NatM Musical, whenever it comes out. Alan Menken's the composer!

[owlhari]

This list will also expand to feature the upcoming NatM Musical, whenever it comes out. Alan Menken's the composer!

woah, i had no idea they were making a musical of night at the museum! i haven't watched the movies since i was a kid but from what i can remember, it seems like it'd make sense as a musical.

im not a super knowledgeable about musicals person, but my favourite is chess! it's very special to me and though i think tbh it's not that good, theres like a little part of the story that is very very important to me and could be amazing if expanded on properly. but maybe that's just the "I could fix it" curse talking. I love it, I love how different all the different versions are. idk im tired an my hand hurts but tell me if you want to hear more!

i have a mutual on tumblr who loves chess! i've absorbed the general gist of the show from them, but please share more if u want!!

something that's relatively unique to theatre i think, is that there can be so many interpretations of the same story. chess is a more extreme example i think, but even two different theatres putting on the same show with the same script will tell slightly different stories. different props, actors, scenery, etc. it's really cool.