friday favorites: Musicals!

fWhile I left my days of high school theater back in, well, high school, I will always and forever love musicals. They are love songs to my soul. The first musical I remember seeing was the movie "The Sound of Music" and the first musical I listened to over and over was "The Phantom of the Opera." In my mind, I always play a part in whatever musical I listen to and if I see a show live, I will most likely listen to the cast recording on repeat for the next three months. Most of these I have only seen recordings of the stage version, but I will get so engrossed in them that I feel like I was there live. With all of the musicals I've seen and enjoyed, the following are the absolute best in my mind.

Aida: With music by Tim Rice and Elton John, this is an awesome, spectacular show. The love triangle is so beautiful and sad.

Into the Woods: Take all kinds of fairy tales, intertwine them and throw in Bernadette Peters and you've got a great show.

Chicago: Murder and jazz in a time when murder and jazz were cooler than they are now.

Pippin: I love the Bob Fosse choreography and the very 70s feel of this musical. Ben Vereen is the MAN in this show as The Leading Player.

Victor/Victoria: A woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman? Crazy! And pretty crazy good.

Mamma Mia!: Ahh, I can't not love the wonderful pop music of ABBA.

And the musicals of my high school days:

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (I wish I was in this one, but alas, I just watched my friends in it from the audience)

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (not on stage here either, but this was my first experience as a stage manager)

Guys and Dolls (my first high school musical. I played the non-singing, non-dancing role of General Cartwright. I embrace the fact that my talents lied elsewhere in the theatre world)

Lucky Stiff (I got to play a nun! among other chorus parts)