The Musicals Thread

[Benji]

I love musical theatre. Let's talk about it.

I have today discovered that "Wait For It" from the Hamilton soundtrack is amongst the least listened to songs from the soundtrack on Spotify which absolutely baffles me as it's one of my three favourite songs from the soundtrack (behind "It's Quiet Uptown" and "Non-Stop"). It's such a strong soundtrack, but it being bottom three stuns me as it's such a wonderful introspective track and is also incredibly catchy and goes through several motions at the same time.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Hamilton is coming to Cardiff at the end of the year and I really wanna go.

I've also got tickets to go see Operation Mincemeat in June which I'm super excited about because I love the musician behind it.

[Schlitzbrille]

Tomorrow Belongs to Me from Cabaret is very quietly one of the more terrifying numbers I can remember offhand, especially considering the political climate of the past few years.

[Ruki]

For Hamilton, my top 3 gotta be Satisfied, Guns and Ships, and One Last Time. The whole album is banger on banger. Also in the Lin-landscape.... 21 Chump Street! A quick 5 song, 15 minute musical about undercover cops in schools, featuring Anthony Ramos (of Hamilton and the In The Heights movie fame)

 

 

[Lineker]

My wife is obsessed with musicals. The last one we went to see was Come From Away - which was amazing tbf.

[METALMAN]

This is an interesting one. I was very much what you could call a musical theatre kid. Through school and university I played in the band pit, worked backstage and even went on stage for a few productions (but not so much of the latter because I’ve never been a very good singer). I’ve done the classic Cole Porter/Irving Berlin ones right up the more modern Sondheim and Lloyd-Webber types. And I loved it. It was so much fun to be part of and a great sense of camaraderie between all participants. The first night of a show was one of the most electric feelings I’ve ever had.

That being said, I also HATE musicals. : / With the exception of the golden era stuff like Anything Goes, Guys and Dolls, Annie Get Your Gun etc I pretty much hate everything.

Post Rodgers and Hammerstein and probably reaching its nadir with Stephen Sondheim, musicals took on this sense of earnestness and tendency to oversing that they haven’t quite shaken off. The way musical singers enunciate their words also really annoys me. I mean I can understand why they do it - so you can hear the words and follow the story but these things usually only have the merest thread of a story which is really just there so serve the music. If I go to the opera and someone sings in Italian or German I don’t need to know what’s going on in the silly story in order to enjoy myself. But beyond that there's a kind of uniform “sound”, a formula for arrangement and songwriting, that really grates on me. 

Exception: Jesus Christ Superstar which is packed full of bangers but perhaps it’s more of a rock opera than a musical?

I actually went to see Hamilton last year (somewhat reluctantly: I had friends who come to London to see it and they bought me a ticket, would have been rude to say no). And it was … fine. Obviously a lot of people got excited because it was singing and rapping rather than singing and talking like all the other musicals but it still had a lot of the idiosyncrasies that annoyed me about musicals in like … the last 80 years. There’s that sense of earnestness and taking itself too seriously. You can tell the Miranda dude thinks Hamilton is A Significant Work but quite often the songwriting isn’t really that good. I was somewhat excited at first because I thought it was a musical about the life of Lewis Hamilton but it turned out to be about federalism so I was quite disappointed by that. There were a couple of good tunes. The rest of the audience (including the friends I was with) appeared to know the songs already and they all had a great time. Which is what matters really.

tldr: I love taking part in musicals but I don’t like listening to or watching them apart from the odd banger that turns up from time to time.

[Daniel Bryan]

On 19/04/2023 at 22:40, Brandon Cutler Fan Account said:

I've also got tickets to go see Operation Mincemeat in June which I'm super excited about because I love the musician behind it.

You're in for a treat. I went to see it two years ago -- had been waiting for a chance ever since I heard Felix do one of the songs from it, and it didn't disappoint. Seeing it again this weekend, really cool that it's on the West End now.

Was mildly disappointed the recent movie wasn't an adaptation of the musical.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Daniel Bryan

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

I absolutely love Felix Hagan, I think he's utterly brilliant. I'm actually a little gutted they've just extended the run because I'd have picked a more convenient weekend if I'd known but hey ho, the tickets were a present anyway, can't complain 

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

On 19/04/2023 at 22:40, Brandon Cutler Fan Account said:

I've also got tickets to go see Operation Mincemeat in June which I'm super excited about because I love the musician behind it.

Oh my god its amazing everyone go