Musical Theatre Confessions

For the last couple of years, I’ve been really happy to add “Musical Theatre Fan” to my list of titles I use to describe myself. You know, Teacher, Christian, Writer... etc. Theatre has joined the list of my interests and hobbies, and that’s resulted in some great friendships and conversations.

But I have noticed that along with being a theatre fan, that comes with other connotations. For example, if you don’t like a show, especially one that’s deemed a “classic”, it’s a real big deal. I’m not really sure why, because no one is expected to be a fan of all books, or all movies, or all musicians. So why are musicals any different?

So, I’m putting it out there, and here are my Musical Theatre Confessions:

1.   I don’t like CATS. I know, it’s one of those shows that has so much hype, and is so well known... well, I think mostly that’s “Memories”.  I just don’t get why it’s a big deal. I’ve heard “Memories” and I don’t think it’s an especially amazing song, but I couldn’t tell you what the show is about or any other of the songs. I have seen the show (kinda), my grandmother gave me the DVD for Christmas a few years ago, knowing I like musicals. I watched the first fifteen minutes and was really bored.
2. Whilst on the subject of CATS, which of course was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber...  ALW is a composer who is such a big name in the Musical Theatre world, but none of his shows (that I’ve seen) are amongst my favourite musicals. And honestly, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of ALW... ok, it’s Phantom of the Opera. But the second thing? The Nanny. Because even when I knew nothing about musical theatre, I knew from watching The Nanny who Andrew Lloyd Webber was because of his rivalry with Mr Sheffield.
3.   I don’t really like musicals that are mostly singing. I like my singing/speaking ratio to be more balanced. I have seen Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, the Broadway version of RENT and of course, the Les Mis film. And in three of those cases (save for RENT, which will be elaborated upon in my next point), I enjoyed the story, but really felt they could have done with less singing. Especially because in every case, few songs really grabbed me because there were just so many.  I remember watching Phantom of the Opera and in cases such when they’re reading the note from the Phantom? There’s a voice in my head going, “Why can’t you just speak this?”
4.     I like the RENT movie. Love it. Over the stage show. Now, maybe it’s because I saw the movie before I saw the stage show. But you know what? The movie works. They cut out a bunch of songs and proved that they weren’t needed. The film, the story, the characters work without those songs. I know there’s a lot of theatre fans who say film versions who cut a lot of songs out destroy the original show, and maybe that’s true. I’ve only seen shows where they’ve added songs (e.g. Mary Poppins. And yeah, the changes from the movie threw me at first and I didn’t think the original songs they added to the show were that great, but I still enjoyed the show), so I can’t comment.
5.  Also still on RENT... I only like about half the songs. I don’t even own the whole soundtrack, I just bought the songs I do like from iTunes (there’s 10).  And those 10 songs were accumulated over about 3 viewings of the movie. Only 1 of those songs permanently lives on my iPod (Finale B).
6.   Les Mis is really depressing, which OK, I don't really think is that shocking. And I do love a lot of depressing things. I saw the movie (haven’t seen the stage show) and before I did, I knew some of the songs (3, I think) and I had a faint idea of the story. And yeah, I wished there’d been a bit more dialogue. And no, Russell Crowe can’t really sing. And I know everyone is super excited that they’re doing it again... but unless someone I really like is in the cast... I probably won’t see it. Maybe once, because my Dad wants to see it, and I like doing stuff with my parents and sharing experiences with them- and if my Dad wants to see a musical, you take that opportunity.  But it’s another one of those shows that is such a big deal. And again, I know there was a lot of discussion from fans of the show protesting against well... Russell Crowe, and the changes that were made.  But did any of the changes really hurt or work against the story? Having not seen the stage show, I can’t comment on the differences. But whatever changes were made didn’t stop me from crying at the end, or from enjoying the film, or from recommending it and praising it to others, or from deciding that I will be buying the DVD (I haven’t had the chance to do it yet though. And I haven’t bought the soundtrack).
7. A lot of these big shows, CATS, POTO, Les Mis, etc, if it’s revealed that someone doesn’t like the show, it’s often met (in my experience) with a lot of exclamation like “What?! How can you NOT like this show?!” Which seems weird to me, although I can readily admit that when I hear of people not liking Wicked, I have that same reaction. Because well... it’s Wicked (to be fair, I also have that reaction when people don't like Harry Potter. Or something else I love). And yeah, my Wicked is someone else’s... CATS, or whatever.  I guess this one isn’t so much a confession... or it is, but just that I can be a bit hypocritical even though it annoys me when I get this reaction from people about other shows.  Come talk to me once they’ve made the Wicked movie (eventually. I’ll probably be 50 by the time they get around to that -_-) and I’m sure I’ll be one of those people complaining about any changes they’ve made (honestly, my main concern is casting- but that’s another issue).

For me, whether or not I go see a show depends mostly on the story. Addams Family is in Sydney at the moment and there’s a lot of hype and friends who know me and know I like musicals (mainly Facebook friends) keep asking me if I’m going to see it. And you know what? I’m not. And not just because I’m now living several hours away from the city, which makes it more difficult. It’s just... I have never really been a fan of the TV show.

King Kong is also coming to Australia. I have no interest in that either. If an actor I really loved was in the cast, I might go once, and you never know, it might surprise me and I might like it enough to go again. I am however, super psyched for Grease (love that movie, and has a totally awesome cast) and The Lion King (it’s Disney. Enough said). I wasn’t sure how Legally Blonde would work as a musical, but I love the movie and the cast, which was enough to get me to want to see it, and I loved it.

Really, this post was inspired because a friend is watching RENT (the filmed Broadway version) and tweeted the following:

Now, I don't think this makes her a bad musical theatre person. And whilst I don't think I have trouble understanding RENT, there were bits I had to ask about. Like would people in 1989 New York be that openly casual about their drug use, or HIV/AIDS. It turns out yes, in that part of New York, they would. And that's fine and now I know. All I was going off was from watching Philadelphia with Tom Hanks, because he definitely wasn't open about having AIDS and for good reason. 

And I don't think we should be ashamed for being a musical theatre fan and not liking certain musicals- even (or maybe especially) those that are heavily hyped, referenced and discussed in musical theatre fan circles. Hence, my above confessions. 

It's like when people release those lists of The 100 Books you must read before you die, and I haven't even heard of half of them. Does that make me a bad reader? I don't think so. I read a lot of books, all different types. From classics (Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, JRR Tolkein) to books that probably should never have gotten published (*cough* Twilight *cough*). Same goes with movies- I like a lot, all different sorts and genres. So, why is it a bad thing or something I should be ashamed of to admit I don't like CATS or that I didn't love Les Mis. And despite the many critics (and I am still finding and reading less than raving reviews about Wicked even now), I'd rather see Wicked than Chicago a hundred times. OK, I haven't actually seen Chicago (stage or screen), but you get my point (basically my mum can't stand Catherine Zeta-Jones or Renee Zellweger, so there's no way Chicago the movie would ever be played in our house. And since moving out of home, I just haven't seen it). 

These are just my opinions, so I hope no one is offended by what I've said. I just got thinking about it, and thought it needed to be said. That's all. 

Feel free to share your own thoughts/confessions, etc.