Broadway Musicals

"If you could do or be anything and not fail, what would it be?"
Has anyone ever asked you that question?  What was your answer?  Many list off the typical and expected answers:  professional athlete, famous musician, movie star, famous author...

For me?  My answer has been the same for a while.  I'd be a.........

Broadway musical performer!!!  

Can you see it?  I've always joked that God must have forgotten to give me an amazing singing voice, because man do I love to sing!  I always have.  Don't get me wrong; I can carry a tune just fine.  But you certainly won't catch me making public singing debuts ANY time soon.  Singing and acting were always things I loved to do when I was a little girl. Some days I would step into my petal pink, floor length, polyester dress-up "evening gown" with a sequin bodice, slide my Little Mermaid soundtrack cassette tape into my Huggabunch boom box, stand on my bed, and sing "Part of Your World"...into a pen or pencil.

When I wasn't pretending, I sang and acted in my church youth programs and school musicals where I held a myriad of dramatic roles: an alien scientist traveling to Earth to speak with Christians about the meaning of Christmas, (odd? Yes. But trust me on this one--the play was super cute), a sassy ladybug singing about a mean boy who captured her in a mason jar, a 50's girl on rollerskates, a mouse, the Virgin Mary singing to Baby Jesus (I was 5, and still remember every lyric!), the list goes on and on.

Alas, those days are gone.  I have faced the music.  I will NEVER make a name for myself in the musical theater world.  But I still have to get my fix!!  Enter: BROADWAY MUSICALS!!!!!


My mom and aunt are huge fans of Broadway musicals, so they started me, my brother, and my 2 cousins out young.  My first Broadway musical was around 1990--Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express at the Orpheum Theater in Memphis, TN.  Starlight Express was a rock musical that followed a child's dream in which his toy trains came to life and competed to see who was the fastest train.  The cool part?  All of the actors in this production performed wearing rollerblades!! Because I was so young, I don't remember much.  But I do remember the main song; I used to sing along with it on the cassette tape soundtrack.


Mom frequently took me and my brother to Broadway Musicals at the Orpheum Theater, and we loved the whole experience! Getting a little dressed up, driving 1 1/2 hours to the city, parking along Beale Street, strolling to the theater, taking in the lavish tasseled brocade draperies, the enormous crystal chandeliers, the golden ornamental plasterwork, the occasional lady wearing an evening gown and fine furs, the glossy photo souvenir play book we would purchase, the red velvet seats, the HUGE pipe organ, the orchestra, the stage, the MUSIC!!!!  It was always the perfect night!!

Since my childhood, I have had the opportunity to see many more Broadway Musicals all over the nation.  Here they are in order of most to least favorite:
(Click on the links to see some of my favorite clips).

Phantom of the Opera (Orpheum & Broadway)
Les Miserables (Orpheum & Ford Theater in Chicago)
Wicked(go to 5:28, Orpheum)
Aida (saw original cast in Broadway, Orpheum)
Jane Eyre (Broadway--original Broadway cast)
Rent (Walton Arts Center)
Miss Saigon (Orpheum)
The Secret Garden (Orpheum)
Beauty & the Beast (Orpheum & Walton Arts Center)
The Lion King (Broadway & Orpheum)
Mamma Mia! (Orpheum & Walton Arts Center)
The Color Purple (Walton Arts Center)
Hairspray (Walton Arts Center)
Avenue Q (Walton Arts Center)
Starlight Express (Orpheum)
Spamalot (Walton Arts Center)
The Full Monty (Orpheum)
The Producers (Orpheum)
Spring Awakening (Walton Arts Center)
Cats (Orpheum & Walton Arts Center)
Fosse: The Musical (Broadway)

Nowwwww is it obvious how much I love Broadway Musicals??  I love the music and the feeling of being moved by certain songs and scenes.  For 2-3 hours you are completely removed from the rest of the world as you enter into the play's story and the characters' lives.  Unlike a movie, the characters don't get the option of retakes to perfect a scene.  The live aspect of musical theater makes it that much more enjoyable.  These actors and actresses are using their pure, God-given talent. 

There's just something about the whole mix of the musical theater experience.  It's charming, almost old-fashioned, a little refined, and oh-so entertaining!  Now if only we could just bring back the evening wear and formal affair-feel to it all...

 And this is why Broadway Musicals are one of my 

FAVORITE THINGS!!!

(See you at Les Miserables at the Walton Arts Center in May)!!