I Love Musicals… (and plays)

Hey all … welcome back to my pink room!

Grab a seat, get comfortable… we might be here for a little while. Today we are continuing to talk about things that make me smile before we jump into the “deep” stuff next week.

Yep… you guessed it .. we are talking musicaaaaals (and plays). So I am kind of a theater junkie ( not really sure what that actually means but I do like myself some theatre). I would tell you the story of how I came to know my first and true love, in other words the Broadway musical “Wicked”, but we might be here for way too long, so we will save it for another day. Let’s instead talk about three things that I miss the most but what also make me grin the most about the world of theater.

1. It’s live, baby… I think a lot of people way smarter people than me can tell you in much more sophisticated terms about the beauty of live performance but I will give it my best shot. If you have ever been to theatrical performance, or you yourself are a performer then you are familiar with the rawness but also magic of real -time performing. There is this spell-bounding energy always present in the space that somehow sustains both the performer and audience member until the curtain closes. It is this constant reminder that the actor needs you as much as you need them. And the understanding that this feeling if its joy, anger, terror or sadness is real but also temporary. You can not stop, rewind and play again, what you see will never be quite same no matter how many times you see the same performance.
2. Whoever had the idea of singing and acting at the same time is actually a genius… I actually love musicals because I don’t know there is something beautiful about a story told through song I think. But I think there is also something unique about musicals because opera is also trying to tell a story through medium of song but it doesn’t really move me like musicals do. Musicals need good acting as much as they need good vocals. Showing off vocal prowess is not enough. And captivating plots without as captivating of songs also is just not enough. Musicals demand both. But that demand actually allow us to experience a kind of humanity that sometimes we are cut off from, expression, emotion, and communication when words are simply not enough. Musicals are not bound by traditional forms of communication, so you can really experience the anger in a character’s thoughts because they literally scream them out in a rock song or the budding feelings in a love ballad.
3. The limits actually don’t exist…This is probably my favorite part of theater anything is possible. And you might say “oh aren’t movies are better for that?” and I guess I would say I don’t know for sure. There is a sort of contract that you enter into once you make into the play house and take your seat, the lights goes down and curtains up. First, you don’t leave. Second, you have to go by the playwright’s and the directors rules. Third, anything goes. So it gives a kind of freedom to what the actual theater can be because pretty no matter what is… we are buckled in for the whole ride. That’s why I have seen your cute like Disney Aladdin musical but also the kind of strange philosophically challenging unique German turkish director’s rendition of Macbeth commenting on the refugee crisis and fake blood. And that variety literally explains my love with theater in the best nutshell you are going to get… Theater taught me that indeed crazy and clever can always be outdone.

Alrighty friends, we have now made it to the end of our time together. Join me back here on Monday in the pink room and I promise we will get back into the roots.

Okay have a weekend everyone and till then…