Once more....with feeling.

[rogueslayer452]

Taken from the Crunchy Questions Meme:

Do you like musicals? Operas? Ballets? Do you have any favorites, least favorites, unpopular opinions?

I essentially grew up on musicals of a wide variety. The Sound Of Music was definitely the biggest imprint on my childhood, but it kind of continued on from there. I also grew up on musicals like Hans Christian Andersen (starring Danny Kaye), Once Upon A Brother's Grimm (1977), the Peter Pan musical (starring Mary Martin), both versions of Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella (starring Leslie Ann Warren and Brandy, respectively), and plenty of others among that nature. It was a lot of these kinds of musical influences in my childhood, thanks to my mom who was mainly responsible for introducing them to us, that was very formative to what I would be interested in much later in life.

As I got older, I ended up being largely interested in other musicals such as The Phantom Of The Opera, RENT, Chicago, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Reefer Madness, Mamma Mia! (which I actually saw a live performance of in Las Vegas many years ago, and we got front row center seats which is still wild to me), and plenty of others. I also don't know if anyone remembers this, but when I was in high school there was Carmen: Hip Hopera, a modern hip-hop version of the Carmen opera that starred Beyonce on MTV, I really enjoyed that one. This, of course, should also include musical-based episodes of shows ("Once More, With Feeling" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and webseries (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog). And in most recent years, of course, there's been Hamilton and Heathers: The Musical, and most recently I've been listening to Hadestown. So yeah, I guess you could say that I like musicals quite a bit. Not everything, mind you, but if the songs are catchy I will be listening to it.

(As for my unpopular opinions, there are some musicals that everyone has talked about but I never got that into, such as Les Mis or Wicked; I know the songs and references but never quite got into them for some reason.)

I don't really go much for operas, although I do like watching ballet. I mean, Hans Christian Andersen was mainly responsible for me wanting to get involved in ballet when I was young, and I did take ballet lesson for a short period of time. Although I'm not exactly that well-versed in ballets, but I think my favorite is The Nutcracker, and my most recent favorite production of that ballet is the 2016 Royal Opera House version with Francesca Hayward portraying Clara.

Comments

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I think the music of RENT is amazing, but like the storyline less than I did when I was in college. I think Lindsay Ellis's video essay puts it well. Still, damn if the music isn't brilliant.

I went through a HUGE Wicked phase at the same time as my RENT phase. (It was when fandom got into musicals for a while. Remember that?) I still like the music, but am nowhere near as obsessed. Also, some of the songs really aren't all that good. One is actually spectacular on stage, though. So I'll give it that. It just doesn't translate well when you miss the visual effects.

Chicago is fun. What I love the most about that is that I never saw the movie, so I was completely unspoiled for it. I went to a local production and had nooo idea what I was in for.

I haven't seen that much ballet, but I've seen some.

Buffy's Once More With Feeling is great, although it took me way too long to realize how sexual "Under Your Spell" was. I knew the end obviously, "you make me com(ahem)plete" etc,, but I took "(something?) beneath my Willow Tree" as being a sweet pun on her name. I really am the Rose Nylund of my friends. :P

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I love RENT, even though it has its flaws (as most things do) I still love it, the story, the characters, the music. It makes me happy. I watch the movie adaptation every so often because it's just so great. It's nice to watch around Christmas/New Years.

I only know "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, it is the most well-known song from the musical, and I've heard other people do covers of it. Otherwise, Wicked was one of those musicals that I just never got into. Perhaps it was due to overexposure from it being everywhere at the time, which happens sometimes, and also because it just wasn't really a story I was that interested in (although I know it was based on a novel that does sound interesting).

When the Chicago movie came out I was all over that, it's definitely so much fun. The music is absolutely wonderful.

lol, while I didn't catch upon my first viewing I definitely quickly picked up on the overall sensual nature of "Under Your Spell", more than the last bit of the song that was cut off. It's quite clever, really, how they went about getting things passed the radar. ;)

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

I've heard part of "For Good" from Wicked, too, by Elphaba and Glinda. "I don't know if I've been changed for the better (I believe that I've been changed for the better), but because I knew you, I have been changed... for good."
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[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

"Lost in ecstasy, spread beneath my Willow tree."
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[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

I think some musicals hit you and they just stick and sometimes there are ones that everyone seems to love that just aren't your jam. You like what you like :)

I love going to see shows live but it's been really nice over the last year that we got some lovely virtual options :)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I've never really gone to live shows except for the one, since a lot of them are expensive or far away. I mostly just watch the movies, taped performances/bootlegs, or just listen to the music. I know that this is an issue among the theater world, but with the success of Hamilton I do hope that more productions will do more professional taping of performances and release things virtually so people worldwide can enjoy.

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

I'm pro-bootleg for people exactly like you. It's not losing any money for theatres if you can't get there in the first place. Plus theatre is prohibitively expensive for the most part. Shows like Hamilton made that much worse and I really wish that Lin Manuel Miranda had built something into the show's contract to keep ticket prices from going that crazy. A $10 lottery doesn't cut it when there aren't caps on the rest of the seats in the theatre. The prices for Hamilton affected the rest of Broadway and over the space of 5 years maybe it went from being something I could afford to do because I'd splurge on a show or two and then could do rush and cheaper seats for the rest...to now it's just not manageable the way I used to do it. I don't know how the younger generations manage it really.

I would like to see more professionally taped shows. I think we're at least finally addressing that it's not going to hurt business. The people who want to see them live would see a bootleg/recording and will still go to the live show. Plus making theatre more accessible makes more fans. If it stays just for the wealthy in an era where capitalism is erasing the middle class and making it so more and more of us don't have extra spending money ... theatre will just die. It needs to have a way of reaching more people.

[blakmagjick]

While I highly enjoy Wicked...I've never seen Les Mis, or really care to...haha

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

both versions of Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella (starring Leslie Ann Warren and Brandy, respectively)

Childhood favorites of mine, too!

"I really do wish there was something between us. A continent."

The Nutcracker is a classic, of course. My local university sometimes did weird things like put the mice singing "Living La Vida Loca" in the middle of it, though, which was really offputting.
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[haebin.livejournal.com]

It was so interesting to read about your musical history. I love Musicals so, so much. The ones I really adore are Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, HAIR, The Rocky Horror Show and West Side Story. :3