Everything Comes Down To Poo

Before you ask this is hardly about Urinetown the Musical, maybe another time. What I want to bring to light this time would actually be TV Series Musical Episodes. Yes, it may be a temporary thing but they are still musicals.Why do I mention the Poo? and how did I come about this subject? Well its easy really. I heard a rumor that Scrubs would be taken off netflix soon so I reminisced on one of my all time favorite shows, and its musical episode, one of my favorite episodes!(go figure)

What's always pretty good about filmed musicals, which does give it an advantage to the staged musicals is the setting and mobility of the characters. Seeing as its a show or movie we are able to give in easier to the characters because we actually see them in the locations, in their own world which we are just spying on. Now since the scrubs musical episode is six seasons in, of course I become enthralled with the people already. Its hilarious, and even in its serious moments the specific episode is riddled with its usual comic relief... not that the show itself doesn't know how to get heavy...

back to the point! What I always found interesting about it, is that it brings up a technique that usually impresses and makes me laugh. When you have certain actors who cannot sing, its so wonderful to still see them skillfully speak to music. And I will back up that speak singing, is something that is a skill. You are able to hit a few notes and have to learn how high or low you can go without loosing vocal control. As well as being able to stay within matching notes to compliment everyone else who in turn is complimenting and carrying yourself. 

If you want another example of this, just check out Julie Andrews and Richard Burton singing What Do The Simple Folk Do. Richard Burton in this case being the magnificent actor who cannot sing. Hell, he performed for the Tony's, all he did was stand there and speak to music, but he was poised and strong. ...It seemed this weeks post went in a different angle than expected, but nonetheless, until next week!

What's green, mean, and a killing machine?

Well we are neither going to be talking about shrek or about wicked. so no need to worry about that, but have you ever considered this. The wicked witch of the west? It really is a great show, well great movie, honestly as a show, I don't see the hype. 

Now the reason I bring it up, isn't to go into too much detail, no. Not about the songs, or about the story. Its about the fact that to me, it seems like a very forced musical. Now to clarify even more, I like the musical. but if anything I don't like calling it that because the songs in it seem very filler. They're empty to me, very low exposition or energy. In fact I would call it a show with music. Such as Zoot Suit. It has a small bit of singing and dancing, but you know what, its still a play, not a musical.

That's how I see The Wizard of Oz. Its a good fun little story that you can enjoy watching. When the singing and dancing is there, then by all means, listen to how well the actors sound or see how well they look. But, to say that it should qualify as one, I don't know. something about it feels right. 

Look at it sort of like a mini series to movies and tv series. It feels more like a movie than an actual tv series. Because of how its written. 

Frankly if all I have done is succeed in confusing you all even more this time with my bad comparisons, just ask yourself, to the best of your knowledge, would you be able to call it a musical if you don't really have that spectacle and awe? If you take away the songs( in the case anything that wasn't in the movie) and it would be ok, should it be a musical?

until next week, enjoy!

How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar? 

So I was actually waiting to talk about this musical until later, but I was listening to the soundtrack (AGAIN) and frankly, I just couldn't help myself. If you're curious as to what the musical is? Its all about that first run on question I posed to you. Alexander Hamilton.

Hamilton the Musical, I will actually be pretty surprised if you haven't heard about it. Not only because its hit Broadway hard, but because its hit the music, writing, history, and all other theatrical communities everywhere. Hamilton broke all sorts of charts, attracted all sorts of big name celebrities and politicians to go see the show. Although, you may just be sitting there asking yourself, why?

Well recall my post about In The Heights, well, Lin Manuel Miranda wrote Hamilton. Why? Well he read the biography of Hamilton and decided, "this is a true american who i can write a full length 2 act rap musical about." Yeah, he's dedicated. It took him years to write and perfect the show but alas, he did it. Now, let me tell you why I love this show. 

First off, LIN MANUEL MIRANDA. He's still my favorite playwright and musical composer. With his absolute love as a theatre artist, his sincerity and dedication to the field always shows. Coupled with his hard earned talent, its no wonder he sells out houses. Moving on.

The actual music is just so gorgeous in its making. Miranda manages to perfectly use both classical music, rap, and musical theatre music(if that makes sense). Acclaimed by both rappers and composers his love and studies in both genres mesh perfectly to tell the story. Sometimes leaning more towards either genre depending on the song, We see the emotions, as any proper musical shows, flowing out of the characters as their lives advance. The personalities and rough lives of the politicians and actual people are shining in the compositions. And as a lyricist, Miranda has such precision in what he writes its astounding. 

"I’m in the cabinet. I am complicit in watching him grabbin’ at power and kiss it. If Washington isn’t gon’ listen to disciplined dissidents, this is the difference: This kid is out!" 

Most characters are absolutely eloquent but just as easy to run their angry mouths. For someone to write like that, well, its impressive. 

The actual story is no pushover either. Hamilton was much more than what our schools taught us. Which was that he was for the aristocracy, which was bull. and that he was shot, which, well that's true. We are entangled into the lives of these people who try, succeed, hurt and suffer. 

HAMILTON HAS BEEN DEAD FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS AND I STILL MOURN OVER THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. 

Its rather unfair, but an amazing script in order to do that to so many people.

Either way, give the soundtrack a listen, you can find in on youtube, and its on itunes, i highly recommend buying it. Its actually considered am opera musical. Which basically means everything is in song, so if you listen to the soundtrack you don't lose any context. By all means, enjoy the show!

Everything is better down where its wetter!

I sat and thought to myself, could I have chosen a better quote from our next musical? yes, yes I could have. Did that stop me? Absolutely not. That being said we can now safely move on to our next musical, which once again, won't necessarily be a summary of the show. Not at all, I decided just to take a show and completely ignore almost all the qualities about it and instead choose to compare one thing in it to that of another country. Now for those of you who have already figured it out from the title, this weeks musical is The Little Mermaid.

Now for the sake of those who may not actually know what The Little Mermaid is, and in order to at least keep some continuity in this week's blog post. The Little Mermaid is a story of a young mermaid of 16 years who is intrigued(obsessed) with the human world. Though her crab friend does his best to convince her that life under the sea is best, she longs for the air breathing kingdom. Early on she falls in love(obsesses) over a prince whose life she saved when his shipped wrecked. She goes to the sea witch for help. The sea witch gives her human legs but says that she has to get a kiss from the prince ( how original) in order to stay happy and human, which is really hard to do in this day and age. 

... All jokes aside it is a cute little story that is pretty well known. What I want to take from this is the American Broadway production to the Japanese production. Take a guess to which is better. Well the answer is the Japanese one is the winner hands down.

Here's what you need to know, the american one they "swim" by using roller skates to glide across the stage and with awkward tails standing erect behind them it almost takes away from the vocal and acting talent that is in the show. Great talent at that.

Now with the Japanese version, They actually fly off the stage with the help of a rigging system, and the tail flows gracefully as they flap their fins in order to swim. You actually see Ariel swimming on the giant statue which fell into the sea. The only downside is that while in the water her hair stand straight upright like a lance, or a very dangerous cone. That being said, its to the effect of when she gets out of the water her hair is down on her shoulders, because the water had it floating!

All in all, if we all spoke japanese I would recommend their version over ours. However, since chances are we don't, I myself do not, The Little Mermaid broadway and any english version, isn't so bad. 

New and Not So Improved?

So here's my question to you all, when do you think musicals are going overboard? Well honestly that's something everyone has there own very biased outlooks on. Today I'm going to go a little different. Now I will still be talking about musicals, don't you worry about that, but instead of talking about a musical that is established or out and running, I'm going to talk about the ones that are in conception, those which are on their way to showcasing. I'm talking about musicals that have been announced and are being composed and written as you read this post. 

Now your question may be, well what could be so bad about these musicals that I have yet to mention? Well I'm not going to say that they are bad, but I won't say that they are good, I will merely analyze the little that I know, starting off with...

Spongebob The Musical

That's right folks, for those of you who haven't heard the yellow guy is getting his own musical. Now we have to wonder if it will be good or not. You may think "oh, it will probably be an annoying kids musical." ... well you may or may not be wrong. After all, Shrek the Musical was looked down upon but ended up being amazing. Well The Spongebob Musical is actually going to feature original songs by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Jonathan Coulton, Dirty Projectors, The Flaming Lips, John Legend, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants and T.I. .... PLUS a song by David Bowie. So we can only assume that it will not be terrible.

That being said, I know I said I was going to be non biased but its my blog so for this next example we have what will more than likely be a horrid show, Disney's Frozen The Musical. Basically Disney is cashing in on this cash cow until it will whither and die. Does that seem a little harsh? yes, but it seems like they've been wringing it out far too long. It was a decent movie but not a masterpiece. So I question its credibility on stage, but hey Disney has the money, so more power to them. Rumors have it that it will have original score. Though I wouldn't be surprised to hear Let It Go in the soundtrack.

Without much info on it I only presented it as an opposing idea. That is to say two new musicals, one which could be great, and one which could be, well not. Though never get to stubborn a mindset, everything can set to surprise you.

All that said, I will see you for next week, hope you enjoyed! 

HELLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOO

Hello, my name is Elder Hernandez, and I would like to share with you the most amazing musical.

For those of you who may have guessed, this weeks musical is none other than the Book of Mormon! You may be asking yourself, what’s so special about the Book Of Mormon, it’s a religious book, how can they make it a musical? Well idk, lets ask the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar …. They said its possible. So let’s get started shall we?

The book of Mormon, don’t worry, is not about the contents within the book of Mormon. Its actually the story of Young Elder Cunningham and young Elder Price. They are two newly inducted Mormon missionaries who cannot wait to get into the world and make a difference. Sounds like an inspiring family musical doesn’t it? Well you’re wrong! This musical is not for the easily offended seeing as it was written by the creators of South Park and inspired by Avenue Q(seasame street from adults). This musical is offensive, crude, blunt, dirty, strange… but you know what? Its so extremely well written.

Just like the South Park series which is extremely creative in its satire and storytelling ability, Book Of Mormon does just that. It tells the story of these two Elders who hope for greatness and end up in Aids and Homicidal ridden Uganda. Through their story the do address what is believed in the book of Mormon, they both manage to make it humorous but not necessarily mean spirited.

The music itself is the same, well composed to let you go along with the funny spiritual or personal journey of the characters successes and failures. Examples like baptize me, which is blandly(in lyrics) about baptizing someone else, but the underlying meaning given away by lyrics like, “I’m gonna do it for the first time, and I’m gonna do it with a girl.”

Honestly as long as you go in with an open mind, or at least no stick up the butt, you’ll love it! Its so cleverly written that it all works together. Be wary if you aren’t comfortable with cursing though… Either way, I think the show Will do more than enough to entertain you. If you want to give it a chance, go to youtube and search Book Of Mormon soundtrack! Until next time, enjoy your week and your musicals!

Ever feel like the bad guys are never really bad? Its a question many people ask, many people write on it. This is what brings me to this weeks musical 

Wicked

Wicked brings to you the story of Elphaba, or as many of you may know her. The Wicked Witch of The West. Except she's not really wicked or evil. Should I say she's misunderstood? No that's not true either. 

In this musical we go back to the beginning. We learn what made the woman green, how did she get her talents, and how she ended up in her predicament. In fact, we learn not only what happened to her but what happened to Galinda, not Glinda, but Galinda, or the good witch. 

These two young women started off as friends, meeting each other in the university setting, going from hatred for each other to understanding and then pure friendship. We see the struggles they each have in how they want to change Oz for the better, whether from the outside or from the inside of Oz's inner workings. 

The music to the show consist of not only the amazing voices of Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenowith, but compositions of great instrumentals and choruses, which is admittedly with most musicals. However, with Wicked its just so overwhelming that you can't help but go where it takes you. 

Without giving too much away, you learn of the injustices that are given to Elphaba and Galinda, they only want to help and wind up being torn apart, not necessarily from each other. 

I say give the musical a chance because it is a classic show that is easy to watch with great rewards. 

Care to listen, just go to youtube and search the soundtrack!