The Magic of Musicals: How It Is In Our Life

"Let it Go" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in this years Academy Awards. The song was written by musical theater composer Bobby Lopez and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez. It was sung by the "wickedly talented" Idina Menzel, who originated the roles of Maureen Johnson (RENT) and Elphaba (WICKED). Since then, it has become a favorite by so many people and also annoyed by many others. 

This year, Trumbull High School is performing HELLO, DOLLY for their 2015 spring musical. The movie starred Broadway legend Barbara Streisand in the title role. She has also been lucky to have had a #1 album every decade for the past 60 years. She began on Broadway, most well known for her role as Fanny Brice in the musical FUNNY GIRL. 

 Think about music today. Most songs ("Wrecking Ball", "Rolling in the Deep", etc) reflect what you are thinking. Musical Theatre uses songs to help move the story and express the emotion.  As choreographer Bob Fosse once said, (something along the lines of) you can only sing when you cannot express how you feel with words alone. 

Since most of you have seen FROZEN, let's use that example. Most of the songs help move the story ("Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?", "In Summer"), but some help express the emotions someone is feeling ("For the First Time in Forever", "Let it Go", "For the First Time in Forever- Reprise"). Song must be motivated in order to sing. Once again, I will connect this with real life.

CD Case for FROZEN

What point am I making? More often then not, people think of Broadway as "jazz squares" and "frilly costumes" and whatever. Well, not even just Broadway, but musical theater in general. Musical Theater has grown so much since (what most historians believe to have been the first musical) The Black Crook. Okay, so maybe you weren't alive in the 1800s, but try comparing the musical styling of RENT to the music of WEST SIDE STORY, or IF/THEN to SOUND OF MUSIC. Chances are, there are none. Why? We try to get more people to see a show. 

If anyone is doing theatre, then they want to tell stories. They want to spread messages around and most of the time, it is done in a brilliant way. We want to entertain! 

Therefore, if it is something you love doing, then don't stop. The journey is long and heck, who knows if you'll make it big. The point is that you have done something great for many people. I mean, what if Idina Menzel, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Barbara Streisand, Jeremy Jordan, Aaron Tveit, and many others didn't do what they loved to do? Chances are: Frozen wouldn't have been as musically wonderful as it was, Evita would be different, we wouldn't have broken a world record this year at the Tony Awards, classic movies wouldn't have been the same/ Yentle wouldn't have been made, etc (I think you get my point). 

Bottom  Line: If you make it, great! If not, don't give up! Chances are you will eventually do something that affects the world. 

More examples:
The new sitcom "Selfie" is based off of the musical MY FAIR LADY
Kristin Chenowith is currently rehearsing for a one night only concert oratorio called I AM HARVEY MILK
Lea Michelle (Rachel Berry on Glee) starred in Spring Awakening in 2007
Jonathan Larson wrote RENT and TICK TICK... BOOM when he was a struggling artist in NYC.
"Seasons of Love" is one of the most popular songs from his masterpiece, RENT
Nathan Lane (who has too many Broadway credits) was Timon in the film LION KING
Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) got his start in Musical Theatre (like THE BOY FROM OZ)
Julie Andrews was offered the role of Mary Poppins when she was in CAMELOT on Broadway.

-Nathan Clift, 17, Trumbull High School
President of the Youth Board