One thing that I find so immensely satisfying about the
group that I sing with is the “research of themes” element. Most of our shows,
and even our smaller cabaret shows have an overall through line to them.
When I joined the ensemble we did “showtoons” which played
on animation and toons that were on stage. So we explored music from The Lion King, Pete’s
Dragon, Ave Q, and huge swaths of Disney Musicals. Princes and Princesses got
their own medleys as well as a medley of TV show theme songs. It was SO. MUCH.
FUN. To think about these songs, and be reminded of some great things in my
past.
We also rummaged through some darker music with a Halloween
show. Songs from Wicked, and the Secret Garden, and as mentioned before Batboy.
It was such a great way to celebrate the holiday in such a unique way. Looking
through scores, and accessing our knowledge of music and theatre to come up
with a full show was really fun, and it was one of the first times I was
involved in helping with the production.
Honestly though, the best thing we did
wasn’t even from a musical. A haunting contemporary choral piece that Eric
Whitacre wrote and had performed by A VIRTUAL CHOIR takes the cake for the most
satisfying choral experiences ever.
But I digress, this blog is about Musicals!! One of the most
challenging shows that we did was a time travel show. It was literally musicals
from all over periods of time. Researching that show was so hard. There is SO
MUCH MUSIC. We limited ourselves by looking for music that had some sort of
anthem-like quality. ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” and “Til We Reach That Day”
came to mind, quickly followed by songs that spoke to a period in time “All
That Jazz”, “Here Alone”, and “You Can’t Stop The Beat” all were really fun
additions to the piece. We really felt it rounded itself out.
Going forward in our future we constantly look at themes and question whether of not that it would work for us. Do those themes have a wide array of music? If you want
to theme a show with ‘Sports’ you have very small amounts of things to choose
from. There’s a number in 'You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown' about baseball, a
number in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas about Football (sort of… its more
about football players having sex… but that’s a sport too) and then there is a
show like Damn Yankees, which surprisingly only has a few numbers about actual
baseball.
Something that is broad and specific at the same time, and
something I would love to explore is going around the world with music. There
is so much stuff set around the world: Argentina and Evita, India and Bombay Dreams. The Book of Mormon and Uganda/Africa is a bit of a stretch, but some
GREAT music or maybe Tarzan. There are a ton of things set in Asia.
Unfortunately, large swaths of theatre dealing with Asian culture are pretty
offensive (cough, cough The King and I cough). Miss Saigon, and Pacific
Overtures (SONDHEIM!) are great source material.
Not to mention huge expanses of Europe, Brigadoon, Mamma Mia
(I mean, not really… but GREECE), Light In The Piazza, Fiddler On The Roof,
Chess, Mary Poppins, Camelot
I also think that religious shows could go in here too, and
explore Judaism with Yentl, and Puritanical Christianity in Spring Awakening,
at the risk of sounding redundant Mormonism with Book of Mormon
I like that there is a lot to choose from, but can be
confined. It can also be taken apart if you have too much music. Like, for
example, it’s easy to actually omit Tarzan and Mamma Mia because the music in
those shows don’t really reflect the culture of the place its set (the jungles
of Africa, or Greece, respectively). The best part of this entire ordeal is the
discussion. The people that I can sit at a table with, and over a bottle of
wine hash out what would be a good show, with good music, that is entertaining.
It’s so thrilling.
