Longtime follower here. You’ve gotten me curious about musicals but I don’t think I’ve ever watched one. Only thing close to a musical I’ve seen is ABBA (the film)? I did like that one (I do love ABBA) Does that count? Any recommendations for a newbie?
Oh, dear follower, you’ve unknowingly set me off.
The ABBA musical is Mamma Mia, a jukebox musical. I hate jukebox musicals. They’re cheap and lazy and appeal to the average person already knowing and liking the pre-written songs. I was just talking to one of my friends recently and he said he liked Mamma Mia, and I said, “No you don’t, you like ABBA.”
He thought about it and said, “…Oh yeah, you’re right. I thought the story was really stupid.”
The reason why jukebox musicals fail is because they’re pretty much antithetical to how a musical is supposed to work. In a good musical, each song is supposed to reveal something new about a character, move the plot forward, or both. A musical is an album telling a single story. Jukebox musicals inherently cannot do this, or at least not do it well, because the songs weren’t originally written to tell a larger story or be part of a character’s larger arc! Pop songs are always written to be standalone, so they cannot be squished together to tell a larger story in a coherent, well-thought-out way. The songs just weren’t designed for that. That’s why the stories of jukebox musicals are typically so threadbare and the songs are really forced.
I’m saying all of this to explain why I hate them lol, instead of giving a simplistic, “they’re not real musicals.” But they’re not, and that’s^ why. Even Queen has a jukebox musical, and I have no interest in it lol
So let’s talk about real musicals!
If you’ve never really sat down and watched one before, there are some I wouldn’t recommend right away, so let me see:
Sweeney Todd. It’s my favorite show of all time and one of the most complex musical scores in American theater. It’s dark, it’s sometimes comedic, it’s screwed up and presents everything in a very matter of fact way instead of an edgelord way. There are a lot of differences between the film and stage show—in summary, the film actually adapted the show into a movie while the stage show works as a Broadway show!—but I’m not going to go into all of that in this post. If it’s your first musical, watch the movie. It’s played much more straight and with faster pacing that makes it more accessible to a non-theater-going audience. This is a film about a man who returns to London after being wrongly imprisoned for 15 years and seeks revenge on the man who ruined his life, raped his wife, and stole his baby daughter, all the while his former landlady is in love with him and an accomplice to his serial killing, so be warned that the film is rated R. Bonus points for eventual implied cannibalism. Sweeney Todd is insane to talk about out of context lmao but trust me, give it a chance. It was written as a horror movie for the stage
Into the Woods. This is also by American theater god Stephen Sondheim, and yes there’s a movie, but it got the tone completely wrong. The entire Broadway production with the original cast is right on YouTube! It’s a satire on fairy tales, and it’s what happens when multiple fairy tale characters collide in pursuit of their wishes. Act One ends with happily ever after—and Act Two is when everything goes wrong and multiple people die! It’s a really funny show, but it’s genuinely moving and sad by the end. Like any good fairy tale, there’s a moral of the story. It’s among Sondheim’s greatest work.
Jesus Christ Superstar. This is by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. It’s a 1970s rock opera about the last week of Jesus’ life, heavily featuring Judas as a sympathetic character, a tortured soul. The 1973 film is the best version out there and there are many clips on YouTube. Listen: it’s a period piece. It’s hilariously, amazingly 1970s, but the music is genuinely great, it presents Christ as a troubled man and not a god, and Judas is a compelling character. Start with the song “Heaven on Their Minds” at the beginning of the show to see if you’re interested
Fiddler on the Roof. Oh man, this one gets me. The entire film is also on YouTube right now. It’s about a small, traditional Jewish village in Czarist Russia in about 1910, and centers around Tevye, a loud, devoutly religious man who believes in the Jewish traditions of his village, but has his ways directly challenged when his daughters each gradually step away from tradition with who they want to marry. There’s also political tensions with the Russian government growing gradually hostile to Jews, so the story is about a lot of things, a lot of different ways a person’s way of life, beliefs, and traditions are challenged in life. It’s another show that’s kind of hard to describe, but trust me, it’s a funny, beautiful, and well-written show and it makes me cry.
Hamilton. Yes, it really is that good. No, don’t listen to this insane website about it. It’s well-written, engaging, entertaining, and does highlight an important figure on American history while sending the message through the music and diverse casting that the story and founding “myth” of America is for everyone, even people who look very different from the way the actual Founding Fathers did, because one of the messages is that you have no control over who tells your story.
Les Misérables. It’s just a great story with a lot of universal themes, like oppression, poverty, faith, misery, unrequited love, rising up against corruption (and failing 🙃). It’s a long story in post-revolutionary France, but I think the movie tells it pretty coherently. The movie does have problems though, like Russel Crowe as Javert was a huge disappointment because that’s such a great part, but it might be the most accessible version of the show. I like the 10th anniversary concert a lot, but yeah, it’s in concert and not staged out like in an actual production
I’d say start with those and then get back to me if you want any more lol. If you have any questions, come back here
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are people seriously not understanding that the whole point of colin's arc this season is him trying to be something he's not??
like sure the brothel scenes are a little weird and jarring but like they're meant to be??? because he's not actually that into it, he's just trying to do what all the other men his age are doing so he can fit in??
the writers aren't trying to 'turn him into anthony or simon' or make him a rake because that's what we're used to - HE'S trying to turn HIMSELF into anthony or simon or basically any of the other guys who this comes naturally to; who enjoy sleeping with lots of different people somewhat emotionlessly and don't get lonely because of it (and no judgement to that it's just not him)
he literally kisses Pen ONCE and absolutely loses his mind over it because its obviously never felt like that for him before. that moment is his 'oh so that's what that's supposed to feel like' moment and that's how he knows he's in love with her its literally so good???
i understand people feel like its rushed but honestly to me it feels perfectly in character for him to discover the solution to his loneliness he's been searching for all this time and immediately dive into it headfirst. that moment right at the end of ep4 where he asks her to marry him is the most authentic colin i think we've seen all season. he's sweet and funny and playful and passionate and impulsive - he's finally stopped trying to be someone he's not and now that he knows who he is and what he wants he's all in.
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