Musical Theatre Mondays

Broadway and Christmas make an excellent team. This week, I set out to gather Christmas songs from Broadway shows and was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of my favorite Christmas songs originated in a musical - "We Need a Little Christmas," "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," and "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas." So I made a little playlist to get you in the spirit. I like to think of Christmas music as a gateway drug into musical theatre - it's a great time to share songs with those non-musical loving people in your life. But, if you do nothing else with this list - at least do this for me: You must listen to Judy Garland sing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." It's beautiful and those low notes with her voice? That'll get you in the Christmas spirit any day of the year.

White Christmas is the show that first had me hooked on musicals. It has been a holiday tradition with my family since I was tiny and something I can always count on my whole family sitting down and enjoying together on Christmas Day. That's not to say that I don't indulge on the music the rest of the year because I totally do. That's one of the things I like best about this show is that because it's a conglomeration of Irving Berlin songs, it's not just all about Christmas. There's a little sisterly love, some dancing, some silly songs about choreography, Mr. Bones and even songs to drive your sister named Amanda crazy! Not only are the songs and dances some of my favorites, but some of my favorite costumes ever are from this show. Aside from the white gloves that give Betty a serious case of the man hands, the whole look from "Love You Didn't Do Right By Me" is truly perfect and timeless. Natalie's Five Favorites! Favorite Charact

Utah Repertory Theater Company’s production of The Bridges of Madison County packs a punch through a powerful story and engaging music. This is the first time this show has been done in Utah and the first time that Utah Rep has done a show in the Regent Street Black Box at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City. With a book by Marsha Norman ( The Color Purple ) and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown ( Parade , The Last Five Years ), I knew I was in for an moving show. The Bridges of Madison County is a story about Francesca Johnson, a bored Italian housewife in Iowa and the day she meets Robert Kincaid, a photographer for National Geographic. Francesca and Robert spend 4 days together in 1965 while Francesca’s husband and two children (Michael and Carolyn) are at the state fair in Indianapolis. Through this chance meeting - Robert asks for directions to a local bride - Francesca and Robert develop a romantic relationship and both come to realize the things they are missing in

1957 would prove to be a good year for Broadway. The Music Man , Carousel and Brigadoon  all opened that year, but I think the show that would come to change the face of musical theatre the most when it came to how music and dancing are used to tell a story is West Side Story . In the September 27, 1957 edition of the New Herald Tribune , journalist Walter Kerr wrote in his review of opening night:  "The radioactive fallout from West Side Story must still be descending on Broadway this morning." (Source:  Saturday Evening Post ) I think I understand a little of what Mr. Kerr must have meant by "radioactive fallout." I saw a production of West Side Story last year, almost 60 years since it's opening night, and still can't think about it without getting teary-eyed. What is it about this show that causes such an emotional response? One of the facets of musical theatre that continues to make it such a progressive art form is its ability to have those ha