Musical Theatre Mondays

A week ago, I was heading home from Hawaii. Which hopefully explains my absence and my jet lag. Oahu was magical and got me thinking about all things island-y. Which you know can musically only lead to one place... South Pacific . There's a lot of good nuggets from Rodgers and Hammerstein in this musical, so I'll probably save a whole show synopsis for another post, but I wanted to talk about one particular song. I posted a couple of weeks ago about love songs , but you know what musicals are even better at than love songs? Break up songs. They range from the weepy to the angry, but "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" falls right into the sweet spot that I've always preferred. Empowerment with a health dose of good riddance. Now I know that in the end Nellie doesn't actually end up washing her man out of her hair, but she sure has me convinced in this song. I would like to petition that all jr. high school students be required to memorize

L to R: Me, Sister K, Mom, Sister A I’ve benefitted from being raised by a great mother and I'm very lucky to live close to her and still have her to call and get advice from. I also have two older sisters and even though they are now mothers themselves - I like to think I got to benefit from their wisdom first. So, in honor of all different types of "mothers" in the world, I wanted to look at some of my favorite mother figures from musicals. Marmee from Little Women is my favorite traditional mother figure from a musical. She is warm and brave. Marmee, like my mom, is a mother to all girls. Girls with different personalities. Girls who fight, but love each other fiercely. Also like my mom, Marmee has an endless supply of strength. She has to handle worrying about a husband at war, concern about the health of her daughters, but she is still able to stay strong for her family when tragedy strikes. The song "Here Alone" really emphasizes the struggles she

I officially declare it wedding season since I went to my first of the year on Saturday. Attendance at said shindig got me thinking about some of my favorite wedding (or love) songs from musicals. What makes a really great love song? Based on my list below - I'd probably say for me, it's imagery and metaphor, but some you just can't help but love! Maybe it was a little too on the nose to include "June Bride," but considering that it's no longer in the revised version of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (I would like to speak to the manager about this, please) I thought I'd pay tribute. I spoke about my love for "'Til There Was You" in this post  here , but it's worth including again because it is still the perfect love song: Sung by a soprano, talks about bells and birds, and is from a Golden Age musical. I included "Dyin' Ain't So Bad" on a list about love because it's a really beautiful song and we can all