Musical Theatre Mondays

Irving Berlin, with hits like "Blue Skies," "Puttin' On the Ritz," and "God Bless America," is one of the greatest songwriters in American history. In fact most might agree with composer Jerome Kern who said "Irving Berlin has no place in American music - he is American music." So it should be no surprise that his first situational musical  Annie Get Your Gun  feels just so derned-tootin American. I had the chance to see it this week at Peery's Egyptian Theater presented by Ogden Musical Theatre and it had me smiling from ear to ear. Annie Get Your Gun is the story of Annie Oakley and her discovery, rise, and success within Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Annie, after winning a sharp shooting contest against the famous Frank Butler, is thrust into the world of show business and the highs and lows therein. Annie and Frank find love, but will Frank's ego and Annie's stubbornness get in the way of their very own Old Fashion...

I've been in callback land this week which means I usually obsess and listen to the same show over and over again. So I thought it was high time to write about one of the funnest Golden Age musicals - The Music Man . If you are just coming out of a 60 years long coma - here's a quick synopsis. Harold Hill is a con man who convinces a bunch of naive Iowans that he will save their young folk from the sin of pool by putting together a marching band. Conveniently he sells instruments and preaches the effectiveness of "The Think System" where you don't have to play the notes, but simply think of them. Of course he plans to leave town with the money from the instruments before the band can really take shape, but instead he falls for Marian Paroo, the town's librarian. He gets caught in his huge lie, but it all works out in the end - as most musicals of this time period are wont to do. It's just fun and has some of the best characters:  A fast talking con man...

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...

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...

When I think of Christmas musicals - I don't often think of musicals that actually happen during Christmas. What I do think of is  The Sound of Music.  I think that's because like most Americans, after Christmas presents have been opened and faces have been stuffed with food - I watch TV with my family and there is usually some station playing a 24 hour rotation of The Sound of Music . And because I love a soft focus and truly believe that Julie's voice is sent straight from heaven - I can't help but watch. It's one of the first musicals I can remember watching with both of my grandmothers - they both instilled a great love of Julie Andrews in me. I learned a lot of things in preparation for this week's post so let's listicle this a la Buzzfeed. 10 things that Natalie has learned about or finds really interesting about The Sound of Music: 1. It was the last of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musicals. (source: Mental Floss ) It opened on Broadway in 1...

Since we focused on one of the most influential choreographers last week - it's only appropriate that we talk about one my favorite and one of the most famous dance scenes from a movie musical:  the barn dance from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers! In my experience, this is something that just about everyone has seen and even if musicals "aren't their thing" can admit that it's pretty freaking cool. I'll get to a post about the show as a whole later as it is one of my favorite musicals and has some really fun songs, but where I think this show really shines is in the dancing. Four of the 6 brothers and all of the brides are professional dancers so unlike other movie musicals where a "dream version" of the lead characters is subbed in for big dance scenes - it's the same people! (Although most of their singing voices were dubbed in.) Here are my two favorite things about this dance: These dancers make the dancing look so easy! It appears e...

On the set of West Side Story For a change of pace this Musical Theatre Monday, I wanted to focus on dancing. Dancing is not really my personal strong point, but it's usually one of the things I enjoy most about any show. I used to find the ballet dream sequence in Oklahoma and Singing in the Rain endlessly boring because I was an annoying teenager, but as I've gotten older and I become less flexible and capable by the second - I marvel at the talent of these people who made their careers off of their ability to dance. I feel like aside from a few notables of this day and age - being a famous dancer isn't really a thing anymore. It's usually that you're a singer who can dance or a dancer who can sing - who becomes famous from singing. But since we're still focusing on the Golden Age, I thought it would be fun to highlight a choreographer who really defined dancing in musicals as we know it today - Jerome Robbins. If you've ever seen a local product...

The Golden Age was my boys' Rodgers and Hammerstein's heyday and I have some of their other shows saved for future posts (you're crazy if you think I'd forget about The   Sound of Music ), but let's give them a little rest and talk about Lerner and Loewe. Or more specifically one song from one of my favorites. My Fair Lady has a ton of iconic songs and I was tempted to visit one from Henry Higgins or Mr. Dolittle ("Get Me to the Church on Time" was one of my early musical theatre jams), but I went for one that I think everyone sort of knows, one that has been covered practically a million times and one that could maybe be an ode to stalking? But just for this post we're going to pretend that it's incredibly sweet and maybe not questionable. "On The Street Where You Live" is a song that I think everyone can relate to the emotions of. Time passing, people staring, personal pride doesn't matter when the one you love is near or even...

There are a lot of the Golden Age musicals that I'm not terribly familiar with so I wanted to try something different for this week's post. Rather than giving you my favorites for a musical that I know very well - let's talk about one that I didn't really know before this week and one with a story that is...troublesome. Carousel . Another R&H classic and one that is actually on it's way to another revival with some of my favorites (Jessie Mueller and Joshua Henry. So dreamy.). I don't know if I've come any closer to having an answer for that after watching the 1956 film with Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae, but I do have a greater appreciation for the mastery of R&H. A quick synopsis:  Julie Jordan and her friend Carrie Pipperidge go to the carousel in their small Maine town and buy tickets for a ride. Julie sees the local carnival barker - Billy Bigelow - and totes likes his barrel-chested, jaunty hat wearing ways. They flirt, he rides the...

One thing I really love about musicals is the settings they are placed in. The French Revolution? Sure! A convent in Switzerland? Even better! A pajama factory on the verge of a wage strike? Why not. The Pajama Game first hit   Broadway in 1954 and is one of my very favorite of the Golden Age musicals. Like Oklahoma,  it's done in a lot of community and schools because it's fun, bright and the music is crazy catchy. I know when my high school did it my Junior year we all had a good chuckle that all they wanted was a seven-and-a-half cent raise and then we couldn't get the song out of our head! It's the quaint, good ol' days type musical that works well for all ages. It was revived in 2006 and I'm just now learning this and acquainting myself with the soundtrack. Harry Connick Jr. is probably the closest modern day comparison I can think of to John Raitt and Kelly O'Hara is basically in every revival ever so of course it's good, but I have to go on ...

Oklahoma happens to be the first musical that I ever had a role in AND it also happens to be one of the most beloved musicals of the Golden Era of Musical Theatre or...ever, depending upon who you talk to. This classic Rodgers and Hammerstein (R&H) show is kind of the perfect beginning for this blog because have you ever met someone who didn't know at least part of the title song? Of course not. If you had, that person is probably not of this Earth and then you should be asking them like 50 other questions first. I don't think I would be too far off to suggest that this is probably R&H's most famous musical. It's done all the time and every where! A lot of community theatres and schools do it because it's "wholesome," but the people who think that aren't really paying attention. Uh...the little wonder? Smelling salts? Natalie's Five Favorites! Favorite Character:  Aunt Eller Favorite Song:  People Will Say We're In Love (It...