Real Writing (4): Musical Theater
call me a singer, dancer, and actor
I’ve always had a strong connection to music. I’ve taken piano lessons since I was 2 and stopped in 10th grade. I took up flute since I was 8 to 13. Clarinet, trumpet, and guitar in between. Lately, I’ve been singing, but that’s a story for a different time. I grew up with music and musicals, particularly the Disney ones. Some of my favorites include, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, and Mulan - you know, the cult classics.
I was never particularly too into musical theater though. I participated in school musicals as Sleeping Child 3 and orphan 2 (Annie) - nothing too too cool though. There weren’t too many moments in my pre-university life that sparked my interest in musical theater other than Hamilton and Lin Manuel Miranda. I believe the universal Hamilton phase struck me in 2017 and lasted till 2018. During my final year in high school, I participated in my school’s production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. For most high schools, the theater program is listed as a club, but for my school it was a class - meaning that nobody could get cut. That’s how I ended up being myself, “Chloe” one of Sally’s closest friends for the next 4 months. Fortunately, this all happened during COVID and we never had to perform the musical (that nobody cared about). Surprisingly enough, I did not begin my musical theater phase after the shitty production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Last summer, my family and I went to China. I ended up watching the musical movies, In The Heights and West Side Story on the plane from Vancouver to Beijing. Maybe it was the Latin beats, or I don’t really know to be honest, but it got me hooked. I loved how the songs showed the plot of a story in a way different to movies or books. It kept my mind engaged with what was going on, and insane vocals by the performers also help. After watching those two movies, I started to re-listen to Hamilton again and it made me really appreciate Lin Manuel Miranda. My goal is to meet him within the next 5 years and sing the opening number In The Heights to him.
The following October, I had a trip lined up to go to New York City. Unfortunately, I was only there for 6 days or so - enough time to watch 2 performances … hehe. I ended up choosing Hadestown after some mild persuasion from my older sister along with Romeo and Juliet (to see Rachel Zegler.. that was why we went to New York lol). Hadestown was a life changing experience. Well, New York was a life changing experience, and Hadestown was a big part of it. Hadestown is a retelling of the Greek mythology of Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades, and Persephone with a 1920s/30s influence. The opening number is literally called Road to Hell . For the first 15 seconds you only hear a trombone lighting up the whole scene. It was a surreal experience, I legit do not want to spoil it. My favorite number in the show is Wait For Me and its reprise. Its performance is really shows the depth of the characters and their journey in the acts. One of the coolest things about Hadestown is the spinning stage and its pit. The spinning really shows how far the characters have to travel and the pit is to show the viewers when they’re in the underworld versus above. I’d definitely watch Hadestown at least 10 more times in my life LIVE. I think it might be my favorite musical.
Shortly after watching Hadestown, I started listening to it. Like a lot. A lot a lot. Then I discovered Eva Noblezada, the original Broadway Eurydice! She wasn’t the Eurydice when I watched Hadestown, she was performing in a new Broadway musical, The Great Gatsby instead. And I missed it. I missed seeing her live. That was very unfortunate, and it’s something I regret to this day. Not knowing about somebody that I didn’t know existed. I so wish I watched it in New York, since it was still the original cast performing back then. Now her and Jeremy Jordan are performing in different shows and I missed out on an opportunity of a life time. It’s chill though. I got a friend to watch The Great Gatsby for me when he was in New York and he sent me a photo of the poster for me.
I love The Great Gatsby so much. I don’t even know why, I didn’t even read The Great Gatsby. I only started reading it because I love the musical so much and that I am able to follow the plot of the book better since the musical is engrained into my mind. My favorite numbers include: My Green Light, For Her, For Better or Worse, One Way Road, Roaring On, and New Money. That’s like almost half of the songs featured but yeah it’s a good one. I love belting even though I can’t do it. I love Eva Noblezada because she can belt well.
Which brings us to December, when I first watched the musical Heathers, based off the movie Heathers (1989) with Winona Ryder. Heathers, like Hadestown, changed something in my brain for real. I think I love listening to mezzo sopranos because like wow. The songs with the lead, Veronica Sawyer were incredible. Favorites are: Fight for Me, Seventeen, and Dead Girl Walking. To be honest, I really love the whole Heathers soundtrack, but those three are on repeat. I loved it so much that I started dressing in that movie’s aesthetic for a couple of weeks in December. I was really influenced by the edgy alt preppy girl vibe. Besides the crazy plot of the movie, my favorite thing was the character J.D. He is not a good man, and my biggest hear me out. Hot guy wearing a trench coat that would protect me? Sign me up. I shortly watched the movie after watching the musical. They share a similar plot, but with slightly different execution. Both are perfect in its own way which I love. I will yap more about it a little later.