Well, I thought here I would attempt to explain where my passion for musicals comes from. It's really rather complicated to explain, but I shall try...
It all started when I was a small child. My Mother had the soundtrack to A Chorus Line and Sweet Charity and growing up, I used to listen to these records and "dance around the living room." Those were the happy days. Of course I did not completely understand the lyrics to these musicals (as I do now), I started to become a fan of musicals.
I also started taking dance lessons which fueled my love of movie musicals which led to the discovery of Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Vera Ellen, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney (yes, the aunt of George), Gene Kelly and many others. I grew up on their musicals and since I realized that the movie studios were mean and weren't making any more musicals (well, at least none with the stars I had grown to know and love), I started to branch out into Broadway musicals.
This branching out was a slow process because of my young age and the fact that my parents could not afford to see many shows, movies were always less expensive. Anyways, my first taste of Broadway came from when KDKA did a special on Cats and I begged and pleaded with my parents to take me, but we couldn't afford it and my Mother thought I was too young to understand the musical. So, needless to say, I went years without hearing another peep about Broadway musicals until my tenth grade year in high school.
Now granted I have never wanted to admit that high school ever existed (who does?), but if it were not for my band director (thank you Mr. Bly), I would have never discovered Phantom. Well, it was almost the end of the school year (half way through the fourth quarter) and he had our band play an Andrew Lloyd Webber medley. Well, I played the bass clarinet in band and when it started out with the overture to Phantom, I fell in love with the bass part. So, that evening, my Dad and I went to Sam Goody (I don't go there anymore) and bought the Highlights tape. We listened to it in the car and when I heard Michael Crawford's voice, I was hooked. Ever since that day, I have bought any Andrew Lloyd Webber thing I can get my hands on, I have gone to see POTO twice (it doesn't come to D.C. often and I can't get to New York City), and I hope to see it in Toronto this coming summer.
Well, needless to say this obsession has turned into a full-blown obsession. My friend Kate, had me listen to Les Miserables last summer on a road trip and I fell in love with that too. I have also fallen in love with Chicago , Jekyll and Hyde and many others. So I suppose you could say, I've become a musicals nut!
Tired of my talking? Go back to Phantom's Palace
