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Yesterday was my Battle of the Bands post. If you missed it or didn't vote yet, be sure to visit my BOTB post . Also stop by to vote at the sites of the co-hosts Far Away Series and Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends . Keep in mind that there is a prize for the most frequent voters.
Some others who put up their own Battle of the Bands posts can be found at Your Daily Dose and DiscConnected.
And While on the Subject of Musicals...
Since the Battle of the Bands theme of the host blogs matched up different takes on songs from the hippy era musical Hair, that got me thinking about musical theater as it was in its Golden Age, where it started going in the 1960's, and where it has come to now.
I grew up on the traditional theatrical musicals such as those by Rodgers and Hammerstein and those light works of stage entertainment filled with music in the vein of the old standards and fun show tunes. Those presentations probably look old-fashioned to anyone more familiar with the musicals of the post 60's. Some of the old-school musicals are now and then revived by professional and semi-pro companies and are presented on high school stages that still have the money to present extravaganza stage productions. But musical theater has changed a lot since the 1950's.
When I was a kid in the 50's and early 60's, my parents took me to see a number of live stage musicals and many of the movie versions of the popular musicals of those times. I enjoyed these until I reached my teens and that's when I began to take a more cynical view of musicals. It began to seem kind of dumb for people to just break out into song. Rock and roll was where it was at for me and musicals were passé. That is until they became relevant for me.
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| Hair (musical) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Now in my current stage of life I would still count myself a fan of musical theater, but more so the old school styles that I grew up with. I love Evita but don't have the least bit of interest in the musicals of recent decades like Rent, Dreamgirls, or for that matter Les Miserables. I want my musicals to be fun or at least have songs that I might be singing later.
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A lot of the innocence of musicals is gone, Now they often are more raunchy and filled with bad language--probably partly as a result of musicals such as Hair. Or they deal with social issues or ridicule conservative or religious values. Of course since I have distanced myself from the world of musicals and theater maybe I'm misreading things. I'm going by what I read or hear about in the media. And I don't think much of most of the media either.
I've changed a bit over the years. Now you might call me an old fuddy-duddy. Or you might think I'm spot on.
What do you think of musical theater? Do you think musicals used to be better or do you like the direction they've taken? What is your favorite musical? What is the last musical you've seen live on stage or on screen?
