It Gives you something to think about...something to drink about!

William Finn says on the Infinite Joy recording something to the extent of "a well made song gives me infinite joy" I think that's pretty spot on. I was listening (well I am now as well) to playbill radio last night and they played "With a Little bit of Luck." Which besides being an awesome song is clever witty crisp and perfectly fitted for the character. If you haven't read On the Street Where I Live and you're reading this blog, stop reading this blog and go find a copy of Alan Jay Lerner's autobiographical account of working on My Fair Lady, Gigi, and Camelot. He was a crazy little man who married like 5 times and was obsessed with ESP (On a clear dayyyyyyyyy) anyway it's an amazing book. And if you're still reading this which means you haven't stopped to find the book then you wont mind if I give away one of the highlight stories. So the song Gigi is nominated for best song for the Oscars. There's Alan Jay Lerner sitting in the audience and whoever they got to sing the song starts to sing and blanks on all the words. He sang, "Gigi lalala dododo lalala dodododo lalalala" For a whole verse!

Speaking of amazing forgetful moments I have three words "Leslie Ugums June" I think that's probably all you have to type into YouTube to see Leslie make one of the biggest flubs taped live.

What I really started to think about today was why I like musicals. Lots of people like lots of things. Why do I like musicals? So many people hate or have no feeling toward them at all. But what is the underlying core that makes it so appealing. Here are some of my ideas:
1) Passion. I'm sort of an emotional person and music is a very emotional experience. It takes a moment in time, a feeling, or any shared experience and extends it to it's most passionate expression.
2) History. I love the history. Maybe for the reasons above or maybe for others but there have been passionate enough to create this art form and they've been doing it for over a century. This is sort of circular, I love history when it's musicalized and I love musical history. It seems there have always been very driven gifted people who have been able to advance the musical to really reach people.
3) Storytelling. Musical Theatre is one of many forms of storytelling, but it is unique in that it songs are infectious. They convey passion but they also can be passed and taught through their lyrics. Kids learn the alphabet by singing. Sometimes we learn other things from songs, I can't help but think that there were songs that got us through times of strife that did so because in their original form they helped characters. They tell a story of people and coping and musical can heal the soul.

Anyway, that's all just musings. Nothing too important. But "To Life" just came on playbill radio and nothing could have made me happier....does that make sense?

Pins.