ode to a musical

Piggy-backing off of Amy's blog, I have to add my ode to musicals.

Musicals and me...we have quite a history. From the musical I was supposed to sing "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY TWO FRONT TEETH" in first grade in, to my summer ahead, filled with musical theater...SIGH....it's been a good run. :)

I'm proud to say that my parents instilled in me the value of musical theater and took me to my first Broadway play at the age of 13. (It was Crazy For You, incidentally. Mom and Dad were in theater in college and starred as Lucy and Shroder in YOUR A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN.) Ever since I sat eye to eye with Javer in LES MISERABLES 15 years ago, I have been mesmerized with the genre.

Some are just fun to see like HAIRSPRAY and MAMMA MIA. Some give you a gut wrenching heartache like WEST SIDE STORY or LES MIS. But the ones I truly love are the ones with music so over-powering, they make my eyes water. The opening song in THE LION KING, Effie's song in DREAMGIRLS, Defying Gravity in WICKED. There are just some moments that move you beyond words. Amy and I have talked about this many times...it's something inexplicable: how music can move you to emotions that nothing else can.

And I have so many memories tied up in them now. Seeing LION KING on my backpacking trip to Europe. Taking my youth group kids to LES MIS the summer I was an intern. Sitting with Mel in NY watching Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane in THE PRODUCERS. Or even sitting at home (again with Mel) watching CALAMITY JANE or HOLIDAY INN.

Guess that's why I love musicals so much...they connect with something in my heart. So whether it be a musical beating like HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL or OKLAHOMA, or a masterpiece like PHANTOM OF THE OPERA or CHICAGO, buy me a ticket on the front row...I want to be a part!

**Some Favorite Musical Lines...just a few...

• "I've got a hive full of honey, for the right kind of honeybee."
• "In my ivory tower I was just a hostess snack ,but now I've tasted chocolate and I"m never going back."
• "He had it comin'."
• "Measure your life in love."
• "The world is full of happiness that I have never known."

What's your favorite?