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 Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 7:13 pm
WHAT I'VE LEARNED FROM MUSICALS
LIFE LESSONS WITH A MUSICAL NERD
Yes, its true. I've learned much from my years spent hoarding and obsessively listening to what musical theater has produced. On average though I'd say the 'normal' person is not a musical fan. Which is fine. You don't have to even like musicals to read and participate in this topic, so have a sit and read on!
The musical genre is a form of theater which specializes in utilizing music as stylized symbolic expressions of feelings, ideas, and themes according to and presented by the characters involved within a plot. Wither you think it hooky, silly, or completely retarded; the musical remains a popular form of entertainment which continues to relay relevant observations on the human condition. The following is what I've learned from musical theater, things which I think which are completely applicable to any and everyone in their own life.
Please, please, please feel free to add any lessons you've learned from musicals, or any music in general!
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This is the format in which to present your "lesson":
#.) "Song Title"
From: Musical
Sung by: Artist
Music: Artist
Lyrics: Artist
What was Learned
"Sample
Of
Lyric"
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Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 7:15 pm
1.) "Put on a Happy Face"
From: Bye Bye Birdie
Sung by: d**k Van Dyke
Music: Charles Strouse
Lyrics: Lee Adams
Putting on a happy face when you aren't very happy is simply a truly good piece of advice.
"Pick out a pleasant outlook
Stick out that noble chin
Wipe off that full of doubt look
Snap on a happy grin
Spread sunshine all over the place
And just put on a happy face"
---
2.) "There's Me"
From: Starlight Express
Sung by: Clive Carter
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Richard Stilgoe
You may not know it, but you'll always have someone behind you - to support you, to love you.
"By yourself
You have to cry yourself
Nobody else can cry the tears you have to cry
But I will try
There's me
Until then
When you're okay again
You look around find that I'm no longer there
I'll still be near somewhere
You're not alone, there's me"
---
3.) "Open a New Window"
From: Mame
Sung by: Angela Lansbury (and ensemble)
Music and Lyrics: Jerry Herman
Being weird or strange is good. Be yourself, and discover what you like and love; and keep discovering. Open new windows by books, music, people and experiences. Keep possibilities open and ideas new.
"The fellow you ought to be is three dimensional,
Soaking up life down to your toes,
Whenever they say you're slightly unconventional,
Just put your thumb up to your nose.
And show 'em how to dance to a new rhythm,
Whistle a new song,
Toast with a new vintage,
The fizz doesn't fizz too long.
There's only one way to make the bubbles stay -
Simply travel a new high way,
Dance to a new rhythm,
Open a new window ev'ry day!"
---
4.) "People"
From: Funny Girl
Sung by: Barbra Streisand
Music: Jule Styne
Lyrics: Bob Merrill
There are necessities for life, and people are one of them. We all need people, and if you don't think you do – you're wrong.
"A feeling deep in your soul,
Says you are half now you're whole.
No more hunger and thirst,
But first be a person who needs people.
People, People who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world."
---
5.) "Waltz for Eva and Che"
From: EVITA
Sung by: Antonio Banderas and Madonna
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Tim Rice
Eventually you'll have to explain your actions and train of thought. Make sure you know what you believe, and why you do what you do. You can only pretend to understand (and avoid) situations and questions for so long before reality hits you (and usually it's too late).
"[Che:]
Tell me before I seek worthier pastures
And thereby restore self-esteem
How can you be so short-sighted
To look never further than this week or next week
To have no impossible dream?
[Eva:]
Allow me to help you slink off to the sidelines
And mark your adieu with three cheers
But first tell me who'd be delighted
If I said I'd take on the world's greatest problems
From war to pollution, no hope of solution
Even if I lived for one hundred years"
---
6.) "Façade"
From: Jekyll and Hyde
Sung by: The Ensemble
Music: Frank Wildhorn
Lyrics: Leslie Bricusse
People have two sides to them. They can be nice and wonderful; however everyone can be just as mean as they are nice. Don't be so surprised, hurt, or shocked when someone you thought especially nice has moments of cruelty. Passing judgment is not your place, however hurtful or unexpected; you do it too. How people act isn't always necessarily their 'true selves', and people will surprise you (for the good and bad).
"Look around you
I have found you
cannot tell by lookin' at the surface,
What is lurkin' there beneath it.
See that face,
Now I'm prepared to bet you
What you see's not what you get -
'Cause man's a master of deceit
So, what is the sinister secret?
The lie he will tell you is true? -
It's that each man you meet
In the street
Isn't one man
But two"
---
7.) "Pie Jesu"
From: Requiem
Sung by: Janis Kelly and James Rainbird
Music with lyric adaptation by: Andrew Lloyd Webber
What we can't understand or comprehend can be beautiful; the unknown shouldn't be feared but revered.
"qui tollis peccata mundi dona eis requiem
dona eis requiem"
---
8.) "Wicked Little Town (Tommy Gnosis version)"
From: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Sung by: Michael Pitt
Music and Lyrics: Stephen Trask
You'll do things to people and they will do things to you, and eventually forgiveness and apologies will naturally formulate. It is time that will allow you to think clearly, see a situation, and form the correct words.
"And now I understand how much I took from you:
That, when everything starts breaking down,
You take the pieces off the ground
And show this wicked town
something beautiful and new.
You think that Luck
Has left you there.
But maybe there's nothing
up in the sky but air."
---
9.) "I'll Never Fall in Love Again"
From: Promises, Promises
Sung by Jill O’Hara and Jerry Orbach
Music: Burt Bacharach
Lyrics: Hal David
Don't make promises you can't keep. In fact: avoid promises all together, but if you do make one, keep it based in reality.
"Don't tell me what is all about,
'Cause I've been there and I'm glad I'm out,
Out of those chains, those chains that bind you
That is why I'm here to remind you
What do you get when you fall in love?
You only get lies and pain and sorrow
So for at least, until tomorrow
I'll never fall in love again
No, I'll never fall in love again."
---
10.) "Anyone Can Whistle"
From: Anyone can Whistle
Sung by: Lee Remick
Music and Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Sometimes in life the simplest of things are the hardest; and sometimes we focus on something we think is bothering us when really the problem is something else entirely.
"Anyone can whistle,
that's what they say - easy.
Anyone can whistle,
any old day - easy.
It's all so simple.
Relax,
let go,
let fly.
So someone tell me why, can't I?"
---
11.) "Without You"
From: My Fair Lady
Sung by: Julie Andrews
Music: Frederick Loewe
Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner
Not every great love blooms with the flowery exchange of poetic words.
"What a fool I was, what dominated fool,
to think that you were the earth and the sky.
What a fool I was, what an elevated fool,
What a mutton-headed dote was I.
No, my reverberated friend;
you are not the beginning and the end."
---
11.) "One Day More"
From: Les Miserables
Sung by: Colm Wilkinson, Frances Ruffelle, David Bryant, Judy Kuhn, Anthony Crivello, Michael Maguire, Steve Shocket, Jennifer Butt, Leo Burmeister, Terrence Mann and ensemble cast.
Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics: Alain Boublil.
For every single event and situation in life there are a million undercurrents of different interests and intentions all playing out at the same time, even when it seems like all the world is on the same page.
"(overlapping)
[Valjean:]
One day more!
[Marius & Cosette:]
I did not live until today.
[Eponine:]
One more day all on my own!
[Marius & Cosette:]
How can I live when we are parted?
[Javert:]
I will join these people's heroes
I will follow where they go
I will learn their little Secrets,
I will know the things they know."
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Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 7:16 pm
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Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:46 pm
#12.) "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist"
From: Avenue Q
Sung by: Cast of Avenue Q (varies)
Lyrics: Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx
If everyone admits they make judgements on other people (even a little bit) maybe we'll all get along a bit better.
"Everyone's a little bit racist, it's true!
But everyone is just about as racist as you!
If we all could just admit;
That we are racist, a little bit;
And everyone stop being so P.C.;
Maybe we could live in harmony!" Its a little bit... different than the other ones posted, but its still a lesson to be learned.
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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 2:52 am
I certainly agree! A lot could be learned from Avenue Q actually. xd
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