It's a Musical!

I am not a talented musician. I can somewhat carry a tune (but don't ask me to harmonize) and I used to be able to play 3-4 songs on the piano (Cheers, Unchained Melody, and like my dad, Moonlight Sonata). But despite my lack of musical talent, I have always enjoyed musicals, whether movies or on the stage.

My earliest memory of a musical that I liked was the much-maligned Popeye movie musical starring Robin Williams and Shelly Duvall with such memorable hits as "I Will Gladly Pay You Tuesday..." and "I Am What I Am." I liked it so much that my parents bought an 8-Track (yes, I'm old) of the soundtrack.

I also have memories of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music movie versions. The memory is pretty vague, but I believe my dad (and if I recall correctly, just my dad) took me to a stage version of The Sound of Music. And if I had to guess where it was playing, I'd guess Pioneer Memorial Theatre. I don't know that I have it anymore, but it seems that I had the playbill of that performance for years afterward, with white flowers (edelweiss) on the cover.

Another fond memory from my early years is my dad receiving two cassette tapes of soundtracks for either Father's Day or his birthday. He opened the first (Fiddler on the Roof) and began singing "If I Were a Rich Man." As he opened the second, he thought it was something other than what it was and began singing a song from that show (I can't for the life of me remember what it was), but as he finished opening and saw what it was immediately transitioned into "Oooooklahoma! Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain." We listened to those two soundtracks, as well as The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and The Music Man throughout my childhood. In particular, I remember listening to "(Ya Got) Trouble!" from The Music Man over and over in my room, trying to memorize it and to "I Could've Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady while trying to fall asleep.

In high school, I joined the Esteem Team (a theatre/anti-drug organization at our school) and through that class and its incomparable leader, Bill Green, expanded my horizons as far as musical theatre was concerned. The first show I remember seeing was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at The Grand Theatre. I was mesmerized. It was the greatest thing I had ever seen. The following summer, I saw Les Miserables for the first time at Capitol Theatre and immediately fell in love (it remains my favorite musical).

Some of the shows I remember seeing in high school: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Into the Woods (both at the Grand and my first introduction to Sondheim, whose music and lyrics I grew to adore), Evita, Little Shop of Horrors, and Man of La Mancha at Pioneer Memorial, and Cats at Capitol (my and Jeanell's first date). The Esteem Team also traveled to Las Vegas and saw Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express.

While in high school, all of the CDs I purchased were Broadway soundtracks. I reasoned that the other music I liked (mostly country at the time) I could hear on the radio, so if I was going to spend money on music I should spend it on music I couldn't find on the radio. From that I was introduced to the concept albums for Jekyll and Hyde and The Scarlet Pimpernel by Frank Wildhorn. My dad fell in love with the song "Til You Came Into My Life" from the Jekyll and Hyde concept album (it didn't end up in the finished show) and my brother Brent sang that song at his funeral.

Due to my limited musical talents I have only actually been in a few musicals. My senior year of high school, the inestimable Matt Price directed a production of Shenandoah and I was cast as one of the brothers (my actual brother Scott and good friend George were two of my brothers in the show). Later, in May following my sophomore year of college (1999), I was in a production of Joseph at the Ivy Garden (again as a brother, Zebulun). Finally, just a few years ago, I was in another production of Joseph (again as a brother, but this time Levi) at the Clark Farm (2017). So with all of the shows I have been in, I have always played a brother (I guess since I have five real-life brothers, they figured I could pick up playing a brother rather easily) and all three shows were directed by Matt Price.

In another strange twist of fate, when I was in Joseph in 1999, Jeanell's then brother- and sister-in-law were also in the cast and Jeanell attended one of the shows with her then-husband Brad and their oldest son Devin. I don't recall that we specifically interacted (though Jeanell remembers my mom telling Devin what a handsome boy he was), but later that summer, after her marriage had ended, we both attended a BBQ up South Willow Canyon with several of our high school classmates. Through that and a couple of other chance encounters, we began dating and were married the following May.

Musical theatre has continued to be a big part of our life. The first show I saw on Broadway was The Lion King (while on a trip with the Jefferies family adults). A few years later, we took our boys back and saw Wicked. And in recent years, we have made multiple trips, both just Jeanell and I and with various combinations of family. Some of the shows we've seen on Broadway: Hamilton (twice), Beautiful (twice), Waitress (thrice?), Dear Evan Hansen (twice), The Music Man (with Hugh and Sutton), Book of Mormon (twice), MJ (twice), Company (with Patti Lupone), Six (twice), Moulin Rouge (twice), Miss Saigon, Funny Girl (with Lea Michele), Sweeney Todd (twice), and probably a few others I am forgetting.

(A funny story about Sweeney Todd, the first time we saw it, we mistakenly bought the tickets for the wrong night. When we discovered our error, we felt we had no choice but to purchase tickets for the show we had been intending to attend, which we did, but when we arrived we discovered that we were on the second row, which sounds good, but in this particular theatre, the stage is elevated in a way that you can't see the whole stage from the second row. Lila was so frustrated by her inability to see that we bought her a ticket to come back by herself the following day. We would later find out that the tickets we had purchased are not sold by the theatre, but are only awarded to winners of their ticket lottery. Fortunately, we were able to get our money back).

While Broadway is wonderful and the talent is unsurpassed, I also enjoy attending local and community theatre shows. We've had season tickets to Centerpointe Theatre in Centerville the last few years. We've also seen The King and I, The Sound of Music, and Secret Garden at The Old Church in Grantsville, Guys and Dolls and Into the Woods by Lehi Performing Arts, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by Sandy Arts, and Little Women and The Drowsy Chaperone at the Murray Amphitheatre.

Jeanell and I both grew up loving musical theatre and it's a love we've been able to share with our family. Whether it's the music, the lyrics, or the powerful messages conveyed, I hope that musical theatre will always play a big part of my life.

I'll end with a few YouTube clips of some favorites, the first for its comedy, and the other three for the important messages these songs convey.

Disclaimer: I don't find any of these songs particularly offensive, but everyone has their different standards, so if you find anything offensive, I apologize.

First, from Something Rotten: A Musical (the absurdity of musical theatre that we love)

Second, from The Drowsy Chaperone: As We Stumble Long (about the struggle of life and finding joy where we can).

Third, from Hello Dolly!: Before the Parade Passes By (the widow Dolly Levi explaining to her deceased husband that she needs to move on and live life while she can).

And finally, from Fly By Night (never on Broadway, but Off Broadway): Cecily Smith (about how life is not the things that we do, but who we're doing them with. This song hit me especially hard immediately after my dad's death).