What are you listening to?

[Mistress of Darkness]

Pirates of the Caribbean

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

Ok, ok ok ok. Everyone should listen to this. Ivan Rebroff's Cossack Patrol. Oh it is magnifick. Now go, listen to it.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I just finished watching/listening to G&S' great The Pirates of Penzance, and on top of Kevin Kline's amazing performance, I remembered exactly how many GREAT songs there are in that play. Pirate King, Major General, Tarantara, Paradox, and one of the most hilariously shouted "NO SOUND AT ALL! WE DON'T SPEAK A WORD!" etc. heheh, yeah.

[Fellfrosch]

I thought you said musicals were too girly.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Quiet you!

It's an Operetta. Not a musical.

Plus it's more manly. It's about pirates, and only about love tangentally. Plus it's a satire.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Saint, are there other musicals that you like?

My husband can't stand musicals, so maybe he might like Penzance too....

Hmm

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Pirates of Penzance is easier to take because it doesn't take any time out to be "artsy" like Singin' in the Rain or a hundred others do. When it is artsy, it's purely satire, at least in my favorite version (starring Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, and Angela Landsbury), where they make references to Elvis and some other pop by using echoes and such. when Mabel does her major virtuoso solo, Fredrick is getting frustrated because he's trying to kiss her. Every time she pauses, he leans in, but then she starts.

Now: there IS artsy stuff. Kevin Kline does some amazing dance stuff, as do the policemen, but it's FUNNY. More like Danny Kaye than Fred Astaire.

Anyway, I think that Guys and Dolls is a passable musical, but that's partially because I saw it with my wife at the Kennedy Center. And I enjoyed Les Mis, though the novel (especially if you can cut out 50 page descriptions of the layout of the Battle of Waterloo and the whole sewer/bowels metaphor) was far superior.

I don't hate musicals as much as I sound like I do. It's just really easy to mock Fell that he is "out of the closet" about his musical liking.

But if he doesn't like musicals, it may just be a macho thing, and you may never get him over it.

[fuzzyoctopus]

It's not a macho thing with him- he just cannot accept people bursting into song for no reason.   The singing interrupts his watching of the show, therefore it always annoys him and he doesn't enjoy watching musicals.  I just can't understand it, because in *my* reality it's perfectly normal to burst into song at any moment.  (I think it's partly my psyche, and partly being raised on Sesame Street).

He did, however, enjoy Moulin Rouge and Chicago, so I figure there has to be *some* hope.

I forced him to watch Joseph & the Technicolor dreamcoat, and while he laughed from time to time, he didn't particularly like it.

I also forced him to watch The Sound of Music, because he'd never seen it, and in my book that's criminal.

[Mistress of Darkness]

Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables are operettas as well.

And fuzzy, maybe he would like operettas better because no one "bursts" into song, they are always singing.

I made my husband sit down and watch Gone With the Wind, despite his tragic experience with the book in 8th grade where his teacher tried to convince the class that Scarlett was this amazing hero (huh ). He liked it a little better as I pointed out that GWtW is more like a Greek Tragedy, but mostly because I was free to admit that Scarlett is no hero.

[Fellfrosch]

You've got to pick the right musicals, where the songs are an extension of the talking rather than a randomly-inserted dance number. Phantom of the Opera, though it tries to integrate song into story, isn't going to win any fans over to musicals.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Hrm... I hadn't thought of it that way, but I think you're at least partially right, Fell. It does help explain my choices.

[stacer]

Funny thing is, much as I'm a fan of musicals, I prefer conversational music, too, over the random-dance-number bit. Though I also love Gene Kelly and Judy Garland with all my heart, random or not. Most of the songs in Meet Me In St. Louis, for example, are part of the storyline, as opposed to Singin' in the Rain, in which that 20-minute dream sequence in the middle is only mildly related to the plot, as it's the characters' descriptions of what should happen in the movie.

I think of watching musicals sort of the way I think of fantasy: suspension of disbelief. These people live in an alternate universe in which ideas are expressed through song half the time, and in which sometimes the entire community knows the song of one's heart.  

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

riiiight....

[Mistress of Darkness]

or, you could just say "supension of disbelief" and leave it there

I love musicals, though I have to say that Fred Astaire is my favorite.

[fuzzyoctopus]

See, it's not suspension of disbelief for me.  I firmly believe in a world where people sing at random times for any reason at all.  I LIVE in a world where that happens, much to the amusement of my husband.  Therefore musicals are usually fine for me.