In Which Things Confound Me...Or A Ramble On Musicals

Okay, so I have this friend who lives in New Joisey. And she told me for their school play, they're doing "Fiddler On the Roof". Now, for those of you who how somehow been living under a rock and don't know what that is, Fiddler is...okay. You know A Very Potter Musical?

Well, this is A Very Jewish Musical. Seriously. Look at the plot description. So, anyway, my friend goes to a Catholic High School. Uniforms and all. And my first reaction was, "WHAT THE FUCK? WHY CAN'T WE DO FIDDLER?"

We're doing 'Into the Woods' by Stephen Sondheim, which I (un)affectionately call, "Into the freaking Woods". Because Sondheim is a bitch to sing/play. Seriously. Listen to this, this, and this. Those are, if you're too lazy to look Comedy Tonight from A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum (which is HILARIOUS, by the way) as sung by Nathan Lane, A Little Priest from Sweeney Todd as sung by George Hearn and Angela Lansbury, and Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music, as sung by Ruthie Henshall.

Now, Sondheim sounds very simple to sing. But that's the beauty of Sondheim. When done right, it seems effortless. When done poorly, it's a big fucking mess. Sondheim also writes the prettiest scores, with the catchiest melodies. C'mon. Tell me that Comedy Tonight isn't stuck in your head. And if it isn't, it soon will be. By the way, I'm not responsible whatever nightmares these reject Muppets induce. :D

Sondheim is also responsible for a song which I've mentioned once already. And that's Rose's Turn, as well as the rest of Gypsy. Sondheim is also responsible for West Side Story (although, I think he was just a producer on that one). So, yeah, Sondheim is a genius.

Now, speaking of Glee songs, I was watching Ruthie Henshall sing 'Maybe This Time', and I feel like I have to mention another fabulous Broadway person, who I think is dead now actually. Bob Fosse. I just checked Wikipedia...yes, he is dead. Wow, he died awhile ago. Like, before I was born. Anyway, Bob Fosse was known probably less known for his music, and more for his choreography.

Examples? Chicago, The Pajama Game, Damn, Yankees!, Cabaret (the movie, not the original musical), and All That Jazz. All of these are well known for their intensive choreography. Especially Chicago and Damn, Yankees!. We could never do a Bob Fosse musical at our school for two reasons.

The first being it's too risque. The second being we don't have many dancers. XDD

Yeah, this is pretty much all I gotta say. Musicals are awesome. I wish people appreciate them more.