Musicals - Blog Posts

THOUGHTS ON HADESTOWN COMING SOON BECAUSE OMG I LOVE THIS MASTERPIECE SO MUCH AND I FINALLY SAW IT, SOMEHOW DID NOT CRY AND HAVE MADE IT OUT ALIVE IN ORDER TO TELL THE PEOPLE WHAT I LEARNED

All of My Opinions on the Mean Girls Musical Movie

Firstly, loved all the original film references. Of course the obvious ones like having the same lines, the thing about fetch being slang from an old movie, but also!!

. Janis' suit being purple for spring fling!! and omg let's not even talk about how pretty Aul'il Cravalho was throughout the entire film. Her eye make-up was so impressive

. that part in Sexy where they're cycling through potential outfits and one of them is the white shirt with the purple bra holes cut out !!

Slightly upset about the fact they cut out Meet the Plastics and it ended up being more like, Meet Regina, but I get that. On the topic of songs, I understand a lot of them were cut out because they were "too theatrical" but I can still miss em!! Truthfully when I heard the new Stupid With Love I was devastated because it's one of my favourite songs and they fucking tiktokified it, but I actually think it works really well in the film- it gets the "cringy first proper love" aspect across, which is its purpose, so I'm happy.

THEY GOT RID OF "WHO HERE HAS EVER FELT PERSONALLY VICTIMISED BY REGINA GEORGE" which was absolutely criminal

AND THE PRINCIPAL AND MS NORBURY ARE TOGETHER which was actually adorable, and I didn't think about the fact that could be something that happened, but I'm very happy it did.

The bus at the end of Rather Be Me was such a jumpscare but also so funny. THEY MISSED OUT THE DIALOGUE TO DO IT THOUGH SADD. Plus she was so goofy that entire song?? Why was she running in and out of all of those random rooms.

The rumours spreading via phones looked half cool, but it's dated the film imo, which is what Tina Fey originally set out to avoid! Like "fetch" was made up slang so in years to come the film wouldn't seem cringy for having slang teens actually used to use at the time.

Big drum-roll: We did not see enough of Regina's meanness to actually justify her being a mean girl. A lot of it got filtered out through songs, and the majority of stuff was just her, like, responding badly to sexism?? Also tell me how I'm gonna villanise Renee Rapp she fucking SLAYED what a queen.

Also WHERE IS COACH CARR'S SEXUAL ASSAULT. THAT'S THE WHOLE REASON MS NORBURY GETS ARRESTED!!?? That, to me, is one of the biggest indicators in the original film of just how powerful the "Mean Girls" are, they know about this, and the other teachers don't. Not only that, but it highlights just how immature they are, because they don't do anything about it. They're girls who run the school, without having any sympathy or context to do something about bad stuff they know happens. It's just "a funny thing to write". Not having that made me sad tbh.

Changing the line to "you wrote this" in World Burn was clever but I wish we got to see more of the girls turning on each other, rather than direct fighting.

KEVIN G BEST SONG IN THE MUSICAL

Where was the 4 way phone call, DEVASTATING. We literally did not see the plastics actually interact with each other. There was no meanness, no impact, all we got were the "events" when OTHER THINGS HAPPEN. You could say it lost a lot of filler, but the filler was actually context! And part of what makes the film so good!

Devastated she doesn't say "damn you're mine" in Someone Gets Hurt. I do think it's hilarious they just didn't make the actor guy for Aaron sing at all lol

"That filter you use looks just like me" WHY. I appreciate the change from the line about weight but like, this DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. at least say "that filter you use has nothing on me" THE WHOLE POINT IS SHE'S ABOVE IT

I didn't like the extended version of Revenge Party, sorry, too used to the old version

And I did not like the girlbossification of Sexy. I get it's supposed to be powerful like "watch me as I run the world in shoes I cannot walk in" but I feel like the whole point of "I expect to run the world in shoes I cannot walk in" is supposed to point out the irony, like, being slightly critical of "modern feminism". I will say though that the wobble from avantika as she says that is superb.

Overall I thought the film was enjoyable and a nice blend of the original film and the musical, but I think both ended up losing individual meaning because of how much they intersect. You don't have time to appreciate the lyrics and power of the musical because you don't hear them all, and some of them get cut, and you can't follow the plot in a meaningful way because the songs are happening, and they skip a lot of context to fit them in.

Would totally watch it again though, if only to see Renee Rapp say "get in loser" cos she actually nailed that

JANE DOE FROM RTC. I can hit the high notes but I fear I am an alto and sound better in lower roles. Also I can act like her I just have to stop masking /hj

But unfortunately my school can only do musicals appropriate for young kids (we're a K-12 school) and the local community theatre doing ride the cyclone you have to be 18+ so 💔 probably not gonna do ride the cyclone ahshshs

honorable mention to Jeremy heere from bmc, I could play him very well because my range is within the range they have him sing in, and I kinda act like him, but I fear I am afab non binary (though i do play a man in the current production im in..) and again my school is a K-12 school so no 💔

theatre kids of tumblr. reblog this with that one role you know you’d be good for but you’ll never get

for me it’s hermes from hadestown. also maybe skimbleshanks but i think i could get that one if local theatre group did cats.

wow you guys LOVE this post i’ve gotten like 10 notes in the past ten minutes. i’d like to add that i would make an AMAZING orpheus because my range is the same and also i play guitar. unfortunately they do not love the concept of orpheus being a transmasc teenager. so

yeah, I know the big three

nothings more special to a girl than the musical she was obsessed with in middle school

What Are Your Top 5 Favorite Musical Songs?

Here are mine(in no particular order):

On My Own: Although I’ve haven’t experienced romantic love yet, I adore this song! It’s well orchestrated and sung by Frances Ruffelle, her voice is beautiful.

The Wizard & I: I can relate to Elphaba’s wish to be accepted since I felt that way too. Idina Menzel’s sings amazingly and gets into character so well. I also saw this song performed live and the way it’s done on stage made me like this song more.

Satisfied: Love the blending of rapping and regular singing in this song. It works so well! Renée Elise Goldsberry nails it and made me see Angelica in a different, but good way.

Breathe: I haven’t heard the whole soundtrack yet, but “Breathe” is such a standout to me so far. Again, I relate to Nina’s fear of disappointing her family(I feel that way 24/7). Mandy Gonzalez sings very well and her high notes are delightful to hear. As an Hispanic, I really enjoyed the addition of Spanish.

I Don’t Need Your Love: Izuka Hoyle nails the vulnerability of Catherine Parr’s sad story of losing her love, and her growing confidence in herself later on. The latter part of the song makes me feel so powerful. All the women singing together by the end was so good! Their voices blended so well together.

I made a Kanej playlist. Istg these two are gonna break me-

Wish Animatic 🌟

A very short animatic! I made this in January and quit halfway through, and I’m sure you can tell where I decided to pick it back up. 😂 I found it and didn’t want the effort to go to waste so I finished a bit more of it. Hope ya’ll enjoyed!

Song: Rewrite the Stars from The Greatest Showman

Just imagining the rest, haha.

Delirious, Middle-Of-The-Night Review of Moulin Rouge (+Update)

OK! HELLO! So I got to see Moulin Rouge on the 21st (today, technically) and I gotta give you my honest review. I am IN LOVE with this musical!! All I knew originally was that it was about hookers and I was excited for it in a… different way but OH. MY GOD. The music was perfection, the casting was absolutely spectacular, and don’t even get me started on the costumes or lighting. UGH!! I am head over heels for the man that played Christian and the JD vibes I got from that man. And my favorite song, El Tango De Roxanne, did NOT disappoint at all! Honestly, if you can see it you absolutely HAVE to! Annnyways, I’ve been on a whirring high at the hours of 10:50 on - 11:30 pm, so every time I’m struck with inspiration I try to wrap up my Myth May stuff. For June, I’m gonna be mass posting movie reviews (and maybe a book) for pride. It’ll be one for each week (so 5) and it should be out sometime next week. Thanks for the patience you all have had with me! Have a wonderful morning/afternoon/evening/night!

xx,

cosmicluzer 💫

Monique Gibeau

RIDE THE CYLONE ANYONE??

FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE IM CONSISTENT WOOO. Anyway this is my second favorite song and I really like this piece

I was bored and made this, kinda looks like an album cover so I might do more for the other songs but no promises

THE VENGEANCE SAGA IS HERE!!!

THEY CUT WONDERFUL?? THEY KEPT SENTIMENTAL MAN BUT THEY CUT WONDERFUL??!?

OUTRAGE

"Where the sun shines down

On a beautiful Bikini Bottom day"

"Don't lose your head :)"

i wish we’d gotten more dialogue between the assassins cause this shit is hilarious. they all hate each other so much lmao

A couple weeks ago, I found out that my university’s library has a copy of the original Assassins script book (1990). Tomorrow’s my last class of the year, so before I have to turn it in, I thought I’d pick some things out to share with y’all.

This is in the intro. Someone describing a moment in the depository scene that isn’t in the 2004 revival.

The character descriptions are just the descriptions of their assassination attempts.

Sorry, but Booth reading Variety is incredibly funny to me.

Just this whole bit. I love the way it’s written. Booth is trying very hard to ignore the Balladeer. The soldier getting shot is not in the revival.

In the 2004 revival, the Proprietor is the one who interrupts the song. In the original, Byck introduced the other national anthem. And while I can’t deny that I think the Proprietor is probably better suited to this solo, I think Byck is an interesting choice. It’s probably just a continuation of his monologue from the scene before, but still…

Terrifying.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: By the end of the depository scene, Booth is in the Balladeer's position. He represents the new American Dream, the other national anthem. Oswald is now in Booth's previous position as the group's pioneer.

Hinckley admires Oswald; that’s in line with his character. Moore is the first to bring up family; she’s a mother. But Czolgosz respects Oswald. Guiteau and Booth envy him. Interesting choices for the only other successful assassins. Czolgosz I get. Guiteau I get. But Booth, envious? Interesting.

This one needs no explanation. But I do think it’s worth mentioning that after all the talk of family, when Oswald pulls the trigger, he’s still alone.

Also from the intro. Thoughts on the assassins and Sondheim’s motivations.

It’s just a really good show, y’all.

I love in trousers but wtf does he mean "crack your feet"

Heathers is so silly cuz one second it's like "I deal with my trauma by drinking slushies"

The next they kill two boys

And then the two boys' dad's start making out???????

Time to listen to musicals and make vision boards

So.. im litsening to the main Playlist i have tjat has just allll the music in one.. including the full soundtracks of beetle juice and heathers.. and the opening number of beetle juice 'invisible' plays.. and then was 'fight for me' from heathers... and.. the last notes of invisable.. and opening notes of fight for me.. merge so well that i almost didnt notice the song change till i relized.. no.. no there is NOT a chorus of 'holy s**t' in beelte juice

My fave parts in 'Gee, Officer Krupke' from West Side Story (2021)

The smooth transition from regular scene to song

Baby John just being shoved on the swivel chair

'Tell it to the judge.' and the whisper of 'Get over there.'

Baby John just sitting in the chair, a little bored during the judge verse

the slide on the benches tho

and the lopsided glasses really sell the bit

Diesel saying 'I'm disturbed!' just so happily

Baby John looking scared for his life when they all pick him up, and then throw him

'The boy's depraved the the account he ain't at a normal home.' 'Hey, I'm depraved on account I'm deprived.'

and then the subsequent 'So take this nut to a headshrinker' 'Ooh, why not?'

the therapy chair transition is so good

'Ew, Diesel, you got a social disease?' 'Hey, wait, can I catch it by touching him?' *Proceeds to hold Diesel's hand in the next transition*

Baby John's verse is my favourite, especially how he sings 'It's not I'm anti-social, I'm only anti-work'

'This boy don't need a job he needs a year in the pen.' 'Okay.'

'The trouble is he's growing.' 'The trouble is he's grown.' HITS SO HARD I LOVE IT

'Gee, Officer Krupke, what are we to do?' omg the vocals for that are amazing 'Gee, Officer Krupke, KRUP YOU!'

Does anybody know that musical where these two girls were really toxic friends , one was popular in high-school and considered really pretty until college when she kinda started "losing herself" and than the other girl was really nerd and not very pretty in high-school until college when she became the pretty one, it was really popular for youtube animatics in the 2010s, also the popular girl was friends with the nerd girl to look better next to her or something HELPPPP

👻 Horror Musicals 2: Electric BOOgaloo 👻

Happy Halloween~! The spooky season has arrived once more, and for this week’s video I once again celebrated by illustrating another selection of my favourite festive musicals! 👻🎶

If you wanna see the process that went into these artworks – (and see my inky little Halloween avatar’s new look! 👀) – check out the full speedpaint over on YouTube!

▶ 🎃 PRINTS 🎃

(DO NOT EDIT OR REPOST TO OTHER SITES / ACCOUNTS!)

Waiting for the school theatre director to announce the spring musical is killing me... apparently she said it would be announced in 'a couple hours', but that was 4 hours ago.

Auditioning for Heathers

Director: So which character will you be auditioning for?

Me: All of them.

Director: Pardon?

Me: A L L O F T H E M

Now I can't stop thinking about how happy I would be if this musical actually existed

Once again thinking about a Six of Crows musical featuring delightful hits such as:

Overture (Instrumental)

Ketterdam [Capitol of Capital] (Ensemble)

The Bastard of the Barrel (Kaz's song)

Stars and Saints (Inej's song)

Trigger Finger (Jesper's song)

Son of the Council (Wylan's song)

Welcome to Hellgate (Matthias's song)

To Hold a Heart [To End a Life] (Nina's song)

Two Step Plan (The Crows)

Tainted (Kanej Duet)

The Ice Court [Infiltration Destination] (The Crows)

Up the Incinerator (Ensemble)

Dance of the Dignitaries (Ensemble)

Two Pair (Wesper)

Hands of Flame (Ensemble)

Waters of Djel (The Crows)

Escape [We Have a Tank] (The Crows)

Jurda Parem (Ensemble)

Stay Afloat (Helnik Duet)

Bastard's Lament [To Lose a Spider] (Ensemble)

No Mourners, No Funerals (Ensemble)

Exit the Crows (Instrumental)

Now if only I knew how to compose music...

It was a musical, but...I am not beating the allegations.

I shall take this as an opportunity to ramble about Rómeó és Júlia, the subject of said allegations by @unstark, who may have created a monster (/j; thank you for doing so).

The first thing to know is that I haven't read Romeo and Juliet since middle school and liked it well enough then but wasn't really enthused because I liked the poetic elements but found the romance somewhat grating. However, I am a theater kid/opera nerd at heart, and looking at different versions of things and analyzing the connections, sometimes to an obsessive degree, is one of the things I live for (that's part of the lure of Arthuriana).

The second is that Rómeó és Júlia (ResJ) is fantastic, in large part because the cast is incredibly talented. I've seen all or a good portion of several different language versions of the musical, which originated in France as Roméo et Juliette (RetJ), and they all have good or decent but reasonably similar Juliets and mostly fine to mediocre Romeos. In addition to having a good Juliet, this Romeo, played by Dolhai Attila, was quite charming as an actor as well as a great singer so the rest have been mostly downhill. I am afraid, though, that like most of the people on ResJ/RetJ Tumblr, the characters I found most interesting were Mercutio and Tybalt, who both vary wildly from production to production. In ResJ, Mercutio (who fans call Zolicutio because he's played by Zoltán Bereczki) is a force of nature, and I did not properly appreciate that the first time I watched it. He sings, dances almost constantly, acts well, and raps in Magyar, and he never seems to stop or slack in energy until he dies. Tybalt, on the other hand, is a deeply tortured soul who's occasionally comedic in his melodrama (he does the Mr. Bean walk once) but has genuine pathos. I originally watched the first half without subtitles and did not realize the...ahem...concerning nature of his thoughts about Juliet, but that's in almost every version of the musical, and it is not as big a trigger warning as the obvious one, which is that Romeo and Juliet includes onstage suicide and murder, as well as references to sexual content. This is probably the first thing anyone learns about Romeo and Juliet, but I thought I should put that out there to be safe. Anyway, Szilveszter Szabó was vastly different than how I pictured Tybalt while reading the play, but he was excellent and brought a new perspective to the character. You love to see it. Also, ResJ Benvolio is a punk with the heart of a golden retriever, another far-from-the-play take which works in its context.

Now, the 2010 French version. I followed ResJ with the RetJ revival because John Eyzen's Mercutio is the second most popular Mercutio on Tumblr, after the inimitable Zolicutio, and I wanted to see what the hype was about. He is vastly, vastly different, both from how I imagined Mercutio and how Mercutio is in any other production. Eycutio alternates between stillness and over-the-top energy. He may or may not be bad mental illness rep. He may or may not be beholden to the madness-inducing entities of Chaos. Eyzen fully embraced the vibes of "La Follie" and the Queen Mab speech Mercutio has in Shakespeare to create a very unstable dude who revels in unpredictability and danger to a greater degree than Zolicutio and has probably won Best-Haired Veronese Man three years in a row. He has a love/hate relationship with Tybalt and flirts with him while fighting. (Zolicutio also flirts with Tybalt, but less in a I've-secretly-liked-you-since-we-were-twelve-but-also-hate-you-and-we-kissed-at-a-party-once-but-you-pretend-you-don't-remember-and-I'm-going-to-make-that-hard-for-you way than an I-bet-you're-into-me-and-also-that-you'll-hate-this-and-I-could-be-into-you-but-it's-not-clear-and-I-canonically-kissed-Romeo-but-didn't-seem-serious-about-it-and-I-rap-about-not-liking-romance-and-it-might-be-to-hide/drown/prevent-the-pain-or-I-might-be-aroallo-and-thriving way). Tim Ross's 2nd Tybalt looks and acts like the unlikely and maltreated test-tube child of George Michael and Cruella de Vil, and I'm going to leave it about that, because I have rambled too long without mentioning that Romeo's costume is exceptionally terrible in this one, that I really did not like Escalus, and that the Nurse was fantastic. All in all, what this one has to recommend it is the excellent Nurse, plus Tybalt and Mercutio's unevenly acted but ultimately interesting dynamic, which is the stuff of Fanlore pages.

I have not watched all of the 2001 French original, even though many people say Cécilia Cara is the best Juliet, because the other Juliets are also good and apparently a bald Mercutio is one thing I cannot take. (I could under certain conditions. If he were a young cancer patient, then that would add an urgency to his fervor for living life to the fullest, and a suspicion that he's going to die painfully soon whatever he does could influence his recklessness, but him being considerably older and more sophisticated than Romeo is weird). I might watch more of it, but it's low priority.

Apart from those, I've watched large parts of the Italian and Israeli ones, which I prefer to the French ones in acting but not in singing. The Italian one is a lot more dramatic than the Israeli one, which is maybe the least dramatic RetJ variant ever but pulls it off really well. The characters seem like normal people you would meet who try their best but get caught up in a tragedy bigger than they can understand. Of special note, as usual, is that ever-shifting scene, the duel between Mercutio and Tybalt, and this is the most original take on it I've seen. What sets it apart is that THEY DON'T EVEN DISLIKE EACH OTHER. You get the sense that they've had a lighthearted rivalry since they were kids but they're sort of friends and it's all a game to them. It's also the only version I've seen where those two actually have fencing swords, so the fight looks more realistic, emphasizing that they're playing with fire. When he realizes Mercutio is dying, Tybalt is visibly devastated and seems to lose the will to live. I don't usually cry at movies or shows, but that is the version which brought me the closest to crying.

I would like to watch the 2019 Toho version, since it comes highly recommended, but am not sure where to and might have to wait a while on that one. After I'm done with the Italian one, I intend to watch the Russian one, the German one, and the alternate cast recording of the Hungarian one. As for the English one...well, I've listened to a bit of it, and it was awful.

If you want to watch multiple versions at once or see which ones you might like, there is a great playlist on YouTube where someone edited together parts of the videos of different versions. If you want an incoherent-without-watching-the-full-thing but possibly still entertaining look into it, watch this compilation someone made, which is extremely funny if you've actually seen the full musical.

If you've read this entire semi-coherent ramble, you're a trooper. I hope it was vaguely interesting. Have a wonderful day!

it’s really easy to become obsessed with a shakespeare play you just have to watch one version of it and then read the play and then go mad trying to watch every possible version of it you can find and then study several centuries worth of performance history and controversy

day 24: plagued by the horrors ♡

(femslashfeb prompt list)