*tuesday love* musicals

Yesterday, I got done with class early and in between that and waiting for Chad to get done with work, I decided to watch a movie. This movie. I loved it; how it had been in my life for so long without me ever watching until yesterday I will never know. I absolutely bumped G&D to the near top of my list of best movies ever. Watching this movie not only inspired me to do the week long list of loves but it also inspired me to tell you about my next simple love: musicals. And not just musicals, the classic musicals.

When I was in high school, I was in musicals. These were extremely low-budget renditions of big Hollywood musicals. I acted in Oliver!, The Music Man, and Beauty and the Beast. I didn't grow to love musicals by being in them; that came earlier when I watched them with my family when I was younger. It all started with 'The Sound of Music' (my mom's favorite movie) then I kept up the love affair by watching movies like 'Seven Brides For Seven Brothers' and 'Singing in the Rain' (my all-time favorite movie).

Now I know that musicals are not everyone's cup of tea. I always think about the movie Sabrina when Harrison Ford's character, Linus, is talking to his secretary and he's trying to get Sabrina to fall in love with him instead of David. He talks about getting tickets to a Broadway show that would be sold out-which is of course a movie. Here are the lines from the movie:
Linus Larrabee: And I want tickets to whatever Broadway show nobody can get tickets to.
[Mack (his secretary) looks inquisitively at him]
Linus Larrabee: I know, I seldom go to the theater.
Mack: Seldom?
Linus Larrabee: So, I'm not a theater buff.
Mack: Buff? The most difficult tickets to get will be for a Broadway musical.
Linus Larrabee: [distractedly] Okay.
Mack: That means that the performers will periodically dance about and burst into song.

Yes, the concept of musicals is definitely far-fetched from real life. It's not all lights and music in the real world. The thing I find funny about it is that when there is a scene going on, one actor will start singing a song and then by the chorus all the other actors are singing and dancing even though they are supposed to be strangers. The part that is hard for people to learn to love about musicals, especially classical ones, is the long dance number towards the end of the film. For instance, in Singing in the Rain, there's a part in that movie when Don (Gene Kelly) sings "Gotta Dance" and the song goes on for about 12 minutes (I've seen that movie so many times, I sometimes just skip over that part.)

I like musicals for what they are: big, dramatic, colorful producitons centered around a real-life setting, but acted out in a loud, fun way.

Some of the musicals that put a smile on my face:


(my old friend. My Mr. Reliable. I put this into the DVD player and I always enjoy it.)


(My childhood memory. My parents and siblings have been watching this movie probably twice a year since I was a kid-usually around Labor Day and Memorial Day after we get done with our picnic. I will always cherish this one.)


(My most recent love-as of Monday. It's so good, not to mention Marlon Brando is y-ummy in it. I had never watched a Marlon Brando film before this one, and I'm glad that this one was my first. I hope to add this to my DVD collection soon.

What about you? What movies put a smile on your face?