Musicals have been in my life for as long as I can remember. The several casts, characters and most importantly, the music that I have been blessed to encounter throughout my lifetime have never ceased to captivate my attention. When I was three, I had not grasped the concept that the musicals inside my television could be showcased live. From then on, I was never the same again.
My first Broadway show was Wicked: The Untold Stories of the Witches of Oz. Yeah, this does definitely merit a "Wow". I was in the seventh grade and in one of the fluffiest dresses I owned, trying to "fit in" to such a sophisticated form of social outings. I had never been in an actual theatre until that point in my life, only gaining a taste of what the views might have looked like through the less glamorous decorum that beheld my local recreation center's theatre.
As I entered the stage within the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco (where Wicked had its actual opening night on October 30, 2003) the stage was crafted with a dragon on the very top of the ceiling, and bars on the side for the Wicked Witch of the West's hench-monkeys to climb on when they greeted us as soon as the dragon puffed out blaring smoke out on the crowd to signal that our fantasy ride was about to begin.
I would carry on to tell every titillating moment that is the show Wicked, but then I would be spoiling all the fun for those who are interested in feeling the emotional rollercoaster that this, and every Broadway show, has the potential to take its audience.
I have been blessed to accompany my musical-loving godmother to plenty more live musicals such as A Chorus Line, The Book of Mormon, and Motown (my review on the latter is on this link). Soon I will be accompanying her all the way to New York to watch the currently-on-Broadway musical Waitress: The Musical starring one of my favorite Tony-award winners (I will be chronicling this and my amazing adventures in New York in just a couple of short weeks!).
But why do I keep attending these live performances that are way pricier than buying the movie musical versions for my television at the comfort of my home?
It's just not the same.
It is so mesmerizing to watch actors and actresses step into these crafted characters right in front of you. There is a mutual adrenaline that runs through the actors, the musicians, the audience and yourself as you watch the magic happen on stage. Everyone inside the auditorium breathes the same air, making the connection even more personal than that of sitting in front of a TV. Seeing the magical product of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of man hours working to produce at least one and a half hours of entertainment. Even if the subject of the musical seems harrowing, you have to give credit that these people did a heck of a job making every scene, song and moment as real as it could possibly get.
Even to the best of actors like Carey Mulligan and Julianne Moore, both Academy Award nominees, have confessed that the thought of performing live is nerve-wrecking. It is the intimate relationship that the actors and the audience share during the performance that makes the acting all the more real. Just think about having to also sing and dance in such an intimate setting!
I feel blessed to have found this connection with the stranger actors on stage, something that I look forward to seeing in the future more often than not. I really do feel glorious chills when an opening song rings throughout the auditorium, as if projecting the words, "Are you ready for the ride?"
