I love musical theater. Growing up, my electives in school and hobbies by choice included, in order: dancing, acting, and singing. I've been this way since I can remember, and one of my earliest memories were preforming at holiday dance shows, choir concerts, and drama class plays. Outside of school, I did dance and singing lessons, and even continued on to do improv all through high school and my undergraduate years.
I think I became interested in this because of my mom. She is also a huge lover of theater and music, and I grew up watching stage and movie musicals with her. One day, in 7th grade mixed choir class, we were shown "Grease." When I came home, all excited to tell my mom, she took a second to marvel at what I just told her. Just as I was 12 at the time, she was 12 years old when the movie came out. At the time, she had begged her parents to let her watch it, but the racy content and plot was something my grandparents considered inappropriate for her to watch at that age. I don't know when she eventually did watch the movie for the first time, but I do know that she competed on a state-level singing competition with Olivia Newton-John's "Hopelessly Devoted To You."
Something as simple as a generational gap can prove to be something that's so bonding between family members, causing an entire intrigue for a genre as a whole. Since then, I've seen "Grease" multiple times. My high school went on to preform it and my best friend at the time got the lead. Last year, I was a Pink Lady for Halloween, and I continue to listen to that (and many other musicals') soundtracks on the regular.
It's really strange to think about how in 28 years, the standard of what was considered "inappropriate" has changed so vastly, even though the interest and passion remains the same.