When I say musical, what do you think of? I would be shocked if your Pavlovian response wasn’t Hamilton. For the last year or so, Hamilton the Musical is all anyone who knows anything about pop culture has been talking about. As someone who is a Broadway junkie, and has been since age 10 when I saw Sutton Foster and Brian D’Arcey James in Shreck the Musical, this makes me a little angry. There are so many other Broadway musicals out there that deserve the same appreciation as Hamilton but don’t get it because of Hamilton. Hamilton isn’t a bad musical, it’s just overrated. If Hamilton is the only musical you know, please, educate yourself. Here are some musicals to start with!
Legally Blonde
Just like Hamilton fans are a little biased toward Hamilton, I’m a little biased toward this musical. It’s my favorite, but not without reason. It is based on the novel by Amanda Brown, that was adapted into a movie in 2001. It came to the Broadway stage in 2007 with country singer Laura Bell Bundy as the leading lady and Broadway star Christian Borle as her counter. In case you don’t know, Legally Blonde follows the story of Elle Woods, a stereotypical blonde who majored in fashion merchandising at UCLA. She’s the president of her sorority, and has a perfect life, with perfect rich parents, and a perfect boyfriend… until he dumps her to be with someone more serious. She follows him to Harvard law school (meaning she GETS IN to Harvard Law School), and instead of winning back his love she wins a sense of self-respect and purpose. This is a musical all about how you are most definitely more than the boy you’re with. It taught me to have respect for myself, and that I can defy any stereotype the world gives me because I am a female. The soundtrack is so bouncy and bubbly, it’s impossible not to be happy. It’s too late to catch it on Broadway now, but MTV did record it (legally, HA!), and put it on Youtube here . If you want to check it out live, it will probably be coming to a local theater near you at some point!
Just a fun note: I aspire to someday play Elle Woods in this musical. It’s one of my major goals. While I’m making that happen, I buy a lot of pink, have a stuffed Chihuahua I named Bruiser, try to be as positive and kind as she is, and was nominated as “most likely to become a real life Elle Woods” by my chorus class.
Kinky Boots
This glittery, yet touching, musical is one that touches on controversial issues while to the music of Cyndi Lauper and the script of Harvey Fierstein, all based off of the 2005 movie. It tells the story of Charlie Price, who inherits a shoe factory from his father. He is trying to find a way to keep the company above ground when he meets Lola, a fierce, confident drag queen who introduces Charlie to a new perspective, and his new target customer group. It premiered in 2012 in Chicago and stars the wonderfully talented Stark Sands as Charlie (a real cutie) and Billie Porter as Lola (also includes Annaleigh Ashford, a Legally Blonde girl!). If you’re in Richmond, it’s coming to the Altria this spring! Get ready for tears, laughter, and a whole lotta great shoes.
Here’s a little preview.
American Idiot: The Musical
If you like punk music, you’ll love this. It is a stage adaptation of Green Day’s hit album American Idiot. It brings to life St. Jimmy, Whatsername, and The Extraordinary Girl through wildly talented performers. This musical follows characters Johnny, Tunny, and Will and explores their stories through the music of Green Day. This is all well and good, but the best reason to see this musical? ITS HOT MEN IN GUYLINER DANCING AROUND TO GREEN DAY, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?
Preview here.
In the Heights
Ok, all you pissed off Hamilton fans can calm down now. In the Heights was written by the same guy! The story goes over three days of the lives of characters living in the Dominican-American dominated Washington Heights in NYC. It was written by and stars Lin-Manuel Miranda, and discusses the challenges faced by their community in today’s society. It encompasses the same rap and vocals everyone looooooves about Hamilton, but it has a Spanish flare. If you are a fan of Hamilton but haven’t seen this, you really need to. It’s some really great work.
Here’s the musical performed off-Broadway in NYC.
Finding Neverland
Another musical based on a book, well, play (The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee), that was later made into a movie (with Johnny Depp!), that was finally made into a really great musical. It premiered in 2012, and once it made it to Broadway starred Matthew Morrison (Mr. Schuester on Glee), who was later replaced by Tony Yazbeck (an upgrade in my opinion, but I digress). It tells the story of the author of Peter Pan and why he never wanted to grow up. If I say anymore it will give away some great parts of the story, but it is VERY touching and WILL make you cry.
Here's a preview.
Also, here is a picture of Tony Yazbeck and I after I saw Finding Neverland (my eyes were still puffy from crying).
There you go. Five musicals you should see instead of Hamilton (because they’re, better and accessible, and under hyped), so please, stop whining about how you can’t get tickets to Hamilton, and go give these musicals the respect they deserve.
