We all have our favorite jams that get us through rough days and long car rides and while yours may be the Top 40 or the alternative music scene from the 1990s, my music of choice is any given musical soundtrack. Growing up in a theatre department, of course I love musicals (and know every word to every song). While some may see it kind of odd or quirky, my theatre loving family out there will completely relate to the pain of getting the AUX passed to you and knowing every other song will shuffle to a musical.
Most of my friends cringe when they hear some weird and purely situational song come on (unless it’s Disney) and usually it kills me when Mama Who Bore Me starts to play and I have to skip it despite my urge to belt it at the top of my lungs. All of you who can relate know how hard it is to pass over Seasons of Love or Popular. And yeah, Cats is kinda creepy, but it’s a classic. I just feel like I’m cheating on musicals when I trade out Memory for Justin Bieber’s latest hit. Is he even popular anymore? I wouldn’t really know. Put me in the center of a college party where everyone knows the frat soundtrack word for word front to back, but I couldn’t even tell you the name of one song.
Now in a car full of musical geeks, my iTunes library would be a huge hit. We all love to pretend we have the voice of Idina Menzel when Defying Gravity is playing. Obviously we know all the words to the Hamilton soundtrack, too. Oh, and call us weird, but we know the dialogue in between the singing. Also, we can guess what each song is from the first five seconds of it playing, just because we know the score that well. Leave it to our dramatized fantasies to allow us to go from some random lament to Avenue Q’s racist humor or falling in love with whoever is sitting next to us in the passenger seat. Keep in mind that if it’s nice out, the windows WILL be down, and we will have no shame belting every word. And when it comes to songs with the whole ensemble, don’t worry, we know all of the harmonies. (wink emoji)
Having musical soundtracks is probably the best for long road trips. Listening to The Last Five Years from beginning to the end takes up a decent chunk of time and when that’s over, it’s on to the next. Les Mis to Rent to West Side Story and so on it goes. The car is a safe place to pretend to be your dream role and the music is the best way to pass the time. Sometimes you’re even lucky enough to have a parent or significant other who shares the love with you or at least tolerates the constant singing and crazy facial expressions.
It’s pretty obvious that if you catch a musical listener, they’re going to be die hard. We not only sing, but act out each emotion throughout each song, and if we happen to know some of the choreo (we do), we will do our best dance/drive version of it. Moral of the story is, if you come across a musical lover in your lifetime, either learn to tolerate the tears when Slipping Through My Fingers from Mamma Mia comes on, or just avoid passing them the AUX.
