Musical Theater Month

No, you haven’t missed a new holiday. I’ve decided to take the month of February to better educate myself on musical theory. Mainly because, although I’ve loved almost every musical I’ve seen/listened to, I haven’t actually seen that many. This month that changes.

I’m going to watch one musical or listen to one soundtrack for a musical every day. In most cases it’ll be one I’ve never seen/heard before. For instance, listening to Hamilton won’t count (although I’m not going to stop listening to it this month….). But there are a few instances where I waived that requirement because I’ve only seen the movie for something and I want to listen to the original Broadway cast recording.

Here’s my tentative list:

1. 21 Chump Street
2. Grease
3. Jesus Christ Superstar
4. Fun Home
5. My Fair Lady
6. Pippin
7. Hairspray
8. Phantom of the Opera
9. Heathers
10. Newsies
11. The Lion King
12. Matilda
13. Camelot
14. The Book of Mormon
15. Spring Awakening
16. Rent
17. The Color Purple
18. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
19. Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812
20. Chicago
21. Les Miserables
22. Chess
23. Allegiance
24. Bye Bye Birdie
25. West Side Story
26. Bring it On
27. Tick, Tick…Boom!
28. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
29. Into the Woods

I reserve the right to replace or rearrange any of these. My choices are almost entirely based on what I’ve seen people on tumblr and twitter discussing, with the additions of everything Lin-Manuel Miranda has ever worked on (I watched a performance of In the Heights, so I decided not to include that one here, but I still need to listen to the OBCR).

Today is the fourth day of the month, so I have listened up to Fun Home. It was good. I’ve generally enjoyed everything I’ve watched/listened to so far. I watched Grease Live even though I’ve never seen the original Grease (oops). I’m not entirely sure what to think of Jesus Christ Superstar. I liked the music. I think I’ll have to listen again at some point to form a more solidified opinion. I also listened to the concept album instead of a cast recording, so maybe I’ll check that out.

In other news, I’m way behind on painting, so I really need to start doing that again. (Un)Fortunately, my bosses started coming back from their vacations, so I’ve had a lot less free time during the past couple of weeks. I’ll nail time management skills someday, I’m sure. I mean, it has to happen eventually, right?