Ranking All The Songs In Something Rotten

 I love a good comedy musical, and Something Rotten not only provides great comedy, fun music, but also a great amount of references to Shakespeare's works and theater as a whole. I always find myself listening to this show from time to time, and decided to rank the songs from this album from my least favorites to the ones I can not stop listening too. Now this is just my personal ranking so if you like some of these songs better then others then that is completely valid, and without further delay let's get to the ranking! some will have a fun little comment or two attached as well.

17. God I Hate Shakespeare Reprise- This Song has character but is incredibly short

16. The Black Death- Too much gross out humor for me

15. Something Rotten/ Make An Omelette- This one does not really stick with me, a lot of fun references though

14. It's Eggs

13. To Thine Own Self Reprise

12. Right Hand Man Reprise

11. I Love The Way

10. Finale

9. We See The Light- This song slaps

8.A Musical- This is fun and has great references but the length drags a little and some of the humor takes away from the song.

7.God I Hate Shakespeare 

6. Right Hand Man- Such a fun song.

5.  Bottom's Gonna Be On Top- This is a great act one closer.

4. To Thine Own Self- A great message and an incredibly catchy song, with humor and heart. 

3. Will Power- Pure fun and energy go into this character introduction.

2. Welcome To The Renaissance- Great opening number!

1. Welcome To The Renaissance( Reprise)/Hard To Be The Bard- You can probably tell who my favorite character in the show is, he may not have the most songs, but when the Bard steps on stage he steals the show, and this song is no exception. Fun, catchy, and relatable for writers, this song is truly amazing, the reprise acts as an intro that leads directly into the other, so I treat them as one song. 

So that is my list, thank you for reading and make sure to give this show a listen if you a love a good comedy musical.

Announcment Movie Musical Month

Something big is coming... something good! To celebrate the release of the film adaptation of In The Heights all of June will be, Movie Musical Month. A month covering film adaptations of musicals, original musical films, and stage musicals based off of films, whether they were musicals before or not. There will be posts, playlists, reviews, discussions, and more. More content than usual, and not just limited to Musical Mondays either but rather more posts throughout the week. That being said, I must prepare for this massive event, that will surely be a treat for all. I have some more posts for the month of May as well that will be coming soon that are taking a but more of my time then I thought. Thank you for reading, I hope your day is a showstopper.

Dear Evan Hansen Movie Trailer

 (Image Source: Amoebamusic.com) 

When I woke up this morning I was greeted with the trailer for the film version of Dear Evan Hansen, slated for a late September release in theaters. And I was not going to wait for next Musical Monday to talk about this one, here is a bonus post, now let's dive in.

This trailer was very well made, and well shot. The cinematography in this movie already looks amazing, the music shown already was well performed and well done.  The acting in the trailer is also really good, The plot was shown for those who are not familiar with the show, and it was well shot and this trailer is very well made. The music is used well, they used one song from the show You Will Be Found, but used in a great way for the trailer,  it looks very well acted and the trailer is well made. This show is incredibly heavy and deals with a lot of heavy subject matter and the trailer did not shy away from that, I am glad the trailer showed everything up front so I am excited what gets revealed next. Overall I am not the biggest Dear Evan Hansen fan but I was surprised by this trailer, intrigued, and want to see the movie, so the trailer did its job. 

From this trailer alone I am interested in the movie. It looks like the stage version on a much grander scale and looks like what I picture when I hear the songs in the cast album. Bringing back Ben Platt and maybe some other stars from the Broadway adaptation, this trailer mainly focuses on Evan, this looks to be a faithful adaptation. This show is still insanely popular and only was beginning tours when lockdown started so I have not had a chance to see this show yet. I only just saw Hamilton on tour in 2019 and the beginning of 2020 as that show was mid tour for two different casts. Evan Hansen was slated to come to my area as the big blockbuster musical before it was postponed twice. So without the ability to see the show, if the conditions are safe enough I will see the movie. Movie adaptations sometimes prove to be the more cost friendly and in my case accessible versions of shows. They are their own adaptations so there are bound to be differences, some I will not get because I have only listened to the album a handful of times but I will be waiting to see reviews from people who saw the show on stage who can point the differences out. For many this, In The Heights, and the live shows including the release of the Hamilton movie this the way to see a show before they come to your area. Or with many tours being further delayed the only way to access some new theater for some time. I plan on seeing and reviewing this movie If I can, with the short trailer not much was given away but it from what I saw looked like the album came to life and looked the way I envisioned it. If things are safe enough I will see it, as it is the more cost effective option. This year is a really good year for musical movies, last year we got Hamilton and Netflix's version of The Prom but now there are tons of announcements for live shows such as Waitress. Movie adaptations getting announced, original movie musicals getting announced or released like Vivo, and then there is Dear Evan Hansen, In The Heights, and West Side Story being released this year. I plan to cover all three and maybe even rank them, well see how I decide to cover them but I promise you I will. For many like me who have only local theater troupes to lean back on, and even then many of them are remote and filmed or streamed. These movies and live shows are much needed for the areas who won't get theater reopening later this year so I say keep making them, keep taping live shows, and making these movies, they are a breath of fresh air. 

Next week I will be covering some works of Steven Sondheim but now is a perfect time as any. To celebrate the release of In The Heights, for all of June we will have a theme. Movie Musical Month, covering movie adaptations of musical and vice versa, albums, shows, memories, etc. All sorts of fun will be had, so get excited, I know I am,  and I will see you again soon. have a great day. 

Broadway is Back, and More!

 Several shows have announced their return this week slating for a mid to late autumn release date. Many shows returning on different dates but shows such as Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen as well as off Broadway shows have been announcing their returns, It seems Broadway has returned, as for people like me it seems the wait will still be a while as many tours are postponed and being pushed until next year, so with theater returning this brings new excitement, new cast albums, theater news again, and hopefully the Tony Awards can finally air. So even though it seems I will be relying on local theater, cast albums, and live shows, it is not new to me. Many people like me who don't live near theater hub cities rely on tours, albums and live shows, especially the latter as we wait for tours to come and in between the weekends that the tours inhabit our theaters. 

And speaking of lives shows NBC has announced that ANNIE will be premiering as their live shows, and I am hoping FOX will announce one as well. Waitress coming back to get a live show taped giving myself and many hopes for other shows to get taped. Theater is slowly but surely coming back, first Broadway then tours, first local theaters in many different ways, soon live show tapings and more. There are so many possibilities for theater to return both in the present and the future. I recommend following Broadway based news sites as they are keeping up with these updates as they are announced. I decided to talk about news for once because this excites me as a step forward to returning to normal. Here is hoping to a brighter tomorrow for the stage. 

Remix Albums, Covers, And Bonus Tracks

 For this entry for Musical Monday, I decided to talk about a really fun concept. Which is cover albums, EPs, bonus tracks, remix albums and more. When the original creator makes an album covering songs that were cut or allowing other artists to perform songs we love in new styles. Sometimes it's not a cut song but rather a different rendition or a fun little bonus at the end of an album like an acoustic version. What's Not Inside is all cut songs from Waitress, where as The Hamilton Mixtape is cut songs and covers of the songs we love done by others. Then there is Whats Inside Songs From Waitress which has Sara Bareilles covering songs from the show with a cut song or two before the album of just cut songs were added, or the Hamildrops which were covers and new songs that ran for a year being dropped once a month would sometimes feature Lin Manuel Miranda or different artists. For example one month could be a cover of Helpless while another was an original song about Benjamin Franklin.

I love this so much, and would love to see this for more shows, different perspectives or story ideas that show how deep these stories can go, or a new song using pre existing characters show us how much we love the cast. Or using a cut song is such a cool way to show a song and a piece of behind the scenes info about the shows. Sometimes cut songs even make it back into the official production like Penny In My Pocket being added into the latest run of Hello Dolly as a fun little post intermission opener. Sometimes the remixes prove to be incredibly fun on their own like the Hamilton Polka by Weird Al that is a pure delight to listen to. 

Some albums add a fun a little bonus like an acoustic track or a bonus song like the Genie Medley in the Aladdin album that is the Genie and Aladdin's amazing actors singing more songs from Alan Menken while having some fun. 

I love the recent surge of remixes, covers or unreleased content being shown, it is more content for the shows we love. Many of these songs end up online and can be listened to over and over, or even get their own albums. These add more to shows we love in such different styles that you learn to love them in their own way, and have something different to listen to. Somedays when you don't feel like listening to all of act one of Hamilton, you could listen to a couple Hamildrops and The Hamilton Mixtape if you like. It's add more content in such a way that is so amazing, the shows we love aren't overstaying their welcome, new ways to love them appear in these ways. Whether it is a cover on YouTube by someone just starting who loves the song, or a whole remix album, this form of changing stuff we love should be encouraged. It encourages others to find new ways to take something we love and make new art alongside the originals, that are just as amazing. 

I will definitely revisit this topic in more detail in the future, looking at specific albums, covers or mixtapes but I wanted to discuss the initial idea first. And I have a small surprise as well. 

Mothers Day Musicals

 Happy Mothers Day one and all, so today I wanted to discuss a few musical numbers and shows that go great to celebrate todays holiday. 

Ladies Who Lunch (Company): What do most people do on Mothers day? Why have lunch or brunch of course, so while you set the table and get the cakes ready, this song will really set the mood. 

Paciencia Y Fe (In The Heights): Sometimes the lessons we learn from our mothers travel with us our whole lives, and this song shows such in such a powerful, amazing, heartwarming manner. This song will not just tell a story, but it will also give a fantastic message while being an excellent song.

All That Matters (Finding Neverland): This show  I just covered has a few aspects of parenthood, and this song is one of the best examples of it

So Big, So Small (Dear Evan Hansen): All gripes I have with this show aside, this song is beautiful and powerful, showing a single mothers love and struggles.

Welcome To The 60's/ You Can't Stope The Beat (Hairspray): Sometimes we help our moms as they have helped us in so many ways, the story of helping her mom embrace her best life are apparent in these two very fun songs. 

Impossible/It's Possible (Rodger's and Hammerstein Cinderella): Some may consider this cheating as it is a fairy god mother singing this, but she has the word mother in her title none the less, and this song inspires big dreaming and making the impossible, well possible and many moms do that.

All Of Waitress: This show has many songs and themes about motherhood, from the beginning stages till when the big moment of being a parent arrives. This show has many other themes but mother hood is one of the.

Finding Neverland Album Review

 

(Image Source: Pintrest) 

During all this off time, from time to time, I step away from listening to my favorite cast albums over and over to try something new. And not to long ago I gave this show a listen or two and now I wanted to talk about the album. 

This show follows the creation of the classic tale of Peter Pan, and this show does have nods to all of the story, so even the parts we wish we could all forget. The story just by listening to the album seems very predictable, and since I have not seen the show or the film this was based on I will use what I have from what I heard. Some of the songs in this show are great for artists and creative types alike, some of the songs were on the same level of inspiring for me as Sunday In The Park With George in terms of inspiring creativity. Some of the songs are super fun too, and inspire a great sense of fun and embracing your inner child. Not every song was my favorite and I found myself skipping some on repeated visits, but plenty of the album did great of being fun or inspiring. There were fun group numbers, and some that encouraged how fun creating something new can be. 

Not all the songs were my favorite but I found myself enjoying quite a few of them, the group numbers are a ton of fun, and some of the songs in this show are very inspiring. I found myself enjoying the upbeat numbers, some of the slower songs were okay and had good character in them, but when they are back to back I found myself skipping them. I did find myself preferring the slower songs in act two, which in terms of the story might end up being really good pay offs for the story being told, but since I am just judging this by the album I enjoyed the later slower songs to the earlier ones. 

Here are the songs I enjoyed most if you would like to check them out.

If The World Turned Upside Down

All Of London Is Here

Believe

We Own The Night

Stronger

The World Is Upside Down

What You Mean To Me

Play 

We're Are Made Of Stars

When Your Feet Don't Touch The Ground

Something About This Night

I would say my top three would be:

3.When Your Feet Don't Touch The Ground

2. We Own The Night

1. Stronger

Though two and three shuffle around a bit, I truly enjoyed and loved the songs so all the ones listed are recommendations from me.

So I would say I like about half if not a little over half of the song, though not all of them were winners, some of them were really good. And just because I did not enjoy a specific song doesn't mean you might not. This show when it lands that sense of fun or inspiring creativity is great, when the show strays from that I found myself losing interest. Also the final two numbers in the album I feel need to been seen on stage as they were more so just describing what was happening, so for me as a listener the ending was very weak, I tried to use my imagination to pretend what was going on but this ending definitely is more visual then song based. Which for people who can not see the show right away is a slight detriment because some shows still can have the plot come together without sacrificing music and songs for those who wanted to listen to cast album before seeing the show. 

Overall I enjoyed parts of this show, some of it was pretty good or pretty fun, so when I have the chance I do plan on seeing it live. 

Rating: Finish The Hat- Had some flaws but quite a bit is enjoyable, worth at least one whole listen, and to see play out on stage, opinion might change if I see this live for now, it is mostly okay, a 6 to 7 out of 10. 

Broadway To Reopen Soon?! And Theater The Rest Of Us Can Get Now

 Word in the arts based news is that Broadway is set to reopen the end of this summer or very early fall, and if it does, great but I still wonder as we get closer to the expected day if it will be pushed or if theater will finally return. And if it does what does that mean? What shows will come back? When will we get the Tony Awards that keeps being announced and then delayed?

The questions keep piling up, and even if it does return most of the big musicals slated to tour to my area have already pushed to the next year, since I saw Hamilton on tour of February 2020, my second time seeing Hamilton this seems to be the first year I will not see a touring Broadway cast show. But the arts are still accessible, thus why I changed this blog, because even back when I could see a touring cast there was a large gap in-between shows or seasons where I was left just with tapings, cast albums, movies, live shows, and local theater among things. So the future of Broadway is still uncertain, and for those who do not live close, we have to get creative. So here are a couple ideas I have seen that apply to those who want the amazing experience of theater right now.

Outdoor Shows: Some civic theaters are following precautions and are doing outdoor shows, I myself may be attending one or two this year.

Recorded Civic Theater Shows- Other local theaters have been recording their shows safety and placing them online for a small fee, giving us new show in creative ways and safety for the cast and the audience.

YouTube- Ever since last year certain major Broadway  theaters will upload a recording of  show over the weekend, yes that is a limited amount of time, but I guess that emulates the touring show experience. You could watch an old favorite or discover something new, a lot of theater companies have been doing this for some time now, and I hope they begin to recycle a couple shows that were good and some may have missed. 

Live Shows On Streaming Services- Some of the streaming services have some live recorded theater as well, or Broadway HD and a couple other services that are just dedicated to theater. One main example is Disney Plus having both Newsies and Hamilton.

Movie Adaptations- Some are better then others, but the ones that are good make for some good entertainment, and the not so good could also make for some good entertainment.

Those are a few options that I found that give me my theater fix, alongside listening to cast albums. But we will stay strong, and when this intermission is over, theater will return in a big way!

In The Heights Trailers

 I love In The Heights I listen to the album all the time and I saw a civic theater production of the show some time ago. And this movie coming to HBO Max is a form of accessible theater that has me bouncing off the walls with excitement. So I am going to talk about all the current trailers, and the release of the opening song all in one post. 

The trailers are filling me with so much excitement, every time they show one the movie looks better and better, and I can not wait to see it. The opening song is so well done, the lyric changes took some getting used to but when I did get used to them, I really enjoyed it. The instrumentation and performances are so well done. It felt so great to have this alongside the original, with the differences I can listen to them both and enjoy them differently. It is similar enough that I can sing along, but different enough that it does not feel like a it is a repeat. It is like another performance with different actors performing a song I love. It is a good thing added to an already good thing. 

The trailers show promising choreography, and the musical numbers look fantastic. I am super excited for this film. This looks like an amazing adaptation that follows the original in the right way and yet also diverges to make itself original while not being a detriment. And that is even more so clear with this opening song, it has so much heart in it while still being super catchy, truly making me excited for the film. 

Each trailer makes me even more excited then before, and optimistic for the future of musical movies, both original and adaptations. We also got a teaser for the remake of West Side Story but I think I am going to wait for a bit more content then cover every teaser and trailer, so when we get a little bit more I will discuss that, but for now In The Heights looks like it is going to be my movie of the year.