Adding to the list of songs I love, I would be remiss without including songs from musicals.
Quick background: I’ve been performing in musical since the age of 4. Growing up in a musical household (Dad was a music director, Mom a choreographer) it was hard to NOT be a part of musicals, but I loved it from the get-go.
I remember when RENT hit broadway. My voice teacher at the time had come back from New York and had told me about this new “rock musical” that was sweeping Broadway. A modern day version of La Boheme, it had its own tragic story. The composer tragically died of a brain aneurysm the night of the final dress rehearsal. The musical then went on to be an international success, really embodying the message sung throughout the musical, “No day but today”.
Most people know or know of RENT, but it had been a while since I’d heard it. I put it on last night in the car and even after almost 10 years, the words still speak to me, the story still moves me to want to live my life to the fullest while recognizing the frailness of humanity and the joys of being yourself.
Your Eyes is a song sung by Roger toward the end of the musical. A song that “took all year” to write for Mimi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3YYWhMYrCE
And the iconic Seasons Of Love. This is the anthem of RENT.
RENT is probably my favorite musical, but I only discovered it a few years ago. Actually, I discovered it shortly after they closed on Broadway (Sept/2008), when they released the live on broadway dvd, and was so sad to realize that I was in NYC the week before they closed – I should have seen it!!
Well, since then I’ve see the live dvd countless times, and this year I got to go see the off-broadway production at New World Stages (that is closing soon, unfortunately), a couple of times, and it was amazing – I laughed. I cried. I was filled with joy and heartbreak. All things that make a great musical worth seeing live. This off-broadway production introduced a new staging that is faaaar more interesting than the original, I hope they tour with it and bring it to SF… and if they do, I know who I’m inviting to go see it with me 😉
RENT is near and dear to my heart as you can tell. I saw a re-staging of it a few years ago here in SF. Wonder if it’s the same? And yes, any time you want to go see a musical you know I’m game (and probably Chelsea and Daryl). 🙂 We need to do another Karaoke night!! xx
Yes, we need to do Karaoke again. But now that I know how good you sound, I need waaaay more Sake bombs! 😀 hahaha