The Musical Theatre Tag

As a musical theatre student and a huge fan of theatre in general, I'm kind of shocked with myself that I have not written more on this blog about musicals. I decided I would give the musical theatre tag a go, since it will be fun to put this information out there, plus I want more variety on this blog, and it seems to have turned into "How many books has Natalie read?". 

1.  Plays or musicals?

It would depend on the circumstances. As a performer I would much prefer to be in a musical, and I feel like the majority of the time I would rather go and see a musical than a play, but again, it depends. If I was offered to see Dead Dog in a Suitcase or The Play that Goes Wrong, I would much rather go and see Dead Don in a Suitcase. However, if someone asked me if I'd rather see Mamma Mia or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, I would pick Curious Incident everytime. I have a love for both!

2.  When did you start liking the performing arts? 

I've always loved singing and dancing, in fact there was a time where I wanted to be Britney Spears when I grew up! However, I didn't really performing arts as a whole until I was 8, when I watched The Phantom of the Opera with my Mum on DVD (yes, the terrible version with Gerard Butler playing the Phantom...I'm sorry, but I owe my life to that movie). Before then I used to fast forward the songs in Disney Movies because I thought they were boring. I sometimes wonder what my life would be like if I never watched that movie.

3.  Ever been in a musical?

I've been in many Musicals! My favourite though has to be the college production of Les Miserables that I was in in 2015. It was a show that really built my confidence up, I remember our director saying that my Madame Thenardier audition was really good too. Even though I was ensemble for the majority of the show till I played Prouvaire, I enjoyed every minuet of it, and would do anything to do the show again.

4.  What was the first musical you saw on Broadway?

Sadly I have yet to see a Broadway Musical, but the first show I saw on the West End was Wicked in 2015 with Emma Hatton playing Elphaba! It was amazing and I really enjoyed it, even though I had seen the touring production of the show three times before going to the West End. I got seats in the second row though!

5.  If you could be any female character in any musical who would you be?

I'd love to play Nancy from Oliver at some point in my life! A close second though would be the Witch in Into the Woods.

6.  Which male character?

Enjolras in Les Miserables or George Washington in Hamilton.

7.  Favourite musical song to sing in the shower?

Whatever song I need to learn for my classes! But for fun, I like singing Seventeen from Heathers or I'm the Greatest Star from Funny Girl.

8.  Who is your favorite theatre actress?

I love Idina Menzel and Barrett Wilbert Weed!

9.  Actor?

Aaron Tviet and John Partridge.

10.  Favorite film adaptation of a musical?

I love the adaption of Sweeney Todd, even though I do sometimes have issues when stage to film adaptations change or miss out parts of the story or songs, I do think that the changes made worked for the film. The Tim Burton aesthetic also works quite well with the tone and story.

11.  What do you think is most overrated musical?

Mamma Mia, or any jukebox musical to be honest. I feel like it is just lazy writing to just string a bunch of songs together and make them into a story.

12.  What musical made you cry?

Hamilton, I cried the whole way through it.

13.  What musical made you laugh?

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals, its honestly one of the funniest thongs I've ever watched, although all of Team Starkid's shows are comedy gold!

14.  Are there any musicals you saw and hated?

I saw the touring version of Dirty Dancing which I wasn't a massive fan of, I give props to the actors and the dancers since they tried their best to work with what they were given, but I really did not like the show itself.

15.  What musical do you want to see as a film?

I would be very interested to see Carrie the Musical done as a movie. I feel like a Carrie Musical shouldn't work, but the sound track is amazing and the little clips of various productions that I have seen on youtube look fantastic! I would also love a Company movie, if there isn't already one, because I feel like it would work really well on screen.

16.  Which musicals are you dying to see?

I would love to see Mean Girls the Musical. I have had the soundtrack on repeat since it came out last year, but honestly I don't think I'll get the chance to see it. My feeling is that it will run on broadway maybe for two or three years and then it will close and will be forgotten about, which is a shame because I love what I have seen of it online.

17.  What is your all time favourite musical?

It changes all of the time, but I feel like my top two that I go back to is Les Miserables and Hamilton, I was lucky to get the opportunity to see them both in June 2018 on the West End.

18.  What would you do if theatre didn’t exist?

I would probably sing and dance randomly, and people would give me random stares because it would look really strange and they wouldn't know what musical theatre is.

TAG! You’re it! Now it’s your turn to answer the questions.