Do you like Musicals?

[SckizoBoy]

Almost invariably the presence of my genitalia was called into question, or my sexuality questioned. I tend to point to shows like Guys & Dolls or West Side Story and ask them what makes the characters in those in any way feminine.
It's also fun to think that every Hollywood actor men aspire to be like was originally just like the same guy they'd call gay for taking drama seriously...

Well, dumb people gonna be dumb... not worth losing sleep over.

But one thing I do admire musical theatre actors over all other types of singers is their singing, silly though that sounds... I'm only going to skirt over those worth mentioning here so:

1. Opera singers - good lord, I don't understand how people can stand opera since both their diction and pitch is swamped by vibratto.
2. Oratorio singers - the lack for the need to act or physically perform negates (in my eyes) their technical superiority as singers.
3. Choristers - are sort of a cross between of the above.

So, musical actors typically have excellent diction, and need to act through the music... all of which is reminding me why I used to like the medium so much, I'll be honest, haven't watched a musical in years now... :/ Any suggestions to remedy this?!

(Note from first post: I love Cole Porter!)

 

[bobmus]

But one thing I do admire musical theatre actors over all other types of singers is their singing, silly though that sounds... I'm only going to skirt over those worth mentioning here so:

1. Opera singers - good lord, I don't understand how people can stand opera since both their diction and pitch is swamped by vibratto.
2. Oratorio singers - the lack for the need to act or physically perform negates (in my eyes) their technical superiority as singers.
3. Choristers - are sort of a cross between of the above.

So, musical actors typically have excellent diction, and need to act through the music... all of which is reminding me why I used to like the medium so much, I'll be honest, haven't watched a musical in years now... :/ Any suggestions to remedy this?!

(Note from first post: I love Cole Porter!)

I took two grades in Musical Theatre myself (like your standard Piano grade 1 etc., but for Musical Theatre) which were damn fun. Never had the time (started too late) nor the talent to pursue it past that though.
My friend did opera though, before his voice broke, and he was a damn talented singer (He's on the Omen 2 soundtrack, I believe).

Hmm, good musicals. Well Wicked's probably the only one worth mentioning of the 'modern musicals' running in London. Unless you like Queen, that is, in which case We Will Rock You is some good silly fun!
I caught a musical called Spring Awakening a few years back on Broadway, and that was really good (incidentally the main leads went on to star in Glee) - not sure if it's on in the UK though.

 

[The_Waspman]

I'm not enthusiastic about them.

I was actually having a discussion about this with one of my old uni friends last week. She'd invited me to London and wanted to see a show, but I wasn't enthused about anything that was on, and we could have gotten into quite a heated debate about it, but I declined to do so.

As someone said above, I just don't think there are many 'good' ones. Its all a matter of personal taste of course. I've seen a few original productions at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in my time, but when you have crap like Legally Blonde: The Musical, or Ghost: The musical then you know that something is going wrong.

Its all about originality. I'm not really interested in seeing things like South pacific or frigging Blood Brothers. I want something new and original damn it!

 

[WaywardHaymaker]

One of my best experiences in high school was being in the cast when we did The Wiz, which I liked to describe as "Blaxploitation Wizard of Oz, but we have no black people."

My best experience was acting in Jane Austin's Emma, but that was mostly because I had a big role as opposed to a chorus member. I'm a shit singer.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Yea. I dig musicals. Not just the cool ones like Blues Bros and Big Time (if that really is a musical) but the fruity ones like Bells Are Ringing and Pirates of Penzanse too. I'm comfortable enough in my heterosexuality to admit that.

I say go for it OP. When I was in HS, I helped out with our production of Fiddler and it was one of the best experiences I had in school. I think that most of the kinds of kids that get involved in that kind of stuff are the kids that don't take too much seriously and frankly, they're the most fun to hang out with.