Warning : Long Post Ahead. I need a space to pour all my thoughts and feels on musicals I’ve watched.

I ever wrote once, that I always like musicals. Somehow expressing feeling in the middle of drama with songs always hooked me. That’s why even until now I still like to re-watch some of Glee’s performance. I even always want to sing a song in front of someone, to tell them exactly what I feel, no matter what the feelings. Sounds cheesy, eh ? 😛

Anyway, this past year, no, maybe about 9 months or 10 months (no, not me using Falsettos as a reference), I spent many of my times watching and listening over and over again to musical performances/recordings. Either it’s from a Broadway bootleg (ups), movies or TV series. The stories taught me and accompanied me a lot in the middle of boredom due to lack of entertainment. Sometimes it’s not only about the stories, but how the creative team brought up a total different and new worlds alive. I appreciated a lot the team behind the stage creative, choreography, costume, lyrics, books, and so on. More shows I watch, the more I feel inspired, encouraged, and moved.

So, through this blog post, I’d like to tell you what shows I’ve watched, complete with an amateur comments on how I felt and appreciated during the show. Please note, amateur. If it’s not like how you felt about it, no hard feeling, alright?

Hamilton. Thanks to Disney+ I finally had chance to watch this Tony winners Broadway show with their original Broadway cast (OBC). What I love the most (after the lyrics of course, hands down to Lin Manuel) is the choreography. Especially the choreo from “A winter’s Ball”, “Helpless” until “Satisfied”, in which, if we took more attention in it, consists of 1 single choreo divided into 3 numbers as part of a story. Shout out to Jonathan Groff’s King George III in this OBC as well, who successfully stole the show and landed him a Tony nominee for only total 9 minutes of performances.

Falsettos. This show breaks my heart for I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it. Took place in early 80s where AIDS started being an epidemic. A story about a tight-knit family who was struggle to find place to belong, to become an adult, and to find love. This is the type of the show that would make you fall in love over and over again every time you watch it. I watched the 2016 Broadway Revival cast, which was one of the most perfect cast ever, imho. Well, 4 out of 7 of the cast; Christian Borle, Andrew Rannells, Brandon Uranowitz, Stephanie J. Block, received Tony nominations from here. What I love from this 2016 revival are Andrew Rannells (Biased? Whatever. haha! But seriously, he got robbed twice in Tony!), Christian Borle, The Boxes that the actors have to move through out the shows (while they’re acting and singing), and of course the numbers (4 Jews in a Room Bitching, The Thrill of First Love, The Chess Game, The Games I Play, What More Can I Say?, Unlikely Lovers, What Would I Do?)

Book of Mormon. One of the masterpiece, of course. Also, the Broadway recording album still can make people laugh only for listening to it. I watched the OBC bootleg. The show itself was hilarious. The casts were perfect; Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells (first nomination he got robbed in Tony!), Rory O’Malley, and Nikki M. James. The numbers were whimsical. Later on I just found out that one of the song writer is Bobby Lopez, who also created a phenomenal Frozen’ s songs. My personal favorite are You and Me (but Mostly Me), Turn it Off, I Am Here for You, and Tomorrow is a Latter Day. Also, that splits that Andrew nailed 8 times a week for more than 1 year 😉

Dear Even Hansen. TBH, I listened to the numbers first to finally found out that it’s actually from a Broadway musical. Having finally know how to find some bootlegs on YouTube, I watched all the shows played by Ben Platt, Andrew Barth Feldman and Jordan Fisher (Yes, even the most recent cast got bootlegged). As I’ve familiar with all the numbers, I just took more attention on what the story is all about. And, it’s heartbreaking and heartwarming in the same time. And what makes it more engaging was the lighting and the projections. Beautifully arranged!

Kinky Boots. Thanks to my one of my fav YouTube channel, Show Must Go On! , who streamed this show for 48 hours for donation. They streamed the West End production and I also watched OBC bootleg where Billy Porter played as Lola. While I love Billy Porter’s Lola more than Matt Henry, I love Amy Lennox’s Lauren so much! Her performance of The History of Wrong Guys was funny, sweet and very attractive. I can even still reimagining her singing it only by listening to the recording song. Also, Kinky Boots has one of the best song finale, “Raise You Up/Just Be”, which is a catchy song to sing-a-long. It lifts up my spirit every time I listen to the song.

Company. I watched the 2011 film version produced by Screenvision. Some of the casts were Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone, Stephen Colbert, and Aaron Lazar. I personally think this is Sondheim’s funniest show. I couldn’t stop laugh watching it while the show also left me in an awe. My personal fav number is “Side by Side by Side/What Would We Do Without You”. Funny lyrics and amusing choreo! “Sorry-Grateful” also touched me by my heart somehow. And of course famous numbers like “Being Alive”, “The Ladies Who Lunch” and “Getting Married Today” were performed so well. My personal goal until now is to be able to sing that rapid-fire song of “Getting Married Today” without being accused for blabbering trash. Haha! Good luck to me! They also used a simple stage design where most of it for the orchestra and utilize some kind of moveable 5 sofas for 5 couples of Robert’s friends. Somehow it seemed like it’s too tight and the actors couldn’t move much. Well, they still nailed it tho 😀

A New Brain. Bumped into this just because I wanna watch Jonathan Groff on its 2015 City Center Encores! Off-Center production . To be honest, the story is not engaging enough for me. But the numbers…I love the numbers! Well, just like Falsettos, William Finn and James Lapine gave us a full of metaphor show and numbers and when you listened more to it you’d drawn deeper into it. My personal favs are “And They’re Off”, “Mother’s Gonna Make Things Fine” (Groff’s Maaa~~ and how Ana Gasteyer brought a bit of Jazz in a small part of it), “Just Go”, “Be Polite to Everyone”, “Don’t Give In”, and “Heart and Music”. What I love about this 2015 City Center Encores! is that Christian Borle stepped in as Mr. Bungee on the album recording. So I can hear both Jonathan Groff and Christian Borle’s great voices in one album! Isn’t that what every fans dreams about?

Something Rotten. I watched this just because I wanted to watch more of Christian Borle. In the end, I enjoyed every second of it! I can’t stop laughing to every reference they put in this show. I love all the casts as well. Other than Christian Borle (who won his 2nd Tony here), They got Brian d’Arcy James, John Cariani, Kate Reinders, Michael James Scott, etc. “Welcome to the Renaissance”, “A Musical”, “Bottom’s Gonna Be on Top”, and “Hard to Be the Bard” are always end up in my On Repeat playlist. I watch over and over again the tap dance part of “Bottom’s Gonna Be on Top”. Try to replicate it with a total failure, of course.

In The Heights. It’s been in my list for so long. Once they announced the release date of the movie, I finally watched the OBC bootleg. My first reaction was “Why the hell I just watched it now?!”. As I love many of Lin’s songs, the numbers here are all meet my music taste. I really love the taste of Latinos poured into all of the songs. Robin de Jesus’s Sonny was adorable. I fell in love to his part in “96,000”. “Sunrise” is the one of the sweetest love scene in Broadway ever imho. And those awkward dance moves from Lin are so hilarious! I just can’t wait to watch the movie version of it, tho they have to cut “Sunrise” in it 😦

Hedwig and The Angry Inch. I watched Andrew Rannells’ Hedwig (Haha, of course!). This is the first time I watch a monolog kind of musicals. It’s part rock concert, part cabaret, part stand-up comedy routine. As it’s a story telling by a one-man-show, I really need to focus to catch on the story and the songs. It’s quite difficult as I watch it on a bootleg (I know, I know, but I really didn’t have any choice). I even read the songs lyrics just when I watched it just to get a grip of what they said. After 3 times watching it (the 2nd one was Neil Patrick Harris’ and the 3rd one was Darren Criss), I finally got the story. Again, It’s not because of the book, but due to the bootleg’s quality. I love how the put the rock numbers. I love “The Origin of Love”, “Sugar Daddy”, “Wig in a Box”, “Wicked Little Town” and “Midnight Radio”. Also, I really love watching Andrew in it. Somehow there’s a softness in his Hedwig that makes her closer to us and more lovable. Biased? I don’t care. Haha!

Spring Awakening. I could see it clearly why everyone fell in love with this musical and why they thought it was a fresh performance. I like the idea of combining a rock musical to a story that sets on 19th century. It’s a sad story indeed, with a strong energy formed amongst the casts. No wonder Jonathan Groff got his first Tony nomination from this. I like the simple set of stage which makes us easy to focus on the message that the story brought. “Left Behind” stays forever in my heart, while other numbers such as “The Bitch of Living”, “Totally Fucked”, and “Those You’ve Known” are in my day-to-day playlist. I heard that they’re going to make a musical movie of Spring Awakening. Can’t wait!

Legally Blonde : The Musical. I watched the MTV production just because it got Christian Borle in it. TBH, if it’s not because of him, I feel bored watching this musical that full of high pitch numbers. The only numbers I like that doesn’t have Borle in it is “Whipped Into Shape”. I mean, how can people sing, dance and do jumping ropes at the same time?! Why?! It really left me with an awe when I watched it. I personally think “Take It Like a Man” is the sweetest number between Emmet and Elle. Though, we can see how Emmet was getting fell in love with Elle in “Chip on My Shoulder”. I really love Borle in this numbers. Oh, “There! Right There!” is so hilarious and fresh! But, I really really loath “Omigod You Guys”. Every time this song reprised or sung a bit through out the show, I kinda closed my ears as it’s too “noisy” to me. Sorry, just not my type.

Hairspray. I watched 2005 version of 2002 Broadway bootleg. Again, I watched this version because Andrew Rannells played as Link Larkin. I’ve watched the movie version of Hairspray in which John Travolta, Nikki Blonsky and Zac Efron were cast. Surprisingly, there’s not much difference between the Broadway version and the movie version. Even the numbers are not that different. Well, the reason why I watched the Broadway version was just to see how Andrew played as a straight guy. That’s all. Oh, he’s cute in it, by the way 😛 Considering it’s his Broadway debut, he’s kinda nailed it!

Other than Broadway bootlegs/recordings, I also watched some musicals movies that based on Broadway shows, such as The Prom, Rent, Chicago and Into To Woods. Also, thank you to Smash, a hits TV series, I learned a lot more about Broadway production in fun way. It’s not that it’s bad, but somehow I like more a live performance that Broadway produces. I Imagined the collaboration between the actors, the band, costumes, lightings, stage managers with a very minimum tolerance of mistakes. Thinking about this, every curtain calls in musical show always gives me chills. If it’s not because of the passion, they wouldn’t thrive in such a high pressure nights, 8 times a week for years.