1,089 posts
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Post by tonyloco on Jan 3, 2019 12:29:35 GMT
The classics were still common currency on the radio and people singing them to themselves etc, so even if you didn't know they were show tunes, you became familiar with the style of songs and singing. Then doing shows in school, then being taken to two. The monkey's comment about show tunes being common currency on the radio back in earlier times reminds me of an anecdote from my early days in Australia. As I mentioned in my previous post, the first big Broadway show to hit Australia after the second world war was 'Annie Get Your Gun'. It opened on Broadway in May 1946 and almost all of the songs, even the minor ones like 'Who do you love, I hope?' and 'The girl that I marry' were recorded by the major American pop stars of the day. These recordings appeared immediately in the Australian 'hit parade' so by the time the show itself opened in Australia in July 1947, the songs had already been and gone and seemed 'old hat'. This upset the Australian music publishers, who managed to get an embargo placed on all songs from Broadway musicals being performed in Australia in any way shape or form before the shows themselves had been staged in Australia. This ban therefore applied to all the songs from the 1956 Broadway musical 'My Fair Lady' which did not get an Australian production until 1959, and when Liberace arrived to give concerts in Australia in February 1958 he was horrified to find that he could not use 'I could have danced all night' in his act. Liberace's aggrieved reaction to this situation of course provided some useful media publicity for his concerts and Liberace just somehow managed to find something else to replace 'I could have danced all night'! |
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364 posts
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Post by tysilio2 on Jan 3, 2019 16:28:31 GMT
I started playing cornet in my local village brass band when I was about 11. It was a low standard band of mainly old players past their best and children. One of the staples of the 'repertoire' was selections from musicals. The first piece I ever played was the Sound of Music selection and others including selections from Oliver, King and I, South Pacific and Oklahoma were regularly played. It was the melodies with these pieces that got me and has stuck with me ever since.
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5,062 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Jan 3, 2019 18:44:44 GMT
I was laid up in hospital with a broken neck and some bought me the double cassette of The Phantom of the Opera.
I haven't looked back since.
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214 posts
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Post by BoOverall on Jan 3, 2019 19:11:30 GMT
Dragged as a youngster in 1983 to see “some musical” called West Side Story at the Leicester Haymarket. Boy did I strop at the time about going to see a musical, but as soon as it started I was hooked. And seeing Steven Pacey who I liked from Blake’s 7 was a thrill. Oh now THERE’s a tv theme of note! And camp sci fi of the very highest order, courtesy mainly of Servalan!
Saw WSS several more times during that run. Amazing.
Oh I have such fond memories of the Leicester Haymarket : which became almost a second home to me for so many years after.
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5,062 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Jan 3, 2019 19:20:49 GMT
^History AND a pun, on good form Phantom of London . Funny how people break into theatre, isn't it. Was it the original cast recording? No the OPNR
The Original Press Night Recording
I had to break a leg to get it.
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352 posts
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Post by Raven on Jan 3, 2019 19:24:07 GMT
When I was 7/8, I was having a sleepover at my gran's and she had the musical Cats taped on a VHS. Around seven years later, my gran booked me tickets to see Cats at the Edinburgh Playhouse and I was hooked! Have been to see musicals ever since.
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700 posts
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Post by cheesy116 on Jan 3, 2019 23:04:19 GMT
My interest started with watching How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and all the subsequent versions of it! Finally going to see Oliver after Jodie won I'd Do Anything and my cousin being cast as Oliver at the first cast change, and I saw Sister Act the following evening. I've been addicted ever since.
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128 posts
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Post by beatrice on Jan 5, 2019 14:11:41 GMT
Starting here, because it seems like a good place to start (After meeting danieljohnson14 yesterday and deciding it was time to stop being a lurker - hey there!). My dad used to be a high school theatre person, so I grew up with Mary Poppins, West Side Story and Oliver! on repeat. When I was 16, my mom finally took me to see Wicked, and I've been home on live theatre since. Currently far from most productions, but I try to fly over to London a few times a year and see as much as I can! |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2019 15:57:25 GMT
I need to revise my statement.
I've always credited my love beginning with Phantom, however walking past a very big Easter Egg display earlier a memory sprung into life.
At Easter as children, my sister and I would get a few eggs each. With that we would also receive a VHS to share. Starting with Disney films, Dumbo, Aladdin, Jungle Book, Bambi, Pocahontas, a different one each year as a treat. Then in 1998 that changed as we received the Cats Video and Joseph the following year. It was then a few months later in 1999 that the Phantom trip happened.
I was conditioned into it as a child. Slowly, with animated musicals into 'live-action' films and so on.
I also have a vivid memory, which I think not many people believe but my mum can vouch for and is gods honest truth. Not long after my sister was born whilst in play school, I was taken on a trip to see Fireman Sam Live. The show was in the Liverpool Empire Theatre and I remember the coach trip there, part of journey through the Mersey Tunnel (first time on a coach and seeing the world go orange as we go travel through the tunnel). I also remember being inside the (seemingly enormous) theatre, sitting in the stalls, quite central but quite far back. I was 3 at the time. I couldn't tell you anything about the show, but I remember the event and that obviously made a lasting impression on me at an early age.
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72 posts
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Post by Musicality21 on Mar 26, 2019 8:28:15 GMT
Mine, like many others, was also Joseph. Like practically every other school on the planet, we did a production of it and I was the Narrator. I remember my costume being this ridiculously outrageous pink shiny jacket which at the time I thought was the best thing ever but looking back was blooming awful. Also have a vivid recollection of our headteacher banging out the songs on his piano like he was at some sort of epic rock concert! I also remember going to out local record store and having to actually order the cast recording cd into the shop as they didn't stock it. Ever since then I've been hooked on musicals. Joseph has got a lot to answer for!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2019 11:18:08 GMT
Remember seeing THE BAND WAGON movie at a young age and being fascinated by the ‘Triplets’ number.Saw it again last year and loved Jack Buchanan’s brilliant comedy performance as the obsessive director.Wonder why this show has never really taken off on stage in this country? I think Lost Musicals may have covered it, but as an old-school revue-type show it could have legs(preferably Cyd Charisse’s back in the day).
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Post by rachpywell on Apr 8, 2019 20:39:54 GMT
Hi everyone! New here, thought I should post here before I properly dive in elsewhere.
My grandma looked after me before I started school and she was very into musicals. She had the Jesus Christ Superstar film, Cats and Joseph, but her biggest loves (and mine) were Australian recordings of Pirates of Penzance, Mikado and HMS Pinafore with Jon English in leading roles. She only had a small collection of VHS tapes, so I watched them on repeat.
I do also have a memory of my mum and grandma going to see Cats when I was small (6 or 7?), but being upset that I wasn't allowed to go. I think my first actual show was the Lion King in Sydney.
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2,022 posts
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Post by distantcousin on Apr 8, 2019 20:56:09 GMT
For me, it was all the buzz over the ALW mega-musicals in the 80's pervading the mainstream. I was always a pop charts kid, obsessed with the Radio 1 top 40 and Top of the Pops.
It was when the songs from Phantom started entering the charts and then all the press and buzz over it's opening that really made me curious and take notice of this new world/artform...
Being a TV addict and pop culture fiend, I'm sure the likes of Cats and Starlight Express then caught my attention when featured in TV light entertainment or Sat morning TV performances.
That was really it. Film musicals were not big in my house, and I've discovered over the years that unlike a lot of families, we didn't watch family films together so the likes of Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music have zero cultural capital with me.
So for me, when I think of what really made me first take notice of stage musicals, and more specifically "The West End", it just has to be "Phantom" - which is why it still holds a special and emotional place in my heart. (thought it would actually be another 5 years or so until I entered a West End theatre and watched a musical production....)
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Post by rachpywell on Apr 9, 2019 12:53:15 GMT
Welcome to the board rachpywell. Good start to life, those VHS tapes, I think. Funny how those things wear out - I was really angry when I found someone had repeat-watched my copy of "Song And Dance" to near-oblivion. Thank you so much! Yeah, we definitely started to wear through the VHS tapes, then we replaced the tape players, so I replaced the VHS with DVD versions! I still have the Gilbert and Sullivan versions (they're not available any more). |
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Post by danb on Apr 10, 2019 7:24:01 GMT
I think mine was a bit of an all-angles combo! ‘Grease’ came out when I was 6 and I remember going twice in a week. I remember going to see ‘Joseph’ but don’t think it left much of an impression. My nana shelled out for us all to go and see ‘Phantom’ in London and I think the magic of that left an impression. My pocket money got spent on records; one week a ‘Cure’ album, the next the ‘Chess’ cd...I just loved music and still aged (whispers) 46 have very eclectic and varied tastes. You’ll just as likely find me at some gnarly rock gig as at a show but it keeps me same.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2019 9:11:06 GMT
Growing up somewhere with zero opportunity to see theatre, when I was 18 and at university, my friends and I started coming to London to see various concerts at Wembley and The o2, and like most tourists we’d come see a show.
The first west end music I ever saw was The Lion King and it was crap (except for the first 10 minutes). On a later trip I was talked into seeing Wicked and I just loved it. Same trip we saw Avenue Q and suddenly, I was in this world of what was basically theatrical pop music.
I grew up loving pop music and after lamenting the lack of decent (or any) pop music midway through the 00s, I stumbled across musicals that had the same sort of innocence, that happy go lucky singalong style of song that I loved. Musicals did not just mean Phantom of The Opera.
So when I moved to London shortly after university, I took full advantage and started seeing new shows. I try not to listen to a cast recording until after I’ve seen a show, which did open me up to different styles of musicals and I began to appreciate everything.
Whilst at university I developed an interest in actors - good actors - and took the opportunity to also see a lot of plays when I moved to London too. So my interest in both increased at the same time and between them I began appreciating the craft and learning about the theatre as a whole.
What I think I love about theatre and musicals now is that there is always something new to enjoy. No ones approach to any element of the live production is the same: the same musical can be horrid in one production and the absolute best in another. Same with cast recordings and even actors and performers. The more you explore the genre your tastes change and diversify, and what you didn’t like 10 years ago can suddenly speak to you later.
The only thing I lament about my theatre going is that going to the theatre isn’t really much of ‘an event’ as it was in my earlier days. It’s not ‘an occasion’ for me. But it’s a happy trade off.
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70 posts
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Post by alexandraastrid79 on Oct 6, 2019 12:52:08 GMT
I got the couridge to go to a show on my own. Otherwise i would miss out. I would go no more than a couple of shows a year one in oxford and the west end, then ended up going a couple of Times a Month. If i lived in london i would be there every night for sure.
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