Why are musicals so popular?

When you think of musicals, you can’t help but think of Andrew Lloyd Webber. He has achieved the greatest success in musical theater and runs one of London’s largest theater companies. He can be credited with creating the longest-running and highest-grossing musical production in history. The Phantom of the Opera celebrated its 10,000th Broadway performance on February 11, 2012, which is the first musical to do so and is still going strong today. His talents in producing musicals are legendary and will continue for a long time.

Les Miserables is another musical that has been running for over 20 years. More than 60 million people around the world have seen the music stage in more than 40 countries. He recently came to the big screen with the leading roles of Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway. If you want a good cry, go to your theater and watch it. It’s easy to see why it won a Golden Globe for Best Picture and why it earned 8 Oscar nominations and 9 Bafta nominations.

The history of musicals goes back a long time. I once visited the amphitheater near Taormina in Sicily and you can bet he saw his fair share of musicals in his day. The Romans are believed to have copied Greek theaters and performed in enclosed wooden structures. They placed metal chips in the shows to enhance the sound of the dance. I guess these would be classified as early tap shoes.

There’s something great about musicals when they’re done right. When I was a kid, the most recorded and watched movies on TV for me were all musicals. “The Wizard of Oz”, “Mary Poppins” and “Greece” were my favorites; even today he could sing all the songs and fully follow the spoken dialogue. I even remember spending hours perfecting Dorothy’s exact leap down the yellow brick road! Then there was “Annie,” “Dirty Dancing,” “Fame,” and “Flashdance,” and the list goes on. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I was raised on musicals.

But what is it about musicals that makes them so popular even today? I think it’s simply because they use song and dance to enhance a story. But I think it takes a special kind of director and choreographer to do a piece of music. Having seen many productions of the same musical, it seems that the success really comes down to how well it is produced. A couple of years ago I took my mom to see “We Will Rock You” and it was amazing. It really gives you the feel good factor.

I can’t wait for the next great musical to hit the stage. I have always wanted to burst into song and dance doing my weekly grocery shopping at Tesco’s! Maybe I need to fix this, get a bunch of friends together, set up a dance, and have music ready. I bet it would make every buyer stop and stare and give them that feel good factor that the best musicals give you.