All in Music That Makes Me Dance
You'd have to be living under a theatre rock if you haven't heard about the rigmarole surrounding former Spice Girl Mel B's indiscretion during her final performance as Roxie Hart in the long-running musical Chicago. For those of you who do not know, the pop singer decided to interpolate some lyrics from one of her famous pop songs into the show for her final farewell. The theatre world appears to be of two minds about this move. There are those who stand by the traditions of theatre (and the rules of Actors Equity), finding her actions egregious, pandering to the lowest common denominator of theatre: inserting shtick where neither the authors or production originally intended. There are others, however, that believe that employing Mel B is an example of stunt casting and that it was a clever tip of the hat to her fans (arguably the makeup of that night's audience) to reference her music. In fact, some welcome moments of such shenanigans. Either way, there has been a lot of debate on websites and chat boards over her choice to do this. Having taken a few days to weigh the scenario in my mind and synthesize how I feel about this (not exactly life-ending) infraction, I must side on those who admonish the star for her actions.
Looking over the roster of new musicals and performers coming to Broadway this spring, and knowing already that it is shaping up to be a pretty spectacular one, I got even more excited when I started considering the details of some of these productions and the artistry we can look forward to. For me, these are the special moments and magic that is on our musical theatre horizon.
What is an "I Am" song, you might ask? Many people also know it as the "I Want" song, a song that comes early in the first act of a musical and that establishes our catalyst's point of view and sometimes their goal. The term "I Want" is not one I feel truly encapsulates what this song is and how it's placement in the musical affects the story to come. I Am", which used to be how these songs were identified by scholars, can include "I Want", but not vice versa. What you "want" is a subcategory of who you "are". Not every song that introduces a catalyst tells us what they want, but it most-definitely tells us who they are. So I choose the older term of "I Am" because I find it all-encompassing. I'm not trying to be difficult here, I simply prefer "I Am" because it better explains what the song achieves, especially to those just learning about musical theatre structure. But all semantics aside, some of the most-memorable and most impactful musical theatre songs are the "I Am" song and today's blog is a celebration of some of the best.
I know how my readership loves to watch videos from Broadway shows. For years, I have been wending my way through YouTube, watching great clips from Tony Awards, talk shows, and the occasional bootleg that has presented itself. Today, I feel like sharing my forty FAVORITE clips from hit shows (I’ve already done the flops). Hopefully, you will enjoy this countdown to my favorite and enjoy all the “hard work” I have put- in assembling it for you. Let the streaming begin!
