All tagged Next To Normal
It breaks my heart to be sitting here and writing a remembrance of Marin Mazzie who passed away this last Thursday at the age of 57. Mazzie was a luminescent star of the Broadway musical stage, investing heart and soul into every song that she sang and every role that she embodied. There was something ethereal and magical in her voice, lifting us out of our daily lives and transporting us to somewhere near heaven.
Every once and a while, a musical comes along that stirs up the pot, shocking us with its audacity to speak the truth. In recent years, musicals such as Hamilton, Next to Normal, The Scottsboro Boys, and Fun Home come to mind as examples of musicals that were not afraid to look societal and artistic norms in the face and thumb their nose as what is comfortable or conventional. This was done in-an-effort to cast some light on overlooked subject matter, issues that demanded a new perspective, or inconvenient truths that may have been glossed over. It might be hard to believe, but musical theatre has typically been at the forefront of performance mediums in addressing controversial topics. In fact, Finian's Rainbow, which opened on Broadway in 1947 (and celebrated the 70th Anniversary of that premiere on January 10th), may have been one of the nerviest of all Broadway productions. It subversively confronted race issues by addressing bigotry, head-on, and by taking steps within its production to demonstrate active change. Finian's Rainbow was (and remains to be) one of Broadway's bravest shows.
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is given every year to a theatrical piece that stands out, above and beyond the rest of the pack in a given calendar year. Many amazing plays have been awarded the prize while just as many game changers have been overlooked honoring what are arguably less-deserving candidates. On a rare occasion, such as what happened this week with Hamilton, a musical is awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Nine musicals have been crowned with this honor that may be the only accolade that supersedes the Best Musical Tony Award. Today's blog is a celebration of those nine musicals, ranking them in order of their significance, power and shelf-life.
The holidays, whether we want to admit it or not, are just around the corner. We like to idealize the perfect Thanksgiving or Christmas, picturing the whole family gathered around the table wearing fuzzy pullover sweaters and eating turkey, or standing around the piano, eggnog in hand, singing Christmas carols in harmony while a fire crackles in the fireplace. Perhaps some of you come from families where this kind of devil magic happens, but I suspect that there are more of us in this world who have suffered the dysfunctional family get-togethers where family gets drunk, passive-aggressiveness reigns supreme, and someone overcooks the damn turkey.
This got me thinking…what Broadway musical families could outshine any of us with a dysfunctional holiday gathering. Below are the Top-Ten Dysfunctional Musical Families who will make your crazy kin feel like a sing-a-long with the Von Trapps.
