Guess who’s back with a brand new tag? I’m seriously missing my theatre trips so please enjoy my rendition of ‘The Musical Theatre Tag’. I may change some of the questions slightly as I don’t just love musicals but we’ll see.
1. What was the first musical you ever saw?
I can’t remember my first time at the theatre, in primary school we went to the theatre several times a year on school trips. The first musical I begged to see was ‘Wicked’ and my Mum took me to London for my 16th birthday and treated me to tickets for the show. I imagine that was my first proper musical and it was definitely my first West End experience.
2. What was your favourite musical growing up?
Although I’ve always loved the theatre I didn’t go much for leisure as a child or during my teenage years so I saw most musicals on DVD. If I had to guess I’d say ‘Hairspray’, I loved them from the first watch and loved all the songs.
3. Were you ever in a musical?
When I was a child yes. The first one I remember is when a drama teacher from a secondary school came to our primary to put on a play (the secondary school I ended up going to weirdly enough) and we put on a performance of ‘Oliver!’ This teacher was a bit weird because she added her own parts and also there wasn’t a script, we basically just improvised the whole thing. I was desperate for the part of Dodgess (she had a Dodger and a Dodgess lmao) but the part went to my friend and I was in chorus (I was so upset that she offered me a small speaking part and then the next week conveniently ‘forgot’ about it). In the end it didn’t matter because the guy playing Dodger did all the lines himself and left Dodgess with nothing anyway.
In secondary school I was also in ‘A Little Slice of Wicked/The Wizard of Oz’ by the same teacher who did ‘Oliver!’ so again there was no script and since she was merging ‘Wicked’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ it was really weird anyway. I tried out for a main part but again got banished to chorus. If I’m being honest the show was a bit crap anyway, she wasn’t the best director.
Our schools music teacher also put on a musical every year and her shows were known for being good which they were so I did ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ both times in chorus. Just never destined for a main part I suppose – but at least I was proud of these shows, they were genuinely good.
4. What was the first musical you saw on Broadway?
I’ve only been to New York once but I knew I couldn’t leave without seeing a Broadway show and luckily my Mum knows how much I love theatre so she quickly agreed and let me pick the show. In the end I settled on ‘Anastasia’ because I loved the film and it’s not a show that was available in the UK at the time (or now despite promises of coming to the UK at some point!)
‘Anastasia’ was the perfect choice and honestly I couldn’t have asked for a better first Broadway experience. We were given a box and boxes in the UK can be a bit of a miss as they obscure part of the stage but this was a more modern theatre so the view was perfect and the show itself was just amazing. I’d definitely love to see ‘Anastasia’ again one day – and return to New York!
5. If you could be any female character in any musical who would you be and why?
I’d love to be in a production of ‘Six’ but I have no idea which Queen I’d prefer to be. I’m leaning towards Catherine of Aragon because I think my favourite song is ‘No Way’ but her song comes up first. Anne Boleyn has a fun song, I love Jane Seymour’s song and Catherine Parr ties it altogether so well. I would be happy to play any of them to be honest, if only I could sing!
6. Which male character?
Probably Seymour from ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ – it’s the one that comes immediately to mind.
7. Favourite musical song to sing in the shower?
I saw ‘Six’ right before lockdown so I’ve literally had that on repeat for the past two months and I do play it on my phone whilst I’m in the shower (much to my Mum’s annoyance). I love singing ‘Haus of Holbein’ probably the best and as already mentioned my favourite solo song is probably ‘No Way’ although I do love warbling ‘Heart of Stone’ as well. Pre-lockdown it was probably the iconic but obvious ‘Defying Gravity’ from Wicked.
8. Who is your favourite theatre actress?
If I’m being truthful the only theatre company I keep up with and love is ‘Mischief Theatre’ so my favourite theatre actress is probably Bryony Corrigan, she was so funny in ‘Magic Goes Wrong’ and I loved her improv ‘Mischief Movie Night’.
9. Actor?
Again, I only know the ‘Mischief Theatre’ actors so probably Henry Shields – when I saw ‘Magic Goes Wrong’ for the first time we had to leave the theatre due to a bomb scare and when I returned a few weeks later to watch it he wasn’t there and it was his understudy – Bryony wasn’t there either actually come to think of it. Their understudy’s did an amazing job but I still wanted to see them both in their roles so I went to watch it again at the end of February when they were both back and loved it all over again.
10. Favourite film adaptation of a musical?
I’m not keen on modern adaptations of stage musicals, like I’m not thrilled that they’re turning ‘Wicked’ into a film to be honest – although that may be some selfishness on my part because not everyone can afford to go to the theatre. However, my two picks would be ‘Annie’ or ‘Mamma Mia’. I’ve seen the stage version of ‘Annie’ twice and to be honest I wasn’t overly impressed – I absolutely love the film though having grown up with it.
The first time I saw ‘Mamma Mia’ on stage I wasn’t a big fan of the film but I went back after I fell in love with the film and now I love the stage version. I nearly didn’t go because I was absolutely exhausted and had nearly fallen asleep watching a matinee performance of a different show but I’m so glad I went, it was so energetic and it turned out to be the final night for a lot of the cast and it was an amazing experience. I’d watch that show again in a heartbeat.
11. What do you think is the most underrated musical?
Ever since I watched the Disney film and fell in love with it I’ve wanted to see ‘Into the Woods’ on stage. My friend Hirst treated me and Jess to tickets to ‘Into the Hoods’ which was really good but I’d still love to see a production of ‘Into the Woods’. The fact that it hasn’t toured or had a proper stage production in the UK for bloody ages makes it underrated.
12. Overrated musical?
Controversial but for me, personally, Les Misérables – I’ve never seen the stage version and also have no interest to. I watched the film with my Mum and although I love a handful of the songs I definitely think it went on forever. As I was interested to see how the stage version was done I borrowed a DVD of one of the recordings from my brother but I really didn’t like it. To me, it just seemed like a lot of standing still and singing which is fine but really not my cup of tea at all.
13. What musical made you cry?
It’s not hard to make me cry, I nearly had a little weep during ‘Heart of Stone’ from Six but managed to keep it in. Although not a musical I’ve cried at ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ (Spoiler alert: At the part where Harry and his friends are watching his parents die – I think this moment is very emotional but when I watched it with Hirst she burst into helpless laughter because she thought the way Harry ‘wailed’ was funny. Typical, can’t take her anywhere). I sometimes cry during ‘Matilda’ when Miss Honey sings ‘My House’ and during ‘When I Grow Up’. I’m sure I’ve cried at tons of shows but I can’t remember them off the top of my head – I’m a massive cry-baby!
14. What musical made you laugh?
I’m more of an upbeat show lover so the majority of ones I watch make me laugh. Not a musical but anything by Mischief Theatre is guaranteed to make me laugh – I think the most I’ve laughed is ‘Mischief Movie Night’, I’d love to see them do some more improv in the future because I think that’s when they’re funniest. Similarly my favourite scenes in ‘Magic Goes Wrong’ were whenever the Mind Mangler was on, especially when he ‘predicted’ people’s jobs.
I was also lucky enough to see a performance of ‘Beach Blanket Babylon’ in San Francisco before it finished and I thought that was hilarious, me and my Mum absolutely loved it. Definitely worth hanging around the theatre for over an hour in the hopes we’d get second-hand tickets.
15. Are there any musicals you saw and hated?
Again, controversial, but I bought a ticket for ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ when I was at university and really didn’t like it. I’m not overly keen when a musical is all singing and no talking and I found this one difficult to follow. I don’t know if all performances are subtitled or if this one was specifically but I found myself reading the subtitles more than I watched the show. The singing was beautiful but it’s not a show I’d watch again, it really wasn’t my cup of tea.
16. What musical do you want to see as a film?
The majority of my favourite musicals are already films or were films before they were shows. I’d really like it if Mischief Theatre released a film one day, I’m loving ‘The Goes Wrong Show’ at the moment so would leave a full film!
17. What musicals are you dying to see?
As mentioned, I’d love to see ‘Into the Woods’ on stage one day. I was meant to see ‘Friends – The Musical Parody’ in April but unfortunately it was cancelled due to COVID-19 – not even postponed so I won’t be seeing that. I wouldn’t mind watching ‘Book of Mormon’ one day.
I really hope the ‘Mean Girls’ musical comes to the UK one day, I’d have tickets for that within a heartbeat. I wanted to see it when I went to New York but my Mum hasn’t seen the film and I’m not sure if it was on? I’ve just googled and apparently it’s coming to the West End in Spring 2021 (not sure if it’ll be delayed due to COVID) and I am GETTING TICKETS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, I’m so excited.
I’m also keen to see ‘Frozen’ which either just opened in the West End or was meant to open in the West End but got delayed. I’m due to go to Disneyland Paris in November (COVID permitting) and I’m going via the Eurotunnel so my plan was to watch ‘Frozen’ the night before I travel to get myself hyped for the trip but obviously we’ll have to see what happens now. I haven’t booked my ticket yet so we’ll see.
18. Any book or movie that you think should be turned into a musical?
Perhaps not a musical but I absolutely love horror theatre, I really enjoyed ‘The Woman in Black’, ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Ghost Stories’ on stage so it’d be cool to see more horror films on stage (I’m pretty sure all of those I just listed were plays or books first but you know what I mean). I think ‘The Boy’ could be done well on stage or something like ‘The Conjuring’ which would be really creepy. Basically any horror movie turned into a stage show and I would be there.
19. What is your all-time favourite musical?
My favourite show/musical always changes and it’s usually dependent on the one I’ve seen most recently. So my favourite musical at the moment is ‘Six’ whilst my favourite show is ‘Magic Goes Wrong’. However I have a soft spot for ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and would really love to watch that again. And as mentioned in the question just gone I love horror theatre, my favourite probably being ‘The Woman in Black’ because I think it was very cleverly done.
So there we have it, there’s the Musical Theatre tag – feel free to link me to yours if you decide to complete it, I’d love to read your answers.
Hozzie Writes 