Music Monday: Musicals I Love (Part II)

A couple of weeks ago, I shared two of my favorite musicals!  I promised that I would share my favorite musicals I've performed in, but last week, I just HAD TO SHARE about The Beatles special that aired on CBS on February 9th.

I LOVE performing in shows, and I miss it so incredibly much.  I started performing in Christmas musicals at my church when I was a kid, and I've gotten to be a in a few musicals over the years in middle/high school and college.

Middle/High School
6th grade- Annie
7th grade- Damn Yankees
9th grade- West Side Story: "Francesca"
10th grade- Fiddler on the Roof
11th grade- My Fair Lady

College
Children of Eden: "Yonah"
In the Beginning: "Mavis"

That used to sound like so many.  I can't believe I haven't been in a musical since my senior year of college....

ANYWAY

I can say that I truly loved performing in each and every one of those shows, but I definitely have my favorites:

4. West Side Story

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My director pretty much made up the name "Francesca" for me.  He wanted me to be a part of the "I Feel Pretty" scene, and so he created a name for my character.  This was the first time I felt somewhat important in a musical!  So it was very exciting for me!

3. My Fair Lady

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I will admit, this did NOT start out as being one of my favorite shows.  There were three of us who had to keep singing and reading and singing and reading for the part of Eliza.  The director really had a difficult time making his decision.  I will never forget the day when he announced the parts during chorus.  I was totally and completely devastated that I didn't get to be Eliza.  I must have cried off and on for the rest of the day.  In the end, though, I had SO much fun.  I was in every scene that was not just the three main characters.  I had quite a few different costumes from a maid's costume for the Servants' Chorus to a fancy dress for the horse races.  I literally had to do costume changes so fast, I had girls waiting for me after certain scenes to help me change!  While I still don't think I could say that I'm glad I didn't get the role I wanted, I can definitely say that I had a great time!

This is still one of my most favorite songs from a musical...even though it's much harder to hit that high note at the end than it used to be, but as one of the maids, I got to be in this scene with Eliza.

2. In the Beginning

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This is not a very well-know show.  In fact, I'm lucky that I even found this image on Google!  I couldn't even find any of the songs on YouTube, but it was so much fun!  It was the musical my senior year of college, and I had one of the leading roles.

1. Children of Eden

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You may not have heard of this show either, but it holds an incredibly special place in my heart.  (This show was written by Stephen Schwartz who also wrote Wicked.)  I had a rough start to college.  My freshman year, I was placed into an "overflow triple" (aka my college accepted too many students, didn't have space for all of us, and I was roomed with two other girls in a room the size of a closet).  After about a month, these girls HATED me for reasons that I still don't understand.  My boyfriend and I broke up that year, and it turned out that I also hated being a music education major. I was SO ready for a new start my sophomore year.  While it was going better, most of my friends had auditioned for and were accepted into the prestigious choir on campus.  I was terrified of the director and was under the impression that everyone was boycotting the choir and staying in the chorale.  I was clearly wrong.

I was encouraged to audition for this show, and landed a leading role for the first time ever.  I made and grew some amazing friendships, and the choir director asked ME to audition for the choir after seeing my performance.  So many things changed for me because of this show, and I honestly do not think that any show will ever bump this out of my top slot.....unless, of course, I ever get to be Sandy in Grease or Elphaba in Wicked.

This video is a little long, but it features my two most favorite songs from the show: "Stranger to the Rain" and "In Whatever Time We Have".  

Do you have a favorite performance??