Blog
My Love for Broadway
- September 5, 2022 by John Freeman
Greetings and Salutations! I had some ups & downs of recent months with some car troubles and so forth, but nevertheless I am back. This month’s blog is on one of my favorite things to watch being Broadway plays and musicals!
My love for Broadway started when I was roughly 16 years old. During that time in my life, I was facing a rather rough times, so television and writing helped me get through it. During my teen years, I probably saw around one thousand plus movies and a plethora of television shows. Some of those television shows were British police procedurals such as Wallander, Sherlock, and Luther. Those particular British television shows shows introduced me to the PBS channel and one night on PBS, a special broadcast was played for the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary at the London O2 arena. I saw the show from beginning to end and it was utterly fantastic! Alfie Boe was the lead character Jean Valjean, along with the legacy cast. The song during it titled “I Dreamed a Dream” touched me greatly to the point where tears were shed and I’ll even cry sometimes listening to that song nowadays. The whole musical just hit me on a different level and to this day, Les Miserables is my all time favorite musical and the reason why I have a love for Broadway.
I would go on to keep watching Broadway musicals that played on PBS, but it wasn’t until I was an adult that I experienced my first live Broadway show. My first live Broadway experience was for Les Miserables in New York City and they were supposed to have Alfie Boe starring in it, but unfortunately he wound up being sick. Nevertheless, the experience was tremendous and that initial live experience started a trend for me. I was living in Colorado at the time and I quickly got a season pass to the Broadway for Denver, Colorado.
I’ve seen close to 20 different Broadway musicals or plays at this moment in time. I have a big list of great Broadway shows that I have seen throughout the years. I’ll break down what some of them were about and why there were spectacular.
Hamilton – This beautifully crafted, presidential musical by Lin Manuel Miranda. Miranda is a musical genius and what he was create a hip hop musical set during the Hamilton rise to power and he utilized an African American cast for most of the key roles. All the musical numbers are great with songs such as Alexander Hamilton, Non-Stop, and the iconic rap battle. I encourage you all to watch this on Disney+ and see the show live.
The Play that Goes Wrong – I saw this in New York City and wow! This was a comedy play and it had me in tears of laughter. A brief rundown of it, is a crime has occurred and it becomes up to a group to solve the situation and it gets interactive and sillier, the more it goes on.
Cabaret – This one had a lot of different emotions going throughout it all and one song that is just sickening to hear, but done for that purpose. The MC definitely brought this one to life and it was really great and extremely great songs.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Sky – This one was great, about an autistic teen solving a case of dog’s death. It was very fast moving at times, and it even packed with a post credits moment of sorts. Very unique Broadway play.
Aladdin – “Prince Ali” might be my favorite Disney song ever, or at least in the top 3. I saw this before watching any other version of Aladdin and none capture the magic here.
Frozen – This one was perhaps the most visually stunning Broadway play or musical that I’ve seen. I know all the songs like I’ve listened to them a thousand times, which made it even better.
Waitress – This was more spicier than I would’ve thought it was going to be. It follows a waitress in a small town going through an affair and an abusive husband and making it through it all. Really great songs and highly recommended by myself.
Chicago – I saw this after watching the movie, many years prior. It had the added element of charisma, charm, and humor by the cast; which made this one my favorite version of Chicago.
My least favorites have been Finding Neverland and Phantom of the Opera. Phantom of the Opera was one that I saw this one live in New York City. I just wasn’t a big fan of opera and although I liked some songs; I just felt it wasn’t my cup of tea. The two that I am eagerly anticipating to see next are The Lion King(LA Broadway soon) and The Book of Mormon.
