Bella's Broadway Blog

Now usually I’m not one for playlists. I tend to pick one album to listen to and go straight through. But recently, I made a long playlist that I’ve been attempting to listen to all of, and it’s pretty wild. I didn’t make it to include all my favorite songs, but it has so many songs that I love on it, I just can’t stop listening! Here’s what’s on it:

• From Spelling Bee: The I Love You Song, Pandemonium
• Anastasia: My Petersburg, Journey to the Past, Land of Yesterday, Quartet at the Ballet, The Press Conference
• The Band’s Visit: Waiting, Welcome to Nowhere, The Beat of Your Heart
• Bandstand: Love Will Come and Find Me Again, Donny Novitski, Welcome Home (Finale), This is Life
• Be More Chill: I Love Play Rehearsal, The Pitiful Children, Voices in My Head
• Book of Mormon: All-American Prophet, Tommorow is a Latter Day, Two by Two
• Bring it On: What I Was Born To Do, It’s All Happening
• A Bronx Tale: Webster Avenue
• Chicago: Cell Block Tango
• A Chorus Line: I Hope I Get It, One
• Come From Away: Welcome to the Rock, Darkness and Trees, Me and the Sky, Finale
• Dear Evan Hansen Deluxe: For Forever, Requiem, Disappear, Only Us, Hiding in Your Hands, Obvious
• Dreamgirls: Move, Dreamgirls, I am Changing
• Falsettos: I’m Breaking Down, Trina’s Song, The Chess Game, Year of the Child, The Baseball Game, Holding to the Ground, Unlikely Lovers
• Finding Neverland: Believe, All that Matters, Play, We’re All Made of Stars
• First Burn and Found/Tonight
• Greatest Showman: Tightrope (Reimagined)
• Hamilton Mixtape: Congratulations, Immigrants
• Hamilton: My Shot, Satisfied, Wait for It, History Has Its Eyes on You, Dear Theodosia, The Room Where It Happens, One Last Time, Burn
• In the Heights: In the Heights, Breathe, 96,000, Blackout, Carnaval del Barrio, Alabanza, Everything I Know
• Into the Woods: On the Steps of the Palace
• Kinky Boots: Raise You Up, The History of Wrong Guys
• Mamma Mia: Voulez-Vous
• Mamma Mia 2: Waterloo, Angel Eyes
• Matilda: Revolting Children
• Mean Girls: Cautionary Tale, Stupid With Love, Apex Predator, Revenge Party
• Miss Saigon: The Movie in My Mind, Bui Doi, I Still Believe
• Great Comet: Prologue, Charming
• Newsies: Santa Fe, Once and For All, Something to Believe In, Watch What Happens (Reprise)
• Next to Normal: Just Another Day, I Am The One, Superboy and the Invisible Girl, I Dreamed A Dance
• Once: Falling Slowly, The Hill, The Moon
• Once on this Island: Waiting for Life, Mama Will Provide
• Phantom: Masquerade, All I Ask of You
• Pippin: Corner of the Sky
• Pretty Woman: Welcome to Hollywood, You’re Beautiful
• The Prom: It’s Time to Dance
• Rent: Rent, One Song Glory, Tango:Maureen, Santa Fe, Over the Moon, La Vie Boheme, Seasons of Love, Take Me or Leave Me, What You Own, Finale B
• Something Rotten: Welcome to the Renaissance, A Musical
• Spongebob: Bikini Bottom Day, Just A Simple Sponge, Hero is My Middle Name, Best Day Ever, Chop to the Top
• Tuck Everlasting: Live Like This, Partner in Crime, Time Quartet, Everlasting
• Waitress: Opening Up, What Baking Can Do, When He Sees Me, Everything Changes
• Waitress Concept Album: Door Number Three
• Wicked: No One Mourns the Wicked, The Wizard and I, Dancing Through Life, Defying Gravity, One Short Day, I’m Not That Girl, As Long As You’re Mine, No Good Deed, For Good

Short disclaimer: This doesn’t have any Les Mis on it, because for whatever reason, my phone doesn’t let me listen to it! It just sits and loads for eternity, but if I could, I would add I Dreamed a Dream, At the End of the Day, Stars, A Heart Full of Love, One Day More, On My Own, Drink With Me, and Finale to this list. Also, I’m still listening to more shows so as my library grows, so will this playlist! What’s your favorite 11 o’clock number from a musical? Tell me in the comments!

Forgive me, and I’m sorry in advance, if this topic isn’t the most agreeable. I’ve noticed an ongoing trend in Broadway itself. And I think it’s time we addressed it. I’m sure you have heard of Anastasia, The Band’s Visit, and Kinky Boots. What do these shows all have in common, though? All 3 of these amazing shows are CLOSING in less than 2 months. These shows are all relatively new- 2014, 2017, and 2018, to be exact- and yet they aren’t doing well enough to stay open. What, or who, is causing this? The culprits are well-loved hits- specifically Hamilton. This being said, I’m not trying to drag Hamilton! I love the show, but it’s changing Broadway so drastically that the future is uncertain.

For a lot of people, Hamilton is the “gateway drug” of Broadway. You listen to Hamilton, you start to love Hamilton, you become obsessed, and you want to hear more musicals. But the issue is, there aren’t very many musicals that are anything like Hamilton- rap musicals are few and far between. Everyone is drawn towards Hamilton, and it’s causing a low point for so many other shows that are just as good, but different. Anastasia, for example, hasn’t gotten any recognition for anything, and it’s one of the most spectacular shows I know. It was overlooked at the Tonys by smash-hit Dear Evan Hansen, and now it’s closing because it isn’t living up to Hamilton fans’ standards. The Band’s Visit SWEPT the Tony Awards and it still isn’t getting what it deserves because the current Broadway community isn’t appreciative of beautiful scores that don’t sound like works of Lin-Manuel Miranda. The same goes for Kinky Boots, though it has had more time to shine. I’m really, really ashamed DISAPPOINTED in the fact that people can’t seem to give things a chance unless they’re one of 4 shows.

Once again, I’m really sorry that this is so angry-sounding. I didn’t mean to make it sound like I’m upset at Hamilton and other “blockbuster” shows, because I’m not. I probably honestly shouldn’t post this, but it’s how I feel and the world needs to know. Please be respectful in the comments!

Bonus: Things I’m happy about in the Broadway World: Be More Chill opened on Broadway, and Spongebob and Mean Girls both announced their tours! Also, when I wrote what’s above, I was angry. I’m not really angry, I just wish we could build more theaters instead of closing shows, to be honest, because then this wouldn’t be happening.

My recommendations for underrated-yet-popular contemporary musicals with a short description of each!

Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812: This musical is an adaptation of a short segment of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, centered around a group of characters and their complicated predicaments. The music is quite unique, considered ‘electropop,’ and this, combined with being sung-through, deems Great Comet an “electropop opera.” Was nominated for many Tonys, but was overlooked in the 2017 season. Quirky and unusual, this musical is certainly not something to pass by!

Bandstand: This other 2017 musical is one of the most recent fully original musicals. It tells the story of a group of WWII veterans, who form a band in the late 40s, and Julia, a girl who joins the band. The music is reminiscent of swing and jazz, with classic Broadway influence present as well. Once again, was not recognized for its beauty in awards, but has come to be beloved by many.

Once: A beautifully haunting musical about forbidden love. Based on the 2006 film of the same name, this show is centered around Guy and Girl, who fall in love in Ireland over the course of a few days, but cannot be together, as they both have other love interests. The score has Irish folk influence, and is intimately untraditional for Broadway. The set and stage too is minimalistic, and nothing about this show is sparkly. Nonetheless, Once has something for every musical fan.

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: One of William Finn’s best shows, Spelling Bee is exactly what it sounds like, well, for the most part. A group of middle-school participants, played by adults, compete, and as they are eliminated, each tells a backstory of their own. Catchy songs like “Pandemonium” are plentiful, with heart-wrenching ballads mixed in. A comical plotline plus intricate characters and score makes for something incredible!

Next to Normal: (Note: Any musical with Aaron Tveit is worth your time, just saying.) This show reveals so much about mental health that it is essential to the world. Diana, a mother, suffers from bipolar disorder and depression, and has hallucinations of her deceased son. Her husband and daughter try their best to sustain normality in their crazy lives in this beautifully heartbreaking production.

Finding Neverland: Loosely based on the film with the same title. This show focuses on J.M. Barrie (creator of Peter Pan) and his family, as he finds the magic in life and his son grows up, using the characters of Peter Pan as metaphorical examples. Both upbeat, fun chorus numbers and sugar-sweet ballads can be found in the delightful score of this musical.

I could go on and on with musicals EVERYONE needs to listen to, but for your sake, I won’t. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with loving the popular shows, but sometimes, you need a change of scenery. Let me know your favorite underrated musicals in the comments!

The Prom Musical is one of the newest big hits of the 2018-19 Broadway season, and for good reason. This show is revolutionary! With the main topic being acceptance of all people, this show is exactly what the world needs right now. I’m going to point out some of the reasons this musical is so important and amazing.

First of all, the love story! It’s a typical Broadway story of almost-star-crossed-lovers, but with one little change: they’re both girls! The story follows Emma and Alyssa as they struggle with their identities and eventually conquer society to be with each other. This is achieved by Emma’s vision of having a prom that everyone is invited to- no matter who or what you are, you are welcome there. In high school, everyone is so judgmental, and the two girls find it extremely difficult to deal with themselves and their repression. But this modern fairytale shows that it’s not impossible.

Secondly, REPRESENTATION! Especially in the final song, every type of person you can imagine is on that stage having the time of their life! It’s so nice and refreshing to see something other than the image of prom we know- perfect couples in perfect outfits, perfectly dancing, perfectly straight and skinny. No, these people are all colors, shapes, sizes, sexualities, genders- everything. Some of them aren’t even in couples! It’s a big extravaganza atmopshere full of happiness and acceptance that the world could use!

Lastly, the air about the entire show is so welcoming! There’s an entire song called “The Acceptance Song,” and another one called “Love Thy Neighbor,” both glittering chorus numbers with the classic feel of older Broadway. The music is reminiscent of the Golden Age of Broadway, with some modern pop influences. The choreography isn’t over-the-top impressive, but it is appropriate for the score- lighthearted, fun, and positively pure happiness. To sum it up, the show is a spectacle of the modern world, and it’s exactly what we need to see and understand.