Why Musical Theatre? Why Not!

This is a question myself and my friends have found ourselves being asked by our family, friends and random strangers in the street. The prime example being when you're in a taxi, when you state that you're a student:

Taxi Driver: So what do you study girl?

Me: Oh drama.

Taxi Driver: Ah, you want to be on the tele then?

Me: Erm, no not really, the theatre.

Taxi Driver: Oh cool, as in like Shakespeare?

Me: No, not exactly. More like musicals.

Taxi Driver: You wanna prance around on stage for the rest of your life?

Why yes Mr Taxi Driver, that is what I want to do with my life. I want to stand on a stage belting out a song, dancing and acting my socks of 8 shows a week in a musical. What exactly is the problem with doing that? People like going to the theatre and watching a musical, if people like me and my friends didn't do that as a career, who else do you suppose would be on the stage. Well, if Simon Cowell had his way, every X Factor reject who can't sing and is only in the musical because of their name. But that's another story for another blog. Even though musical theatre has become popular again to the masses, it is still looked upon by those in theatre as the whimsical, slightly odd cousin to the serious acting. You're telling me that Ben Platt performing as Evan Hansen 8 shows a week, every week for months, with the serious topic of the show isn't serious acting? This is the man that couldn't come out to greet his fans after the performances because its so emotionally draining for him. I'd like to see some of the serious actors I go to university with perform a full 3 hour production of a musical with singing, dancing and acting in and see exactly how they faired. The thing with the stigma that Musical Theatre is soft and fluffy is that some musicals are exactly that, soft and fluffy, however those musicals still at least have a massive dance numbers (plural), complex harmonies and a story that can engage the audience from the beginning. Take the ballet in Oklahoma, you're telling me that a Shakespearian actor could just walk on and accomplish that level of storytelling without any dialogue all the whilst doing triple pirouettes and chaine turns? And that's another thing, musical theatre audiences are some of the harshest critics, if you don't grab them from the very first second and say this is how we're going to do things. If you don't highlight to the audience and get them to except people to randomly start singing and dancing, then you've lost them. Bye-bye audience. And once you've lost them, it is awfully hard to make the singing and dancing work within the context of the story if the audience aren't willing to enter the world of the show from second one.

The hardest thing about saying you want to do musical theatre as a career, is just that, saying that you want to do musical theatre as a career. This is down to the fact that you know you're never really going to have a stable job as you could be in a show for 6 months and then not in one for the next 12. And that's if you're lucky enough to get a job, some people move down to London to pursue this career and end up working in theatre as an usher or on the box office, just so they can be close to the stage in one way or another. There is also the constant fear of rejection as every role, be it ensemble, swing or a main role, has an audition and probably at least 3 call-backs. This is the same for if you are applying for a drama school as that, at the moment, is one of the only ways to gain an agent so you can attend auditions for shows. Drama schools don't have to have their fees at the same price as universities, so there's having to find the money to fund those, not to mention the cost of actually living in London which at times, for a girl from the north, is extortionate. That's even if you get past the many auditions and recalls that are set for drama schools, plus the fees for the auditions, the travel and the fact that there are hundreds of other girls at the audition who look exactly like you. It is now harder to get into a drama school than it is to get into Oxbridge! But I will still go to every audition, do the travel and pay the fees because if these it what I need to do for my career to flourish then so help me god, I will. The degree is still looked down upon however because it's just an easy course were you turn up sing a bit, say a monologue, dance a bit and go home, right? Wrong! You're in everyday 9am-9pm (if you're lucky), perfecting your skill so you can be the best you at any audition at any given time.

Do you think, the fact that we know all of this and still want to try to pursue this career, says something about how we feel about the genre? There is no better feeling than the one of standing centre stage, belting out a song and knowing you have the audience in the palm of your hand. It's addictive. And there is nothing else I'll ever want to do with my life. The feeling of getting a main role in a musical is a feeling I will never forget but its ridiculously hard work. Its no easy ride. But on that final note on the final night when you've got through a full length musical and the audience give you a thundering applause, there's nothing like it and nothing else will ever come close to that feeling. Pursuing a career in musical theatre is an emotional rollercoaster in itself never mind the complex emotions of many of the characters.

So the next time someone you know, or a student in the back of your taxi, says they want to undertake a career in musical theatre, ask them why. Because we all have our own reasons but it will always come back to our love for the songs, the dances, the stories and the feeling of being on that stage. Because really no one ever goes into musical theatre for the money so its always the passion and nothing else!

#westend #musicals #broadway