passing minnow · 24d
[archived ask] what are your fave musicals to listen to and fave tracks from em?? from my fanmilton, to yours…….
[answered on: 1/20/2022]
Good luck reading this.
time to out myself as the world's most basic person......... jk, this was already known to be true. ok! I think i just wanna go through a bunch of musicals in no particular order, bc i've cycled through obsessions throughout the years and i can't exactly say what is my favorite... since, the way i imbibe musicals is in a very, cavalier way i would say...? there are a lot that i do not think are well written but i like & listen to them anyways lol.
i'm gonna start with hamilton actually just from one fan to the other *tips hat*. i listened to it a TON from 2015-2017, maybe some of 2018 was still pretty hammy, but lately not as much. but when i did listen to it i binged it pretty hard and constantly, i'd listen through the entire album all the time, and i still, STILL am forever devastated that my sibling & mom went to see it in broadway without me fksdfjhg... i would have killed to experience this. i still haven't gotten around to watching the version that's on disney+ and should, since i've only seen camrips of it :'(
anyhow my overall review of hamilton is like: despite... having 0 interest in american history, i just find it so cute that lin-manuel endeavored for this musical. ah i've watched interviews where he's talked about how he came across this idea and he's just speaking so impassioned and autistically, infodumping about hims little interest, he seems out of breath when he's excited and this is just so moe to me... i interact with Hamilton as the fanfiction that it is. simply making a narrative over the skeleton of historical figures.
Okay onto the songs!! Grrr it's so hard to pick from the tracklist, even relisting to a few isn't helping me as much as I wish... But! I'll just say, in my true heart, my favorite songs are the ones that are horny and about love.
Soo that would place "Helpless", "Satisfied", "Take a Break", and "Say No to This" as the crown jewels. These songs are the most fun to sing and act out physically for me -- which is a big part of my enjoyment of a musical song-!! I um, did theatre in high school, and in general really like embodying music physically, acting out interactions and stuff...
As a hopeless romantic, it is soo fun to sing and play out "Helpless", like I love the gushiness, really gives me the urge to shimmy shimmy shoulders and fluff out m'dress, OooOOoohh I do I do I do i dOoooOooooo.... but this is why chasing it with 'Satisfied' is so dope, THE DRAMA-!! Oh, to immediately feel out the pining and yearning as Angelica submits to giving Eliza the happiness she wants... like, fuck! I am IN it.
"Take a Break" meanwhile, my favorite parts are the letters being written between Angelica and Alexander. When I was in long-distance relationships, I often resonated with the lines, And there you are an ocean away -- Do you have to live an ocean away? Thoughts of you subside, then I get another letter, I cannot put the notion away-- // You won't be an ocean away, you'll only be a moment away...
And, I mean, the part where Eliza and Angelica are beautifully singing together and trying to lure hammy away, like please come have a threesome with us in our dope house upstate, and he is like No thank you ma'ams... FUNNY TO ME but also i like the sound of them trying to lure him away, uhh [basic brain] sexy to have two girls beseeching you through song.
but this is why Say No to This is so funny like ahh Haveta gotta wanna fuck this girl, oooh. And, I mean I like her harlot voice, ljkdsjd... But I came here, all alone, and I don't know, where to gooo...
The intro being like an ominous reprise of the upbeat verse in "The Schuyler Sisters". The haunting violins, but later the twinkly harp. Burr introducing Alex's horny folly. The chorus of people going NO!!!!!!! while he is like haha yes.
hmm honorary mentions to other songs: "Meet Me Inside", "Non-Stop", "What'd I Miss", "The Room Where It Happens, Blow Us All Away", and "It's Quiet Uptown"...
(God actually as i type this out, I'm actually realizing, this is one of the musicals i have the least qualms with wrt writing, music, and the flow of the story, it just is dope, actually maybe it IS my favorite musical IDK... I find myself struggling to isolate specific songs because they're so fun and I love the flow from one into the other. I enjoy the song in tandem with one another, and I love progressing through the narrative... I could go on about many other tracks/transitions but this would make this too-long reply even longer...)
Alright now that That's out of my system, let's move onwards to other musicalz...
Repo! The Genetic Opera is something I've liked since I was about ~13? And is another musical I can listen through the entire album and often do, pretty regularly. Every now and then my interest in Repo pops up and I need to give a listen. I would say the overall concept of a dystopian world where your organs can be repossessed is, like... mm, begrudgingly interesting to me, it's over the top and edgy and grungy but I do like that about it...
But I'm very stubbornly not into the Dad redemption at the end of this. BOO!!! not necessary. Nathan should just. Die. and Shilo doesnt need to be like "ah I loved you all along, Dad who locked me in my room and creepily obsessed over me, and also poisoned me to trick me into thinking I was chronically ill". It's soo lame because, there are songs where Shilo expresses her raw frustration with her bunk deal in life, and it's really interesting to hear a girl just be FRUSTRATED and angry about being ill, blaming her dead tragic mom for cursing her with this condition, and hating to be compared to dead mom constantly -- that's like really cool to do!!! It just, in the end, can't be full gothic and have Nathan die without being embraced and forgiven in a protracted sequence for his own feefees =__= okay. anyways Shilo's relationship with the Graverobber is 100x more interesting, if you want like, a weird relationship with an older mans imo... Even Rottie having investment in Shilo as his chosen heir to geneco is more interesting bc he is snubbing his insane bio kids. Anyways.
The best song in this musical is actually this 36 second song titled "Can't Get It up If the Girl's Breathing?" It's all self-explanatory.
The second best song is the 22 second song called "Lungs and Livers"
LUNGS AND LIVERS AND BLADDERS AND HEARTS
YOU ALWAYS SAVE A BUNDLE WHEN YOU BUY OUR GENECO PARTS!!!!!
SPLEENS AND INTESTINES AND SPINES AND BRAINS
ALL AT WAREHOUSE PRICES BUT OUR QUALITY'S THE SAME
Repo is just good for this kind of lowbrow type fodder. Like ah, I do like this tacky song, "We Started This Op'ra Shit" but god I know it might be like. Challenging so just be warned...
mmm but really specifically I like the bit in the middle where a woman is talking about her experience
I needed a kidney transplant desperately
Geneco showed this single mom sympathy
This makeover came for a small added fee
Now I look smashing on live TV!
The whole theme of repo is this crazy world where surgery has become an essential part of life, but also like addicting, and just something people are doing, body-modding is just The Big Thing. Since the world is plagued with an organ failure disease, you might as well be upselled by things. I'm like meh at the thought of this as social commentary >> I just kind of like this nightmare ghoulish world, it intrigues me.
IG these are the songs that are just the most fun for me and make me think about the world, but as for songs pertaining to the mains (Nathan and Shilo) and the narrative, that's it's own section, and for those...
I'd say the best Shilo numbers are simply "Infected" and "Seventeen", they're both fun, a girl is SICK!! of her life. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! Infected actually goes pretty hard, and I think watching the scene from the movie would like. Inform you where 13 yo bird was at lol. So here. Eurr I also like the Vibes in "Needle Through A Bug"... Good dialogue between Shilo and Graverobber. (too shy to link that one though...)
alright nathan songs. He's like the loser of losers, really the most pathetic mans character, very "*pitiful voice* dead wife..." but. But I will give them this, I do like the duality of him and the 'repo-man', and it makes for dope songs.
"Night Surgeon" is, like, cool. Starts with this miserable little piano intro as Nathan is on the ground and like warbling, and then steadily getting heckled/hyped by the evil fucks and also the chorus of sexy nurses that encircle him like wolves. He's like steadily entering his persona throughout the song, and by the final verse we essentially get a tf being conveyed through lyrics.
[warbling] every dying whisper, every desperate murmur... [gravelly] I remember marking eveRy vvictim, with acute precision [sucking through teeth, growling] I REMEMBER, I DISMEMBER! CAUSE THE CLAIMS MEDIC GIVES NO ANESTHETIC!!! [frothing] I'M THE MASKED HORROR ON YOUR STREET CORNER-- MAKE YOUR MAMMA MOURN YA
... and uh, I think "Thankless Job" is a fun short tune also.
Next up is... Heathers. My simple verdict: veronica sucks, she is the least of them all. Not able to commit to being an evil harpy popular girl, nor able to commit to the crazy reject kid she fucked, nor able to be true to some personal moral code about being good to the underdogs. She just wants clout. She's not an interesting protag, i must ignore her weakness as I listen to heathers. eh but overall i think heathers' social commentary is like nothing, it's just a black comedy so it gets away with it. More than anything, I pity JD, he is a good yandere, he has good yandere emotions. To me, he encapsulates the way yandere/incel/school-shooter emotions all sorta overlap.
The best song is "Our Love Is God", it's horny and the lyrics are really good for yandere feels. I love the euphoria present in the beginning of it, the delusions of grandeur, the romance... sharing a moment of sadness and vulnerability, before commiting to things. planning to do something nefarious, baiting some other teens out into a cemetary...
We can start and finish wars-
We're what killed the dinosaurs!
We're the asteroid that's overduuue
the dinosaurs choked on the dust-
THEY DIED BECAUSE GOD SAID THEY MUST!!
The next best song I would say is "Meant To Be Yours", same logic, I love getting to hear JD's impassioned singing. and his sleazy voice in the beginning too.. All is forgiven baAbyyy💕 Again good for yandere feelings... 🎶YOoOuuUUU CAARRVVVED OPEN MY HEEEART🎶 PLEEEEASE DON'T LEAVE ME TO BLEED!!! ... STIIIILL I WILL IF I MUST!!🎶
Also "Dead Girl Walking" is a good sex song. but you know [waves hand] once again i do not pity veronica or her circumstance kdskfjg...
"Lifeboat" actually makes me really emotional... I feel more for Heather Mcnamara than I ever do for Veronica really. Pity her a lot...
hm but what else. I like "Candy Store", I like the way the heathers say 'pussy' in it. I can listen to "Beautiful", "Big Fun", and "The Me Inside of Me" when I am in that sort of mood. I have a wretched relationship with "Blue". That's it tho
Now it is time for Be More Chill. okay i think overall this musical is kind of hokey and it's writing is, kinda embarrassing, and yet I would say overall it is more enjoyable to me than Heathers. I can listen through the entire album and often do. It's a fun ride?
Hmm favorite tracks... #1 spot goes to "The Pitiful Children". Hammy villain song!! I do like the SQUIP. I like that it can take control of you from the inside and puppet you around. This song feels like you're being puppeted around by strings. If I had more free time and space and a soundproof room, I would blast this and sing it and lurch around like a zombie, and also curl my hands like claws and act like little people were dangling from my fingers.
Ah, I love the triumphant ending. Veering from the villainous boast into ✨EVVV✨ERY✨THING ABOUT IS GOING TO BE WONDERFUL~!✨ ... NOT PITIFUL CHILDREN ANY~MORE!✨ And imo the musical has really built you up to this hype, with the title songs "Be More Chill" (part 1&2).
Let's see, I think I would follow that up with "The Squip Song", since, again, the SQUIP is my favorite element of the story. Again cringe lyrics but bear with me. The mounting tension and breathy ThEenn THEN thenn then thEnn THEN-!!, good. And when they get to the part where all the synths and autotune... I dunno I'm feeling it, I am a teen being predated on. Give me this grey oblong pill. (I would actually never be tempted by this, but it's Just that Immersive!!)
Third top pick is "Michael In The Bathroom", it's like, omg you made me feel for the loser friend being left behind during all these endeavors. For this one, I think most of my pleasure is derived from singing it, just is great to pace around and belt this one out. All the different pitches in tone, the just-about-to-cry moments and the frustrated huffing, yelling, ya... I will even actually link this performance I love, distinctly. I really like this actor... He always sells the misery to me. (There's ANOTHER video of him doing this scene on yt but it'd be a little redundant to link...)
Ends strongly, when he's like OR WISH I OFFED MYSELF INSTEAD, WISH I WAS NEVER BORN!!!*
Um, let's seee, I also really like "I Love Play Rehearsal" I like the upbeat girlishness to it. Lends a fun unhinged flavor to when she has her various asides... Ditzy dumb girl emphasis on things, meandering song, playful. Again, supremely fun to act out!!! I often clasp my hands together and swing them around and bat my eyes to this one.
Last things I want to mention are "Upgrade" and "The Smartphone Hour". I like Upgrade a lot, hmm it's probably my favorite out of all the like 'general plot'-y songs, w the ensemble and all. The smartphone hour, is, like tasteless 'people be on they phoens' jokes but it's fun to sing, I like it sonically. I like the girls texting each other. Gets a pass from me in the end.
But yeah reviewing this all, I would say I generally like BMC and the hammy-ness appeals to me... U.U
I like and listen to about 3 tracks from Dear Evan Hansen. I don't think the musical is like great, but it's not bad to me either ig? I would say, I am very much a fence-sitter about it. It's just okay? I am intrigued by some aspects of it, and I do like Evan actually. but that's all there is to say.
"For Forever" is my favorite song, due to the context of it being... a very lonely, suicidal person recounting their suicide attempt, through the lens of "... but actually, it was an amazing day, and I was with someone the whole time". The psyche of this is just so interesting. Potent, even.
As he reaches the climax of approaching his suicide attempt, the song reaches this triumphant feeling -- because the narrative is that this is an accident. I wonder if Evan is channeling the feeling of his heart pounding, breath tight climbing the tree. "wondering how the world might look from up high"... So whimsical feeling. The song 'drops' right when he says, in a subdued voice, I suddenly feel the branch give way. I'm on the ground. My arm feels numb. Ah, it's delivered so plainly, yet emotionally... I really like the way Evan's voice clenches at he's come to get me. He's coming to get me. and everything's, okay. Knowing that, in reality, Evan must have been laying on the ground with his broken arm, processing that he was still alive... and then he had to quietly scoop himself back up, and just, go home, I dunno... Feels real, somehow. How the day must have simply continued to go on.
This maybe will sound weird, but... I dunno, I understand why it'd be bizarrely cathartic to recount these events differently, as something beautiful and then that someone was there to coddle Evan in the end. To me, For Forever has a very rich, feverish ill quality to it all, when you go back to it with all this information in mind.
"Waving through a Window" is another song where I simply enjoy Evan's psyche. Someone so hobbled by their illness that they are merely a bystander to life passing around them. Even if the play itself doesn't quite convey mental illness at this intensity for the following events, I still get something out of a song like this.
Lastly, "Sincerely, Me" -- it's. an annoying song ksdfjh but. But like in a way I dig lol, I know it's kinda grating and lame, the jokes, are not good, and yet. It's like really fun I love the energy lol. It's fun to sing, fun to act out. Again, I like Evan's psyche here... His friend is being annoying, but I like that if Evan had a friend, he would like send them pictures from his hikes and talk about trees. Oooh. little lame boy.
The movie versions of the songs are fine to me, but I still prefer the original broadway recording & performances. That's... usually how I feel about things. *shrug!*
*sitting around thinking* Hm... what else.. OH, right, Wicked! Hmmm... Wicked gets the 'Just Okay' rating, it's fine. Like truly fine. I don't think it's a great story but, the original books aren't really either, and I've never found the story of the Wizard of Oz interesting. But I like that we are at this point of derivative fiction where it's a musical of the book that is a fanfic of the original novel.
"Popular" might be my favorite Wicked song, like sonically? Stimmy and good to perform. And I like vain girls and vanity songs. It's a good song. But I like Elphaba as a character more than Glinda so "The Wizard and I" is an important second. I really feel for Elphaba emotionally here, the song succeeds in making you pity her... Her ideas of grandeur... This is a girl who has lived her whole life a freak and underdog, finally letting herself get a little haughty and imagine getting what she 'deserves'; position of great importance. So that way, everyone will HAVE to respect her, and maybe also -- she'll be free of her curse, magically... Sad wish fulfilment. And then of course, hearing all this, while we, the audience, know she where she is going to end up, in a sense.... It's a song that works well with the setup of the musical, but also the general cultural knowledge of the Wizard of Oz and Elphaba's destiny of being the Wicked Witch of the West is going to mean for her. :< Reminds me of why I like the live action Maleficent movie...
"Dancing Through Life" next best, nice long sequence, I like all the different 'phases' of the song. I do not care about Fiyero as a character, but for ME it is fun to act out and sing the carefree chill lines. I am at least on board with the hedonistic point of view. Why know shit? Indeed. Nessa's portion of this song are especially beautiful to me also...
With that in mind, I also enjoy "A Sentimental Man" & "Wonderful" despite not caring about the Wizard... I enjoy embodying the role of a shitty guy here, lol. And I think it is at least intriguing for someone to propose that history is a matter of perspective, even if he himself is just an asshole. I'm like hm well, I don't mind having a song in the musical to let us chew over the thought and see how we feel about it all by the end of it.
Next is "Thank Goodness". While I prefer Elphaba over Glinda, I still enjoy Glinda's emotional palate displayed throughout the musical. I like her woes in this song! Much like Nessa's portions of Dancing thruogh life, Glinda's parts of this song feel really beautiful? Girls experiencing woefulness, not happy with where they are in life... Not actually finding true love. Her heartbroken voice as she sings Couldn't be happier... gets to me! I like how much it feels like Glinda is really trying to assert how she should feel atop over how she actually feels. Trying to force a smile, repeatedly, a girl who is having to smooth over her expression again and again.
I think this clip conveys what I mean. It's a wonderful performance to watch...
Final things of note are "What Is This Feeling?" and "One Short Day". I likey a duet. Perhaps it is snobbish of me but I would say "Defying Gravity" is on the lower end of my favorites, clocking last of the songs I would note... But not my the song I like the least by any means ! I like Elphaba and Glinda's back and forths in songs in general, and I like Elphaba harkening back to what the Wizard said in "Sentimental Man"... I like callbacks that make you go 'oooh...'
One last thing I want to note is that overall, I am rather stimulated by the way Wicked's lyrics do wordplay and mess around with things. Made up words, fake-out rhymes, repetitious adjective use, idk! I likey a lot. Makes the setting indeed feel fairytale-like.
It's happening, I'm finally running out of things to note/say. I listened to Love Never Dies and I loved the title song "Love Never Dies" best. Absolutely recommend it as something to listen to, love the lyrics. It is simply a good love song. Love makes you crazy! Yes. "Look With Your Heart" and "Beneath A Moonless Sky" were neat too. "Devil Take the Hindmost" was pretty silly but I like too. I've never listened to the original Phantom, errr it's never tempted me ENOUGH fsr, because I know he doesn't get the girl. Thus, why I have listened to the fanfiction-y sequel sooner. But I think for completionism's sake I will listen to Phantom. Eventually.
mmmmm what else. OH SWEENY TODD!!!!! Avvy showed me this one very recently. I liked it! I can listen to the whole album!! Best song pour moi is "Pretty Women", perfectly surmises what it is like to be a creep who loves women. YOU KNOW I LOVE THAT!!! Fucking snape is here to sing about his future teen bride making him mad. Her ardent and eager slave is a bonkers line, given the circumstances. The examples of 'what women do' are hilarious to me, because I am that basic. Ohh women be blowing out their candles and brushing out their hair. Ohh.
"Green Finch and Linnet Bird" is a good 'girl trapped and yearning' song. Oh to be free. Girls be relating to birds in cages all throughout history, and I think that is beautiful *drools* I like the meandering melody in the reprise of "Johanna", I like this being Todd's descent into murdering people on the reg, and giving up on his vengeance quest, yet... Also intermittently saying things like my little dove, my sweet, my little lamb, my pet and so on... Ah, "Not While I'm Around" is very emotional and affectionate also. Piteous orphan boy is grateful....
"A Little Priest" is very whimsical, really embodies the kind of word-play i expect in a musical song?
OKay I think. That's it. I'M DONE NOW!!!!!!!! Never ask me anything again.
