Making Musicals a Way of Life
I am going to guess you read the title of this story and quite possibly the image above came to mind. The character, Maria in a Sound of Music singing, dancing, and gamboling in a mountain meadow, singing “The hills are alive with the sound of music…” If not, possibly Gene Kelly swinging around a lightpole in Singing in the Rain? Iconic musicals aside, you’re probably wondering what this story is about and I am here to tell you that life is a musical, so why not dance and sing about it? By the way, I have sung the line, “The hills are alive…” while walking in a downtown area and had a stranger pipe up “…with the sound of music.”
There’s also the time, at a local craft beer festival that I sang lines from the song “Rich Girl” by Hall and Oates and the crowd turned it into a sing-along. There’s never a more willing crowd to perform than those of the imbibed.
Another time, my friend and I were going to lunch. We were out of work, had made it across the street, and it started pouring. We had checked the forecast to see if we would need an umbrella and it was not supposed to rain for another hour or so. Instead of feeling down in the dumps about it, we locked arms, began skipping, and belting out “Singing in the Rain.” The clouds parted moments later and the sun shined through for one moment. I felt it was God, Goddess, and Universe’s way of saying, “you win.” It stopped raining.
A different time, the same friend, a co-worker, and myself were returning from lunch. We all left the elevator on the same floor and continued to talk. Something in our conversation prompted our singing, “If I had a hammer…” and an additional co-worker in the vicinity jumped in and harmonized.
I once surprised a bunch of people with the opening sounds to Disturbed’s “Down With the Sickness.” There’s also the classic opening line of “Chop Suey” by System of a Down that can be used as an alarm or wake-up call.
These are typical examples. If you want to get serious, start talking to people in only song lyrics whether you *sing them or say them. *Extra points for singing and performing them in conversation, whether at a work meeting, lunch, date, or outing with friends. If you need inspiration, look no further than the character of Titus Andromeda on the show “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” Your life as a musical can be any songs you choose. Any dances, numbers, songs that enhance YOU and your YOU-NESS.
You do not have to be a good singer, but it helps. What you do not have in good singing, you can make up for in weirdness and creativity. Go out there and sing! Like Dr. Dre raps, “Until the next episode.”
