On Musicals

Winery in Paso Robles, CA on a beautiful February day

We're weaning ourselves off of American Idol.  I love Ellen DeGeneres, but even she cannot save this sinking grease-fire of a ship.  Instead, we are watching West Side Story on TCM.  Don't you think if people watched, and believed in the magic of musicals, we'd all be a happier people?  Who's with me?  Even the rumbles on West Side Story seem benign to the horrors endured by people around the world today.  

I started reading Greg Mortenson's Stones into School, making education - especially for girls - paramount in a world riddled with bombs and war in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  I wish I could do great things like Oprah, Mortenson, or Kristoff, or Friedman, visiting the most desolate of our world's populations and making a difference.  I'm terrified to travel to these third world countries, especially as a woman after reading the horrifying accounts of rape and violence so prevalent amongst the most uneducated, self-righteous wings.  I want to make a difference somehow, and I hope that idea will spring into my mind soon.  

Musicals do make a statement though ... Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera - all versions of Romeo and Juliet.  A Chorus Line, just good inspirational viewing. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original) ... please, this is happiness, folks.  Annie, people can make a difference outside their family tree.  Les Miserables, poverty versus good and evil.  Miss Saigon, a political war statement.  I could go on and on about the merits of musicals.  If you have satellite radio, listen to the Broadway channel someday - without judgement or preconceived notions, and tell me you don't want to sing along (even if you are not an avid musical fan, you will recognize Ethel Merman, or the cast from Oklahoma - all embedded in pop culture), because musicals are happiness, even when they convey a sad message.  We can learn from musicals ... I'm telling you ...