This list has shown up multiple times on my blog. The only reason why this tends to repeat is when I add on a favorite character. So, where I a list of characters I love.
Annie
Aladdin
Aldonza
Angel
Anna (Frozen)
Babkak
Belle
Beast
Crutchie
Cosette
Christine
Chip
Chris
Cogsworth
Davey
Don Quixote
Eponine
Elphaba
Enjolras
Elsa
Fantine
Fiyero
Friends of the ABC
Gavroche
Glinda
Grizabella
Harold Hill
Jack Kelly
Jasmine
Jean Valjean
Kassim
Katherine Plumber
Kim (Miss Saigon)
Lumiere
Maria (Sound of Music)
Marius
Mimi
Mrs. Potts
Mufasa
Nala
Newsies
Omar
Oliver
Pippin
Pumba
Raoul
Roger
Sancho Panza
Simba
Timon
Von Trapp Children
Winthrop
Young Cosette
Zazu
A lot of my favorite characters in the musical theatre world are survivors while many do lose their lives as well: I actually believe most are survivors. It is interesting how varied these characters all- their lives are so different: that is based off of where they live, their age, their family, etc. Some are not human. You will notice I love a lot of characters- most of them are young: I do have an all-time favorite: Elphaba is my favorite musical theatre character.
While yesterday’s post talked about some of my favorite female songs, today I decided to write a list of some of my favorite male musical theatre songs. Like before- I will only include duets if it is a male/male duet.
For any musical, the first step to loving it belongs to the songs. What exactly do I mean by that? The songs do not necessarily need to be singable. They need to be memorable. The songs do need to sound like they all belong in the same musical. It is very very very very very very difficult to explain what makes me love a song period. You do need to remember a song leaving the theatre- yes, but not necessarily singable. I used to think there ALWAYS needed to be a showtune song- a song like “Seize the Day” or “Do Re Mi”- but I learned that is not always the case. The song has to be a song you know you will keep on going back to- as in a song you want to listen to again and again and again without getting sick and tired of it- that is what I mean by memorable. Not all of the musical theatre songs I love are singable.
Examples of songs I love:
Seize the Day
On My Own
Beauty and the Beast
Phantom of the Opera
Seventy Six Trombones
Corner of the Sky
Some Enchanted Evening
Tomorrow
Endless Night
The Impossible Dream
Seasons of Love
Edelweiss
Somewhere
Popular
As you can tell, this is a wide variety of songs. From the exciting songs to the heartbreaking songs to the love songs. Not all of these songs are showtunes. I picked one song from different musicals I either like or love or happen to be musicals that are in between like and love. You can just tell whether or not you love a musical song. In order to love a musical, you have to love the songs- then there is no way to get into the characters and plot that well.
All musical theatre fans have their favorite musicals. In each musical, there is usually a song that becomes their favorite. I decided to write a list of some of my favorite musicals and what my favorite song is.
Wicked- Popular
Les Mis- (Do I have to say more); this is an exception where I can’t pick
Sound of Music- Edelweiss
Phantom of the Opera- either Music of the Night or All I Ask of You
What do I mean by the non-survivors? These are the characters who die in musicals. So this will be SPOILER HEAVY. I used to think a character death would not be memorable, but I learned my lesson.
Enjolras and the students
Gavroche
Eponine
Fantine
Jean Valjean
Don Quixote
Angel
Mufasa
Kim
It was Les Mis that taught me that I can love a character death. I love more characters who survive than characters who don’t survive. A lot of that it because I can’t think of more. Death in musicals are not EASY to watch, but you have to understand WHY they had to happen- all of these deaths had to happen. Yes, character death is sad, and you are heartbroken because you loved the character. The only way they will continue to live is in you.
Yesterday, my question was who was my favorite survivor in Les Mis. I realized that I actually loved more survivors than non-survivors. I also knew about more characters who lived than died in musicals.
Elphaba
Glinda
Fiyero
Jack Kelly
Crutchie
Davey
Newsies
Katherine Plumber
Marius
Cosette
Maria (Sound of Music)
Von Trapp Children
Simba
Nala
Zazu
Rafiki
Raoul
Christine
Annie
Orphans
Belle
Beast
Lumiere
Cogsworth
Mrs. Potts
Chip
Pippin
Harold Hill
Winthrop
Elsa
Anna
Sancho Panza
Chris
This is a list of more than 33 characters. After all, the Newsies take up the majority of the cast, the Von Trapp children are 7 characters, and the same applies to the Annie orphans in Annie (at least five characters).
This post is dedicated to the musicals that I love that began with film. It is interesting looking at those- because some of them are childhood musicals and some entered my life past childhood when I was in high school and some entered my life as a college student.
Annie- This is one of my childhood musicals. It at one point was my favorite musical. I was optimistic as a child, and I think that was a huge reason why I was drawn to Annie. There is something special about loving a musical since you were a child. There is kind of nostalgia attached to it. The beginning of my love was the 1982 movie. Later in 2014 at the age of 20, I finally saw the stage show, and I did feel like a kid again. My favorite song in Annie is “Tomorrow”.
Sound of Music- This falls in the same category that Annie falls into- childhood musical. Who can’t love Sound of Music when they see it in film or stage. My favorite song was Edelweiss and still is- it was my first piano recital song. The songs are easy to sing along to. I saw the stage show in 2015 at the age of 21, and now love Sound of Music more than ever. I did feel like a kid again watching it- Edelweiss is more emotional than it used to be.
Mamma Mia- I fell in love with this in high school (I think). Cannot believe that just year, Mamma Mia reached a huge milestone in my life- last marked ten years since I fell in love with it. It is very happy and light-hearted. So I was 14 when I fell in love with Mamma Mia.
SPOILERS
Les Mis- I was 18 when I first saw the movie of Les Mis, but 19 when I became a fan of the movie. Yes, that sounds confusing, but I am going to explain.
I did first see the movie December 2012. I came into the film blind to a number of things. I did hear “I Dreamed a Dream” before. I was unsure coming in. After Fantine died: I realized something: Les Mis was a tragedy- I was shocked and confused- I did not know how to respond. Tragedy was a genre I never saw in musicals and a genre I was close-minded to. At the end, I did not know if I liked Les Mis. Despite the confusion, I started researching the musical (not knowing why). So rocky start.
I do not know why, but I gave the film a 2nd chance. I still sometimes wish I know why I gave it a 2nd chance, but glad I did give it give a 2nd chance. If I didn’t give the film a 2nd chance, Les Mis would not have been a part of my life. This time, I was aware that Les Mis was a tragedy so it would not come as much of a shock. I began to realize there was something special in Les Mis. So my love for Les Mis began the 2nd time I saw the film, and that was in 2013. There are so many reasons why I love Les Mis- the brilliant songs, the tragic, but inspiring story, and the characters. I cannot put into words why I love Les Mis.
Marius, Enjolras, Grantaire
Man of La Mancha- I don’t know what year it was when I first saw the film of Man of La Mancha. However, I know I was still a college student. I remember doing a Spanish project on the character, Don Quixote, who is a character from the book, Don Quixote. I was fascinated by the fact that he is a tragicomic character. Tragicomic does sound like an unusual sort of type of character- those characters are tragic and comic at the same time. Due to that project I wanted to see Man of La Mancha, which is based off of the book. Man of La Mancha is one of the musicals that barely gets attention on this blog.
For someone who loves the language, Spanish, I loved being able to see the movie musical. The songs do have a hispanic feel in some way. I do love Man of La Mancha. I just haven’t really mentioned that I love it.
Beauty and the Beast- I am a 90s kid, so you know I grew up with the Disney classics that includes Beauty and the Beast. I did kind of at one point sort of forget about Beauty and the Beast at one point- did not mean to do. However, my love for Beauty and the Beast still began with the classic movie from the 1990s. Even I did kind of forget, I never forget about the song, “Beauty and the Beast”- I don’t know what it is, but there is something about Disney love songs that are so magical and just have this kind of innocence. In 2017- when I saw the live action Beauty and the Beast movie, I was reminded of my love for Beauty and the Beast many many years ago.
Belle and Beast
Lion King/ Aladdin- The same thing did happen with Aladdin and Lion King. I did kind of forget about them, but never forgot about the main love song- “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and “A Whole New World”- so if I remembered those songs, there had to be have been some kind of memory. That is because after elementary school (at some point)- I just stopped watching them. At least I remembered the main love song.
Princess Jasmine and Aladdin
Simba and Nala
White Christmas- this is one of my favorite holiday movies. It is one of the main three Christmas movies I want to see every Christmas holiday. It is hard to exactly describe why I love it.
Fiddler on the Roof- I got to see this in 2014 when a church friend leant us 5 movies before a snow storm, which was back when I was a student at CPCC. School was cancelled for about two days. So part of what I did was watch the movie musicals that I was leant. Fiddler on the Roof was one of the movies. I love Fiddler on the Roof- despite the actual movie musical being 3 hours long- yes, I don’t mind stage musicals being 3 hrs, but a movie musical being 3 hrs can be a bit too long. In 2014- I was 20. The other movies that were leant at the time were Oklahoma, South Pacific, Camelot, and West Side Story- I ended up watching all of them.
What are some stage musicals you fell in love with beginning with film?
