So You Still Say You Hate Musicals

Hi. Allison and Eric here. A while back we wrote a blog post for all of you who thought you hated musicals when really you probably didn’t. A lot has happened since then: they plundered our youth to make musicals out of Beetlejuice and Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill, John Legend got his EGOT because of some stellar live work as the one and only Jesus, and Broadway opened a version of Oklahoma! that even Eric could love.

(At this rate they’ll have nothing left to musicalize but Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots and that one Mentos commercial.)

Meanwhile, a Cats movie was released to cinemas and traumatized a lot of people. And of course, the entire theater industry has basically shut down until at least 2021.

But the biggest musical-theater headline of this year was probably the arrival of Hamilton on Disney’s subscription streaming service, which has enabled millions of people who hadn’t yet seen the hip-hop history phenomenon on stage to see what all the fuss was about and thousands of TikTok users to live out their Hamilton dreams (albeit in minute long segments).

So, have you watched Hamilton? How about any of the musicals – The Wiz, Hairspray, Rent – that the TV networks have been staging, often live, for your enjoyment?

Maybe you haven’t. Maybe you’re still laboring, despite our best efforts, under the misapprehension that you’re just not a musicals person. So here we are, back to try to convince you otherwise.

Eric says
If you like…

You’ll probably enjoy…

Falsettos

Falsettos, a period dramedy about emerging sexuality, anxiety and family neuroses.

Allison says
If you like…

You’ll probably enjoy…

In The Heights

In The Heights, because if there is any musical out there that you’ve possibly given a shot and potentially enjoyed it’s Hamilton, and this is the first musical by its creator (Lin Manuel Miranda) who – you’re just gonna have to trust us – really is a genius and is incapable of making something that is bad.

Eric says

If you like…

You’ll probably enjoy…

Cats

Cats, where scruffy felines in a trash-heap wasteland sing their hearts out about faded glory.

Allison says
If you like…

You’ll probably enjoy…

Dear Evan Hansen

Dear Evan Hansen, in which an anxiety-ridden but well-meaning teen accidentally catfishes thousands of people, resulting in one of the most touching stories about how awful it can be to be a teen nowadays.

Eric says
If you like…

Cover of Liz Phair’s “Exile in Guyville”

Cover of Douglas Hofstadter’s “Godel, Escher, Bach”

You’ll probably enjoy…

A Strange Loop

A Strange Loop, the Pulitzer-winning semi-autobiographical musical about a black, queer theater usher writing a musical about a black, queer theater usher writing a musical.

Allison says
If you like…

You’ll probably enjoy…

Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar, the ever-entertaining musical renderition of the story of Jesus’s trial and crucifixion. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy a dancing leather-clad Judas?

Eric says

If you like…

Cover of John Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle

You’ll probably enjoy…

Hadestown

Hadestown, a jazzy and brooding trip into the underworld.

Allison says
If you like…

Cover of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

You’ll probably enjoy…

The Last Five Years

CD | DVD

Told from end to beginning and back again, The Last Five Years follows the story of a relationship and all the ways it works and doesn’t. Because love is always something worth singing about, even when it’s heartbreaking.

Eric says

If you like…