The Cutprice Guignol

I just wanted to say, first and foremost, thank you for all the lovely and supportive messages I got following my post yesterday – I really appreciate it, and it’s awesome to hear that the topic resonated with a lot of you.

Anyway! You ain’t here to listen to me bang on about what happened yesterday, not when we have today to think about. And today, oh, great ones, oh dear friends, is about musical theatre.

I have written about my raw and unending love for musical theatre before – it started with Glee (I know, I know), translated to Smash (I know) and finally birthed itself into this glorious, full-blown love affair that I inflict on anyone who accidentally pulls my headphones out in public. Yes, that is Vie Boheme from the Rent original motion picture soundtrack, thanks for asking!

I’ve never been able to put my finger on quite why musical theatre makes me so fucking happy, but it does. There’s something about the sight of people singing and dancing in carefully-choreographed harmony that flicks the “: )” button inside my head. There is something so joyous to me about a dedication to something that is meant to please so utterly and completely.

Yes, musical theatre can tell great, powerful, passionate stories (no, actually though – stop laughing there at the back and go watch Hedwig and the Angry Inch and tell me you’ve seen a more potent deconstruction of gender identity in your life), but, at the end of the day, what keeps me coming back to it for that pure, unadulterated hit of happiness is the joy and the passion and the talent that goes into creating it.

So I wanted to share with you some of my favourite little snippets of musical theatre, in the hope that I will finally be able to turn someone else that I know on to this cult of viscous camp. I’m going to follow my own descent into the pits of musical theatre via live performances, and I hope, if you’re a fan, too, that you’ll do the same. And, that if you’re not, you’ll politely quiet down and let the rest of us lot who actually know how to have fun, you know, have it. Please enjoy some of my favourite performances, and have a magical, slightly camper day than you might have been having already. And yes, before you ask, that is Hugh Jackman in the thumbnail below. And you owe it to yourself to watch it.

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The causes I’m linking to today are ManKind, a charity that aims to help male victims of domestic abuse, who are raising money to keep their helplines open for another year, and the Terrence Higgins Trust, which supports people living with HIV and promotes other sexual health initiatives.

(header image via tonedeaf.thebrag)