Do you hear the people sing?

A long time ago one of my friends told me that the music to Jane Eyre (the musical) was amazing. I couldn’t find it anywhere — iTunes, the library, anywhere — until a few days ago when I checked again and it was indeed on iTunes. So I bought it, having listened to the samples and liking them, and yesterday and today that’s what I’ve been listening to.

And wow.

It is good. Amazing is almost too mild a word for it. I’m totally hooked, and Jane Eyre is rapidly climbing up the ranks to become one of my favorite musicals ever. And I’ve only listened to it a few times! The music is incredible, the lyrics are practically perfect, the story is of course brilliant, and it just has a beautiful feel to the whole thing.

Speaking of musicals, here’s a quick runthrough of some of my favorites. Do feel free to mention your own favorites (should you have any) in the comments — I’m always in the market for new musicals.

Within the last few months I’ve checked out the Disney musicals — Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and most recently Tarzan — and the songs are great. I especially love “Home,” “A Change in Me,” and “If I Can’t Love Her” from Beauty & the Beast, and “He Lives in You” and “Eternal Night” from The Lion King.

The Scarlet Pimpernel and Jekyll & Hyde have more of the grand sweeping feel to them that I love (as does Jane Eyre). Though I’ve only heard three songs from Jekyll & Hyde (”Take Me as I Am,” “Someone Like You,” and “This Is the Moment”), so I don’t know what the rest of the musical is like. But the CDs are on their way right now. :)

I really love The Secret Garden — “Lily’s Eyes”! — and the few songs of Les Misérables that I’ve heard (”Castle on a Cloud,” “On My Own,” “Do You Hear the People Sing,” etc.), and yes, I know I need to listen to the rest (and see the musical itself). And of course Wicked, which I bought on Michael Ballam’s recommendation at Education Week a couple years ago. Good ol’ “Defying Gravity,” and “Popular,” and “What Is This Feeling?” And “For Good.” And “I’m Not That Girl.” I could go on for a while. :) Not to mention such classics like The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man, and West Side Story. Ah, musicals. :)

So, what are your favorites?

I love Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, especially because of the fantastic and often hilarious lyrics.

I also love love love love Forever Plaid.

“The Man I Used to Be” from State Fair is a great song and so is “My Defenses are Down” from Annie Get Your Gun.

My very favorite song from The Scarlet Pimpernel is “Where’s the Girl.” I’m also extremely fond of “The Riddle” and “Falcon in the Dive.”

Woot for musicals.

You best not forget Phantom, Ben. Les Mis is my favorite, but other good ones that haven’t been mentioned include She Loves Me, Pirates of Penzance (oh the wittiness!), and Bye Bye Birdie. Yay for musicals. :)

I am addicted to musicals. You have a great list, but don’t forget such classics as My Fair Lady, 1776, Evita, Hello Dolly, Into the Woods, and Singin in the Rain.

I don’t know if I would catagorize Thoroughly Modern Millie as a full blown musical, but it is quite cute.

Favorite opera: Cosi fan tutte

That’s funny, my friend just played me some music from Jane Eyre last night. The gypsy song is hilarious.

Oh my goodness, Les Miserables is my totally all-time favorite. That’s it. I’m leaving for Utah today and I’m bringing the cd so you can borrow it. Don’t worry, I was already leaving for Utah but this will give me a sense of urgency. :)

Mmm, you’re right, Fiddler on the Roof and the Lion King are amazing. My other personal favorites are Phantom of the Opera, Evita, and Sweeney Todd. Man of La Mancha has the classic, “The Impossible Dream,” which is one of my favorite showstoppers.

Hmm…Heather mentioned a favorite opera so I will mention mine: Die Fledermaus.

Yeah, there are so many good musicals. Good, I have one that nobody’s mentioned yet! The King and I with “Whenever I Feel Afraid” and “Hello Young Lovers”. I really like these ones. I’m surprised you missed this one, Ben - Thailand and all ;)

Oh and I like “Goodnight, my someone” from The Music Man. Umm, yeah, there are lots that I like.

Thanks for the tip on Jane Eyre - I sure liked the book.

Good question, thanks for asking…
I absolutely love the music from The Scarlet Pimpernel. My wife and I went to see that when it was at the Hale Center Theater in West Valley City, and it blew me away.
I too am a fan of Les Miserables, for the music of course, but more for the story.
Of course there are many more wonderful songs, but those are my favorites.

Janssen: Ah, yes, “Go Go Go Joseph.” And “Close Every Door.” How could I forget? :) I saw Forever Plaid at the Hale Center Theater years and years ago but I can’t remember any of the songs. I’ll have to check out the CD from the library. I think I saw Annie Get Your Gun at BYU or the SCERA not too long ago, but now I’m not so sure. Out of The Scarlet Pimpernel, my favorites are “When I Look at You,” “Only Love,” “Believe,” “You Are My Home,” “She Was There,” Into the Fire,” and “Storybook.” There are many. :)

Annie: Good heavens, how could I forget Phantom? My bad. I bought a few songs from the Broadway recording on iTunes a while ago, then a few months ago I bought the full soundtrack from the movie. I wish I’d done it the other way round, though — the Broadway recording is so much richer and has far more depth than the movie version. Oh well. My favorites are “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again,” “Learn to be Lonely,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “All I Ask of You,” “The Music of the Night,” “Angel of Music,” and “Think of Me.” I haven’t seen She Loves Me or Bye Bye Birdie, but now I’ll have to check them out. :) And I saw Pirates of Penzance just a few weeks ago — the BYU 13th Stake put it on, and did quite a good job of it. I adore Gilbert & Sullivan’s wit. Someday I’ll write a song like the Modern Major-General one…

Heather: You know, I think it’s been over 15 years since I saw My Fair Lady. I ought to change that. And read Pygmalion before I do, too. Is 1776 the musical with a song called “He Plays the Violin”? I’ve never seen Evita, but back in high school I listened to the soundtrack a lot — “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” of course, and “Rainbow High” and “Another Suitcase, Another Hall.” Ah, good times. I can’t remember if I’ve seen Hello, Dolly! I watched the first half-hour of Into the Woods but I’ve got to say I didn’t really like it — the tunes weren’t that memorable. Maybe it was just a bad day, though; lots of people seem to like it. Singin’ in the Rain is good, too. And I haven’t ever seen Thoroughly Modern Millie, but I hear it’s going to be playing somewhere around here (BYU?) sometime soon. And BYU’s doing The Marriage of Figaro this year, which I’m excited for.

Halo: ‘Tis indeed. Having listened to the soundtrack pretty much nonstop since my post, here’s my list of favorite songs: “Children of God,” “Forgiveness,” “The Graveyard,” “Sweet Liberty,” “As Good As You,” “Sirens,” “In the Light of the Virgin Morning,” “The Proposal,” “Farewell Good Angel,” “My Maker,” and “Brave Enough for Love.” I think it’s the highest favorites-to-total ratio of any of my favorite musicals. :) Let me know when you get in — are you coming back to the lab? I eat lunch there every day — and I’ll definitely borrow the CD. My high school put on Les Misérables while I was on my mission, and apparently some of the original Broadway cast came to see it and were rather impressed. Haven’t seen Sweeney Todd yet, but the MoTab Broadway CD had a song from it (speaking of which, has anyone tried that album? Is it good?). I love “The Impossible Dream.” Sing it to myself often in the shower, even. :) And I watched Die Fledermaus on campus last year (or whenever it was), but I was really tired and kept nodding off. But I did like what I saw. And heard. :)

Holly: Ah, The King and I. :) Don’t forget “Getting to Know You.” And from The Music Man, “Till There Was You” is beautiful (along with “Goodnight, My Someone”). Definitely try out Jane Eyre if you’ve read the book — it’s soooooooooooo good. It just keeps getting better every time I listen to it. Amazingly good. I could rave about it for a long, long time. :)

James: The only time I’ve seen The Scarlet Pimpernel was at the SCERA sometime in 2001 or 2002, and yes, it blew me away as well. I’ve seen one of the movie versions of Les Misérables (from the ’80s, I think) and read an abridged version of the book when I was a kid, so I know the story, and it’s good. And someday I want to read the book in French. :)