Musical Theater and Me

Musical theater and me. A handful of my chorus students asked me if I was planning on seeing the movie Wicked. I told them that I wasn’t a fan of musicals and wouldn’t be going. They looked at me like I just killed their cat. This post will lay out some of my personal history with musicals and indicate why I’m not a fan of musicals.

Growing up

I didn’t grow up watching or listening to musicals. Mom listened to country music. I heard a lot of Kenny Rogers. Dad sang Bill and Gloria Gaither Christian music. No one entertained the idea of going to New York to “see a show”. We’d much rather watch a Steeler or Pirate game at Three Rivers Stadium.

I listened to popular music on the radio. Donna Summer and Lionel Richie during the disco years and then Journey, Kansas and Chicago. When I left college, I began listening to christian radio and left popular music in my rear view mirror.

And, of course, there was band. I’ve written numerous posts about my marching band fixation. In my 20’s and 30’s my idea of seeing a “show” meant going to see the Drum Corps International (DCI) show in Salem, Virginia. When I moved to Florida the great shows were at DCI Orlando, or DCI at the movies.

Musical theater simply never came into my mind.

Musical theater baptism

My wife Brenda and I stumbled on a PBS special in 1995. They were airing a concert version of Les Miserables that celebrated the 10 year anniversary of the show. We both fell in love with the music.

Brenda did some research and discovered that there was an off-broadway show in Richmond, Virginia. We bought tickets, booked a hotel and made a weekend of the experience.

Our seats were in the balcony of an old theater. The music wasn’t up to the quality that we’d heard on PBS, but that was the “dream cast”. I was most impressed with the rotating stage. (How can I do that with marching band?)

The only other thing I recall from the show was that I couldn’t feel my feet. I’m six feet five inches tall. My knees dug into the back of the chair in front of me just below the kneecap and my feet hovered an inch or two from the floor.

I prayed for the end of the show so that I could get blood back into my feet and move them again. But, I loved spending time with my beautiful wife. And she enjoyed the experience as well.

The King’s Academy

Five years passed and I was now in a job interview in West Palm Beach, Florida at The King’s Academy (TKA). I was taking a campus tour and they were showing me the gymnatorium. They were very excited about their upcoming production of Beauty and the Beast.

I had absolutely NO IDEA what I was walking into when I became their band director in 2000! The school doesn’t just like musicals, they are fanatical about musicals!

Welcome to TKA

We were in a pre school band rehearsal and I was chomping at the bit to get started. This band needed a lot of work in order to get their quality up. You can probably guess my reaction when several students walked out of rehearsal! I was stunned.

The drum major noticed my reaction and said, “They’re going to musical auditions.”

“What??!! The musical is in second semester! This is August!!”

The students returned after about an hour and I was fuming. My passion for marching band would oftentimes lead to emotional outbursts and I was working overtime to keep calm.

When rehearsal ended, one of the students approached me. He was a nice young man and we got along for the time he was in band. But, this introductory conversation nearly blew me up.

“Mr. Dunn, I hope you’re not upset about us going to musical auditions. You have to understand that the musical is up here (Points over his head) and band is down here (points to his knees).”

I thought I’d lose my mind. How could any band kid prefer musicals to marching band?

I took solace in the idea that when the band improved the kids would see how preferable band is to musical theater.

TKA continued

I didn’t go to the TKA musicals. Teachers, students and parents would ask if I saw the musical. I’d say, “no”. End of conversation. What is the big deal with these musicals? It’s not like Carolina Crown was performing.

“Brenda, we’re going to the musical.” A band parent had bought two tickets for us to see the musical. They wanted us to see what we were missing. Brenda and I grudgingly attended.

It was fantastic. It would be hard to believe that any high school could produce a show of that quality. So, Brenda and I became huge fans of the musical and attended every year.

Nope.

Yes, the show was fantastic. But at what cost? The kids were being convinced that they were going to be broadway stars someday. They were at school for ridiculous hours. The school was paying huge sums for lighting, costuming, professional musicians, etc.

But, it made the school money and was big publicity.

And the band program? We were consistent finalists at the state championships and went to Bands of America (BOA) nationals in 2013, but the school couldn’t care less.

Wrapping up

I know this sounds like sour grapes. But you can’t understand my feelings toward musical theater without knowing my history.

I would have loved to peacefully coexist with the TKA theater department. But, kids missed rehearsals and left rehearsals early which cut into our ability to succeed. And, students quit band to go sing or dance with the theater department. There’s only so much of that that I could calmly accept. Especially when the theater department began to expand their number of performances into the fall season.

I felt that I had no room to exist and I made those feelings known.

TKA forced me to resign in 2016 and the marching band was dissolved. The uniforms and trophies were thrown away and the social media accounts were deleted.

The theater department continues on as strong as ever.

I’m trying to reform. I told my chorus class that I would go to the Wicked movie this week. Maybe I’ll fall in love with musicals.

What do you think?