Musical Love

I love musicals. I grew up in a family of musical lovers. Even the guys. It is not uncommon to hear my dad or my older brother walking around the house singing a song from a musical. And my little brother watched a certain musical he liked to call seven brothers for seven sisters all the time when he was three and four. It was his favorite movie although now he's a freshman in high school and too cool to admit it. He tries to say that we forced him to watch it over and over again, but we all know the truth.

So it kinda took me by surprise when I realized, Craig doesn't really love musicals. We both love old movies and he will gladly watch anything without singing but once those lungs fill up and those feet start taping, he gets this weird look in his eye. His mouth may say, "I don't mind watching it with you" but his eyes scream "get me outta here!"

Back when we were still in what he calls the "wooing phase" he gladly went with me to the theatre to see "Oklahoma" and even "Fiddler on the Roof." So when "The Sound of Music" came to the old movie theater in town and I heard he had never seen it, I knew we had to go. As we were leaving, I asked "Oh, wasn't that wonderful" to which he replied, "Uhm...yeah?" Not convinced, I asked him what he really thought and his reply was something akin to "Well, it was a little long...and boring." What, The Sound of Music boring?!? How could one think such a thing.

I will admit that watching it on the big screen did have its drawbacks. Mostly because you couldn't fast forward though "the song." You know, that one song that every musicals seems compelled to have even though it is slow and stupid and nobody likes it. No matter how great the music is, there is always that one song. In The Sound of Music, that song is "Climb Every Mountain." In Oklahoma, it's that weird song/dance/dream sequences. Does anybody like that part? I think not.

But slowly, we are learning to compromise. I sleep on the couch next to him Sunday mornings while he watches political talk shows and in return, he sleeps on the couch while I watch musicals. It works well.

But last week, I checked Singing in the Rain out of the library meaning to watch it while Craig was away on a business trip. But I was so busy I never got around to it so I made us watch it a couple days ago. I love the song "Singing in the Rain" and the scene where he is actually singing (and dancing) in the rain- very good. The rest of the movie? Well, I'm just gonna have to agree with Craig and that one - it was kinda boring. But I never will get tired of hearing those nuns complain about Maria's silly antics or be able to sit through the beginning of Oklahoma without joining in to describe exactly what type of morning it is. Nope - not gonna happen.