Hear No Evil: Musicals for people who don’t like musicals

Is this your nightmare? Your horse-drawn carriage gets side-swiped by an illegal drag race while your singing in the rain? Are your hills alive with the sound of puking after the spinning has finally stopped? Well then I’m here to show you there are musicals out there that won’t have your stomach churning and you reaching for the ear buds and a whiskey. There are musicals out there with substance, with people other than Lithium popping zombie droids having systematic convulsions of choreography.

Repo! A Genetic Opera

· Scifi horror rock opera set in the future where mass organ failure is on the rise, & if you don’t make your payments on time after your transplant, the repo man is sent to get it back from you. Amazing performance by Anthony Stewart Head as The Repo Man

Across the Universe

· 60’s era period drama set to all Beatles music sung by a fantastic cast: heaven

Moulin Rouge

· Beautifully shot, visually masterful, period musical with amazing reworkings of contemporary songs. A real standout is Tango de Roxanne (a tango-infused reworking of Roxanne by Sting)

Chicago

· Murder is made glamorous in the mind’s eye of Roxie Hart. Standout- Murderess Row

Rocky Horror Picture Show

· Irreverent cult horror musical

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: “Once More With Feeling” episode

· Funny & clever with a little for everyone, from blues to pop to retro pastiche

The Nightmare Before Christmas

· OK OK I know it’s animated, but it’s awesome & Danny Elfman’s a genius

Cabaret

· sexy, jazzy, & some of the best musical music I’ve ever heard

Carmen: A Hip Hopera (TV)

· rap & r&b updated version of the opera Carmen, quite interesting, nicely acted by Beyonce. Standout- Habanera

Christmas in South Park (V)

· completely wrong in the best way; hilarious

Camp

· this is no Camp Rock or High School Musical, but rather a funny indie satire of kids at musical theater camp. Standout: Ladies Who Lunch with Anna Kendrick.

De-Lovely

· mixing flashback with real time, told from the perspective of Cole Porter writing a theater production of his life story, mixing contemporary artists like Alanis Morisette & Elvis Costello singing his tune during various scenes; unique & lovely

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

· yum the candy

Get Over It

· Martin Short is hilarious in this updated version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream where a high school does a musical version of the aforementioned play

Hamlet 2

· Down-on-his luck actor takes a job teaching drama at a local high school and writes what he believes will be his theater comeback: a sequel to Hamlet; hilarious & actually well performed by the high school cast