I'm going to start out completely honestly. I hate musicals. I do. When Chicago won the Academy Award for Best Picture I was livid. I couldn't believe it. I actually saw Chicago on stage once in London and was bored to tears. It was awful and annoying.
But more to the point is that musicals aren't very manly. Randomly breaking into song and dance just isn't for us. I've been to Broadway and for the most part I just don't get it. It's all so hokey and corny.
If you want to look at the perfect example of how musicals aren't manly, let's look at West Side Story. Let's forget for a second that it's Romeo and Juliet and just look on the fact on the ground.
There's gang violence. Sounds promising. Not really sure how you could screw up two rival gangs wanting to pummel each other. Sounds perfectly manly. Oh, wait, they're just snapping and twirling. If you want to go flamboyant with your gang violence, that's fine, but go the Warriors route. Don't have them doing ballet. These are the least manly gangs ever. No one would ever be afraid of them. Even the kids from Newsies could take them out (although they did have a young Batman with them so it's a little unfair to compare).
The interesting thing about the male aversion to musicals is that many of us were brought up on them. And by that I mean Disney movies. The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, all musicals. We all sang "Under the Sea" and "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" as kids.
Still, there are plenty of musicals out there that are either made for guys or guys love. Usually its an appeal to humor. Movies like South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut and Broadway shows like Spamalot and Avenue Q are perfect examples of musicals that men love.
And then of course there is the most manly and awesome musical of them all: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It was made by Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse - please watch Dollhouse and keep it alive!) along with his siblings and it stars Neil Patrick Harris as the titular Dr. Horrible and Nathan Fillion (Mal from Firefly) as his nemesis Captain Hammer. It is incredible and if you haven't seen it yet, go watch it on Hulu right now. Go! I'll wait ...
....
See? Fantastic! If you don't like it, NPH will totally beat you down. But is it really manly? Can any musical really be?
Can musicals be manly?
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Comments (41)
HAHA, I BOUGHT THE DVD FOR TEN BUCKS.
I have a good argument, and I hope you don't take this offensively, but my friend watched Dr. Horrible after I showed it to him. It wasn't his choice to watch it, not really, because it was a musical. And he likes NPH, don't get me wrong, but I thought it was interesting and typical of a guy-- unwilling to watch a musical... until some famed and respected male figure is placed upon a character.
It wasn't very manly, I'll admit, but it did step away from the usual overbearing emotion that most musicals have. Not as chirpy, not as happy. Action, kind of funny ('BALLS!', 'The hammer is my penis')
I know I'm a girl, but Dr. Horrible is my kind of thing.. and I'm not as girly as most but I guess that kind of proves the point: it's not girly, but it's not manly, either.
@beforedawn@xanga - woot! now that's a manly musical. wat about 'rent'?
Musicals that include Hugh Jackman, Nathan Fillion (and NPH!), and Gerard Butler are considered manly to me! By that I meant that I want to see musicals with those guys because I think they are sexy.
oooo i like musical guys. ^^
Musicals can definately be manly. most of them just...aren't. if you're looking for one that is though, "REPO! the genetic opera" is my personal favorite. don't know how many people here have seen it, but if not, i'd recommend checking it out.
I like certain musicals (and happen to love Dr. Horrible's - act 1).
I think it depends on the personality. I certainly don't mind the break-out of singing in the middle of some dialogue as long as the song / words make sense to the act. (See Dr. Horrible.)
I would say it is your opinion if you thought or feel uncertain/uncomfortable with the romantic themes -- perhaps it is you do not like the type of music?
I know a few guys who enjoy the occasional musical and can beat the living snot out of me (using a traditional manly theme to make a point) -- and I'm no light weight. (I would not call them anything less than manly, even with their enjoyment of musicals.)
bawlz...
West Side Story s***ed. If you're bringing Disney into this though, I'll be more favorable toward the genre- no one can truly hate all those classic Disney movies (before the infamous Disney channel came along and ruined our lives).
Something I always tell people who just don't "get" musicals is that the whole point of breaking out into song (and sometimes dance) in these plays is because the character is feeling so much emotion at that one moment that they HAVE to do something, like sing or dance, to express it. It doesn't always have to be cheerful.
I never knew musicals were feminine...
I LOVE NEIL PATRICK HARRIS!!!! Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog was amazing.
"Fiddler on the Roof" has a nice jingle of "if I were a rich man" predating the song " if I had a million dollars"
dollhouse!
Musicals are not a matter of manliness. I know of several guys at my school that star in the school musical every year and are in both choir and show choir (both singing AND dancing) and also play football. These boys are very manly. They are muscular. They are ladies men. They're smooth and confident and popular. They can beat your a**. But they are also some of the best singers I know, and one of them plays the piano, too. That's manly to have that much talent and do so many different things and still have time to swoon a girl as well as get in that last set of bench presses before bed!
REPO: The Genetic Opera. Go, watch it now. Blood, guts, sex. And singing. Very awesome cast (Paul Sorvino, Bill Mosely, Ogre from Skinny Puppy, and Anthony Stewart Head from Buffy) and amazing idea. Produced by the guy who did Saw. Go,go,go.
if it has the name ZAC EFRON on it then its gayest play of all.
by the way all musicals are gay ...
DUHR! Has anyone seen Sweeney Todd?!
@ally_in_cali@xanga - Repo was good! D:
- Kunoichi
SWEENY TODD WAS A MUSICAL!
...and even though they all had AIDS, Rent has some really beautiful women in it.