Theater is an art form that can take you away. If you live and breathe lines to a play or lyrics to a song, here are 20 things that might sound familiar and that prove you’re a crazy theater fan!
The radio is great and all, but nothing beats an entire cast album from start to finish. Long car rides are the perfect time to relive your favorite shows through song while showers provide perfect acoustics to prep for your Broadway debut. Unless you are with other theater fans, getting the aux or hooking up to Bluetooth can be challenging because your playlists are filled with show tunes. Driving with your theater pals just means you have every lead and ensemble vocal part covered!
Being a theater kid in high school sums up to one universal truth- your four years are one big blurry rehearsal process. Putting up shows is not easy and with your “season” lasting all year, there was never an “off season.” Every day for three hours running lines and rehearsing dances is great until you forget what sunshine looks like. Oh, we can’t forget that one famous joke your non-theater friends always said- “There’s always drama in Drama Club,” even when there wasn’t!
Everyone has a role that they would love to play. Whether something from a classic show or a new role that has just been introduced, we all have a character we are drawn to. Since hearing the music or seeing the show, you have every lyric memorized and maybe some lines too. You envision yourself in the costumes and makeup and hope one day you are taking your bow in the perfect role.
Sure, other award shows are great, but the Tony’s rise above and beyond. All of your favorite people in one place? Amazing. Waiting for that party with your friends to see who comes out on top is thrilling. The best part is finally getting to see performances from all of the shows you’ve read about all year. When it comes time to choose who you want to win, it’s a five way tie in your book.
Oh, and the Tony Awards’ attire is absolutely stunning.
Just in case the day ever comes, you want to be prepared for greeting people at the stage door. With that comes the perfect signature. It can’t be too long or too short, too messy or too legible. You’ve been trying to balance this since you could write in cursive, and there’s no shame in that.
Twitter is a great place to see the news for all of the new shows, replacements, and events going on in the theater world. The best part of Instagram and Snapchat is getting backstage footage through stories and pictures. Whether it’s someone’s personal account or a takeover on another account, the behind the scenes looks are so fun. I’d follow Laura Osnes on a two doe shay any day.
Of course social media provides great looks backstage, but the ultimate sneak peeks are in the Broadway.com vlogs. Seeing the shenanigans in a real Broadway theater for eight weeks is like a dream come true, and you start to feel like you are really there!
Your favorite performer is going on tour? You finally saw your favorite show live? Or did your idol simply like your tweet? Little things like this can seem life-changing to us, but to people outside of the theater community, it makes no sense. Taking time to explain it to them can sometimes make the situation worse, so it’s best if they just let us have our fun.
Theater people are a rare bunch. Stepping into a new place, whether high school, college, or work can be intimidating because you need at least one person who gets you, right? Sooner or later we all come together and have jam sessions that cannot be beat, but until then, the world can be a scary place without your theater friends.
Theater is something that never leaves you. Your passion for the stage has left a twinkle in your eye that makes you want to do it forever. The rush of new material and trying on your costumes for the first time is something that never gets old, but doing it with the best of the best? Well that’s what I call a dream come true. We all want the first thing in our bios to read “Broadway debut!” or to stand at the center of the Gypsy Robe ceremony someday, but until then, we’ll just have to dream from the audience.
After being in a few shows you start to form your own rhythm. With that comes the order in which you do your hair and makeup, how you warm up , and of course, pre-show rituals. Whether it is a handshake with a friend, a prayer you always say, or a video you always watch, you have them. Don’t deny it.
You have video footage from your very first show as an ensemble munchkin all the way through your first high school lead and beyond. Sure, the material can sometimes be cringe-worthy to watch, but it’s always fun to look back to see how you’ve grown.
The best memory of seeing a show is the Playbill and bonus points if it got signed at a stage door. You have to keep them safe, whether you hang them up or put them in a box, because they are fun to pull out every now and again.
Constantly seeing shows can put a dent in your pocket, but when you get good seats for cheap prices you really cannot complain. Sure, sometimes the line can be deadly, but it’s 100% worth it in the end. If it wasn’t for the rush ticket program, many great memories would not have been made.
Being at a Broadway or Broadway touring production is surreal, but going to a stage door after is just as good. You actually get to meet and speak to the people that just took your breath away, and sometimes, people you have looked up to for years. Asking “can we get a picture?” can make you the happiest person in the world.
Online sites give us so much info about workshops and rehearsal processes. We start to look forward to shows before a creative team and cast are even set, but that’s the beauty of seeing it all come together years later.
Everyone has heard of Shakespeare going into school, but as a theater kid, you knew about all of his plays as well as those of Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller, and maybe more. You even hated reading Macbeth because of the bad legends associated with that name and theaters. Yikes.
When an adaption hits the big screen it is great. Something you have always wanted to see is finally available to you, and you can save it forever. But with that comes a fear of disappointment. Will the Hollywood cast live up to expectations? Will cuts and additions be good or bad? Wicked 2019, here we come…
Time and again people ask where you would love to travel, expecting exotic or foreign countries. Your answer is simple- New York City. Take me on a week-long trip to the Great White Way and I’ll love you forever.
Elphie and Glinda? Roxie and Velma? Or maybe Elder Price and Elder Cunningham? You and your BFF have some connection to two characters, whether it’s because one of you is stylish and the other sporty or because one is reserved and one is super spirited. When it is time for duets, it’s a natural reaction to sing their famous song without a question of who sings which part. “Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.”
Although it may seem like we speak a foreign language sometimes, our love and appreciation for theater just takes over. Keep watching old DVDs and singing through those cast recordings, you never know where it may take you.
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