Long drives can drag if you don’t handle them properly. There’s not a ton of fun sitting in a car for even a few hours. At least, I have a hard time just sitting still, especially since I can’t read in the car because of carsickness. Trust me, if I could read in the car, some of those long drives would be spent reading. My mum and I had to do a bunch of drives up to NYC (about 2 hours for us) for work on my wedding dress, and there would definitely have been some trips where I read if I could.
Except for the fact that I think it’s a ton of fun to put on a musical and have epic singalongs in the car. As long as the person (or people) in the car with me like that sort of thing. So you can definitely guess that my mum and I did a lot of that on our drives up to NYC. We’ve been doing these sort of things forever…even when we aren’t on long drives. Neither of us can sing really well, but you don’t have to be able to sing really well when you’re in a car and no one else can hear you. It’s all about fun.
When my wife and I decided we were going to turn a long weekend away into a two week roadtrip, I told her there was going to be some singing. She’s not a huge fan of musicals…she definitely enjoys some, but she’s not a huge fan like me. My argument was that when we have kids and are going on road trips, we’re going to be singing musicals. There’s no way our children won’t be fans of musical theatre (at least, I certainly hope not). And we will definitely be singing along to those.
I think RENT is the best long car trip singalong. It’s two hours long, so it takes up a lot of time. All the songs are filled with emotion, so it’s really easy to really get into it. You can sing with your voice and your hands and it’s just a lot of fun. It was one of the musicals I asked my wife if we could listen to in the car. She said no to it, because she had never seen it. I tried really, really hard. The good news is that I’ve convinced her to watch the movie of the filming of the final Broadway performance. Next road trip, we’ll be singing RENT.
The cool thing is that you can enjoy pretty much any musical in the car. And for as much as I love RENT, it’s certainly not the end all be all. My wife and I had a great time singing to other shows. You may not be able to singalong with your entire body for all of them, but you’re still singing a musical. And let me tell you, it was a treat getting to watch my wife sing along to various musicals. It’s a way to let loose and just enjoy yourself. Everyone falls into that one.
So why are musicals so fun for road trips? Well for one, like I said before, it’s a way to let loose and enjoy yourself. When you’re stuck in a car for a long time, singing in general gets you going. A musical tells a story through the whole thing, so you get to indulge in that story while on the road. One of my favorite things about singing musicals in general is seeing how many different parts I can sing. Singing alone in the kitchen is one thing. Singing in the car with someone else is even better, since they can take the parts that you can’t get by yourself. My wife and I definitely figured that out. You can have a good laugh about it all. When we were listening to Wicked, I got to inform my wife that I can’t even begin to pretend I’m still a soprano…but I was going to sing Glinda’s songs anyway.
Musicals give you the chance to dance around in your seat. I totally meant what I said about singing with your whole body. When you’re in a car and won’t get to stand up for awhile, musicals can really get you moving. I have a lot more fun doing that than when it’s just music. There’s something magical about musicals on the road.
I think that this is what theatre is all about. You’re always going to find yourself in a strange situation, and getting to perform, even if it’s just in your car, is impulsive and fun. There’s something super entertaining about sharing those wonderful moments in a small, contained space. Singing, moving in your seat…you may not be on stage, but you’re still putting on a show.
If anyone saw me sing and boogie to musicals in the car, they would definitely have a good laugh about it. But I always have a good laugh about it. I definitely don’t care, because I’m a theatre kid, and in this case, shame is definitely not a word in my vocabulary.
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