The Musical: To Scare and Excite

I've never really been a big fan of musicals. I've always been one of those people that likes one song out of a soundtrack of about twenty-four and given a musical is a film and/or play of music instead of speech liking the songs is a big deal. That was my major problem with Sweeney Todd - which I do thoroughly enjoy - but I found it too 'musically' - which is an awful word to describe a musical, I know - but every scene was a song...I just wanted a bit more dialogue. But there have been musicals that have inspired me, songs that I've watched and sat there and gone "WOW". El Tango De Roxanne (Moulin Rogue), Pretty Women and Epiphany (Sweeney Todd), Cell Block Tango (Chicago), Music of the Night (Phantom of the Opera), Be Prepared (The Lion King) - and any Disney villain songs for that matter. I'm sure you've gathered from my list I have a very limited experience with musicals but the one that stands out, the one that inspires me the most is Moulin Rouge. 

Every song in Moulin Rouge has such passion and purpose that it's hard not to be inspired by such a film. Of course there are the classic musicals, something like Mamma Mia! but that's more fun than inspirational but watching Moulin Rogue and the dark, morally corrupt Chicago made me think "I want to write a musical." This want came from the songs of Moulin Rouge that were inspired by other popular songs, rather than the whinny tune from Sweeney Todd in which Anthony sings for his Johanna - well, not his Johanna. 


But now I think of the musical I want to write? Do I have an idea yet? Hmm, kinda. Do I have ideas for songs - in a way, I guess, yes. Does the idea scare me? Definitely. Does it excite me? Even more so. 


Thinking of doing this makes me think of writers who write in different genres. When you hear Terry Pratchett you think comic fantasy, Ian Rankin - crime, Catherine Cookson - romance, Edgar Allan Poe - horror, so it's easy and financially more secure to stick to the one genre, readers head into the department in search of your new novel but I don't want to live in one genre which scares and excites me. 


I have ideas for fantasy, horror, literary, crime, short stories, poems, children's stories and, of course, this musical that I speak of. But, seems the musical is quite ambiguous to me and will remain so until I do a lot of more research into other musicals I have decided it will be quite gothic - fanasy? Not sure yet. Right now, just experimenting.