All the World's a Stage

As I immerse myself more and more in the world of publishing, talking to people on Absolute Write and on Twitter (yes I have a Twitter now. I caved at the beginning of the summer. I can be found here.) I have been pleasantly surprised to find that the publishing community seems to appreciate my favorite genre of music far more than the world at large. And yes, of course I am talking about musical theatre. For a person who constantly gets raised eyebrows when asked what music I like and I rattle off a list of showtunes, it is so refreshing and heartening to see agents talking about singing to Wicked in their offices and going to see plays and musicals sometimes on the weekends.

Now, this might just be an offshoot of the fact that so much of the publishing world is centered in New York City, just like so much of the musical theatre world is centered there. But I also think that musicals are the perfect things for writers and people who love books. What kind of music could be better for us than the kind that does our favorite thing - the kind that tells a story?

Incidentally, all of my favorite musicals were once books. The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, A Tale of Two Cities, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Secret Garden, The Light in the Piazza, Jekyll & Hyde, Wicked... I think books adapt even better to the stage than they do to the big screen.

And of course I'm just biased towards the idea of being able to randomly burst out in song and have other people know the harmonies and the dance steps. Wouldn't that be awesome? I'm so glad that in the publishing world, at least, I'd have a few people willing to sing along with me.

Here's a video of some songs from A Tale of Two Cities. I just finished the book and I thought it was adapted very well - it's too bad it had such a short run.