CJane Elliott's Top 5 Broadway Musicals

I’ve been in love with plays, especially musicals, since I was a kid. Those of you who have read my books may notice that many of my MCs are actors and singers. Eric in The Kinsey Scale is a theater major and Will is a singer-songwriter.

It’s hard to pick just five but the musicals below are some of my favorites, along with the role I envision Eric playing. Will is no actor but I could see him being in the orchestra for some of these productions. 

1. Fiddler on the Roof

A phenomenal story of Jewish people in Russia in the early 1900s. I sang in the chorus in my high school production. Eric most likely played Tevye in his.

2. A Chorus Line

What a musical. Dancers and their world. The gay character was considered groundbreaking for the time. I recently saw a Broadway tour production of this and cried buckets through the whole thing. Eric could have played any of the male roles.

3. Rent

Another musical I cried buckets through. It’s a modern-day version of La Boheme set in New York City and featuring actors, singers, and dancers trying to survive. It’s set in the early 1990s at the height of the AIDS crisis. I would love to see Eric as Angel, the ill-fated drag queen.

4. In the Heights

I’d only dimly heard of Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame when I saw a high-school production of In the Heights, the first musical of his to make it to Broadway. It’s the story of a Hispanic-American community who live in the Washington Heights section of New York City, brought to life through salsa, rap, and more. Eric most likely would play the lead, Usnavi, who owns the bodega at the heart of the story.

5. Wicked

Wicked is the story of Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. The play deals with the nature of good and evil through the relationship between the two witches. In The Kinsey Scale, Eric auditions for and wins the part of Fiyero, the love interest in Wicked, and there’s a cute scene where Will helps him run his lines by playing a very wooden Elphaba.

QUESTION AND GIVEAWAY

Now let’s hear from you. I’ll be giving away a backlist book to someone who comments. What are some of your favorite musicals, and why?