Musicals on the brain

Last weekend Carla and I saw the play “Fairycakes” at Oglethorpe University.

There was one musical number and a reprise, but the show could not be classified as a musical. It was both poignant and funny, and the student performances were great. It was a delightful night at the theater.

On the way home Carla surprised me.

“I kinda missed the songs,” she said.

“Yeah, I did, too,” I said, having my own epiphany.

I like theater in all of its forms, but I never really considered myself a musical person. In my younger days I thought musicals, particularly movie musicals, were weird because of how unrealistic it was for everybody to break into song and start huge dance numbers at random moments in the plot.

But that was then. This is now.

I am the parent of a theater kid.  Or, to be more precise, a musical theater kid. This new reality has expanded my horizons in ways I never would have thought possible until four years ago when Carlton first donned the mane of Mufasa in Disney’s “The Lion King Jr.” at Smoke Rise Academy of Arts.

It’s been a wonderful journey, not just in seeing Carlton on stage but experiencing so much live theater. Since his “Lion King Jr.” debut, Carlton has been in productions of “Annie Jr.,” “Shrek Jr.,” “The Music Man” and “The Music Man Jr.,” “Beauty and the Beast Jr.,” “Oliver” and “Oliver Jr.,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Aladdin Jr.,” “Finding Nemo Jr.,” “The Sound of Music,” “Matilda Jr.,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and, most recently, “Head Over Heels” at his new school, Gwinnett School of the Arts at Central Gwinnett High School.

In addition to Carlton’s shows, I’ve seen “Hamilton,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Mean Girls,” and “Wicked” at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta and “Beetlejuice” and “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway last December.

That’s a lot of musical theater in a relatively short time. My life has been enriched immeasurably, but all of that passion, beauty and grandeur come at a price. No, I’m not talking about the tickets, although that surely has been an investment. There is a much steeper price, one that I was not prepared for – intrusive musical thoughts.

I don’t know if this is a diagnosable condition, but I definitely have it. And it’s getting worse.

When we first started on this journey with Carlton, I would hear him rehearse numbers from his shows, listen to the cast recordings in the car to and from rehearsals and then see the show three or four times. The songs from that show would become embedded in my brain for at least two weeks.

Like most progressive illnesses, though, my ailment is compounding. There are so many songs in my head now, that no matter what show Carlton is currently rehearsing or just listening to in the car, I am bombarded at random with needle drops from the back catalog of Broadway history.

This is how it happens: I take our miniature poodle, Winston, out one last time before bed about 10 p.m. While he does his business, I look up at the moon, and, bam! suddenly my inner soundtrack starts up with “Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation. Darkness stirs and wakes imagination,” from Phantom’s “Music of the Night.”

Or, I sit down with the family at our favorite Mexican place, Los Hermanos, and unbidden, “Life is your restaurant and I’m your maitre d’. Come on, whisper what it is you want. You ain’t never had a friend like me,” leaps into my mind from “Never Had a Friend Like Me” from Disney’s “Aladdin Jr.”

The absolute worst, though, is when I’m trying to sleep. As my brain clears out the debris of the day, like a malfunctioning jukebox, it invariably retrieves a selection I wasn’t even remotely thinking about. One minute I’m fidgeting over that invoice I forgot to process at work and the next, “An English Teacher” from “Bye Bye Birdie” takes over and I’m right there with Rosie questioning Albert’s career choices.

What I’m learning from this affliction is that what I’m experiencing is why musicals exist in the first place. No matter what you are doing, there’s a song that could accompany it. Unlike my issue with musicals, having songs pop into your head that suit the moment is a universal human experience. So of course when the town gets together to discuss the opening of a new pool hall, a traveling con artist is going to lead them in a song that convinces them of the evils of billiards and the need for a marching band.

Like Marlin in Disney’s “Finding Nemo Jr.,” I’m learning to “Go with the flow.” If you see me staring absentmindedly off into space, chances are I’m not daydreaming but twirling and spinning through “Be Our Guest” from “Beauty in the Beast.”

I don’t know if there’s a cure for this musical malady, but I think I’m learning to live with it. I will just have to get used to seeing some plays and movies in which people don’t break into song all the time as if that is somehow normal. And when flights of musical fancy take me, I’ll give it space, let it run its course and not try to fight it.

It might just be that my brain is trying to take a little much-needed break from all the other stimuli I feed it. Ultimately, I know it’s not fatal. “The sun’ll come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there’ll be sun.”

If you made it through this post without a half dozen musicals popping into your head, you are better than me. If not, what musicals most often revisit you?