House Cleaning

So, I got fired – see story below. But if those silly men think that’s going to stop me from sharing a few thoughts about showtunes, they’re wrong. (And they are silly, silly men).

Saturday mornings, when I grew up, always started with Mom’s call up the stairs, “Girls get up it’s time to clean.” Ugh! Needless to say, it wasn’t my favorite way to start the day.

But, we were each assigned a room and I could listen to anything I wanted. I preferred my lasted Broadway soundtrack – on cassette tape, of course! Initially, I listened to my most recent soundtrack: Phantom was first. Didn’t matter that a lot of the songs are slower, have tons of words or (worse for my siblings) are really too high to sing along while you’re scouring a toilet.

For months, every Saturday morning was me, Christine and the Phantom.

Then I discovered Les Mis. Though hard to give Phantom a rest, it was time for me to move on to Mr. Valjean and hear all he had to offer.

So, now it’s Saturday night at 5:35p and I’ve just finished cleaning (well, except for the sandwich stuff that I’m waiting for sweet Mark to… notice… and clean up….) and I still love cleaning to showtunes.

Today I’m not as intent on getting my latest cassette tape memorized. I’m more interested in a CD that’s going to keep me moving, keep me in a pretty good mood, or while singing along stooped over a toilet, is going to make me sound great!

My choices lately:
Jersey Boys – A wonderful house cleaning CD. Filled with some good high notes (which luckily for us females, aren’t THAT high in our register! ;) it also has lots of up-tunes and even better: You pretty much already know all the songs on it!

Thoroughly Modern Millie – Another fab sing-a-long CD. There’s nothing like belting along with Sutton (on any of her soundtracks). Very fun while folding laundry.

Wicked – The only time I really dare to try to belt with Idina Menzel is either in the car, or cleaning my house. That takes some pipes! The songs are catchy enough that it’s easy to forget you’re mopping!

The Last 5 Years – A lesser-known off-Broadway musical that is wonderful! It’s the story of a marriage that is over. It’s a two person show and the woman’s version is told from the end to the beginning and the man’s version is told from the beginning to the end. They only cross at the wedding ceremony. It’s beautiful. I like it for cleaning because it has such a great story that you get lost in the story and totally forget you’re still mopping.

Any Old Classic – The old classics we all know and love are best if you’re sitting and sorting. Sometimes that takes a bit of brain power to figure out if you’ve got to keep something or chuck it. So it’s good to listen to music that won’t be TOO distracting or require too much thinking of lyrics. Though let’s face it – it’s IMPOSSIBLE not to sing along, isn’t it?

Any show I’ve seen live – Broad category I know. But there is nothing quite like putting on the CD of a show you’ve seen live on Broadway. While folding, vacuuming, scouring, and dusting (all pretty mindless) you can escape to the show again. I love remembering the lights, the costumes, the chills I felt at a certain moment. I even like remembering the idiot who sat in front of me and took pictures on his cell phone camera.

It’s all about escaping the drudgery of having to clean the house – one of my least favorite activities.

I’d love to hear which Broadway soundtracks work best for you. Do you like to practice your soaring high notes with Light In The Piazza? Would you rather have something that’s basically ALL fun, like Hairspray? Do you prefer to get lost in a moving story like Miss Saigon? Or are you still in the mood for Spamalot – since it was just at Capitol?

Let me know! Showtune.erica@Hotmail.com