It's no secret, I'm a fan of musical theater. Okay, more than a fan. I absolutely love it, and I have loved it since I was a kid. I watched Disney movies, of course, (which are musicals, too), and my mom filled our shelves with VHS tapes of things like the Sound of Music, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, My Fair Lady, South Pacific, Oklahoma!, Meet Me In St. Louis, etc. etc. I loved it then, and I still love it now. And since I can't sing or dance, the only thing I can do is enjoy it.
One thing that many producers have been doing lately is making shows that fabricate a story out of all of the songs that a particular singer or musical group produced in their lifetime. Like Mamma Mia, Movin' Out, and Jersey Boys, to name a few.
Now, if I were a producer, I would do the same thing. Only I would do it with Garth Brooks. He is probably my favorite of all time and, with such a long career, there's a lot of music to work with. Here's my pitch:
Obviously, it has to be about either a truck driver or a rodeo man. I'm much more interested in rodeo, so that's what I'd pick. He's got to have two loves--one that ends dramatically, and one that's a real love. I think it's probably easier to have the true love first. Then we can end on a more dramatic note. This is my basic run down of songs... Of course, you have to know Garth like I do to really appreciate the beauty of my organization.
Ain't Goin' Down Til the Sun Comes Up
The River
Callin' Baton Rouge
Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy?
Shameless
Somewhere Other Than the Night
Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House
Friends in Low Places
The Dance
Intermission
American Honky Tonk Bar Association
Much too Young to Feel This Damn Old
Learning to Live Again
Rodeo
Longneck Bottle (meeting other women and partying)
The Thunder Rolls (with lyrics re-written a bit because she's not going to kill him)
The Beaches of Cheyenne
The Dance
I think I probably need some more songs in here, I do have a basic idea. It's your general cowboy meets girl story, but with a twist. Because you have to get at least a few angry Garth songs in there. He's never the same again, but eventually meets another woman. He thinks she will fill the empty place left by his first wife, but the truth is that she never really replaces her. He's a pretty lackluster husband, consumed by rodeo dreams. She, of course, completely adores him, but she's third best--first is the original wife, second is rodeo, and third is poor little wife #2. All the way through, he dwells on the first wife--and has a bit of trouble with alcohol, some of it more fun-loving bar-type fun and other parts a little bit darker, more consuming and dangerous. There are other women, too--nobody serious, but he crosses the line a few times. Eventually we come to the Beaches of Cheyenne. Cowboy and wife 2 get in a huge fight and he goes off to the rodeo and dies with his boots on. She haunts a beach, driven mad by grief and jealousy. The song ends with The Dance, focused on the love he had for his first wife.
I think its genius. Genius!
Can you tell I'm tired of doing work? Well, I am. This weekend, I've finished my whole to do list (which was to finish reading everything for my classes for the semester, plus do my BTD contract), addressed my graduation announcements, went to the most horrible moot court argument I've ever seen for a class makeup, written ten new cover letters, printed the cover letters and resumes up, cleaned my apartment, packed stuff... It was a lot.
Plus I'm not feeling well. Yesterday it snowed, today it was 50 degrees, and tomorrow its a high of 73. I think that all the temperatures and barometric pressures changing is what has made me feel really crappy. So I needed a happy diversion, and that was planning my hypothetical musical. Maybe nobody else would like it, but if somebody made that musical, I'd totally buy tickets.
You could also make a musical out of Jimmy Buffett songs.....
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