I got to write about two of my creative idols for work this morning so I'm in an extra sunny space.
Alan Menken and Richard Sherman, two of the musical forces behind much of the Disney musical catalog, helped co-write the songs in "The Little Mermaid" and "Mary Poppins" and dozens of iconic movies. (Mr. Menken wrote the music for "Mermaid" with the great Howard Ashman, of course, and Mr. Sherman wrote with his brother Robert.)
Soundtracks? I love them. Scores? I love them. Stage musicals? I love them. Do you, too? I know you do. Kelly, I'm looking at you, and a few other readers 'round Wilfair HQ. Tell me your favorite in the comments!
Me? If I haven't hummed a song from "The Sound of Music" or "West Side Story" or "Little Shop of Horrors" or "Grease" in the past week then please feel free to put a hand to my forehead and see if I'm feeling all right.
So here's a weird thought I have from time to time: I do wonder if I'm a slightly frustrated wannabe composer or lyricist, a career path I never considered taking because I didn't have the musical chops.
And so I do believe that Wilfair might be a secret non-musical musical, at least inside my heart.
I wrote about Fair Finley's "I Want" song a year ago (the "I Want" song is an important component in any music-filled production, of course). And I could probably name a few parts in the books that correspond to musical-type beats.
But here's my biggest piece of personal evidence: I'll be typing typing typing and I'll get to an important conversation and think "here's where Fair sings" or "here's Gomery's refrain" or "this is the big dance number" when there is actually no big dance number, technically.
(The Fair yelling "yell" parts? All musical in my mind.)
If I told you I haven't sat at my computer and spread my arms wide to some phantom theater audience, stage-style, during certain parts of the books, in the manner that Liza Minnelli might have in "Cabaret," then I'm 1000% fibbing.
How Amy Adams holds her arms in this clip from "Enchanted" is exactly how I sometimes hold mine when I reach a portion of the book that feels like a character is singing.
True truth time.
Yep, it's a song that Alan Menken composed, and its over-the-top-y, dance-number-ish musical vibe is a vibe I try to apply to the Wilfair world, even though there's no dancing or singing.
Yet.
Is Wilfair a Musical?
