As well as classical music, I live for musical theater as well. As a kid growing up in New Jersey and here in Florida, I’d star myself as the background ensemble of school plays from the Forum School, as a gingerbread girl in the jukebox-musical-like production of Hansel and Gretel and as the backing chorus member of Jill Gallina’s musical, Shapin’ Up Santa. On vacations (and nowadays, day trips from home) to Walt Disney World, I’m particularly attracted to the stage shows – from Dream Along With Mickey to the unseen (by me, of course) Finding Nemo, the Musical. Cruise ships offer me the best in entertainment in the form of stage revues with singers, dancers, pyrotechnics, lighting, costumes, magic, and (with the exception of Disney Cruise Line) a show band, and they are the must-sees of every cruise vacation. I even went to see a professionally-staged musical on Broadway growing up as a Jersey girl in 1994, and it was Beauty and the Beast, staged by Disney Theatrical, believe it or not. I have to admit that I have a soft spot for Once on This Island as my favorite musical, because it’s the first real musical I have ever seen in my middle school over five years ago, although I ached for a professional staging.

But the thrill of seeing musical theater personally (and starring in it, to a lesser extent,  although my roles in it are minor) is just the cover of the libretto, or book, of a staged hit. I also see some of that on TV, not only in the form of musical films (like Hans Christian Andersen, a musical film that starred Danny Kaye as one of my speculated autism heroes). I love musical episodes as well, and my personal favorite of the genre is the Rocko’s Modern Life (a former Nickelodeon cartoon series I grew up watching as a child of the 1990’s) episode, “Zanzibar,” which is centered on the subject of pollution and environmental issues. Commercials, like the “Do it eBay” ads of old or Geico’s “I’m So Happy,” have given me an excellent musical theater fix without the cost of seeing a school musical and amid infomercials starring the late, annoying Billy Mays or the dreaded Nutrisystem (or recently, the Right Size Smoothie) spots. Even public service announcements get the showtime treatment as the actors carry their persuasive messages regarding the issue by breaking into song and dance – and the American Legacy Foundation’s Truth anti-tobacco ad, “Let’s All Focus on the Positive,” and the Ad Council’s patient involvement spot, “Questions Are the Answer,” never grow way too old for me.

Recently, the love for musical theater flared up as I came across a video described as a “spontaneous musical.” To the best of my memory, it was the famous Food Court Musical (with the book, lyrics, and music penned by longtime agents Scott Brown and Anthony King) by New York-based amateur drama organization, Improv Everywhere. In a food court in Los Angeles’s Baldwin Hills Mall, a cashier from Hot Dog on a Stick accidentally spills lemonade and then breaks into song as she petitions the diners and fellow employees for a napkin. A male diner who spilled mustard on his jeans, and a woman whose child vomited on her shirt did so likewise. Later, a dancing janitor, a security guard, and a couple of other patrons join in this melodious imploring for a paper napkin. I watched a host of other musicals similar in format to the video, which reached over 3 million views on YouTube. There’s What’s There to Do in Richmond (about the venues that suit the needs of residents in this Virginia city), Unexpected Performance (a British commercial by travel agency lastminute.com that surrounds a janitor’s struggle to get her potato chips out of the vending machine), and Reach (in which a lecture is interrupted by three students breaking into song – it also predates the aforementioned Food Court Musical). I also favor Church Service Musical, which tells the tales of how responsibilities and hurdles keep the congregation, ministry leaders, a technician, and the pastor separate from worshiping God. Even Disneyland – noted for its brilliant stage shows often brimming with Disney Characters you can name from memory – created a spontaneous musical too, which centers around a marriage proposal and promotes the ongoing Summer Nightastic campaign. An organization called ANMT (the Academy for New Musical Theatre) calls them “guerilla musicals,” and of the two that they made, I favor The Customer is Always Right highly. After watching all those videos that feature people staging a musical number out of the blue, in public, I was called by the genre to create one myself.

As an autistic, I personally know what a meltdown is really like, and I had those tantrum-like episodes in my teens at school, and I felt really horrid with all the other students staring directly at me. I have watched videos of tantruming children and looked in the comments section – a majority of people who responded to the videos say that they would like the “brat” to be slapped, or spanked, preferably with a belt. Those things I’ve seen gave me an idea – conglomerating a scenario when an autistic child has a meltdown with strangers persuading his mother to spank him and the glitz of a spontaneous musical. I will be writing the book and lyrics pertaining to that, and send it off to a composer as soon as I am able to drive and as soon as the visit by distant kin is behind me. In the meantime, I’m researching on ways to handle an autism meltdown and what the people say about spanking kids who tantrum. I will be posting details about my first foray into musical theater in the near future.