Hello everyone! Today, I wanted to share the musicals I’ve seen in 2020! (This is a combo of in-person and virtual events!)

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In the past few years I’ve seen anything from 4-10+ events, but this year was naturally a different story. This year I only went to one in-person musical and the rest were virtual. The virtual events are 15 and were all free (kinda, two were with a subscription). These were a combination of musicals (performed on stage, live, or sometimes in a movie format), ballets, and concerts. Here’s what I’ve enjoyed this year!

Also, as you can see, I’m doing Blogmas again this year! That means I’ll be blogging every day until Christmas. I’ve done Blogmas in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 so I am happy to be participating again in 2020.

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Grease

The first and only in-person event of the year was Grease the musical! I adore Grease and was so excited to see it at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. The crazy thing was how close I was to missing it as I kept pushing back when I wanted to go and saw it the second to last weekend it was playing. The final weekend was cancelled due to the quarantine so I would have missed it if I waited. I did review the musical on my blog earlier this year if you want to look back at that post.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

This was the first virtual musical I watched when Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber started to air his works on his YouTube channel, The Shows Must Go On. I actually only managed to watch half of it the first time back in April and the whole thing when it aired again in June and enjoyed both times. It’s basically a movie version of the musical and meant for kids, and it is quite dated but it’s still a good film and I enjoyed it.

Jesus Christ Superstar

I’ve wanted to watch this musical for awhile and almost saw it in Mexico. We ended up not finding time for it, sadly! But I really, really enjoyed watching it on The Shows Must Go On. I absolutely want to see it live.

The Phantom of the Opera

This one was the 25th Anniversary performance recording of Phantom, one of my favorite musicals. I’ve seen this live twice, once in Chicago and once in NYC, both were amazing. I normally don’t go to musicals twice if I can help it because my rational is that there are so many musicals I haven’t seen yet but I can’t pass this one up and I can’t wait for the day when I can watch it in person again.

Love Never Dies

This was performed on stage but recorded, and I’m not sure if there was a live audience for it. This was also on TSMGO channel (as was Phantom). I love this musical even though it’s so weird. I’ve seen it on stage once and I will do so again at the next opportunity too!

Cats

Also on TSMGO, and it was a filmed stage performance. I think this musical is very strange but it was enjoyable enough! I don’t think I’d go out of my way to see it live though.

The Wiz

Also on TSMGO but this one wasn’t Lloyd Webber’s I’m pretty sure. At some point others started letting him air their works on his channel with proceeds going towards COVID relief and other charities. This was pretty cool as it’s an interpretation of The Wizard of Oz but more modernized. I wouldn’t see it live but it was fun to watch.

Peter Pan

Another TSMGO and I didn’t really like it? It was so cringe and I didn’t really enjoy the performances of anyone in the cast. I would not see this live if you paid me.

The Sound of Music

This was also on TSMGO but it was the NBC live performance. I liked it a lot! I’m sad I missed a stage version of this musical one or two years ago but maybe someday I’ll see it performed.

Romeo and Juliet

I think this one was through the Royal Opera House’s YouTube Channel but it was so long ago I don’t quite remember. It was the ballet and it was so beautiful! I would love to watch it live.

Hamilton

This one was on Disney+, free to watch with a subscription. I actually only got the subscription just to watch it! I love this musical, and was lucky enough to see it twice in person, both times in Chicago. The first time was when it opened in Chicago and the second a year or so later.

folklore: long pond recording sessions

This was also on Disney+, of Taylor Swift “performing” her new album in a studio as she couldn’t tour. I really loved it as she talked with members of her team about each song and it was so cool to learn more about the process of each.

An American in Paris

This was back on TSMGO, and it’s a recorded stage performance of the musical. It’s very much inspired by ballet and it’s film counterpart, and I love to watch it. I have seen it in person and while I don’t like the ending as much, it is a beautiful show.

42nd Street

Also on TSMGO, I watched it just because I really didn’t know anything about it! It’s an older production I believe and while it’s good it wasn’t my favorite. It reminds me more of like How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying as it’s set in the past and it’s very career oriented.

Christmas Music by Candlelight

This was a concert aired on TSMGO and featured a choir in the UK. I didn’t know a lot of the music, which was weird to me because I played in band for many years in school so I usually know a lot of the weird and lesser known Christmas music. It was really nice although one song did weird me out and I skipped it.

Lessons and Carols

This was on my alma mater’s YouTube Channel Elmhurst University. Lesson and Carols is an annual Christmas concert my school does but this year it was stitched together of pervious year’s events due to the pandemic. It was nice to be able to see it though as I do try to go as many years as possible.

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So that’s the events I watched this year! I might watch a few more as the Royal Opera House is doing some more for the end of the year and my university put up their annual dance recital too so I want to watch it as well. If I do see them, I’ll share them in my Lively post! Otherwise, that’s all for this year and I really hope next year I can watch a musical or two in person if it’s safe. (But at least virtual for sure!)

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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