Tara Lain’s Favorite Musicals
Hi! I’m so delighted to be celebrating the release of my new romance, LOVE AND LINGUISTICS. You may have heard that this is my contemporary, MM homage to the popular musical, My Fair Lady. Naturally that got me thinking of my favorite musicals. I should qualify my list by saying I’ve never seen Wicked or Hamilton and, while I’ve seen Les Mis and Cats, they aren’t among my faves. I’m actually going to use movies of musicals in some cases for this list. Here are a few favorites – in no particular order.
- Guys and Dolls – I’ve seen the stage show, but adore the movie. While no one would accuse Marlon Brando of being a great singer, he was so totally, devastatingly charming as Sky Masterson, we forgive him anything. As Barbra once said of him, “Hello Gorgeous.”
- Hairspray – In this case, the stage show is much better than the film (unless you’re talking about John Waters’ original non-musical movie) and on the stage, the show is a total, uplifting delight.
- Oklahoma (OSF production) – While I wouldn’t put the usual productions of Oklahoma on my list of favorites, I do include the amazing 2018 production at Oregon Shakespeare Festival where the entire cast was chosen for diversity, with the two sets of lovers being FF and MM, the aunt being transgender, and the supporting characters showing off every color that skin can have. It was glorious!
- Mamma Mia – Sorry to those who like their musicals atonal and intellectual, but I defy anyone to leave the theater after Mamma Mia, not dancing and singing.
- Jesus Christ Superstar – I’ve seen it on stage and in the movies, which were both fabulous, but I must admit to a special affection for the television production done with John Legend.
- South Pacific – While there’s a lot about this show I don’t like, I would admire it just for the song “You’ve Got to be Taught”. When you consider the era of this musical, that was one sophisticated lyric that still gives me goosebumps.
There are many others I enjoy including My Fair Lady, but this is a list of some of those that have given me the most fun. I hope you enjoy my new take on an old musical story in LOVE AND LINGUISTICS!
Release Date: November 26, 2019
Book Blurb:
In his neighborhood, El Martin stands out, and that can be life threatening. Against the odds, he’s managed to graduate high school and then master IT. Now he’s desperate to get a good job to free his drunken dad and himself from the control of gang leader M2 and the drugs he sells. But with his piercings and his slang-ridden speech, El looks and sounds like a Bronx gangbanger, and potential employers won’t give him a second look. So when El hears about Henry Fairhaven, PhD, linguistics researcher and wealthy New York socialite, El takes his life in his hands to escape from M2 and ends up sleeping in the stairwell at Henry’s building, hoping to learn how to speak.
To Henry, who wants to prove himself as a scholar and not merely a rich dilettante, El isn’t only the most beautiful man he’s ever seen—he’s also the key to getting a paper published on Henry’s ground-breaking linguistics methods before a competitor beats him to the punch. But Henry doesn’t tell El the truth, and El thinks Henry’s helping him because he cares.
El’s dreams collide with Henry’s ambitions at the elegant Met Gala, where El captivates a prince of Silicon Valley. But the real collision comes when M2 tracks El down and Henry has to choose between the validation he craves and a future with the man he’s come to love.
Book Links:
Tara Lain believes in happy ever afters – and magic. Same thing. In fact, she says, she doesn’t believe, she knows. Tara shares this passion in her best-selling stories that star her unique, charismatic heroes — the beautiful boys of romance — and adventurous heroines. Quarterbacks and cops, werewolves and witches, blue collar or billionaires, Tara’s characters, readers say, love deeply, resolve seemingly insurmountable differences, and ultimately live their lives authentically. After many years living in southern California, Tara, her soulmate honey and her soulmate dog decided they wanted less cars and more trees, prompting a move to Ashland, Oregon where Tara’s creating new stories and loving living in a small town with big culture. Likely a Gryffindor but possessed of Parseltongue, Tara loves animals of all kinds, diversity, open minds, coconut crunch ice cream from Zoeys, and her readers. She also loves to hear from you.
Author Links:
Website: http://taralain.com/
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One of my friends always dreamed of a genderflipped GUYS AND DOLLS, I wonder why no one’s done it? I’ve always been curious about the stage version of GREASE, since someone swore that some of the best numbers (including, apparently, one sung by Eugene) weren’t in the movie. I finally saw HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH on stage after seeing the movie many times, it’s really different (almost really Yitzhak’s show in a way). And while there’s a stage adaptation of XANADU coming locally, I’m afraid to go because I’ve loved the (admittedly bad in several ways) original movie since I was a kid…