Terry Davis, the marketing manager for Popejoy Hall the past 20 years, is passionate about musicals. He has been involved in the arts since the fourth grade, the beginning of a lifelong devotion sparked by playing the drums.
A co-producer of the New Mexico High School Musical Theatre Awards, Davis spreads support for theatre through New Mexico high schools. He encourages students to delve into theatrical texts and enjoy the creative storylines developed with artistic flares. Here, Davis shares his top five musicals.
“Ragtime” by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow
“Through 150 minutes and an almost operatic score, this musical shows us how we became a melting pot nation. It takes the convergence of immigrants, post-slavery African-Americans and the gentrified (and not so gentrified) white people in this country and shows us the difficulties and ultimate rewards of mixing races and cultures. It’s set in the early 1900s — when industrialization is making some very rich and powerful — but “Ragtime” gives us a crystal clear view both of where we’ve been and where we are. The story and the songs carry so much passion in every scene, every note. It’s a really compelling musical.”
“Once on This Island” book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty
“I discovered this musical because I loved “Ragtime” so much. It’s written by the same team that wrote the score for “Ragtime,” but it’s so different. It’s a delightful story where the gods make a bet to see if love is more powerful than death. We follow a young peasant girl as she grows up, falls in love, gets her heartbroken, then dies. Even then, the story is not over until we know the outcome of the bet between the gods. “Once on This Island” shows how community works. It shows how you don’t have to be born into your family. And it does it all with a great score that's so delightfully Caribbean that it always makes me want to go to the islands.”
“The Music Man” book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson
“I grew up with this musical, listening to it on my parents’ stereo when I was a kid. Meredith Willson based this on his own childhood in Iowa in the early 1900s. His ear for how musical we humans are when we talk brings us chattering salesmen who sound like the train they're riding, gossiping townspeople who sound like a brood of hens, and an argument between mother and daughter that pick up the tones of the piano lesson in the background. We hear the harmonies people make even when they are disagreeing. We see an entire town come together around the idea of making music. It’s such a classic, uplifting story that’s both fantastical and touchingly human.”
“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart
“Larry Gelbart wrote a lot of laughter into my life: M*A*S*H for television, Tootsie for the movies, and this musical for Broadway. He and Burt Shevelove created a script that is tightly plotted and provides laughs in nearly every line. It’s about a Roman slave, Pseudolus, who wants his freedom. He hatches a scheme to get it and adds twists with the introduction of every new character to accommodate what they want. It’s a great farce superbly written and because there’s a lot at stake — Pseudolus’ freedom — it gets funnier with every twist. I’ve done this show a couple of times and never get tired of it. But I don’t recommend the movie. It just doesn’t earn the laughs.”
“The Pajama Game” book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell, music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross
“I fell in love with the score of this musical because it’s brash, sexy and funny. An up and coming factory superintendent moves from Chicago to a small city in Iowa. He thinks his big city ways will make him irresistible to the factory women, but he finds himself falling for a local who ignores him. Finally she falls for him, too, but she’s union and he’s management. Unless he can sort out how to get the company to stop screwing its employees, she’s gone. The score has some great numbers in it: “Steam Heat,” “Hernando’s Hideaway” and “Hey, There.” There’s a lot of I’d in this show, especially in its music, which gives it such a wonderful personality. Everybody wants what they want so much that it makes for great comedy and a really sassy score.”
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Yana Apostalon is a freelance reporter with the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted by email at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @yana_aposta.
