We Love Musicals Week -- Giveaway Winners + Wrap Up

Well, here we are at the end of another blog party.  This was such a fun one!  I'm still catching up on reading posts, but the ones I've read so far have been lovely :-)

If you have any last-minute posts you want to contribute, you are not too late!  Here's the link-up widget once again:

And here are the winners of the giveaway:

Prize One:  a used DVD copy of Guys and Dolls (1955) -- Chloe the Movie Critic

Prize Two:  a used DVD copy of Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) -- Ivy Miranda

Prize Three:  a used DVD copy of Holiday Inn (1942) -- Amanda O.

Prize Four:  a used DVD copy of Oklahoma! (1999) -- Crystan R.

Prize Five:  a Newsies sticker sheet -- Nicole B.

Prize Six:  a My Fair Lady vinyl sticker -- Gill J.

I will be alerting the winners by email this evening, so please keep an eye on your inboxes!

I hope you've all had lots of fun this week!  

Answers to "What Musical is That Song From?" Game

Here are the answers to Tuesday's game, and everyone's scores.  How'd you do?

1.  "Defying Gravity" and "Popular" are from Wicked

2.  "Lonesome Polecat" and "Spring, Spring, Spring" are from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

3.  "It Might as Well be Spring" and "It's a Grand Night for Singing" are from State Fair

4.  "Sisters" and "Count Your Blessings" are from White Christmas

5.  "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "Summertime" are from Porgy and Bess

6.  "Do-Re-Mi" and "Edelweiss" are from The Sound of Music

7.  "This is Me" and "Tightrope" are from The Greatest Showman

8.  "Good Mornin'" and "You Are My Lucky Star" are from Singin' in the Rain

9.  "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" and "Luck Be a Lady" are from Guys and Dolls

10.  "On the Street Where You Live" and "The Rain in Spain" are from My Fair Lady

11.  "All I Ask of You" and "Music of the Night" are from The Phantom of the Opera

12.  "King of New York" and "Santa Fe" are from Newsies

SCORES

Grace Avender -- 10

Katherine -- 10

Ivy Miranda -- 9

Sam the Library Mouse -- 9

Chloe the Movie Critic -- 8

Lizzie Hexam -- 8

Gill at Realweegiemidget Reviews -- 6

Debra She Who Seeks -- 5

Anonymous -- 5

Charlotte (Mother Owl) -- 4

The Hopeful Pen -- 3

Anonymous -- 3

My Answers to the We Love Musicals Tag

Time for me to fill out the We Love Musicals Tag!

1. What are your favorite musicals?

1. Guys and Dolls (1955)
2. An American in Paris (1951)
3. White Christmas (1954)
4. The Greatest Showman (2017)
5. The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

For the rest of my top ten, read this post :-)

2. What do you like about musicals? 

I like how a good musical allows characters to express their thoughts and emotions through song and dance instead of only words.  A good musical uses music the way Shakespeare used soliloquies.

Bonus points if they're really fun and leave me smiling, and if they have wonderful songs I want to learn all the words to!

3. What's the first musical you can remember seeing? 

The Sound of Music (1965) -- I have a vague memory of half-watching it when I was maybe four or five years old.  We didn't own a TV set until I was 4, so it can't have been earlier than that.

4. Have you ever seen a live musical onstage? 

Yes!  I saw Hayley Mills in a touring production of The King and I in 1997.  I also saw a production of The Mikado as a teen.  And I saw a couple of Gilbert and Sullivan musicals back when I was in college -- I think Princess Ida and The Gondoliers? 

5. Have you ever performed in a musical? 

Yes!  During college, I was in the chorus of three Gilbert and Sullivan musicals: The Sorcerer, The H. M. S. Pinafore, and The Yeomen of the Guard.  I had several friends who were in them too, which made rehearsals and sitting around in the Green Room lots of fun.  Not to mention, learning how to do stage makeup has come in really handy now that my daughter does ballet and needs stage makeup for her performances.

Me with two friends backstage in our Yeomen of the Guard costumes.

6. Do you periodically dance about and burst into song in real life? 

I do.  Sometimes in public and fairly often at home.

7. What's the newest movie musical you've seen? 

Wicked (2024), which I took my daughters to see in the theater in December.  I liked it all right.

8. What's the oldest movie musical you've seen? 

The oldest one I know for sure I've seen all of is The Wizard of Oz (1939).  I've seen parts of some Shirley Temple movies too, but I'm not sure which ones I've seen all of -- that would have been when I was a kid, and I just don't remember now.  So I'll say The Wizard of Oz because it's so nicely symmetrical that the newest musical I've seen is a sort of retelling of the oldest one I've seen!  Neither of which are movies I actually love, but that's okay.

9. What's the last musical you watched? 

I watched The Music Man (1962) last week with my kids.  It was their first time watching it, and we laughed and laughed!  Good times.  Being from Iowa myself, I've always had a particular soft spot for it.

10. What musical do you hope to watch for the first time soon?

Hmm.  Probably either Pirates of Penzance (1983) or Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (2018).  They're both on my TBW shelves, so it will just be a matter of which I'm in the mood for first.

If you want a clean version of this tag, you can find it in the blog party kick-off post.

My Ten Favorite Musicals -- 2025 Update

I shared my original list of ten favorite musicals a whole decade ago!  I've definitely got some slightly different favorites now, though many of the same dear favorites are still tops.  Here is my current list!  As usual, all titles are linked to my reviews if I have reviewed a particular movie.

(Random note, but I find it amusing how this graphic color-coordinated itself.  I didn't try to arrange the movies so they would have white posters all in a block and colorful ones in another block!  So funny.)

1. Guys and Dolls (1955)

Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) bets Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando) that he can't get social reformer Sarah Brown (Jean Simmons) to go on a date with him. This movie made me fall in love with the stories and writing style of Damon Runyon, which the musical is based on. Personally (and that means in person), I adore the odd patter the characters speak. 

2. An American in Paris (1951)

An ex-GI painter (Gene Kelly) falls in love with a girl (Leslie Caron), not knowing she's engaged to his night club singer friend (Georges Guetary). The whole movie is an excuse to sing and dance to Gershwin tunes, which is one of the best reasons for making a musical I've ever heard. 

3. White Christmas (1954) 

A team of showbiz stars (Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye) try to rescue a retired general (Dean Jagger) from bankruptcy by staging a show at his ski lodge. Why yes, this heads up my list of favorite Christmas movies too. 

4. The Greatest Showman (2017) 

P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) gathers up the misfits of the world and gives them jobs, friendship, and a purpose.  And that includes his protégé Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron), who falls in love with a trapeze artist (Zendaya).  The message of everyone deserving friendship and love and a place to belong, no matter what they look like, really resonates with me.

5. The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

A talented young singer (Emmy Rossum) is mentored and stalked and abducted and generally haunted by a disfigured man (Gerard Butler) who lives under the Paris Opera House.  Thank goodness for her childhood friend Raoul (Patrick Wilson), who stands by her and helps her however he can, and eventually falls in love with her as well.  This production is overwhelmingly lavish and opulent and everything it ought to be.  I'm particularly taken with Patrick Wilson's portrayal of Raoul as a brave and manly young fellow who protects and defends and is generally awesome.  And his voice is like butterscotch.  I wish Wilson made more musicals.

6. State Fair (1945) 

A family spends a week at the Iowa state fair, where the daughter (Jeanne Crain) falls in love with a newspaper man (Dana Andrews), the son falls in love with an entertainer, and the parents take home prizes for their mincemeat and hog. There's a 1960s remake that stars Bobby Darin in the Dana Andrews role, but aside from dearest Bobby, that version lacks the charm of this one. 

7.  Hello, Dolly! (1969)

A fairy-godmother-like matchmaker (Barbra Streisand) finds love matches for two store clerks (Michael Crawford, Danny Lockin), two milliners (Marianne McAndrew, E. J. Peaker), an irascible businessman (Walter Matthau) and his niece (Joyce Ames)... and herself.  I have a penchant for fairy godmothers, and Dolly Levi has been an inspiration to me since I was in single digits. 

8.  West Side Story (1961) 

A modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in 1960s NYC, with rival street gangs taking the place of rival families. So heartbreaking and beautiful, with some of the coolest dancing ever -- I much prefer it to Romeo and Juliet. The soundtrack was one of the first CDs I ever bought, and I know all the words to every song. 

9.  Brigadoon (1954) 

Two hunters (Gene Kelly and Van Johnson) stumble on an enchanted Scottish village that only exists one day out of every hundred years, whereupon one of them falls in love with a local girl (Cyd Charisse).  I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it. 

10. Oklahoma! (1999) 

A cowboy (Hugh Jackman) tries to win the heart of a girl who claims she hates him. Yes, you read that correctly: Hugh Jackman. This is the London stage version, not the famous Hollywood one, and I prefer it because, well, Hugh Jackman!

This post is one of my contributions to We Love Musicals Week.  I hope you've been enjoying the fun so far!

What Musical is That Song From? Game

Ready to play a game?  Listed below are two songs each from twelve famous musicals.  All you have to do is tell me which musical goes with each pair! 

I will put comments on moderation this morning so people can't be tempted to cheat off each other.  I'll share the answers and scores at the end of We Love Musicals Week.

Have fun!

1.  "Defying Gravity" and "Popular"

2.  "Lonesome Polecat" and "Spring, Spring, Spring"

3.  "It Might as Well be Spring" and "It's a Grand Night for Singing"

4.  "Sisters" and "Count Your Blessings"

5.  "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "Summertime"

6.  "Do-Re-Mi" and "Edelweiss"

7.  "This is Me" and "Tightrope"

8.  "Good Mornin'" and "You Are My Lucky Star"

9.  "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" and "Luck Be a Lady"

10.  "On the Street Where You Live" and "The Rain in Spain"

11.  "All I Ask of You" and "Music of the Night"

12.  "King of New York" and "Santa Fe"

We Love Musicals Week -- Kick-off and Tag

Welcome to We Love Musicals Week!  Together, we can spend five whole days celebrating everything we love about musicals, whether they're on film or on the stage.

Remember to use one of the party buttons in your own posts, and to link back here so your blog readers can visit the party too.  Also, please remember to keep your posts family friendly and celebratory.  If you don't like musicals, that's okay -- you are free to ignore our partying.  Just, please, don't bring around a cloud to rain on our parade :-)

Whenever you create a post for this week's party, add a link to it using this widget:

Make sure you check out posts from other participants!  And don't forget to check out (and enter) my giveaway.

Also, here's the official party tag, which you can fill out on your own blog!  It's a handy way to participate even if you don't have time or ideas for a different sort of post.

The We Love Musicals Tag

1.  What are your favorite musicals?  (Tell us a top 3 to 5, that sort of thing.)

2.  What do you like about musicals?

3.  What's the first musical you can remember seeing?

4.  Have you ever seen a live musical onstage?

5.  Have you ever performed in a musical?

6.  Do you periodically dance about and burst into song in real life?

7.  What's the newest movie musical you've seen?

8.  What's the oldest movie musical you've seen?

9.  What's the last musical you watched?

10.  What musical do you hope to watch for the first time soon?

Giveaway for We Love Musicals Week

Behold the prizes for my We Love Musicals Week giveaway!

Prize One:  a used DVD copy of Guys and Dolls (1955) starring Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, and Jean Simmons 

Prize Two:  a used DVD copy of Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) starring Judy Garland (two-disc special edition)

Prize Three:  a used DVD copy of Holiday Inn (1942) starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire

Prize Four:  a used DVD copy of Oklahoma! (1999) starring Hugh Jackman (a British stage version filmed and shown on TV)

Prize Five:  a Newsies sticker sheet

Prize Six:  a My Fair Lady vinyl sticker

Please note that all four DVDs are used -- I tested them out in my DVD player to see if they load and play, but I can't guarantee they'll work for you.

I will award one each of these prizes to six different people. This giveaway is open WORLDWIDE.

Enter this giveaway using this widget:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rules and Regulations:

This giveaway will end at 11:59pm EST on Friday, February 14, 2024. I'll draw six winners on Saturday, February 15, and announce them here on my blog that day, as well as alert them by the email the winners provided to the widget. Use an email address you check often!  If I don't receive a response from a winner by Saturday, February 22, that winner will be disqualified and I'll draw another. 

This giveaway is open worldwide to anyone living in any country where the USPS delivers. I am not responsible for the activities of any postal service -- I will send off your prize in the condition shown above, but its arrival condition is not something I can control. 

To enter, must be 18+ or have parent's permission to provide a mailing address. Void where prohibited. Not affiliated with Blogger, Google, or the USPS. I purchased all these prizes, they were not donated or solicited in any way. I will use your email and mailing addresses solely for the purpose of this giveaway. They will not be saved by me to use another way or provided to anyone else. 

You will note that some of the ways to enter involving participating in the blog party. More information on how to participate is in the kick-off post!

Announcing We Love Musicals Week

Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for.

I'm hosting a blog party again next month, its spotlight is on musicals, and YOU are invited to participate!

Much like last year's We Love Sibling Stories Week, this party will be a celebration with many parts.  There's the blogathon-ish aspect, where you get to contribute your own posts about musicals.  There's the giveaway aspect, where I give away some fun musical-related goodies.  There's the tag aspect, where I provide a tag of ten or so questions you can answer, all about musicals.  And there's the game aspect, where I make up a blog game or two to go with this year's theme.

If you love musicals, I hope you'll join me in celebrating them for a whole week, from February 10 to 14.  There's no limit of how many people can blog about a specific topic, but I do like to get an idea for how many people will participate.  So please leave a comment here once you have an idea of what you'd like to contribute.

There's also no limit on how many posts you can contribute!  And I encourage you to think outside the box.  Movie or show reviews are great, but things like lists of favorite songs, favorite composers, specific character types you love, favorite musicals from a specific era -- those would all be awesome contributions too!  This is a party, not a blogathon, so feel free to get creative if you want to.  The main rule is just that all posts should be family friendly (even if the musical you are talking about has "mature" themes or aspects).

Please use any of these buttons on your own blogs to spread the word about this event.

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with to share!

The Roster

+ Hamlette's Soliloquy -- tag, game, and giveaway (and maybe something else, too)

+ Meanwhile, in Rivendell... -- current favorite musicals

+ Whimsically Classic -- something

+ Realweegiemidget Reviews -- favorite musical moments

+ Movies Meet Their Match -- review of Six

+ Taking Up Room -- review of Thousands Cheer (1943)

+ The Maidens of Green Gables -- something

+ I'm Charles Baker Harris (and I Can Read) -- review of A Complete Unknown (2024)

+ Inkling Corner -- The Phantom of the Opera

+ Revealed in Time -- The Phantom of the Opera

+ 18 Cinema Lane -- review of Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)

+ Starlight and Saucepans -- Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and what makes a good movie musical

+ The Hopeful Pen -- favorite songs from musicals

+ YOU!