Keeping Theater Alive

This past Sunday, I went to go see the Broadway show “The Lion King” in Philadelphia, and it was phenomenal. If you have not yet seen it, I suggest you do (although it ends its run this upcoming Saturday).

“The Lion King” is just one example of why I love live theater so much. Theater is such a different experience than any other entertainment form. It is, in my opinion, one of the truest and purest forms that we have today.

It involves the storytelling aspect that we love so much in TV and movies, combined with reality and, in the case of ” The Lion King,” the music we spend hours listening to. When you put  all this together, you get one of the most exhilarating experiences ever, whether you are an audience member, an actor, someone on the crew or a musician in the pit.

As someone who has been both on the stage and in the audience for many performances of various plays and musicals, I can attest to the fantastic feeling that one feels on either end. When on stage, you get that fantastic energy from the audience; you can only get this feeling in that moment. This feeling makes your performance greater than any filmed performance ever could.

And when you are in the audience, you are able to connect with the performers in such a way that it makes you feel like they have really let you into their lives and that they are performing just for you.

It seems, however, that the allure of theater is slipping and becoming lost on so many people. Less people seem to be excited about the magic of the Broadway musicals, even though Broadway is something that is accessible to everyone.

Every person can find a story on Broadway that they can relate to, whether you are the odd person out like “Wicked”’s Elphaba, the teenager struggling to cope with life like “Spring Awakening”’s Melchior, or the daughter of the manic depressive mother like “Next To Normal”’s Natalie. These are all shows that have been on Broadway within the past seven years and have all used the stage to tell stories in a way that is unlike any other medium.

While it is obvious that theater isn’t exactly the cheapest form of entertainment, it is definitely an art form that should be kept alive. It’s one of the greatest forms of entertainment we have left.