h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...he's such a darling, 15, polite, mild-mannered, your regular superhero alter-ego ...I just get a kick out of making him blush ...

...having said that, he's an adolescent boy, and one of his favourite movies is "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", so I don't think I could really "spoil" him !

By the way, would "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" or "Hair" count as showtunes ??

I quite like some musicals
Rocky Horror, All That Jazz, Caberet but I suppose none of them are the type MuseSusan means

What about Jesus Christ Superstar ?

I mean, we were brought up on the Rogers & Hammerstein stuff...but the closest I come to owning showtunes would be Rocky Horror, Hair and the Blues Brothers !

*starts thinking..."hmmm...I think I am quite "*

*considers that maybe "quite " isn't really either*

.......

Tommy
Now that was a musical, but I think we're talking rock musicals, not shows
I think maybe is in the eye of the beholder
people, really people, not poseurs, just are, they don't have to try, and maybe , sometimes we've managed to be but just haven't realised it

Oh aye...he's a pinball wizard !!

I think you're right...there's a lot of music out there a lot of people would think was where I'd just think it was ...or more "not my cup of " ...

...so I'll just sit at home happily listening to my Monkees cd (although now I'm at work and listening to my Placebo cd) totally unable to aspire to ness and happy that I don't really want it...!

If you've got to pretend to be something you're not defnitely not worth it

I'm no good at trying to be other people...I always end up reverting to myself eventually.... my short attention span !

Well that would ruin being
There you are at the jazz club, the is being passed around, you demand a and start singing something by the Monkees
Almost as un as my 1 experience of cocaine
Lets just say it was not dissimilar to a scene in 1 of Woody Allens films

...I know...the guy I was seeing wouldn't take me to any of his hangouts because of my inherent ness...so he spent his weekends at his little reggae clubs...and I headed out to the pub...

I would've behaved...I like reggae...but becuase I come across as a bit of a head case people don't invite me out much

Ahhh...cocaine...we were just talking about Johnny Cash in another thread...!

I wouldn't do that to anyone but I've noticed one of my friends invites me round to his house when its just the gang but doen't ask me for the big night out. Bit awkward considering I live across the road from his usual watering hole.

It's just not something I'm prepared to worry about anymore...I mean, I have people who keep me entertained on the weekends at the pub...and I'd rather be hanging out with people who loved me than with someone who was afraid I'd be "cramping their style" ...

...and if I wanted to go somewhere new, I'd just drag my girl along with me !

I know but now I can't go in that pub on Friday or Saturday nights because I'm not gonna force my company on someone and its a small town. Hes a good friend too, just moves in several circles of people, and I probably wouldn't like his other friends especially anyway.

That's why you make friends with the barstaff !

I started going out by myself when I was 19...it was a very bizarre experience, but 5 years later I can definitely say it's paid off...

...of course, if you were on this side of the planet you could just come drinking with all the people (like me ) down here !

(and on that note, I'm homeward bound for the night - see you soon, hopefully !)

Careful, I've got relatives in Oz so 1 day chink chink

BC, the fact that you compared TBSGTNIT to Wham! merely illustrates my point.

Hey, Tanzen and Blackberry Cat,
Yes, all the ones you mentioned ARE showtunes, because they are tunes from a show. It's difficult to define, because there are some movies and things that have one or a few songs, but aren't considered musicals. Then there are movie musicals, the songs of which I would nominally count as showtunes, though I personally don't tend to like those songs as much as ones directly from the stage. But all the shows you guys have mentioned (Cabaret, Tommy, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Rocky Horror) are or have been stage musicals, with lots of songs, and I would definitely define any song from a stage musical as a showtune. (That does bring up the question, however, of musicals like Mamma Mia! (songs from ABBA) and Movin' Out (songs by Billy Joel), where the songs were written by bands or singers and then incorporated much later into a musical.)
That said, I think many people would assign a narrower definition to the term "showtune", referring to the more traditional "Broadway ballad" sound, written by such composers/lyricists as Rodgers and Hammerstein (or Hart), Jerry Herman, Cole Porter, etc. Musicals like Hair, JCS, Tommy, Rent, Evita, and may others are by no means traditional, and are considered "rock operas". I would still call them "showtunes" but they do have a rock sound as opposed to the traditional style.
These days, there is so much diversity in the styles and themes of new Broadway musicals that they cover every genre and defy categorization.
My own interest in showtunes is twofold: I love the traditional, old shows with traditional, showtuney-sounding songs just because I like the style, but I also love songs from musicals in general because they tell a specific story. I am generally more interested in rock operas like Evita and Rent than in ordinary rock because the individual, un-linked songs bore me.

Ach! You had to get me started! Curse you, little scrolly window so that I don't know how long I'm writing! I apologize (as I often have to) for my long-windedness, and let this be a lesson to you: Don't ask me about showtunes unless you have AT LEAST ten minutes to spare for my random trivia.

Oh, well, I did hide some mistakes of my youth (namely two Take That cs) but now I got rid of them and that is that. I don't know what my hormones wre thinking when I got them in the frist place...

Methos

MuseSusan
Ramble all you like
I'm on nightshift again
So I do like shows
Have you seen "All That Jazz"? It was directed by Bob Fosse who I believe worked mostly in musicals and is regarded as largely auto-biographical. One of my favourite films, although not really a musical.