Musicals and Football

I would say I know a decent amount about musicals. For a musical to be good there is a lot of criteria it should meet. First, it must meet criteria for a good stage play. It must have an interesting plot with at least a few small twists and turns in it. It must, however, be easy to follow. Characters should be well developed, so that the audience can get to know them. The actors involved should also have a good understanding of the characters they are playing and those they are working with, and they should fit the overall image of the character. For example, a thin girl cannot play Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray, and someone with a neat and tidy boy-next-door, or big and burly appearance cannot play Sweeney Todd. Makeup can only do so much. Also, things like stage settings, lighting, and overall stage appearance must be appropriate and easily maneuverable for the actors and for changes of scenes.

Musicals must also meet criteria specific, of course, to musicals alone. The actors must have a reasonable musical ability. Not all people who sing in musicals must be amazing musicians with opera voices, but they must be pleasant to listen to (not tone deaf) and the voice must match the character. For example, Elphaba from Wicked must have the most powerful voice because she is the most powerful and influential character. Glinda, on the other hand, must be able to manipulate her voice to fit the character of a shallow, popular teenage girl, then later the good and supportive friend of the outcast, then “Glinda the Good Witch” with a much more powerful voice. Overall, an actor/singer in a musical must be able to manipulate their voice well in order to fit the character and the setting. They must also have good coordination in order to dance, sing, and act all at the same time. A musical must have a wide variety of song types. A memorable musical has songs with catchy tunes that anyone can sing along to. I constantly find myself singing songs from Hairspray, Hello Dolly!, and countless other musicals. They also, however, need to have songs that are powerful and intense more so than catchy, such as in Wicked or The Lion King. This leaves the audience with a sense of the “wow factor.” It keeps them coming back wanting more.

I don’t, however know much about NFL quarterbacks. To go about finding reasonable criteria for evaluating them my first resource would probably be my dad and his friends. Though they don’t have any real credibility in that area, I would get a sense of their opinions first, so I could get a basic idea, and so that I could understand the area from the perspective of the “average man” who likes college and professional football. Of course, I wouldn’t just leave it at that. I would first do some research to get a decent understanding of football and what the quarterback does. I do understand the basics now just from watching college football, particularly Ohio State (go Bucks!), but I would want to do some research to get a better understanding of all that a quarterback is responsible for. I would then to the ESPN website and listen to and read some interviews and articles by sports reporters in order to get a better understanding from someone who really knows what they are talking about.