But follow my trail of thought here: Wicked - Idina Menzel - Frozen - Jonathan Groff.
I bring this up because I realized this week that while altos despair the lack of Disney songs for their range, I lament that there really aren't that many thematic Disney songs for guys.
The last three Disney animated musicals all had female leads, which is great and all, but left no room for songs for guys like me. I was so looking forward to Jonathan Groff's contribution to the Frozen soundtrack but that turned out to be a dud. Oh well.
In all of Disney history, I can only think of only two male anthems: Hunchback's Out There and Hercules's Go The Distance. Not even Aladdin, The Lion King, or Tarzan had good themes in the same vein as Let It Go. Guys like me have had to content ourselves with lowering the pitch of Part Of Your World, Colors of the Wind, Reflection, or all of Belle's songs! Either those or the goofy songs like Under The Sea and Be Our Guest.
I mean, that doesn't change my appreciation for those songs. They're great to listen and sing along to, and if I really want to get my slow, power ballad fix, I can always turn to the live adaptations. Thankfully, the stage versions of the The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and The Lion King all have additional songs for Eric, Aladdin, and Simba respectively. I can only hope that the Frozen stage musical they're currently developing would also add songs for Kristoff or even Hans.
Outside of Disney adaptations, recent stage productions have been my go-to to get my fix of male-centric songs - like Newsies (also a Disney production), the Book of Mormon (which also starred Frozen's Josh Gad/Olaf), Catch Me If You Can, and the new production of Pippin, as well as some off-Broadway work like Bare and the discography of Scott Alan.
I suppose there's also such a thing as the tug of the market. The Disney princess line is a successful franchise and female empowerment is such a popular theme, and I probably belong to the 1% in this case. I can't help but wonder if this feeling of under-representation is comparable to the plight of the female readership in the comic industry. Probably not. It's probably just me.
(*On a somewhat related note: I've been writing an article local cinema this past week and, not surprisingly, the idea that the "tug of the market" dictates production also popped up.*)
Now back to Jonathan Groff. I got to check out his new show, "Looking", earlier this week. I thought it was gonna be a funny show and I was a bit disappointed. I already gave it my short review so I'm not gonna get into that anymore. Just thought I'd mention it since it ties up with the rest of the blog.
